Before...Or After?

BEFORE...OR AFTER?

It was a dark and stormy night. It was also one of the most horrific nights that the small town of Grottsberg would ever suffer in its short history.

The storm started around four o’clock in the afternoon with just a few dark clouds blowing in from the west, but by nine that night the rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind was blowing gusts up to ninety miles an hour. Lightning was tearing the sky apart and thunder was rattling the houses. The only person who saw them slip into town was Dorothy Resnick. But the one cell phone tower that serviced the town was knocked out by lightning, as well as the power, and with Dorothy being confined to a wheelchair, there was no way she could have warned anybody.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

☻ ☻ ☻

Ralph Berman was looking for more candles in the kitchen when the window above the sink suddenly exploded. At first he thought it must have been the wind, but he was sorely mistaken. His wife, Claire, was in the living room trying to calm their two year old son when she heard the window shatter. She ran into the kitchen, but Ralph was gone.

His clothes however, lay crumpled on the floor.

☻ ☻ ☻

Across the street and three houses down, Neil and Susan Parker were trying to hear the weather reports on their old battery operated radio, but the only thing they were getting was white noise. Neil was just about to give up when he heard the scream, even over the sound of the raging storm. They started to go outside to see where it came from, but as soon as the door opened their bodies were immediately engulfed by a shimmering golden translucent shadow.

Their clothes remained on the porch.

☻ ☻ ☻

Next door to the Parkers, Keith Harding was sitting on his toilet trying to rid his bowels of a bad Dagwood sandwich he had for lunch. He vaguely felt the draft across his buttocks just before he felt the suction, as if his toilet had suddenly become some huge industrial vacuum. With an audible ‘Shluurrp’ he was quickly sucked in.

The toilet recycled its water, leaving only Keith’s underwear floating in the bowl.

☻ ☻ ☻

As the night progressed, scenes like this were happening all over the small town of Grottsberg. Men, women, children, and even a few dogs and cats were being ‘digested’ by these mysterious golden translucent shadows. By the time the sun began to rise and the fierce storm had passed, only a few brave survivors dared to venture outside.

Terry Landis was one of those people, and she was the one who pointed to the sky as a strange ship rimmed with purple lights hovered in the distance. Then it silently began to rise, and an instant later it disappeared into the heavens.

And for some strange reason, Terry had a feeling of déjà vu.