Unnatural

I wrote this short story during my Junior/Senior year of high school after my combo American English and History class had everyone write a Halloween story in less than an hour. I was nervous but did surprisingly well to entertain the class (Unless my peers lied to me) telling a story about a blood drive gone bad at school. It made me want to write something even greater with more time so a few months later I wrote Unnatural. It was inspired by the current shows and movies I was watching like Predator and Anime like Naruto. Although, I think most stories are inspired by something just sometimes is it is not so clear. I adapted the story recently to more of a first person perspective in light of the fact that I am a better writer today allowing me to express myself as well as my ideas more. For anyone interested or any writers who would like to see a 3-4 year writing transition, I posted the original at the bottom. Please enjoy, I was going for a horror effect and slowly moved into my real passion of dark, dry, and gritty Sci-Fi thriller. Although not as dark as I wanted.

I find the differences in my writing astounding. I literally found my original version of the story on an old website I had made for posting stories and articles like I do now. Except back then I was just messing around. Hell I still am. I was immediately entranced to rewrite the story as a final edit after all these years. It was one of the most interesting things I have done as a writer this year. I cannot wait for my next short story, which will probably be that dark horror I am working on, but I have several in the works. Happy reading.

Unnatural (Revised 2009)

I remember the horrible event like it was yesterday. I can still feel the exact moment as the sun, innocent and pure, had barely begun to break through the thick fog that Halloween morning. I was by myself, just your average high school student late for class. I was walking to school like I always do. It was only about four blocks from my home. Naturally this turned into about 20 minutes or so depending on how you walked. I walk lightly, so the 20 minutes was a nice vent before the torture of high school began for me.

My legs were a little sore from yesterday's team practice, but the walk was doing me good to start the day. Even though it was Halloween I had chosen to not wear a costume. I didn't really care if my friends teased me all day. I guess I can't accept Halloween as a fun and relaxing event even in my small suburban town. Although (To be honest), I didn't know what to wear without being teased in the first place. Would I dress up as one of the many fantasy characters I drew in class or just be another vampire like everyone else? Nah. I would be teased either way. High school leaves way too much spare time to think about dumber things let alone pick out a stupid costume. I remember thinking about this while I was stuck at the big intersection a block from school. I swear this streetlight is possessed. It never turns green when you want to cross. It was here that I began to see something unnatural in the sky.

Before it gets weird, I want to be clear about everything. So before we get into the confusing part let me explain the logistics. From this intersection I can see my schools patriotic American flag shining high in the sky. Another symbol of the grief I had for coming to such a crappy place. Patriotic? Students in my class hardly stand for the pledge of allegiance. Normally I stare at the flag as I wait for the light to change but this time I wandered off from the flag and towards the red streetlight. I started to squint at it. I did not care if I was late, but my patience was failing. It was one of those streetlights with an over stretched metal pole attached to it. The kind that wiggled in the wind every so often. I took the wiggle as my power of thought moving it. I pointed at that God dam red streetlight like the eye of the devil starring back at me. As I was staring and pointing at the red streetlight I did one other thing, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Turn green you stupid piece of..." I stopped right there. No other words would come out. In fact those were the last words to come out of my mouth that day.

It was almost instantaneous after that. Before I could get the last bit of foul angry words out of my mouth the red streetlight wiggled harder than ever before and the whole thing ripped off the metal pole. It came down hard. Cars were still moving and like a thunderous clash the streetlight hit a brown mini van. It had split through the car like butter. I was stunned nearly collapsing to the ground. Had I caused this? Did I possess some kind of special power? As cars began to stumble around the mini van and people rushed over to help the driver to safety I noticed something very disturbing at the end of the now cracked streetlight pole. A shadowy figure was coming into clear focus. Its vector was in my direct eye line, focused fully on me.

The sun was shining brighter as it broke through the fog and slowly a clear silhouette was coming into focus from the shadowy figure. I was thoughtless and dumbstruck. I did not know what I was seeing or what exactly was going on. Down below this unnatural figure the chaos of the streetlight crash was a very prominent scene yet my attention was stolen by the unnatural event above. The clear distinct shape of a tall but odd-looking human was now becoming all to clear on top of the broken metal pole. An odd shaped hand was near the cracked pole end where the chaos had begun. It looked like a scissor hand capable of sawing off something far stronger than the metal of that street pole. I squinted further staring directly at this odd looking thing. I was now scared for what was coming, for what I was seeing. Two eyes had now come into focus squinting and staring right back at me. They were very unnaturally shaped like a painting gone mad. I knew I shouldn't but I still stared back. That was when a huge gust of wind swept me off my feet. Then I saw nothing but pure darkness and like a flash of light everything went blank. When I came to I was on the ground still at the intersection and my head felt heavy. As I picked myself up I felt strange. A purplish goo was all over my shirt. Vomit. I had fallen and vomited all over my chest. I looked over at the intersection. Nothing. No traffic and no accident. I looked up and only the dam red streetlight was to be seen. No damage and no shadowy figure. What the Hell was going on? Had I been dreaming the whole time? It didn't make sense at first, but I started to think about the shadowy figure some more. The light finally turned green. I halted my thoughts for an instant and started to cross. My head was pounding from the fall and the smell from the vomit was not so comforting either.

