A Seemingly Unrelated Occurrence - Part 1

"Natalie!"
The darkness was overwhelming, pulling at him . . . smothering. David staggered forwards, reaching tentatively for something to hold. Far overhead, the elevator cables brushed against each other, the ensuing clang echoing down the shaft.
"Natalie!" No response. Eventually, his hands found the cable and slowly, he lowered himself into a crouch. Shivering slightly with clenched teeth and fingers white with strain, he crawled along the metal surface. Before long, his hand met the space between the elevator itself and the wall of the shaft. Still unadjusted to the darkness, he was oblivious to the drop of sweat that fell from his black hair, between the metal and concrete, into the dank, deep chasm below.
"Natalie, answer me!" he cried, "Where are you?"
The light from the chamber below, previously allowing them some small amount of vision, had promptly and unexpectedly disappeared. Breathing heavily he tugged at the emergency door into the main compartment. David could feel the darkness tugging him up away from the opening. His breathing quickened as the impenetrable surrounding nothingness wrapped around his waist and ankles.
Once opened, he futilely gazed inside. Natalie was gone; how and where he couldn't say but he knew even as he called for his sister that her answer would not be returned. He inhaled deeply, painfully conscious of the bitterly cold air caressing his neck. Natalie was gone, yet despite the dense, suffocating blackness distorting his senses, he knew, he was not alone; the darkness was watching.
Feeling once more for the elevator cables, David, unaware of his surroundings, began the long, deserted climb into the incomprehensible shaft above.