The break in the bend, the closest of calls

"As much as my eyes became used to it, though, the darkness never ceased to be darkness. Anything I tried to focus on would lose its shape and burrow its way soundlessly into the surrounding obscurity. Perhaps this could be called “pale darkness,” but pale as it might be, it had its own particular kind of density, which in some cases contained a more deeply meaningful darkness than perfect darkness. In it, you could see something. And at the same time, you could see nothing at all."