The mercurial night alternated
from a frenetic cacophony to an eerie silence and back again. As expected, the
lightning preceded the thunder, cleaving random sections of the night sky. The
air was heavy with expectations…my own. I stood on the abandoned railroad
tracks, waiting for their arrival. It was always the same.
Every night that a storm was expected, I’d
venture out into the dark to the spot where my life was permanently changed all
those years ago. And I’d wait for the shrill noise that never escaped my
memory. Their arrival forever etched in my mind…
I had found myself in a precarious
situation with a strange man holding a
knife at my throat. Within minutes, my assailant was slaughtered by an unseen
inexplicable force, sparing my life. While my savior wouldn’t reveal himself to
me, his distinctly male voice had commanded me to run after announcing that
they were coming. But who were they?
His
words having been enveloped in an icy stark fear, had been enough to propel me
forward. That discordant beacon that had forewarned their arrival had
not only sent shivers throughout my entire body. It had also sparked an intense
curiosity. My gut screamed at me to turn around and look. You’ll never get a
chance like this again, it pleaded.
Once I cleared the railroad tracks,
making it up the incline and through the hole in the gate, I stopped and turned
around. The sky had looked much the way it did tonight. Except there was a
perforation in the clouds. Ethereally bright blue light emanated from it.
Five distinct points of darker blue
light exploded from that curious glow. I was transfixed as they descended into
the darkness below. Almost immediately the points of light became arms, legs, a
head—all connected by a human-looking torso. But they weren’t human. They
couldn’t be because they were faceless and covered in numerous spiky points.
Without warning, their blue glow was
gone, swallowed up by the void and sudden quiet. The breath I held left in a
rush as I realized they might be aware of me as much as I was aware of them. They
were not of this world. Now my gut urged me to run again and I didn’t look back
this time.
Tonight, the mysterious visitors didn’t
come. As always, I looked up at the alluring tempest, as if the electrical
discharge would bring answers. Why did you save me? How did you kill him
without even touching him? Why did you send me away when the others came?
As
usual, the storm’s response was a cold indifferent rain. I headed home,
disappointed but also relieved. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted them to
come back.
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