I remembered! But instead of an unnatural memory I started to get a cold chill down the back of my spine. At last! I was now on the other side of the intersection. I knew it was all over with and I knew what I had to do next. But I was scared shitless remembering those eyes. Still, I was compelled to look back up at that streetlight. It was my obligation to confirm if what I had seen was real or just another dream. So before I took this delusion as a wake up call I slowly stared up, higher and higher. I looked up past the cars and past the slowly rising sun. I stared right up slightly past the streetlight getting the full image of it connected to the metal pole. I wanted to give out a sigh of relief, but that was when I ran. I ran for my life towards that patriotic American flag. I had only one image in mind at the time. Two eyes squinting as they stared unnaturally right back at me. What I saw was no dream and I was right in the middle of this unnatural thing's crosshair.

What would you do?

What could anyone do?

Original Version (Written in 2005)

It was a foggy Halloween morning and the sun had just barely begun to break through. Sherrie, a tall athletic girl with as much destination in her life as her broken down car, just barely stopped at the intersection a few blocks from her school. As she waited for the light to change, she only had enthusiasm to increase her already tired self. A restless habit she acquired from a long soccer practice the other day (and every school day). This made her hesitant at first to notice, a shadowy figure in the middle of the intersection. Slowly this silhouette was coming into focus among the bare light as the fog cleared. Sherrie's attention was away from her thoughts of attempted sleep and now to this figure in front of her car becoming clearer. It was a foggy Halloween morning and the sun had just barely begun to break through. Sherrie, a tall athletic girl with as much destination in her life as her broken down car, just barely stopped at the intersection a few blocks from her school. As she waited for the light to change, she only had enthusiasm to increase her already tired self. A restless habit she acquired from a long soccer practice the other day (and every school day). This made her hesitant at first to notice, a shadowy figure in the middle of the intersection. Slowly this silhouette was coming into focus among the bare light as the fog cleared. Sherrie's attention was away from her thoughts of attempted sleep and now to this figure in front of her car becoming clearer.

Beep, Beep! A car honked behind her and she now focused upon the light that had turned green. She looked back down and the figure was gone. No longer lingering in thought, she hit the gas and drove on.. Just barely passing the intersection, an unwelcoming shiver traveled down her spine. Then with a flash of lightening everything in her went blank.

Nothing, but pure darkness, Sherrie could only hear a faint voice of the one she had forgotten, "Heal, you must heal, you will … HELLO! She had awaken to the sound of a man yelling out, "If anyone can hear me, anyone! Paramedics are coming." Her car was off and everything was blurry, confused Sherrie undid her seatbelt hitting the car ceiling in the process. She vomited in what appeared to be her car, now upside down. It had been mysteriously flipped and now near the side of the curb, behind the beginning of the intersection she had just previously passed. The sun now had clearly broken through, as there was no fog left and a light glare beaming in Sherrie's left side mirror. Sherrie too confused from being distorted passed out on top of her vomit.

The man had now been trying to get a clear image, as he gaze upon this chaos. What lay before him in all directions of the intersection were, tossed cars in as many positions as thinkable. The thought that kept going through his head was if everyone was all right. It seemed some people were struggling, but no one was seriously hurt. The next thing that set in his mind were four bizarre holes in the side of the ground, just pass the intersection. They looked as if misshapen bullets had been fired by some kind of foreign gun several times into the Earth.

The man could now hear the sounds of the ambulance and police getting closer. "Help was on the way", he thought. He hesitated no longer about this incident and hurried off to the sounds of aide. He had just come to the end of this event, but couldn't disregard the fact that some unnatural force had made all these cars toss every which way. The man couldn't help but think of the image he saw when he first arrived to the scene, it started with him getting a bad chill down his spine. Then he had the urge to look down the street to what lay before him. Running toward the police, he had only one image in mind, the silhouette of a man in the dim light of the foggy Halloween morning….

- Peace