{"id":1856,"date":"2023-11-24T10:15:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T10:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2023-11-25T10:15:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T10:15:30","slug":"behind-the-fireworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/behind-the-fireworks\/1856\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Fireworks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cold autumn night was warmed up by the energy of people gathered for a party. There, Andrew thought his past was left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A splash of light in the sky and a loud boom broke the night, and the Darkness came with it. Unnoticed among the crowd, casting shadows on itself on an enlightened street, a fully dark figure – Andrew felt it smile at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fireworks!\u201d the kids cheered, and the figure vanished. Andrew kept staring into the shadows. An anxious feeling settled deep inside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cAre you okay?\u201d asked his sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine,\u201d he lied and walked away. There were no more fireworks for him – only explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With every sharp noise or flash, the Darkness kept breaking in, bringing terror, loneliness and insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He knew the night when they\u2019d meet unavoidably. While everyone was out partying, Andrew waited alone in his dark apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the clock struck midnight, the stars exploded high in the sky. The Darkness was standing by the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, but you know me. I stand behind the fake shining of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With any lightning and thunder, the Darkness revealed itself. There was no safe place. Even sweet moments of oblivion \u2013 in a drink, music, or sleep \u2013 had to end. The last getaway meant turning away from life altogether. Soon, that price started to look reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months later, Andrew got careless enough to attend another party. Running from the banging noises and dazzling flickers reaching from the garden, he hid in a barn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReunited once more,\u201d the Darkness was delighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew\u2019s hands were so shaky that he dropped his phone. Calling for a taxi home and never going out again \u2013 his last hope is now smashed along with the screen. He fell to his knees in despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd now we\u2019re as one,\u201d the creature\u2019s voice was trembling with excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, the door creaked, and Andrew\u2019s sister stepped in. She looked straight at the creature, as if she could see it. And then stood between it and Andrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t need to run,\u201d she lent him a hand. \u201cLet\u2019s go. I\u2019ll help you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew tried to glance at the creature but couldn\u2019t see it behind her. He took her hand, and they walked out into the glimmering night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an autumn evening, people gathered for a party again. Andrew joined them, though he knew he\u2019d meet the Darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the first day we met, why were you smiling?\u201d he asked as the fireworks went off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought I wasn\u2019t alone anymore,\u201d the Darkness replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a reason why it was always turned back to the lights, never looking at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Andrew said. \u201cNow, face the light. It\u2019s not so scary this way, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure turned, and the fireworks\u2019 light fell on its face. Andrew finally recognized it: that was himself, terrified and lost as he once was in the past. Then, the face softened, enlightened, and, with the next spark, the figure disappeared for good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He knew the night when they\u2019d meet unavoidably. While everyone was out partying, Andrew waited alone in his dark apartment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[695,1029],"tags":[1069,984,866,1070,1021,8,122,20,1073,491,1071,1072,884,191,11],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-695","category-november-2023-fireworks","tag-andrew","tag-behind","tag-dark","tag-darkness","tag-fireworks","tag-he","tag-him","tag-his","tag-itself","tag-night","tag-party","tag-shadows","tag-sky","tag-there","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-tW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1861,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/1861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}