Aaron stooped to put the load of timber on the ground, lifting a dirt-streaked hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. It was the last day before the Darkness, and the firewood they'd been chopping all Lighttime had to get stored before it started.
Gathering up the load, Aaron quickened his pace to make up for the break, catching up to his father as he did so. He heard the man before he saw him; the unmistakable clink of his antique sword tapping against his belt alerting Aaron to his presence. That sword had been in the family for years; in a pinch, it could even scratch a creature of darkness. Aaron kept his steps fast to keep up with his father's longer strides as they continued from the thicket where the wood was cut in silence. Looking aside, Aaron dreamed of the day he was strong enough to wield that ancestral blade himself. As a mere lad of 15, he had a long way to go.
"Let's stop for a minute" Aaron's father said as they dropped the logs onto the growing pile in the woodshed. Glad for the break, Aaron flopped down on the moist grass, leaning his head back against the wood-plank wall.
"You've gotten stronger since the last Darkness fell" the older man observed
Aaron nodded "I carry twice the wood I did last time" he bragged.
"I noticed. You're becoming a strong lad, Aaron. Your mother and I are both very proud of you."
He smiled, looking up past the overhang of the roof towards the sky. It had been a pale blue, nearly white last week. Now it was darkening to a medium tone; the colour of deep oceans toward the horizon leaking into the rest of the sky and tainting the clouds. A breeze; warmer than last week, blew by.
"Does that mean I can go outside this Darkness, father?"
Aaron looked up hopefully, but his hopes were immediately dashed by the furrowed brows and the straight line made by his father's lips as his entire face modelled the visual interpretation of the word 'no'.
"Not this year, son. Perhaps next year. There are... things which thrive in the darkness which would yet overpower you"
"Even if I had a sword?" Aaron hinted, boldly
"Even then. Come, we should get back to work; that house isn't going to light itself all Darkness."
Aaron sighed, but followed his father to the woods once more. Darkness was a season of mystery; a season of locked doors and ever-burning hearths and strange sounds in the yard. Darkness was the time Father slept by the door and Mother slept in the room with him and his baby sister.
And when the Light returned, that was the time the village did a head count. To see who had been taken that Darkness.
Someone always disappeared. Despite the fires, despite the fireflies and the watches and the keen eyes and sharp blades. At the end of the year, there was always someone missing. It was the person who had dared to leave the light.
(I may edit this later. I'm going to bed in a minute and wanted to get the idea down; I'll forget about it if I save it in Word or something)
