“I’m going to Saturn,” Isaac said under his breath.
I looked over towards his desk and jokingly said back, “You’re going there for summer break?”
Isaac just stared downward scribbling something in his notebook, ignoring me, mumbling to himself. I sighed and moved back in my seat and stared at the clock. Only 10 minutes until we’re out of here and summer finally begins.
Isaac and I weren’t exactly friends, at least not since we were kids, but we got along all right during the school year. We worked on some projects in class and sat together at lunch every so often. We’ve been talking a lot less in the past few months, though. Recently he’s been a lot more reclusive, spending more time focused on his own personal projects with his telescope and space camp. I think he wanted to be an astronaut or something.
I clung to the edges of my desk, watching the minute hand slowly crawl to the next digit. You could feel the tension in the air as every kid in class readied their bags and propped themselves into half-standing positions, as if a starter pistol was going to fire any second.
The room filled with a near deafening alarm, only being drowned out by the sound of cheering and four dozen feet shuffling on the linoleum. Despite my excitement to rush out of the room to three months of freedom, I felt compelled to look back at my science classroom one more time.
Isaac was seated, still in his desk, repeating a violent circling pattern in his notebook, with the pencil now worn-down ripping into the paper.
Mrs. Clairemont interrupted my confused staring, blocking the doorway in front of me, her face plastered with a smile.
“Now why are you still hanging ‘round here? Get out there and enjoy summer.”
I stood there and felt as if I were being rushed out of the place.
“Thanks, Mrs. Clairemont. I’m gonna miss you.”
She waved her hand in an “aw shucks” kind of gesture and told me to “Make smart choices” and shooed me away with a playful attitude.
I smiled awkwardly and I thought about asking what Isaac was doing still in class, but felt my summer was much more important to me in that moment.
I turned around to leave, and noticed that the door quickly shut behind me, with a piece of black paper covering the door’s small window, hiding a bright light that beamed from the class.
“Whatever”, I sighed.
…
“One more year, are you excited?” my mother asked, pointing her spoon in my direction.
“Yeah, I guess,” I replied, shoving mushy and slightly burnt potatoes into my mouth.
“I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Relax, mom. I’m not going that far. I don’t even know if they’re going to accept me, yet. I still have a whole damn year of school left, too.”
She shot me an angered glance.
She didn’t like me swearing, even with such a kiddy word like “damn”. That’s the type of thing a 7-year-old says to impress his friends.
I held my eyes shut to hide my rolling eyes and apologized, “I’m sorry.” It was a habit I picked up to avoid any other lectures about my attitude.
She stared at me, looking towards the ceiling and then back at me as she crossed her arms.
I sighed, closing my eyes to roll them again, “I’m sorry, Lord. Please forgive me.” I know I said it in the most monotone voice I could muster. It didn’t seem to matter to my mother how I said it, as long as I did.
Peeling her arms away from her chest she held her necklace to her lips and kissed the cross. She moved up from her chair and picked up her plate of food and kissed me on the head.
“Thank you for humoring me.”
She then removed my plate from the table and took it to the kitchen along with hers
.…
“Isaac was acting weird as fuck again in class” I messaged my friend Oliver online.
“Whoa, careful there. Watch your language. Your mom might make you say sorry to God again”
“lol shut the fuck up”
“lol. So what was Isaac doin?’”
“He was just scribbling in his notebook again, and he was whispering to himself too”
“Doesn’t he normally do that?”
“I mean he’s definitely been doing it more I guess”
“Kid’s just a weirdo. Who cares?”
I thought for a moment. I remembered that Mrs. Clairemont was acting a little weird too.
“Yeah I guess… but Mrs. Clairemont like closed the door on me and kept him in the room”
“oooo Isaac and Clairemont getting it oonnn”
“Brooo lol stfu that’s disgusting”
“Didn’t some teacher in Florida have some weird thing with her student too? Lucky kid”
“Dude she’s like 50. That’s so fucked up”
“lol I’m just kidding, come on man.
