• Alex woke in a cold sweat. For more than a month he had been having nightmares, and his school, and his life had begun to suffer for it. Like all of the other nightmares he had had for the past month he had no memory of it, but the effects of the nightmare lingered. He had an uneasy feeling of it being true, and a feeling of dread began to fill his day, as though the dreams would eventually happen.

    He slowly got out of bed and got ready for class. The nightmares had somehow made him wake later than usual, and this day was no different. Both of his parents had already left for work, and his little sister was just getting on her school bus when he finally left the house.

    The overcast clouds made the day look as heavy and dreary as he felt. The drive seemed even slower that morning then others, and when he finally got to class, the door to the room was closed and locked. The professor had begun class, and refused to stop the lecture to let Him in.

    Later that night He picked up his girlfriend for their date. For almost two hours the date went well until his girlfriends ex-boyfriend had come into the theatre they were in.

    “I’ll be right back,” his girlfriend said as she got up. She made her way through the dimly lit theatre over to her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend and was talking to them. Alex did not pay much attention to the conversation they were having, but he would look over every few minutes to see what was going on.

    Half way through the movie he had been watching, a young woman came up to him and sat beside him. “I’m sorry, my girlfriend will be back soon,” he said apologetically.

    The young woman beside him laughed quietly. “I doubt it,” she said. “She left with my boyfriend a few minutes ago. Rob broke up with me and I’m sure your girlfriend will be calling you in a few minutes.”

    He did not believer her, but a few moments later his cell phone vibrated. He got up and went to the lobby. “Hello?” he asked into the microphone.

    “Hey, Alex, I’m sorry to get you out of the movie.” It was his girlfriend calling.

    Trying to hide his dissappointment, he said, “That’s okay. Is everything alright with you?”

    Over the receiver, He could hear a man laughing. “Yea, about that; Rob asked me to go out with him, and I said yes.” He felt as though he had been hit in the stomach. “I’m really sorry to have led you on, but I really just wanted to make Rob jealous, and it work. I’m sorry, Alex.”

    He faked a smile, and tried to sound happy for his now ex-girlfriend. “I’m glad it worked out for you.” Over the phone he could here Rob talking, but couldn’t make out what he said. “What did Rob say?”

    “Rob said that Courtney is a nice girl, and really fun to,” his ex-girlfriend said. Over the receiver He heard her ask Rob, “What do you mean nice?” Alex heard some shuffling around then a light slap. “That’s not nice to say about, Courtney. Did you think that way about me?” Again, Rob’s comment went unheard.

    “Look, Tracy, I’m going to go back to the movie,” He said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

    “Okay, Alex. Stay in touch, alright?”

    He did not bother giving her an answer and merely turned off his cell phone before going back into the movie theatre in time to see the end credits begin. He laughed lightly at himself. “I didn’t want to see the movie anyway,” he said, and left.

    * * * * * *


    Alex left the theatre along with the rest of the crowd that had seen the movie. He walked is if he was in a daze, lazily walking down the parking lot to his car. After pulling out of the parking lot he drove away from town and away from home. He did not want to get home so early and listen to his kid sister make jokes about it.

    He drove down a small two lane road with the windows down listening to the wind blow in and around the inside of the car. As he came up to a four-way stop he listened to the insects. At least, he tried to. The insects were eerily silent. The car’s engine was extremely quiet, and he should have heard them, but there was no sound, not even the wind.

    After looking to see that there was no oncoming traffic, He drove off from the stop. As he did a heavy fog seemed to rise from the ground. It did not gather at the ground, it looked as if it seeped up from it. Within seconds, the road was dark even with the headlights of the car.

    He slowed down significantly, hoping that if another car came down the road he would be able to see it in time to move out of its way. Just as he began to see the fog begin to brighten from headlights in the other direction, pain racked his body. It seemed to envelope him. He could feel the pain coursing throughout his body. It seemed to begin in the center of his chest and radiate outwards in all directions.

    He lost control of his car from the pain, and the car began to drift into the lane of the oncoming car. The oncoming car swerved, narrowly missing Him. His car drove down into a ditch at the side of the road and hit a small tree, the front end of it seeming to wrap around the tree trunk.

    Blue lights began to flash on the roof of the car that had swerved to miss Him. The police car turned around and drove back to where He had driven into the ditch. A spot light shined down from the police car cutting through the fog easily to illuminate Him and the accident he had just been in. Alex heard other car’s door open, then close, and a voice call out from it. “Is everyone alright down there?” the voice asked, sounding as if it was moving towards him.

    “I’m alright. I’m not hurt, I think,” Alex called out. He rubbed at his chest, where the seatbelt straps had dug into it. He undid the seatbelt carefully and had to push had on the door to get it open.

    He tripped getting out and looked up into the beam of a flashlight. “You sure your okay, kid?” the policeman asked, surprised that Alex was able to still walk, let alone get out after hitting the tree as hard as he had.

