any other day

in theory it was a day like any other, there was nothing particular in it. a day in the endless string of days, one of those you can't tell a difference between afterwards; a day in the vast mass of anonymous, faceless days. the only thing different in this day, and to be fair it was kind of a remarkable thing and certainly enough to differentiate it from the day the preceded as well as from the day that followed (as was observed later on), was that the sun didn't come up that day.

the night that had prevailed before the said day had been cold, not unusually so  - considering the time of the year when fast changes in the temperature were to be expected - but still well below average. the sky was clear, punctured by the bright dots of stars that seemed to accentuate the chilliness as well as the darkness; it was as if those far-away sparks would have sucked all the available light and warmth inside themselves. 

but what usually happens as the world turns, the gradual fading of the stars as the sky fills with light and turns from black to blue, did not happen that day. the stars just hung there, motionless and shining their ageless light that had travelled a long time to reach the eyes of the spectators, now increasing in number and bewildered by the seemingly never-ending night. the stars stayed and the darkness stayed, it filled each and every gap that had ever existed like a thin liquid that is poured on grains of sand. it wasn't a menacing darkness, or oppressing; instead it was the kind of darkness that just is and it cannot be questioned; and when it leaves it is not because it was driven away but because it chose to.

and on that day, for reasons nobody was able to provide, it chose not to leave.

naturally the failure of the daylight to step in caused a lot of confusion among people. it didn't take long for the newsrooms to start their reporting; however, they soon realized that there was surprisingly little to talk about. the live coverage of the issue very quickly turned into somewhat bizarre cavalcade of specialists of different fields trying to explain the phenomenon, all failing quite miserably; and live footage of the darkness offered nothing that one wasn't able to observe from their own window. different kind of religious groups were having a field day, and churches hadn't been that full since the medieval ages as some people, confused by the turn of events, revived their shelved spirituality in need of something to turn to.

but as the day - or lack thereof - proceeded, nothing happened. there was no end of the world; the horizon did not turn blood red from the flames of the doomsday. it was just dark, and quiet, and the air was cool and fresh; but that was it. towards the evening hours the reporters gave up, closed their mics and went home with a strange feeling of disappointment; such a news day, and yet - devoid of any events, real or made up. 

there was no change in the darkness as the day that never was turned into a night again; the lack of light merely continued seamlessly into the hours of sleep, uneventfully and calm, and people went to bed like they would have had after any other day, unsure what the following day would or wouldn't bring; but also understanding the fact that there was absolutely nothing they could do about the matter.

in this shared feeling of helplessness, even bigger was their relief when the following day dawned as they had got used to it doing; when the darkness stepped aside and gave way to the rays of sun. people greeted the day with a profound joy and swore to be more grateful of the new day, each and every day from now on; promised not to take things for granted as they had so far. 

there never was any explanation as of why the darkness had stayed that day, and maybe it was because of this the churches slowly quieted down again, and the newsrooms found other things to talk about; and people brought up the incident in their daily conversations less and less. and eventually it was so that the memory of that day was like a memory of any other day; it was just the day that the sun hadn't come up, and really, what is the big deal in that.