Anyway I gotta go. Meeting up with Kate and Lindy tonight”
I thought about inviting myself with them. Being here alone with my mom on the first day of summer felt like I was some social reject. I sent Oliver another message, but he was offline.
Fuck. Maybe I’ll just text him. No, I don’t want to seem desperate. I’ll wait awhile. Play it cool.
Maybe I can drive around, try to find them, make an excuse. “Oh man, you guys just happened to be here too? That’s crazy! We should hang out or something!”
Yeah, that’s smart. Definitely not creepy or weird at all. Ugh. I rolled my phone in my hands a couple times, debating what to do. Fuck it, I’ll make my move and start summer off with something more interesting than being alone in my room playing games and jerking off.
I readied myself, barreled down the stairs and flung open the door, ready to announce my night drive to my mother, only to see Mrs. Clairemont standing at the door with her wide-eyed smile with some sort of casserole dish in her hands.
“Oh… hello Mrs. Clairemont.” I said dumbfoundedly.
She stared towards me, but didn’t meet my eyes. It looked like she didn’t realize that the door opened in front of her. It looked like she had some contacts in, because her eyes were normally blue. Instead, they were a strange amber-like color.
I was about to say something else until my mom came and interrupted my confusion.
“Oh hello, Vicky! So nice to see you tonight” she said, extending a hand out and shaking Clairemont’s.
Mrs. Clairemont replied, like she was being activated out of a trance. Her eyes gleamed with life.
“Oh, Angela, I just wanted to thank you so much for your efforts with our graduation bake sale. You’ve helped tremendously these past few weeks.”
“That is no problem at all,” my mom fiddled with her cross, “I’m always willing to help out and do good for the kids.”
I stared awkwardly, being in the center of this middle-aged mother-blather encounter. My hand was propping the door open. I knew if I didn’t say something soon, I’d be here all night, waiting to get a word in.
I dashed to my car and yelled toward my mom that I was going out for the night. I knew when she starts talking, she doesn’t seem to notice or care what is happening around her. She waved a small hand towards my direction and yelled, “I love you! Make smart choices!”
Déjà vu. That’s what Mrs. Clairemont told me earlier.
As I backed my car out of the driveway, I noticed that the doorway was now empty. Looks like my mom invited her inside.
As I drove away, I could see the kitchen light turn on, looking a little brighter than usual.
…
Slowing down at the stop sign, I whipped my phone out and texted Oliver. Figure enough time passed to not seem desperate. I asked what he and the girls were doing. I felt like maybe if I played it cool I can “coincidentally” be in the same spot as them and we could merge our plans together. Brilliant idea. No issues at all. Flawless. No notes.
I looked over to my right and noticed a handful of young girls playing in their yard. I looked at the time and it was 9:15pm. I rolled down the window, preparing to jokingly shout at the kids that it was too late to be playing Ring Around the Rosie at night, and then noticed that they were doing it without making a noise. No singing. No laughing. Just their feet shuffling on the grass. I think they were mumbling something.
“What the…”
A text interrupted my thoughts.
“Oh hey man, we’re just going to that haunted hand movie” Oliver texted me back.
My eyes lit up.
“Oh no way! I was planning to go tonight too!”
What a great idea. What better way to slip in socially than a movie. No real excuses, just a “Oh hey I was seeing that movie too. Let’s sit together!” It’s perfect.
Oliver responded, “You got tickets already? This showing has been sold out all night!”
I stared at my phone. Shit. How was I going to get out of this?
The car behind me honked. Guess I was sitting at the stop sign for far too long and was holding up traffic. I readied to move forward, looking both to the left and right before I drove away. I noticed that the girls were gone. Suppose they went inside after all.
Driving towards the theater, I readied my game plan.
Okay, so, I don’t have the tickets to this. But maybe I can buy some tickets to some other movie online, scan them, and then sneak into their movie. I’ll lie, saying how convenient it is that my seat just so happens to be next to Oliver. I’ll joke and say it was fate or something.
I pulled into the theater lot. I noticed Oliver, Kate, and Lindy waiting at the front of the building vaping.
