Candlesight. Michael Liddy
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mortar cut into his knees and hands. Negotiating the massive trusses was relatively easy, a diagonal piece of timber sprung from the wall and up to his left, providing an easy support and leverage to get past.
Jared traversed six of these trusses before, with growing excitement, he finally sighted the front wall beyond the layered shrouds of cobwebs. Shouldering his way past the last freestanding truss, he saw that there was another one resting directly against the front wall of the building. Where the light should be. There was no apparent answer to the riddle. It must just be something mundane inside the wall. Perhaps it was the last functioning globe of a series that used to be all over the building, or maybe it wasn’t a light at all, but rather some exhaust relief for one of the factory’s machines. None of these were very exciting to him, and suddenly he felt exhausted.
It was only as Jared stared absently at the last truss that he realised the shadows further along meant that it was positioned clear of the wall. Staring at the corner of the building where there were no such shadows, he finally understood that there was a small pier built out corner of the building. Crawling closer he was able to come right up next to the pier, which was no more than half a metre in length and depth. It wasn’t particularly noteworthy and didn’t give any hints as to what the light was.
Jared sat still for a moment before he made ready to turn back. He was disappointed not to have found the light, but revelled in the thought that he’d done something hard, forbidding, something that would scare most children. Where he was usually the most timid about doing anything he hadn’t been specifically told to do, now he’d done something brave. Though he’d met with no success, he’d travelled as far as he could.
As he sat quietly in that moment of reflection, a sound finally registered to his consciousness. As faint as the hum of a distant transformer, he thought it was nothing of importance. Concentrating on it for that instant revealed that there was another, more confounding sound within it. Singing. Harmonious, flowing tones melted almost imperceptibly together to form a music not unlike the sound of wind whipping through tall grasses. There was structure here though, something that was repeated.
Excitement welling, Jared leaned closer to the brick pier and pressed his ear to the cold surface. Perhaps he was imagining things, but he was sure the noise was just a little louder. Bringing the torch to the wall, Jared looked for some way to see what might be beyond. Testing the mortar with his fingernails showed that it was crumbling, but there was no easy way to pull the bricks out. Lifting the beam upward revealed that just below the corrugated iron there was a jagged and broken top to the pier, as it had been either knocked out or roughly finished to allow the iron to be laid over the top.
Propping the torch at an angle to illuminate the top of the brickwork, Jared carefully stood up and felt along the top course, testing. Carefully he pressed his weight against one half brick and was shocked when it snapped and came free in his hand. Overbalancing slightly, he snatched his weight back quickly and almost slid from the narrow ledge. His heart pounding, Jared took a minute to settle his nerves and then laid the brick behind him carefully. There were now two more bricks partially exposed and pressing his weight upward this time he was less vulnerable as they came free.
Within a few minutes he’d cleared a small opening. Edging close again, at first he heard nothing, and then after long moments the delicate singing came to his ears again. His hands shaking, Jared rose up again and tentatively peered over the edge of the pier.
It was indeed hollow, an inky black abyss within centimeters of his face. The sound was definitely more distinct, though still only barely perceptible. Brining his right hand up he was able to wiggle through the narrow slit next to him and bring the torch to bear on the dark tunnel. What he saw confused him as much as the ceiling space when he’d first looked into it, something he hadn’t expected and couldn’t quite rationalise.
Though he was at the top of the building he couldn’t have been more than five metres from the ground. Shining the torch onto the sides of the vertical shaft, Jared was sure the beam reached the extend of its reach at least fifteen or twenty metres below, and still there was no sign of having reached the bottom. The only way that could be right was if the shaft dropped well below ground level.
There was also something very strange about the inside face of the chute. Just below him the regular shapes of the bricks gave way to a band of something dark and metallic that projected out forming another ledge. Detailed patterns were incised deeply into the surface, and a confusing array of shallow projections extended outward. It didn’t appeared to be masonry or a render either, more as if the bricks had been changed and bonded in some way.
While he stared at the relief and the murky depths beyond, scanning what he could of the narrow chasm, he didn’t notice the second pinpoint of light when it appeared. At first it was completely obscured by the illumination of the torch's bobbing beam as he sporadically scanned different sections of the chute. His attention was further diverted for a moment as he caught sight of the small circular opening that seemed to head towards the front of the building. Only two metres below where he leaned in, surely that had to be roughly where the light he could see from his bedroom window was coming from.
He froze. There was something wrong. It was only then that Jared's eyes dropped to the depths of the chute and he finally noticed the small blue and green tendrils that extended outwards in sweeping waves. It was a light that no clumsy man-made lamp could produce. Startled, he snatched his arm back through the opening, and continued to stare, mesmerized. Less than ten metres below him now, he could see a mist of billowing specks of illumination that formed a spherical cloud coming from a molten amorphous centre.
Jared had no idea what the thing of light was. He’d never seen, heard of, or read about anything like it. He wondered if it was alive. Or was it some sort of machine? Its bobbing motion suggested concentration; it had to be alive. And there could be no doubt that it was moving towards him.
The boy instinctively shrank away, his heart pounding. He scuttled back along the brick ledge until his back came up against the side of the next truss and fumbling uneasily, he turned the torch off. For brief seconds all was completely dark and he wondered if he’d imagined the strange spectacle. With a sense of chill foreboding he saw the first touches of a liquid light caressing the underside of the metal roof, and the most gentle of shadows coursing around him. But it came no further.
It took a long time for Jared to ease his breathing and for shaking limbs to find some semblance of control. Mesmerised he stared at the slowly swirling patterns of light that danced over the corrugated iron, every color and no color at the same time, almost beyond his ability to comprehend.
Very slowly calm returned to his thoughts and the excitement he’d felt at several points of this most bizarre night welled up within him. Adrenalin surged as he made ready to stand up and go over to the shaft again. No matter what would happen now, be it an end or a beginning, he would face it.
Shakily Jared rolled forward onto his knees and with jagged motions approached the pier again. Half expecting something to launch at him he kept his eyes on the opening he’d fashioned. Nothing came for him though. The soft dance continued on the metal roof, and whatever it was stayed deep down within the brick chute.
Steeling his nerves, Jared took the last step to the pier and uneasily raised himself towards the jagged opening he’d just fashioned. Still there was no rush of motion. If the thing, whatever it was, had wanted to escape or come for him it had had ample opportunity. Plus he couldn’t see how it could be possibly be aggressive or dangerous; it was light. Excitement swept up through him, the edges of a childish emotion that had been absent most of his short life.
Reaching up, he placed his hands on the cold bricks and drew his eyes closer to the lip of the opening. His mouth dropped open in slack jawed wonder as he beheld the sight before him. Where before there had been one of the dazzling objects, now there were many, holding position deep within the chasm. The rhythmic singing around him became louder and more chaotic. In a slow dance they swept up a little higher in the chute, still remaining far below, languidly moving around each other as they rose.