Season 05 - Episode 12

‘comfort the nights’

Ty is frightened.

Nothing much has changed, in fact every day is almost exactly the same but the here and now isn't what's worrying him. Just as he has for what now seems like forever, he follows his little metal friend, climbing endless stairs, entering vents, crawling through tunnels, pulling levers to open big doors, on and on.

Actually, when he really thinks about it, he has to admit that in a lot of ways things are better than they were before. His new clothes keep him warm and comfortable, the food they gave him is lasting well, meaning that so far he hasn't had to resort back to the slimy mushrooms and the bed roll lets him sleep in cosy comfort

The nights are when he notices the biggest difference, lying there, wrapped up, waiting to fall asleep. Before he reached that place below, with La and her family and all their strange friends, his world had been silent.

During the day, his own footsteps had kept him company but in the nights, the silence had swelled, pressing down on him, smothering him. That great, gonging absence of sound had made The Levels around him feel so very big and made him feel so incredibly small.

Now however, as he lies there, faint distant sounds float up from below. From far, far below, in fact, enough distance to blur any details and leave only low, indistinct tones. It's the people, the people from La's world, following the route he is opening for them. By day he occasionally hears them, vague, distant impressions of footsteps and voices.

But by night they sing.

The songs are slow and sad but beautiful too. Sometimes he can tell there are many people singing, a thick, broad sound, dense with difference. Other times it sounds like just one person, a high, narrow sound, slender and pure.

In the time before there were many nights when Ty couldn't have wished for a lovelier sound. The knowledge that he was not alone, the soft sounds of people simply living would have smoothed the edges from his fear, made him feel so much safer.

Now however, despite the beauty of the songs, the sounds of those below bring him only dread. Suddenly being all alone in the world seems so much the better option because at least when he was alone there was no pressure, no expectation.

Right now the people are far behind him, following him on faith through the doors he opens for them. Eventually however, he knows with trembles, the journey will end. They all believe he is leading them somewhere and have given up everything to get there.

But what if there is no better place above? What if he never finds it? What if he finds a door he can't get around? A dead end in which he is trapped? Or, perhaps worse, what if there is a place above only they don't like it?

The thought of all those people catching him up and then blaming him for dashing their dreams, it's almost more than he can bear. When he does sleep he dreams of crowds, vast, endless crowds of people.

They are smiling to begin with but then turn sour, glaring at him, shouting at him, everyone angry and filled with hate while he cowers in a corner with nowhere to run or hide. Each morning he wakes with a start, tears on his face, heart in his mouth.

What is he doing here?

He stops now, sitting down on the stairs, eyes stinging from all the thinking he's doing. His little friend stops and scurries back to him, staring up at him with a little red eye. Ty asks it again. Where are they going? What are they doing? Why?

The little metal creature flips and spins, performs all the tricks that used to make him giggle. Ty shakes his head and wipes his nose, fighting back the tears. He asks his questions again and then again and again. The little creature falls silent and still.

Then, suddenly, it returns to life and now it shows him a picture. A simple map with a red line running through which Ty realises is the route he has taken. A little way above the end of the line, sits a glowing red dot. Ty still doesn't know where he's going but does now understand one thing at least.

He is very nearly there.

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