Short Stories

They See Me Too

(The Main Character Has Amnesia: cedar, angle, satellite, cinnamon, fortune, cookie, harbor, , invitation, soccer, annual, speaker)

Everything sounds muffled.  My head hurts as I come back to consciousness and I blink a few times as I try to regain my grounds.  I look around to see that I'm on the docks at the harbor. What happened last night? There is broken glass and burnt wood everywhere.  I slowly stand up, my head pounds, I use the wall of a nearby storage unit to gain my balance.  Placing my hand over my eyes, to shield from the sun, I look around, trying to figure out exactly where I am.  As I look in land, I seen a radio station, it is easily identifiable by the many satellite dishes on the outside. Maybe I can call for help.

I begin walking towards the building, unsteady and weak.  As I get closer, I read the old wooden sign on the side of the building.  It reads "Cedar Radio: The Best Station for The Best Music".  I smile as I remember last Christmas.  I was with my family for our annual gathering. This was the first year I actually had brought someone with me. Steve and I had been together for about nine months at that point. The whole family sat in the living space around the fired place, drinking cinnamon hot cocoa and eating Christmas cookies.  My father, my brother, and Steve all sat talking the soccer game.  My mom and aunts were talking about what we should do with grandma and grandpa for the holiday season.  I smile turning on the Cedar Radio station, they always played the best holiday music, Silent Night begins playing. The room falls quiet and we all took a moment to just listen. It was perfect.

As I reach for the door of the radio shack, I am pulled back into reality.  I'm surprised when the door opens with ease but when I step inside, all of my hope fades away. The room is a disaster. Every bit of equipment, destroyed. It looks as if someone came in and just threw everything around. And though I feel defeated, I decide to try and look through the mess. That's when I come across an untouched drawer, I pull it open and find a phone. When I unlock it, I realize that it's my phone and I have a ton of missed calls and texts.  Most of them are from Steve, Rachel, and my parents.  I quickly scan the texts from Rachel and Steve.  They all say about the same thing.  That I needed to find them, call them, or that they were just worried, that something had gone wrong.  This just left me even more confused than anything so I went to my voice mail.

"Avery, it's Steve.  Rachel and I are in the back of the arena.  Please try to find us.  It's chaos in here.  Their starting the bus people out of here and we don't wanna have to leave you. Please call me." He sounds worried and there's a lot of shouting in the background.

"Hey, Avery.  This is Rachel, umm, Steve and I got separated.  I don't know how or when it happened it but I'm on a bus leaving, right now.  I don't know what's happening and I'm kinda scared. Please call me and if you find him tell me I'm a safe." I can hear the fear in her voice and a strange low hum in the background before more yelling.

"Bubs, your father and I are really worried.  There's this news story about some sort of mishap at a party out there, please call us and tell us that you're okay.  We're really worried about you and Steve.  This news story doesn't sound good.  You guys should probably leave town, stay with us for a while. Please call me back, okay?" I smile at my nickname but the smile quickly fades as memories of last night flood my mind.

Rachel had gotten invited to some sort of party so she asked Steve and I to go with her.  We figured that it would be fun so we agreed to go with.  When we got there the place was already packed, there was loud music, and free drinks.  The night was kind of a blur of laughing with my friends and meeting amazing people.

Out of nowhere, a siren starts blaring out of the speaker system and I'm jerked back to reality.  I had ducked as of reflex.  After a moment I realized that this shack wasn't going to hold up to whatever is coming.  I shove my phone in my pocket and quickly go outside.  I see that the sky has grown dark, as I look around for a place to hide. Fortunately, I spot a large boulder that goes up at a sharp angle and curves to create a type of cave.  I move as quickly as I can over to the boulder and press my backed up against it the sturdy wall.  I lower myself to the ground and cover my head.  That's when I notice the ground is shaking and hear that foreign yet somehow familiar rumbling sound.  And once again I'm flooded with last night's memories.

I offered to go get the table some drinks but as I near the bar, there's a loud crash and a low rumble.  Nearly everyone in the vicinity ducks but stands quickly trying to figure out what it was. There are screams coming from the opposite end of the arena and I can't help but feel panicked. As people begin running for their lives, I just stand there shocked. I tried to rush back to where I left my friends but someone grabs me by the arm and pulls me with them. I am rushed into a large bus and it quickly pulls away from the building.  I try to tell someone that my friends are still in there but they tell me that there's no use going back.  That's when I look back to the building that is now surrounded by strange machinery and has gone up in flames. Tears sting my eyes and I lower down onto the floor and hide beneath the seats. When the bus comes to a quick stop, I'm jolted forward and hit my head on the seat in front of me.  I hear the same rumble from the party and the rise of voices. I hear subtle footsteps as people try to get a better idea of why we stopped. There's a loud shriek from the front of the bus and then a blinding white light. I cover my head and close my eyes. When I open them, I see a woman lying dead in front of me. I cover my mouth trying not to making noise, unsure if there is still anyone on the bus and not wanting to risk getting caught.

After what felt like ages, of staring at that poor woman.  The humming silenced itself and I slowly rose from the ground.  I looked around seeing nothing but fire, smoke, and death. Everyone is dead. I carefully walk to the front of the bus and exit at the door. I walk for what seemed like days. I try to check my phone but it's dead.  So, when I stumbled across the radio station in the harbor, I broke in and charged my phone.  As the phone turned back on, I could hear a low rumble in the distance.  I quickly hid my phone and in metal drawer and threw the rest of the machinery around the room.  I spot a storage container that slightly was open, not far from where I was and decide to run.  As I neared it, I hear a bang and there's a flash of light.  Everything goes black.

I blink the tears out of my eyes. I waitrealizing the ground has stopped shaking. I slowly stand up and peer around the boulder. That's when I see them, and I know that they see me, too.