When you retreat into the darkness, lock the doors, block the windows, make a home there, your senses get attuned to the darkness.  You recognize the other darkness lurkers and hiders as your kind. 

If a light dweller sweeps by, they’ll move you, they’ll awe you, they’ll leave you behind in even darker darkness, by contrast.  You will not truly see them though, nor they will see you.  Too bright for you, too dark for them.

Gather any sparks they may have dropped in passing, kindle them into a small fire, claw at your locked doors and windows, let the air seep through and feed the fire.  Let the light guide you to the next crack to try and break open, and then the next one, until you break out and merge into the light.