    “I’m alright,” Alex said. “I’m just a little bruised.” He and the cop walked back up the embankment to the police car and he waited fro a tow truck, as the cop made out a ticket for reckless driving.

    He leaned up against the side of the car as the cop made out the ticket. Looking down at the wreck that had once been a working car, He sighed. He wondered what his father would say, if anything. He wondered what jokes his sister would make out of it. He wondered what is mother would ask about how it had happened

    He glanced back at the cop making out the ticket just in time to see him seem to vanish. He ran to the car door and looked inside at the driver’s seat. The pad the cop had been holding lay in a pile of light gray ash. The pad itself was slightly burned on its edges and its back. The brown burn marks looked like fingers wrapping around the pad to make it easier to write on.

    He was about to try the police radio, when he heard a light snap and a quick hiss come from it. From under the dashboard came smoke. He took a few steps back scared of what would happen next. Answering his question, the smoke turned darker and was soon followed by a light orange glow from the fan slits on it. He took a few steps to the car again, and then jumped back when the entire interior of the car burst into flames. He could feel the heat rising from the fire as far back as he was.

    Worried that the car might explode, He ran to the tree line on the other side of the ditch. Seconds after reaching what he thought was safety, the police car exploded lifting into the air almost five feet on a plume of orange and yellow fire; landing seconds later with a loud crash, sending metal and glass shards flying in all directions.

    Coming from farther down the road, he could hear another similar sound. Trying to see through the dark, dense fog, he couldn’t see anything farther away then the destroyed police car.

    He considered waiting for the tow truck, but considering how the police car had exploded, and the cop had seemingly vanished, he took the cop’s flashlight and began walking home.

    Almost a mile from the destroyed police car, He came across the remains of the tow truck. Like the car, the truck had been lifted off the ground and landed hard enough to utterly destroy it. Only the scorched writing on a demolished door remained to show that it had been a tow truck at one time. He was glad that he decided to walk instead of wait for it; he would have been waiting forever if he had.

    * * * * * *


    After what seemed like hours of walking, He finally stopped to rest. The fog had yet to lift and had even seemed to thicken as he walked. The crickets, cicadas, and other insects had remained quiet, not making any sound. They seemed to have vanished along with the cop and tow truck driver.

    After leaning up against the trunk of a tree at the side of the road for a few moments, he heard the snap of a fallen tree limb being stepped on. He stood immediately at the noise and looked around, scared about what could be lurking in the woods. The sound of the snapped twig seemed to echo from the fog and the trees, making it sounds as though there was more that just one thing out there.

    He swung the lit flashlight around into the woods, trying to see what was in there. Every few seconds he would see what looked like a huge creature moving quietly through the woods, only to shine the light back at the spot and see a large misshapen tree in its place.

    Terrified from the fog, the missing people, and the noises, He, again, began walking home through the dense, dark, and terrifying fog. Eventually, he came back to the city limits. The city remained brightly lit, the lights from homes, and other buildings cutting through the fog, alleviated some of His fear. The glow of the lights through the fog almost gave the small city a romantic quality.

    When he came up to a small car that had driven into the woods at the side of the road, He was not expecting to find anyone. His curiosity got the better of him. He walked up to the wrecked vehicle and peered inside. The driver was slumped forward, her head against the steering wheel. Rivulets of blood had rolled down the wheel and dripped onto the woman’s shirt and pant legs. Frightened and disgusted by the sight, He backed away, making his way back to the dark road.

    As He walked along the seemingly deserted road, he began to see more and more cars at the side of the road. Some had been destroyed like the tow truck and police car, but others seemed to have merely been driven off, as if forced from the road, or the drivers had lost control somehow.

    Silence continued to roar through the city as it had through the dark empty road he had been walking along, trying to get home. The city usually had people driving through at all hours of the day, his own parents rarely ever got home before 10 PM. Now, the city seemed devoid of life. Not just of people, but of the birds, insects, and small animals. It seemed that everything and everyone had simply vanished just as the cop had.

    Looking up at a street sign He saw that he had another seven miles until he got home. As he started walking down the fog darkened street, He wondered what had happened to his family. Had they been hurt as the driver had been, had they vanished like the cop, or were they still at home waiting for him?

    As He worried about his family, he began thinking about Sean and his family. What had happened to them? Sean was supposed to be home working on a project for one of his classes. Was his parents alright? They worked odd hours, usually waking up a few hours before sunrise to get to work.

    He even wondered about Sean’s annoying younger sister, Heather, who had constantly gotten on both their nerves recently. She was only a year younger than He was, making her two years younger than her brother. She was annoying, but at least she was attractive. Sean often joked about him eventually getting together with her. Alex thought to himself, “Once I find out if my family is alright, I’ll go and check on them.