I tried to play it cool. Nonchalant. I didn’t want to show that I was some excited weirdo that was plotting to hang out with my friend with some half-baked excuse instead of just asking like a normal person.
“Hey dickhead” Oliver eyed at me, smiling.
“Hey asshole” I said back, trying to copy him.
Oliver mockingly bowed towards the two girls, extending an arm towards their direction.
“M’ladies, this is my best friend, Nathan.”
They both giggled in a way that felt less than authentic.
“I’m Lindy, and this is Kate”
“Nice to finally meet you,” Kate said, holding her hand out.
I met her hand with mine, and I could feel just how clammy mine were. Hers, though, were so soft and nice, and I felt myself shaking it a bit too hurriedly.
I stammered a “Nice to meet you” as I met her pale blue eyes. Her brown curls fell down onto her shoulders, and I noticed a small freckle on her chin. I felt like I was in a trance, and it wasn’t until Oliver jokingly said that I was still shaking her hand that I snapped out of it.
“Oh shit, sorry!” I could feel my face turn into a hot red mess.
Both girls let out a quick laugh and Oliver pulled out his arm and locked it with mine, leading me inside the theater, with the girls following and doing the same.
…
“Theater 4, to the left” The theater clerk directed. It wasn’t until my ticket that he scanned it, noticing that it was a much later showing for a very different movie. He was about to say an entirely different theater and direction, until I interrupted, loudly telling the others to go get snacks without me.
The clerk looked up from the ticket and looked at me with a dumb, judgy look before telling me the theater number that I was supposed to go to. I shrugged it off and took my ticket for some foreign romance film and quickly discarded the piece of paper before meeting with the group.
I followed them into theater 4, finding their seats. Luckily there was an empty one right by them.
“It’s crazy that you managed to get a seat right next to ours.” Oliver said in amazement.
I laughed awkwardly, “I know. Lucky right?”
The girls took turns laughing with each other, saying something about fate and the stars.
I leaned forward, pretending to tie my shoe, trying to get a look at Kate again.
She and Lindy were locked in conversation, but I noticed Kate was smiling, and locked eyes with mine for a split second before I rushed quickly back into my seat, blushing.
A combination of anxiety and calm rushed into my bloodstream. I looked at Oliver and asked how he knew the girls. He was about to reply, but then a man’s voice interrupted instead.
“Hey kid, you’re in my seat.”
I began to feel very warm and I could already feel the sweat pooling under my pits.
Shit. I didn’t think this far into my plan.
I turned around, eyeing an overweight, tall man wearing some black band t-shirt, holding a giant tub of popcorn and a soda in a container that resembled more of a bucket than a cup.
I stammered, trying to come up with some excuse to fix the situation. I turned around and looked at Oliver and the girls, foolishly expecting them to say something defending me and bailing me out. They just stared in confusion. I looked back at the giant standing beside me.
“Well?” he responded.
I felt like I was being crushed from all sides, unsure of what to do. Then I pulled out a classic that would fix this situation.
“I gotta piss.”
…
I hurried to the bathroom to make my next plan.
“I’m such an idiot,” I spoke quietly to myself out loud, “I didn’t think about any of this assigned seating stuff. I can’t go back. But I can’t leave either. If I leave, then I’m just going to look like a cowardly jackass. But if I go back, they’ll know I lied about having a movie ticket.”
I sat in the stall, mumbling to myself like an insane person about my social idiocy. This felt truly more horrific than any horror movie I was going to see. I prepared to return to the theater. I figured I could manage to find some empty spot, and just lie, saying I picked the wrong seat. I opened the door of the stall, only to see what looked like a staff member cleaning the bathroom mirror. He was making a circular motion on the glass.
“Make smart choices,” the worker spoke.
“Sorry?” I questioned.
He didn’t turn to look at me. He just repeatedly wiped the glass in that circular motion. The entire time. Unblinking.
I looked down at my hands in the sink, “Oh,” I laughed, “Yeah, I be sure to wash my hands after. Definitely something I do a lot more since COVID.”
