The Sommerfeld Stories: Lux Castro and the Street Lights

The Street Lights

It was a hot autumn night and Lux was late coming home. What was supposed to be a quick sandlot game turned into a 12th inning nail biter. Ending only when Joey had hit a home run, right over the fence and into the Johnson's pool. Sending Lux and himself to home plate, leaving the final score 10-8.

The August heat was intense in the small town of Sommerfeld, but Lux pays it no mind, reveling in her team's victory. She didn't even have a care to spare for the verbal berration she was sure to get from her father when she returned home after dark. The rule had always been "make sure you're home before the street lights come on". Aside from that Lux had the run of her small town. She grew up playing in the woods on the edge of Sommerfeld, swimming in the creek with friends, and of course playing ball in the local sandlot.

She had always obeyed her father's one rule. But, now that she was about to turn 13, she thought that she had outgrown it a bit and had begun to test her limits. This wasn't her first night of coming home past curfew, but on the prior occasions, her father had been working late at the mill and would never know she hadn't followed his rule.

He had always been a superstitious man, and a small part of Lux thought he had reason to be. A lot of strange occurrences seemed to happen in Sommerfeld. Livestock would go missing almost too frequently for it to be normal. And the people who lived there would sometimes change. Not gradually but overnight, as if they experienced some sort of great awakening. One such strangeness had happened to Lux's best friend Noah. But she had chalked that up to general tween-aged angst or some kind of coming of age nonsense. What was harder to shake had been her mother's death some six years prior. Lux had been told it was a car crash. But then, that always seemed to be the story when someone's family member would pass suddenly in Sommerfeld. There were an alarmingly high number of car crashes for such a small town. But Lux was young, and carefree, so she didn't dwell on such things.

Tossing her baseball in the air then catching it again, she turned to walk down Maple Drive. So named for the dense woods that were parallel to the house lined street. Lux whistled a nonsense tune as she approached the high school on the right. She would be attending there next year, but for now she was in her last year at Polk, a k-8th. Eighth graders were considered top dogs at Polk, and Lux thought it felt great to be king.

As she neared the street corner where the bus stop stood the streetlights began to glow in earnest as the sun sank completely behind the mountains on the horizon. One light, about a quarter mile ahead of her, seemed to be overshadowed by the trees around it. She couldn't make out the pole to which

the light was attached. But she could see the light it was giving off, it shone far brighter than any of the other lamps on the street.

And, was it a trick of the light, or maybe she was tired from the game, but it seemed to Lux that the light was moving ever so slightly? The soft summers breeze seemed to grow warmer as she approached the strange streetlight. It must be the heat coming off the asphalt she thought. Sometimes in the summertime, even through the dark of night, it was possible to see the waves of heat coming off the blacktop.

The trees near the top of the light post began to rustle and shake. It must be the wind. She thought, but that can't be right. The wind isn't even strong enough to ruffle my hair. Thinking that it must be an owl or a hawk in the branches causing the movement Lux carried on down the street. The rustling stopped, and she was just beginning to think that she had been silly in worrying when it happened.

A gargantuan creature stepped out from the tree line. It was taller than the average street light, maybe 12 or so feet tall. It looks almost like a deer, its long neck tapering off into a "head" with antlers. The antlers were composed of the shattered remnants of telephone lines and street lamp posts. They stuck out at jagged angles, with bits of foliage trapped in the dangling cables.

The antlers were nothing compared to the head. At least Lux thought it was a head. Because set into the face were over a dozen "eyes". Yellow spotlights, car headlights, and floodlights dotted the creatures face, giving off an intense heat, shining electric bright, cutting through the autumn night. It snorts, and a burst of steam sprayed out from behind each glowing eye.

At least, Lux thought that they were eyes. For as soon as she spotted the creature, she gasped and dropped her baseball. It turned those shockingly yellow orbs to face her and stared after the dropped ball, then snapped its eyes back onto Lux. They both looked at each other in silence. Then the creature tilts its head, as if pondering the person before it.

The head movement sent Lux into motion. She began to sprint past the creature while thinking this must be a dream, a nightmare. She ran down the tree lined lane towards her suburb. The creature followed, slowly at first. As Lux started to round the corner into her subdivision, she chanced a glance back over her shoulder. Maybe the creature wouldn't follow. This was a foolish hope. As she rounded the curb the creature began to run, a cantering gait, picking up speed.

That initial moment's head start was her only saving grace. The creature was steadily gaining on her. One more street, just one more street then I'm home, she thought. But what good would the walls of her home be against this alien creature? Still, she had to hold on to that idea, even if it was a privileged child's notion, that home would always be a place of safety. So, she ran on, her tennies making a thwaking slap against the pavement. Behind her the creature's hooves clip clopped in a faster tempo. Her lungs burned from the exertion of running. This was panic induced speed the likes of which Lux had never achieved before. She wasn't running to steal third, this was an all-out race for her life.

Soon her house came into sight. The porch light was on, its glow was dim in comparison to the harsh spotlight that was chasing her. The blinding light cast from the beast's eyes had Lux's silhouette racing on ahead of her. She crested the curb onto the sidewalk, the stitch in her side throbbing painfully with each beat of her heart. She was slowing down, and the creature was gaining on her. She could hear the things hooves cantering closer, feel the heat coming from its lights.

With a last hail Mary burst of energy Lux reached her front gate. She hopped over it as she had done a million times before, this time just barely clearing the white picket boards. Up the lawn she ran, onto the porch, and through the unlocked front door. She slammed it behind her, panting from the exertion of being chased home. She whipped around and gazed through the door's peephole. The creature had stopped suddenly at the property line, as if something were stopping it from crossing the threshold. It snorted, a burst of steam coming from its bizarre face, pouring out from the circumference of each eye. Through the small hole she watched as the creature stared at the house for a moment longer before turning slowly around and heading back towards the forest lined Maple Street.

A voice from behind her startled her out of watching the creatures retreat.

It was her father, "You're late. Haven't I told you, come home before the street lights turn on."