9:08

Where am I? I can barely think right now. My body won't move. I don't know why. Wasn't I just somewhere else, a few moments ago? I can barely think. My memory of the past few hours seems cloudy. I'm thinking in a fog, through a nebulous soup. My name. To remember my name is even a struggle. But after an eternity of a few labored seconds I remember who I am.

But not why I am here. Not why my body won't move. My strength seems gone. Strength, yes. One needs strength to move the body. It seems I have none. Strength, that is. Oh no, is this death? Is this the afterlife? A foggy, weak place that will be my home for eternity? No, wait. I can move my eyes. I have eyes! So I must not be dead. And I do have strength to open my eyes. Are they open? I can't tell, it's so dark. Maybe my other senses will work here in this dark void. I hear sounds. I do not smell anything. I cannot taste anything. I cannot tell if I am touching anything as I cannot move my body. More sounds. Eerie sounds. Are those the sounds of machines? And clicks. There are lots of clicking sounds. They are soft, almost wet clicks. I have not heard that sound before. I feel... cold.

Light! My eyes were open, because I slammed my eyelids closed when the light invaded. It was so bright. And I see, beyond my closed eyelids, the after-image of a round light that just shocked me back to some sense of reality. The after effect is red, orange, purple, fading to black as I keep my eyes shut. There is more clicking, now very fast and a bit louder. I hear it on both sides of my head. Should I open my eyelids so that I might see? The clicking continues and makes me nervous, though I don't know why. More sounds, the sounds of machinery. Is it machines I hear? A buzzing, a whirring and musical tones. Yes, that is music. Faint, almost undetectable, music. But it is there. There are no words, only tones. Tones that do not follow a recognizeable pattern. Tones that sound familiar. Have I heard them before? Yes, I have. Many times, before. I must open my eyes to see what is around me.

Slowly, my eyes open. The light is still there, shining at me. Bright. But not hot. Almost cool, in fact. White light with a hint of blue. It surrounds my field of vision so I cannot see anything else. Perhaps I can turn my head to see. The muscles in my neck flex, attempting to turn my head to the right. But there is pain! Oh, there is much pain! Something is in my head! It prevents me from turning to see. The pain, is like an explosion, bursting in my head, grinding down my neck like a saw blade, and washing over my body with a sickly warmth. There's a new sound now. Loud. My throat is moving. It's me. I'm screaming from the pain. I'll relax my neck now. The pain stops and I stop screaming. Those clicks again, all around me. Louder and faster than before. What are they? I want to see but I cannot turn my head. I won't turn my head, not again. Not with that pain.

[cont]

My eyes are closed again. Tight. I open them a bit. A tear that had filled the corner of my eye falls slowly down my cheek. I don't care that I cried. The pain was that bad. I swallow. My throat is dry on the inside. My mouth feels like it is filled with sand. What am I seeing? There is the round light in my field of vision, but someone else is there in front of it. No, some thing. I don't recognize it. Yet, I have seen it before. Who is it? I want to speak, but I cannot. I lack strength to open my mouth, now. Who are you? There is a small head and two large eyes, staring at me. Blinking. That clicking again. Louder still. That wet clicking sound is all around me again. And a hand covers my face. Is it a hand? It feels rubbery, sticky, but hot. It squeezes my face slightly. The smell. I can smell! It smells musty. A slight odor of clothes, once wet that dried many days later. The hand on my face squeezes again. I open my eyes, slightly. I cannot see past the hand. But I can hear those tones again. That whirring sound. And then there is pain again - not so bad as when I attempted a head turn. But pain. On my shoulder. Something is piercing my skin. And suddenly there is the sound of a loud electrical pop! And all is black once more.

Dark. Sleep. Is this sleep?

I'm awake. I can move. My hands move, my fingers respond to the commands to wiggle issued from my brain. I open my eyes. It is night time. Dark, but not completely dark. There is the moon. I'm sitting in my car. Yes, it is my car. The engine is not running, but the radio is on and the keys are in the ignition. My seatbelt is not on me. But I never drive without it buckled. The car is on the median, to the right of the road. The road is dark and empty. There are no other cars coming and none in the distance that I can see. There are no city lights around. To my left and right is an open field. The full moon shines brightly, illuminating the trees in the distance.

There is a noise. The radio. It is on, but I hear static. I turn it down and try to switch the channel, but they all play static. 9:08. The clock glares the time at me. As if trying to tell me something. But what? I buckle my seatbelt and prepare to turn the key. But there is a great wind outside, suddenly. The car rocks to the left and right, and a blazing white light switches on, all around me, all around the car. It is so sudden that I jump. And then, it's gone. Someone flipped a switch. Or did they. The wind stops and the car goes still. The static on the radio stops suddenly, replaced by the crooning of a female singer. 9:09.

What has happened? Somehow, I know. I've been here before.

Mod Edit: Post removed.

This forum is dedicated to creative writing and short stories.

[edit on 5/30/2010 by AshleyD]

Mod Edit: Post removed.

This forum is dedicated to creative writing and short stories.

[edit on 5/30/2010 by AshleyD]

Is there a point to any of the stories in this forum? Sorry, I thought this was for people who like to write.

Awesome job!! Really enjoyed it! Reminded me of watching Fire in the Sky as a kid and being terrified.

Mod Edit: Post removed.

This forum is dedicated to creative writing and short stories.

[edit on 5/30/2010 by AshleyD]

There's poetry in this forum already. I don't have access to the writer's forum because Worldwatcher hasn't answered my U2U yet, or else I would be posting there. Geez, I thought this forum was for creating writing?

reply to post by black cat


OMG that was fantastic... it reminds me of the old Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone films. You know the ones that have the actor narrate their thoughts...

I loved it...great style

By the way ignore the troll.. I’ve been suckered by them before too.. Now i just know to ignore them.

Hello everyone. For those not aware of this forum's purpose, it is for creative writing and short stories. It is literary art.

Please refrain from posting if you're not here to add constructive feedback.