Short Stories

Short Story #9

I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw a small copse of trees in my backyard beginning to emit soft blue light.

I stared through my window in shock. I recalled from a lesson on plants that plants were supposed to take in light, not emit it. I opened the window and looked outside. Sure enough, there was light coming from those trees, and it was increasing in intensity.
I yelled to my parents that I was going for a walk. It was still evening, and the sun barely kissed the horizon in the distance. My actions didn't seem out of the ordinary. I shrugged on a thin grey jacket and rushed outside, upsetting a potted plant and spilling chocolate-colored soil across the cracked concrete.

Sprinting across the yard, I ignored the beautiful sky and clouds that normally inspired my art and descriptive writing and instead focused on the blue light that now rivaled the sun in brightness. As I approached, I noticed a strange warping and shimmering of everything within a five-meter radius of the glowing sphere, as if it was surrounded by a thin sheen of insect wings.

I stopped just outside the five-meter zone, and warily observed the light, which now outshined the midday sun. Recalling what happens to anyone in movies and books who try to touch weird objects, I moved back a few feet and picked up a rock. I pitched it hard at the light. However, as soon as it made contact with the shell around the light, it slowed down and hovered in midair. 

I picked up a stick and poked it at the rock. It didn't move, and part of the stick broke off when I pulled it back. I decided that things seemed to stick to the barrier, and I backed off. This can't be real. It's just a hallucination or something.

I ran back inside, closing the door behind me. I pounded up the stairs and shut the door to my room. I sat on the bed and put my hands on my head. My heart was racing a mile a minute, and small beads of sweat quickly broke out on my forehead and palms. Even if it was just a hallucination, I was still terrified at how realistic it was.

That night, I slept fitfully and woke up several times. My dreams were plagued with glowing spheres of light descending from the sky and stopping everyone and everything in their tracks.

The next morning, I wolfed down pancakes and sausage and spent the morning on a chair outside. I draped a few towels from the patio's canopy to block out the brilliant radiance from the sphere of light. Worryingly, I noted that the sphere had noticeably grown in size. 

I stared up through the glass canopy, watching the clouds lazily drifting through the sky. From time to time, a gentle breeze blew, and the lush green grass rippled and made gentle rustling noises. The tree's shadows, who had seemed sharp, angular, even malignant the previous night, now softened their edges and cast shade to the ground around them. Birds perched in the trees and sang to one another, the sweet notes filling the air with a melody that seemed to emphasize the harmony in the peaceful day.

Alas, the peace was shattered when a bird swooped from its branch to approach the sphere curiously. I thought nothing of it, but when its legs made contact with the sphere, it let out an unearthly screech. This was prolonged for quite some time until it finally sunk within the now-seven-meter boundary. 

I sighed and stood up. Perhaps inside was better. I made for the door, but then I noticed the rock and stick bits from last night was now just incrementally farther inside the sphere, even if I took into account the expansion of the boundary.

I took a deep breath and picked up another stick to see if I could poke the rock further in. I found a nice one and reached for it. However, no matter how much I strained, I couldn't pick it up. I gave it one final tug before it gave, flying into the air. I stumbled backward, and my hand made contact with the outer sphere.

I yelped as I saw this, and instinctively flinched. However, nothing happened. I tried to wave my hand around inside the sphere, and the cool air on my hand told me I was waving it around like a maniac at the moment, but I didn't see it move.

I tried to tug my hand out, but a red-hot bolt split the area where my arm met the sphere. I yelled out again. It seemed as if whatever went in never came out. Resigning to this fact, I reached for my phone to call 911. Amputation on this spot would take a while, probably be painful and messy, and would last my entire life, but I didn't even want to consider the other option. 

I dialed 911 and explained my situation to the operator. The operator, a man with a gruff voice, laughed and told me I'd be a good fantasy writer. I furiously hung up. My parents were both out doing a few extra hours at work, and they'd trusted me to stay safe alone at home. I snorted at the thought of that. 

There was no other choice. It was likely suicide, but I had to go into the sphere. I took a deep breath, took one final look at the lovely scene around me, took one final moment to appreciate the beauty of this world, took one final moment to say goodbye.

I stepped into the sphere. 

Nothing changed. At least, nothing happened to me. I was able to comfortably walk around inside the sphere, and I plucked the rock from the edge of the sphere and held it in my palm. Somehow, the cool, rocky weight soothed me.

But a strange phenomenon started taking place. The grass around the sphere instantly started twitching and briefly changing colors, as if I were observing a time-lapse of the growth of the grass. I looked up and was briefly shocked. There were incredibly brief flashes of motion occurring at the edge of the sphere. I saw what looked like a police officer flash for just a hundredth of second at the edge of the sphere before disappearing. I saw my mother laying on the grass in front of the sphere. This image twitched and jumped rapidly, but it stayed there for several seconds.

My nerves frayed, I sat cross-legged on the still grass inside the sphere and watched as the time-lapse played out. I saw my parents disappear from any flicker after a few dozen seconds. Flickers occurred much less frequently over time, and by the one-minute mark they had died out completely. A few seconds after that, the house rapidly began to collapse, and the surrounding area had regressed to a dense forest.

Suddenly, the sphere popped, like a bubble. I stood up, stretching a little and taking in my surroundings. Not a single footprint was around. I ventured off into the forest.

Years later, I returned to the forest. I had explored the entire continent, and not a soul was to be seen.

I was alone.

A/N: 1202 words today. This is a slightly more abstract kind of writing, and I'm not entirely sure what the meaning behind this is. The idea for the time slowing came from a mix of (kinda) the Doctor Strange movie, the Percy Jackson series, and a book called Death's End- specifically, the trails left by the lightspeed curvature propulsion ships.
No plot at all today!
Have a good day/night, whatever time of day it is for you right now.