"The Darkness"

Dennis sat up slowly. He looked over in the bed where his wife should have been lying and saw that she was not there. If she had been he would have asked her to go get him a glass of water. Dennis groggily put his legs on the floor. For a moment he just looked around the room with the haze of sleep still partially clouding his vision. It was actually commonplace for Dennis to wake up at three a.m. because he is a light sleeper but normally his wife is still by his side.

"Kathleen?" he called out into the darkness. But his reply was merely more silence. And so with all the energy he could muster he stood up, put his slippers on, and headed for the hallway.

In the pitch darkness Dennis could not see a thing. But this was his house. The darkness merely meant that he would have to walk a bit slower with his hands out in order to catch the objects of his house which he knew like the back of his hand.

"Kathleen, are you here?" he called out again but was again greeted with silence. Dennis continued to slowly move towards the kitchen in order to retrieve what he really wanted, a tall, cold glass of water. Dennis figured that his wife knew the way back to the bedroom and she'd eventually find her way. The water wasn't going to find its way to Dennis' throat without a little bit of help.

Dennis slowly walked by the television set. Of course he couldn't see it but he knew it was there. But before he entered the kitchen a hand stopped him. A smooth feminine hand fell on his shoulder and held him in place.

"Oh, Kathleen, don't sneak up on me in the dark like that. Where were you anyway?" Dennis said after an initial jump. Dennis could feel her getting closer to his ear from the breathing on his neck.

"Happy Birthday." she whispered into his ear.

"Thanks. Wait, it's not my..." Dennis started to say but by this time it was already too late. A knife forcefully ran across his throat, cutting it open, and staining the nice white carpet. But no one would be able to see that in this kind of darkness.