I assumed that’s what he was talking about. Him being some health-conscious nut.
He didn’t say anything else to me. He just circled the washcloth around and around on the mirror. I could make out that he was still speaking, albeit quietly. Something about “return”, or maybe “pattern”?
I rushed out of the bathroom without drying my hands.
Fuckin’ weird guy.
…
I held my breath walking through the darkness, only the small lights on the floor illuminating my path. I stared up at the dozens of seats and dozens of people filled each one. I found the spot where Oliver and the girls were sitting. Oliver had an annoyed expression on his face. That greasy guy next to him clearly wasn’t what he was looking forward to. I could tell he was trying to argue with him while I was gone. He wrongly assumed he had taken my spot.
Oliver looked down and spotted me, shrugging in annoyance. I waved awkwardly back at him and tried my best sign language improv to tell him that I was going to try and sit elsewhere.
I scanned the darkened room, loud trailers airing behind me, where I noticed a lone empty seat in the far front corner of the theater, right underneath the screen. Sure, I was going to have to crane my head every direction just to make out what was going on in the movie, but at least I can say I saw the movie with my friends… sort of.
I made my way to the front of the theater, trying to avoid any more eye contact with Oliver, Lindy. Or Kate. God, how embarrassing.
I was practically staring at the ceiling here, but at least I found an empty seat. Here’s hoping someone else doesn’t come and tell me I took up their spot, too.
…
I noticed, halfway through the movie, that the woman next to me was fiddling with something. It was this crunching, splintering noise on the wooden armrest between us that I’ve noticed since the beginning of the movie. I tried to ignore it, but after an hour, it was really getting to me.
I looked over to ask her to be a little quieter. My words didn’t seem to connect, though. I looked over and saw her heaving and gasping, as if she was struggling to breathe. I glanced downwards at her hands and saw she was aggressively fidgeting with the armrest, circling her index finger onto the wood. It wasn’t a slow circling. Her finger was aggressively digging into the wood, splintering and cracking the armrest, sending small wooden bits around. The upper digit of her finger was missing, where a bloody bone took its place, turning into a point from the violent repetitive tracing.
I shot up from my spot and yelled for someone to call 911. I looked at the woman gasping in her spot. She moved her gaze from the screen and stared right at me, and for what seemed like a moment, her irises appeared to look like empty, golden rings.
As soon as I noticed her eyes, the theater lights all turned on at once, much brighter than they normally would.
…
“So… how’d you guys like the movie?” Lindy joked.
All four of us awkwardly laughed. We were all able to get movie vouchers for another date due to everything that occurred in our theater. My immediate thought was that we could all hang out again and I didn’t need to pretend to get a movie seat. However, seeing that woman’s hollow gaze staring back at me while she mutilated her hands seared into my mind. I tried to keep light of the situation despite it being so freaky.
“So what the hell happened?” Oliver exclaimed to me, playfully grabbing my shoulders and shaking me in a dramatic display, “Tell us!”
I tried playing it cool, acting like it was no big deal that I just saw a very mentally disturbed woman self-harm herself right in front of me. I mimicked the motion she was doing with my hand, twirling my index finger and making wood cracking noises with my teeth. Both of the girls stared in amazed disgust and Oliver had a dumb look on his face, clearly not being able to believe what I was saying.
I stopped swirling my finger and said,
“She then stared at me, and it looked like she was struggling to breathe.”
I frowned, feeling as if I was being pulled back into the moment, remembering every small detail that transpired. My feigned excitement fell away. Oliver noticed something was wrong.
“I think she was trying to tell me something. I couldn’t remember what exactly, but I think she was talking about the weekend, maybe? ‘Sat…’ was all I could hear.”
“Hey, man. Don’t worry about it. It isn’t for you to figure out. The paramedics took care of her and I’m sure she’ll be fixed up at the hospital.” Oliver reassured me.
I looked up and noticed Kate was looking back at me. I smiled at her.
We walked by the bathrooms on our way out of the theater, and the one I was in earlier now had caution tape blocking the entrance.
