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Authors: Dennis Liggio
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least ten feet wide. It pulsed upwards and there was a high pitched whine that was audible even from where I was.
“This is bad,” I said out loud.
“What is it? John? What’s going on?”
I kept staring at that white pillar heading skywards, my mind freaking out with possibilities, my teeth grinding. In one quick second, I made a decision.
“Morty, I gotta go, I’ll call you back,” I said, not even waiting for an answer. I leaned over and grabbed my emergency bag from the glove box and jumped out of the car. I sprinted through the trees in the direction of the hospital. I wasn’t letting her get away. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was trouble. I needed to find her and make sure she was safe.
Halfway through the trees, I tripped and hit the ground hard. There was a sharp pain in my left ankle. I was winded too, revealing that I needed to do more exercise, more cardio at least. I cursed and gently moved my foot. The last thing I needed was a broken ankle. There was some pain, but it wasn’t strong enough for a broken bone. I probably just twisted it. I saw that an exposed root had tripped me. I slowly untangled my foot from it and stood up. I tentatively put weight on my left foot. It hurt, but I could work with it. I’d probably just be limping for an hour or two. Not ideal, but workable. The high pitched whine was more audible. I stared up again at the white pillar of light and cursed. I couldn’t run, but I limped quickly toward the hospital.
A few minutes later and I crouched at the stone wall that surrounded the hospital grounds. I carefully made my way through the brush along the wall to the gate. With a twisted ankle, I didn’t want to risk hurting myself more climbing over a wall while a gate should still be open. I didn’t know that time was running short. I didn’t know that I’d just barely make it.
I also didn’t know that being a minute or two slower probably saved my life.
Skulking through the bushes against the wall, I finally saw the gate. The brush grew in a ditch and the ground sloped upwards to where the road was as it passed through the gate. Seeing it gave me relief from both my scrambling through the brush and the scratches from that same brush. I moved toward the sloping ground, about to take a step up onto the road when I heard a different crash and laughter.
I’m not sure why the laughter affected me in such a strong way. The laughter of strangers generally doesn’t bother me. But this laughter was different. It came from deep inside its host: loud, shrill, and tinged with death. Something about this laughter touched my very basic fight-or-flight instinct, something inside me yelling, “Danger!” Without thinking I pulled back midstep and crouched in the brush, waiting.
At first, all I could hear was the beating of my heart and the rasp of my breath as I tried to calm down while my danger sense was screaming. I almost thought it was a false alarm, but then I heard footsteps and a faint chuckle. I could hear the footsteps of someone – no, some ones walking across the parking lot. The next reasonable thought was that I shouldn’t be so scared. It was a night watchman, some nurses, orderlies getting off their shift, maybe some relatives of patients being turned away. It was still best I lay low, so I didn’t have to explain skulking or my curiosity about the white light. But reasonably, rationally, it was nothing to be so freaked out about. Luckily, those rational thoughts did not win out in my scared animal mind and my body tensed to run, scampering back into the trees if I needed to.
The footsteps grew louder. When I could hear breathing I knew that they were almost at the gate. My heart pounding, I held my breath to conceal as much of my presence as I could. It was just a moment later when they came into view. My eyes grew wide and I froze; I’m not sure if I could let go of my breath if I could. I’m glad I didn’t. Thankfully they walked right past
“This is bad,” I said out loud.
“What is it? John? What’s going on?”
I kept staring at that white pillar heading skywards, my mind freaking out with possibilities, my teeth grinding. In one quick second, I made a decision.
“Morty, I gotta go, I’ll call you back,” I said, not even waiting for an answer. I leaned over and grabbed my emergency bag from the glove box and jumped out of the car. I sprinted through the trees in the direction of the hospital. I wasn’t letting her get away. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was trouble. I needed to find her and make sure she was safe.
Halfway through the trees, I tripped and hit the ground hard. There was a sharp pain in my left ankle. I was winded too, revealing that I needed to do more exercise, more cardio at least. I cursed and gently moved my foot. The last thing I needed was a broken ankle. There was some pain, but it wasn’t strong enough for a broken bone. I probably just twisted it. I saw that an exposed root had tripped me. I slowly untangled my foot from it and stood up. I tentatively put weight on my left foot. It hurt, but I could work with it. I’d probably just be limping for an hour or two. Not ideal, but workable. The high pitched whine was more audible. I stared up again at the white pillar of light and cursed. I couldn’t run, but I limped quickly toward the hospital.
A few minutes later and I crouched at the stone wall that surrounded the hospital grounds. I carefully made my way through the brush along the wall to the gate. With a twisted ankle, I didn’t want to risk hurting myself more climbing over a wall while a gate should still be open. I didn’t know that time was running short. I didn’t know that I’d just barely make it.
I also didn’t know that being a minute or two slower probably saved my life.
Skulking through the bushes against the wall, I finally saw the gate. The brush grew in a ditch and the ground sloped upwards to where the road was as it passed through the gate. Seeing it gave me relief from both my scrambling through the brush and the scratches from that same brush. I moved toward the sloping ground, about to take a step up onto the road when I heard a different crash and laughter.
I’m not sure why the laughter affected me in such a strong way. The laughter of strangers generally doesn’t bother me. But this laughter was different. It came from deep inside its host: loud, shrill, and tinged with death. Something about this laughter touched my very basic fight-or-flight instinct, something inside me yelling, “Danger!” Without thinking I pulled back midstep and crouched in the brush, waiting.
At first, all I could hear was the beating of my heart and the rasp of my breath as I tried to calm down while my danger sense was screaming. I almost thought it was a false alarm, but then I heard footsteps and a faint chuckle. I could hear the footsteps of someone – no, some ones walking across the parking lot. The next reasonable thought was that I shouldn’t be so scared. It was a night watchman, some nurses, orderlies getting off their shift, maybe some relatives of patients being turned away. It was still best I lay low, so I didn’t have to explain skulking or my curiosity about the white light. But reasonably, rationally, it was nothing to be so freaked out about. Luckily, those rational thoughts did not win out in my scared animal mind and my body tensed to run, scampering back into the trees if I needed to.
The footsteps grew louder. When I could hear breathing I knew that they were almost at the gate. My heart pounding, I held my breath to conceal as much of my presence as I could. It was just a moment later when they came into view. My eyes grew wide and I froze; I’m not sure if I could let go of my breath if I could. I’m glad I didn’t. Thankfully they walked right past
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