Episode Details

That Starless Place by RednovatyrantTwo days ago I was out for a walk around my neighborhood. It was the ideal kind of summer day; bright sun overhead, wispy white clouds streaking across the sky, and a gentle breeze to keep my body from overheating. I even took the time to lean down and “touch grass” as I passed a lawn that was about five centuries late for a mowing - only to swiftly yank my hand back as a stray cat leapt out with a hiss. I stumbled off the sidewalk in surprise, landing on my butt in the middle of the road, hot pavement scorching my exposed calves.“Ach!” I scrambled to get my skin off the asphalt, its noxious heated smell burrowing into my nostrils.“W-what was that?”While I was standing up, I checked the ground just to make sure that nothing had fallen out of my shorts - overheated phone, wallet with five bucks to buy a soda, house keys with twenty million obnoxious little danglers - and saw that my little circle of a shadow hid nothing from me. But my attention was quickly captivated by that voice, and as my gaze drifted across the road, I noticed something strange; a shadow, conical in shape, lengthy, and faint compared to mine at my feet.Following the shade to its origin, I found a girl - no more than a year or two younger than myself, probably - standing in the middle of the street holding a flashlight. She had long dark brown hair that had messy strands poking out in all directions, and green eyes wide and erratic. Her left arm was pulled in tight, clutching the collar of her shirt with terrible fervor, and in her right a flashlight violently shook from her trembling. A flashlight, turned off, being pointed frantically all around in front of her, in the middle of broad daylight.“Miss?” I called out, concern starting its climb within my voice.“AHH!” The girl screamed with an intensity that curdled my blood. The flashlight was aimed with straightened arm in my direction, and I found myself taking a step back, as though she were going to attack me with it. But watching her gaze, we never made eye contact, not once. It was as though she couldn’t even see me, despite standing only six feet away from her. “Wh-who’s there?” Her feet shuffled across the pavement, taking step after dotted step, as though she were afraid that taking anything bigger would make the road collapse out beneath her.The thought that she was blind was first in line, but a stronger, more suspicious idea took over. No one in their right (and sober) mind would be standing in the middle of a street at noon waving a flashlight around like a lunatic. Current working theory becomes: she’s either crazy, or on drugs.Regardless, I couldn’t just stand around and let this random woman get hit by a car. So I cleared my throat - which put her head on a swivel again - and attempted to initiate conversation again. “Ma’am..? Are you alright? Do you need any help?”“Wh-who are you… show yourself!” Now the flashlight stayed in my general direction, but even then she was still looking downwards more than forwards. Puzzled, I tried to follow her eyes, but all I saw was.. The extended cone shadow, now curving outwards towards me.Licking my chapped lips, I swallowed and opened my mouth once more. “What’s with, the flashlight..? You feeling okay?”The girl’s eyes finally seemed to meet mine, but only for a fleeting second. Still, that was long enough to tell - she was terrified, mortified, as though her life were in danger. (Technically, it was, as long as she continued to stand here in the street.) She pulled the flashlight arm in closer, and the shadow on the ground moved with it. “Wh-what do you mean..?”A sound - revving, rolling over pavement, cutting wind, and faster than it should be in this neighborhood. She heard it too; her breathing quickened, and the girl started to run, flailing as she passed me by and crossed on a diagonal to the other side of the road, where a muscle car beyond any price range I could imagine flew over the hill and sped towards her.“