…
Tonight didn’t turn out too bad, all things considered. What’s a little mental trauma when you’re with friends?
Eventually, I ended up heading back home, relieved that my first night of summer actually felt eventful and successful. I even nabbed Kate’s number.
My happiness turned to confusion when I approached the driveway and noticed that the lights were still on in the house. It was nearly one in the morning, and my mom doesn’t stay up this late. She’s usually in bed by ten at the latest. Something was off.
I opened the front door and called out for my mom. No response.
All the lights were on in the house. Every single one. I navigated the living room and then moved to the dining room and then the kitchen and finally the bathroom downstairs. Every room was vacant. Every room was illuminated, and exceedingly bright. I called out for my mom again and still didn’t hear anything back.
I hurriedly moved to the stairs to check the second floor, and I noticed an irritating scratching noise. It reminded me of what happened at the theater. I didn’t know what was happening, but I could feel a jolt of fear and paranoia inject itself into my body. I charged up the stairs, nearly running on all fours, calling for my mom in a panic.
I checked the guest bedroom, and she wasn’t in there. Just a vibrant, illuminated empty room.
I checked her bedroom, and she wasn’t in there, surprisingly. I panicked and searched everywhere. I looked in her closet and under her bed for Christ’s sake. She wasn’t there. The lights beamed even brighter above my head. It felt like the bulb was going to pop and rain shards of glass onto my scalp. There was only one more room to check up here. My room.
The scratching became more erratic and loud as I approached the door. I slowly opened the door and muttered, “Mom? Are you okay?”
The bright white of the light beaming out of my room nearly blinded me and I had to cover my eyes to properly make out what was even happening.
Everything in my room was thrown aside. It looked like a bomb went off. My bed was on its side. My desk and computer were bashed and broken. Every knickknack and clothing item I had was strewn everywhere. Everything was moved to make way for the giant circular marking being carved into my floor.
In the middle of the circle, was my mom on all fours. Digging her necklace into the floor, as if she was creating a piece of art on a giant wooden canvas.
I cautiously approached her, trying to hold back terrified tears. She stuck her crucifix into the floorboards in sharp, jagged motions and muttered to herself. Saying something over and over again, so softly it was hard for me to make out.
“Mom? What’s going on? Are you okay?” was all I could muster. She didn’t respond to me. Only continued her carving and mumbling. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to tell her that it’s okay, and that whatever is happening we could fix it.
She’s never had any episodes or fits like this, ever. She’s always been cool headed and strong. Hard working and caring. Goes to church and volunteers. Whatever was going on right now was not normal for her. This was something unexplainable. I couldn’t bring myself to even touch her.
I did the only thing that I thought could snap her out of it and get her attention. I turned off the lights. I’m surprised it worked.
I stood there in the quiet darkness. The carving immediately ceased.
I only intended for the lights to go off in my room. But flipping the switch somehow made the entire house go dark.
My fingers fumbled against the light switch, now debating whether to turn the lights back on. In my desperation to get my mother’s attention, I didn’t plan for what would happen next. As much as the monotonous scratching drove me insane, the darkness was its own quiet madness. I closed my eyes tight, instinctively rolling them as I’ve done around my mother so many times, and I could feel the light switch flip back on its own, drowning my home in luminescence yet again.
I readied myself to confront my mom, who was clearly having some sort of mental break, and saw her standing in place, clutching her crucifix so hard it looked like it was cutting into her.
“Mom,” I stuttered out, “what are you doing?”
She stared up, as if she were looking through me, saying nothing. I noticed a golden glint in her eyes. Her mouth was stained with black ichor, dribbling down to her chin.
“What are you carving? What is this?”
Finally, several words retched from her throat, as if someone else forced her to say them, spattering dark goop onto the floor.
“I’m going to Saturn.”
…
I didn’t know what else to do. I sprinted out of my house as fast as I could, as if I was being chased by my own mother. I tripped on some tin thing left on the floor. I braced myself to be snatched up, grabbed and devoured. But I wasn’t being followed. I stared at what I tripped on. It was the casserole dish. Stained with a jet black, oily substance.
