Weird Dream Story

This is as far as I am in this story so far, I have a couple more sections to add. I wanted to get some sample of my writing up here for now. Hope you guys enjoy!

Sunset

It was just before sunset and, like most summer evenings, it was warm and the sky was a clear blue. My family and I sat on the patio and waited for the sun to set while the smell of smoke still clung to the air. We were having a barbeque at my mother’s house. We heard the sirens after coffee but before dessert.

They demanded we head to the nearest shelter immediately.

We were prepared. The news had been warning us for months this could happen. So, we had practiced. The plan was for me to grab the first aid kit, stuffed in a backpack full of necessities. My father would carry the larger bag of supplies, and my mother would be responsible for my little sister.

Now it was really happening. My mom’s screaming bled together with the wailing sirens. I snatched the backpack I was responsible for and raced out the door, my father at my side. We were ushered in to a neighbor’s car without, I realized, my mother and sister. They were left somewhere behind and as I grew hysterical, another neighbor outside the car shouted a promise that he would get them to the shelter too.

Numb, the car ride, became a blur of sounds and shapes rushing past me. I hardly noticed when we arrived at our destination. My dad and I got out of the car and were instantly swept up in a crowd of terrified, panicked people. They were pushing us into the school gym and I rode the current of that rushing, human river far stronger than I.

The gym of our local high school was our neighborhood’s designated emergency shelter point. I looked up at the old thing, my hopes bleak. This was to be our safe place. This building that was losing the battle to time was to keep us protected from whatever it was that waited outside its doors.

Someone in the crowd took me by the wrist and my heart leapt into my throat. I spun around with a shout, only to see my tear-stained father.

“We have to find [MC] and [MC],” he said. His hand, still on my wrist, began trembling. “We have to find them, [MC]!”

I scanned the crowd with a pit in my stomach. What if we couldn’t find them? But after a few minutes, my father announced that he spotted my mother in the crowd and tugged me over to her.

When we got to her, my father embraced my mother and kissed her. I looked for [Sister] and the pit in my stomach turned into nausea. My sister was missing and somehow my mother was unnervingly calm. It was as if none of this had shaken her; as if her screams to get out of the house were for the benefit of our neighbors and not her own panic-stricken frame of mind.

“[Mom], where is [Sister]?” my father asked. The distress in his voice was hardly contained.

Mom didn’t respond. It was like she couldn’t even hear him. Out of anger, or maybe annoyance, my father walked away to go find my sister on his own.

“Mom…where is she?” I quietly asked, unsure if she could hear me or not. My mother met my gaze, but not with eyes I knew. The loving, devoted mother, the one who spoiled me and my sister and would do anything for us, wasn’t standing in front of me. This woman looked like her, sounded the same, but her eyes… They were someone else’s eyes staring back at me, as if through a cold and unfamiliar mask.

This person wasn’t my mother. It wore her face but it was something else entirely.

Timidly, I asked again: “Did you bring her with you?”

“She wouldn’t have made it anyway.” Her cool response hit me like a slap in the face. I even took a step back, mind reeling, and hot tears began to fall from my eyes. Whoever this was had left my sister behind to face what was happening alone. My arrival was a blur but my exit was sharp and clear. I pushed through the people blocking the doorway, I fought the current of civilians trying to get inside, and I was the only one trying to get back out. I would face whatever was out there, alone if I had to. But I was going back for [Sister].

I was going to find my sister.

Orange

            The sun had set, and the dark exodus of terrified strangers continued to push into the building. Many yelled at me.

“No! What are you doing?”

“Where are you going?”

“Get out of my way!”

“Get back inside! You’ll die if you stay out here!”

I ignored them. I had no idea what was waiting for me but I had to get back home. I finally pushed my way through the edge of the crowd and darted toward a tree.

From my new position, I noticed men in strange suits were shepherding people into the building. I hadn’t noticed them before, when my father and I had arrived.

Once they had funneled the rest of the crowd inside, they shut and barred the double doors to the gym. Something metallic caught my eye. About half the men wore strange things on their backs. I squinted.

They were steel backpacks, each with a hose attached to a pole.

Everyone without a backpack retreated. Those with them used the poles to spit fire all around the building. Flames poured through the nozzles and splashed over the building. They were burning the building down with everyone inside.

Equal parts horrified and shocked, I turned and ran.

The heat from the fire and the screams from everyone inside clawed at my back and ears. Tears streamed thick down my face as I made my way home. The night was cool but my ears rang and my back burned with the guilt that I had escaped whatever was going on. I ran past people fleeing their homes and dodged more men in suits.

By the time I made it home, I was surprised my legs were still connected to my body. I stepped on the lawn and collapsed. My stomach ached and my eyes were red. I tried to catch my breath then forced myself to get back up, to keep moving. I had made it, I just needed to go inside.

            The door hung open on its hinges, but it looked anything but inviting. My heart pounded heavy in my chest and for all my drive, I stopped and stood on the front stoop. Someone had come through and destroyed the interior of my childhood home. Chairs were flipped, books and knickknacks were strewn across the ground, and the contents of drawers had been cast everywhere.

I swallowed my fear and walked inside. I peeked into the kitchen. The fridge hung open and pots and pans decorated the floor. I listened but heard nothing but my own labored breathing. Softly, I called my sister’s name. Initially there was no response, but then there came the faint sound of something moving inside the cabinet that once housed the pots.

I quietly made my way over and whispered her name again. The cabinet door creaked open and I caught a glimpse of my sister hiding inside. I opened it a little further, relieved to see her. I did my best to smile and then I reached for her, but as I did, I noticed there was something sitting next to her. I couldn’t make out much of its shape, but it was staring back at me with cold dead eyes.

Terrified, I ripped my sister from the cabinet and slammed the door shut. I took her into my arms and rushed out of the house as fast I could, back in to the unforgiving night.