Lights Out

Riding Alone

The turn signal blinked noisily in the still night as Colleen rode home. She hadn't meant to leave the party so late, but when your best friend turns forty and you're not far behind, one more drink turns into a few more. By the time Colleen was sober enough to get behind the wheel, midnight had come and gone. But she had a hungry dog at home and a husband who probably wasn't home either.

She rolled up the windows as she drove. She had them down in the hot afternoon sun but the temperature had dropped significantly. Goosebumps broke out along her arm as the last whisper of cold air rushed in as the glass met door. Colleen thought about blasting the heat but thought better of it; the old clunker barely had enough gusto to get her home. She had been meaning to bring it in and exchange it, but between work and a looming divorce she didn't have time.

The endless road was starting to make Colleen tired. Her head bobbed continuously but she refused to pull over. The area outside town was too sketchy for her to feel safe staying overnight. But as the minutes ticked by, Colleen's eyelids drooped more and more. Until a bright yellow flash flew into the windshield of her car.

Colleen slammed her foot into the brake pedal, her ankle crying out from an old injury, and swerved to the side of the road. Her little car screeched to a halt after bumping against the safety rail but Colleen could only stare as her heart thudded painfully in her chest. She swept her hands over her body looking for cuts or bruises but ultimately found none.

She carefully stepped out of her car and looked back where she had come. Her taillights illuminated the road but Colleen had to do a double take. Standing in the middle of the road was a young boy about her nephew's age in a wildflower yellow slicker. It was ripped in several places, exposing his tattered blue shirt and cargo pants underneath. He stood there with his head facing the asphalt, his long dark hair shielding his face.

"Hello? Are you hurt? What's your name, kid?"

Colleen began to walk to him when he didn't answer. As she got closer, she saw his shoulders shaking. Soft whimpers came from the little boy and she could see maroon among the yellow. She immediately knelt in front of him, taking his hands like she would Martin. She tried to touch his hair and he yanked himself away from her with a cry.

"Do you hurt? It's okay, I'm a friend. I want to help you."

The boy jerked, just once, and turned himself to face Colleen. "You can't help me."

Colleen's heart broke at how scared and hopeless he sounded. "I can take you home. Do you know where you live?"

The boy nodded slowly, still hesitant to trust her. Colleen held out her hand and waited for him to be brave enough to take it. It took several long moments before he did, just when Colleen was ready to give up. "By the cemetery."

Colleen knew the family by the cemetery, a young couple just moved in. She was sure they were going crazy looking for him by now. She gently led him to her idling car, buckling him into the backseat on the passenger side. She couldn't help but notice that the skin she was able to touch was slimy, like a mildew coating on your house. It gave her the chills.

As Colleen pulled away from the curb, her stomach felt uneasy. She tried to explain it away as anxiety from the near accident, but as she traveled further down the road she wanted to turn back. She could feel eyes pressing down on her but when she glanced at the boy, his head still hung low. It also chilled her to the bone that he hadn't said a word since getting in the car.

As she got closer to the cemetery, Colleen felt like a vice was gripping her skull, twisting and tightening to cause pain. She felt the urge to vomit and did so after barely stopping the car, her head feeling like it would explode. The sudden wind whipped her hair around her face, blinding her as she leaned back into the car.

"I told you, you couldn't help me."

Colleen looked into the rear view mirror and finally saw the boy's face. Half was a scared little boy with green eyes, and the other half was twisted into a snarl. It was a face devoid of anything resembling a human.

Colleen screamed. The boy lurched between the seats in a haze of black mist and then his arm was pushing down her throat. Colleen could feel his fingers poking and prodding at her insides as she desperately tried to peel him off her. It was like grabbing dead air, there was nothing she could hold on to and it frightened her more. It then ripped through her throat, aiming for where her heart should be.

She couldn't breathe and as it pushed against her to go deeper inside her, her foot slowly started to come off the brake. Colleen made a split decision then, and threw herself forward to slam the gas pedal down as far as she could get it. The car shot forward in a near perfect line, but then slowly began to swerve to the curb once more. Colleen kept her foot on the pedal even though her whole body was in pain, the creature now trying to slide down her throat.

She saw the nose of the car turn towards some trees, and she began to pray. She hadn't prayed since she was a kid forced to go to mass by her pious grandmother, but in that moment, Colleen gained a sense of peace. It brought her acceptance knowing God would take her soul. And when the car slammed into the tree and broke her neck, she had a bloody smile on her face.

But the creature didn't stop its assault. It was saved from flying through the windshield by being embedded in Colleen's body, and it knew it didn't have much time. It could feel her soul leaving her body, so it shoved itself the rest of the way in, practically purring when her jaw snapped and cracked. It wanted her in pain.

It grabbed her soul, keeping it in her body, and made itself a cozy home in her stomach to devour Colleen. She would be nothing but a shell by the time it finished with her. And then it would climb back out, assume the lost child mirage, and find another unlucky soul. It had millenniums of practice, after all.

It wondered briefly about the prayers in her head as she died, but it didn't faze the creature. It was a God in its own right; others didn't scare it. All it knew, was that Colleen had been delicious and it was starving for more.