More Fractured Tales stories!
Following a brief period in my early teens of being part of the ‘gang,’ I had resisted the peer pressure of being like everyone else… because I was NOT just like everyone else. I realized that I was different… I was an individual… and that was okay.
I stopped doing things just because others did it… stopped wearing clothing just because it was the latest fashion. I began basing my decisions about such things on comfort… if I was comfortable with what I did and what I wore… that’s what was most important.
Something else – which I had never liked – was large crowds of people… and normally avoided such situations like the plague. So why was I now following this large group… these people of all ages… toddlers, seniors and every age in between… and how had I got here?
They were walking slowly up a long, sloping hill… and I could not recall joining them… I just suddenly seemed to be here. I reasoned that their rate of movement was probably due to the toddlers and seniors among them… but I felt like it was more than that somehow.
They moved at a steady pace… just plodding silently along… one foot after the other… almost as if they had been hypnotized… or programmed… Where were they going? And why? I followed because I also had an insatiable curiosity.
I was lagging at the tail end of the group… as usual… being careful not to catch up… to be engulfed and surrounded… avoiding the possibility of having others witness the panic I was starting to feel.
As we advanced up the hill, there appeared in the distance what looked like very tall buildings… towers of metal and glass. I puzzled again over how I had got here… why I was here… and exactly where ‘here’ was. Did any of these others know the answers? What were those buildings up ahead… and why was everyone going there?
Was this what the future would look like… or was I dreaming? I struggled to keep the panic under control. My steps slowed until I was several yards behind the rest of the group. No one noticed because they were all looking straight ahead… never looking back.
Finally, we were close enough to see the buildings more clearly. It seemed to be a city of sorts… tall skinny structures with lots of glass but no visible doors. What kind of place was this? I hung back a little further.
Drawing ever closer, I could not see any motor vehicles… no cars… or trucks… or buses. In fact, I couldn’t even see any streets. How did people get around? It was a large place. Perhaps there was an underground subway system.
Those at the front of the group were very close to the towers now… and I stared in unbelief. As they approached a building, a small craft of some sort appeared… hovering over the people beneath it and… they disappeared! One second they were there and the next they were… gone.
Had they been snatched up… or were they vaporized? What was happening here? Was it a glimpse of the future… an alien invasion… or just an incredibly realistic nightmare?
I turned and ran as fast as I could… down the hill… back the way I had come… I had no idea where I would go but I knew I had to get away from here. I needed to find a hiding place before it was too late.
A hand gripped my shoulder… and I screamed…