I ignored it, rushed back up on my feet and I got into my car and drove away from my home. That incessant carving echoed through my skull. That woman in the theater, and now my mom. I wracked my brain trying to find any other weird occurrences.
I called Oliver three times in a row.
He sounded groggy and pissed. Clearly he was in the middle of something.
“Who is it?” said a woman on the other end.
“Something very serious is happening with my mom,” I said in a panic.
He sobered up after that and asked what was happening.
I explained that she was doing the exact same thing that the woman in the theater was doing, but in my room.
“What the fuck? Did you call the hospital or anything?” he asked.
I felt like an idiot. I abandoned my mom and didn’t even call the police.
“Not yet. I need to get away from there. I felt like I was in danger. Can I come over?”
There was a quiet on the phone for a couple of seconds. There was some discussion on Oliver’s side. I think I heard Lindy sighing on the other side.
Despite what happened mere minutes ago, I couldn’t help but smile knowing Oliver got lucky tonight.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on over. And call 911 for your mom.”
I felt relieved, “yeah. I’ll do that. Thanks.”
“You gotta make smart choices, man” Oliver said and hung up.
…
The paramedics said they were able to find my mom. She was still standing where I left her, mumbling the same thing about Saturn. Apparently, all the lights were burnt out by the time they got there. They told me that I needed to go to the hospital to answer any questions and decide on what needs to be done next. Fortunately, I could go the next day, as it was nearly three in the morning. And I needed to severely rest up after everything I’ve dealt with.
Oliver’s parents were out of town, which is probably why he was a little annoyed that I intruded on him and Lindy’s time. Fortunately for him, I slept on his couch, and he could have as much alone time upstairs as he needed. I was much more concerned about what happened to my mom, I didn’t even want to think about eavesdropping.
The living room was dark and quiet. It felt like a reprieve compared to the illuminated nightmare I dealt with mere hours ago. I stared straight ahead from the couch, looking into the dark kitchen with the clock on the oven being the only beacon of light. It read 5:14 in neon green. Fuck. I’ve been awake for hours.
I tossed and turned, trying to do my best to just pass out. But I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the weird shit I’ve been seeing today. Was everyone else seeing it too? Maybe I was just going insane. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Isaac and my mom both said. “I’m going to Saturn”. What the fuck could that mean? I thought Isaac was just being weird as hell. But my mom saying it is really bizarre. I know Isaac was obsessed with space and stuff… I think I need to see what he knows about this.
…
I jolted awake. I couldn’t escape from that damn scratching. My dreams were filled with that irritating noise. It felt like it was digging into my skull.
I slept like shit. Nevertheless, I got ready to leave and visit my mom and see how she was doing. And then after, I was going to find Isaac and ask him if he knows anything. I readied myself in the darkness, gathered my things, opened the door, and turned around to call to Oliver to announce my departure. I figured he was asleep but wanted to at least humor the gesture of letting him know. However, I noticed something when the outside cast light into the home. A figure. Standing in the kitchen away from me, shadowed in the darkness. They were making some motion with their arm I couldn’t quite make out.
My instinct was to turn and run, call the police. I thought it was an intruder. But I stupidly walked back into the house, slowly making my way towards them. I noticed that it was Oliver.
I thought that fact would calm me down. Make me realize that I was just startled by him being there while I slept. But I felt absolutely terrified. The sense of déjà vu hit me so incredibly hard as I felt like I was reliving the scenario yesterday with my mother. A similar event circling back into my reality.
“Oliver?” I said quietly.
I stepped slowly and cautiously towards him.
He was wearing only his sleep shorts, moving his left arm in circular motions. Instead of the scratching sound I was getting used to, it was instead a wet, squelching noise at a much slower speed.
Rivulets of something was pouring down onto the floor. I noticed a dark black puddle underneath his feet, staining his toes. He was gurgling something, like he was choking on chunky water.
“OLIVER!” I yelled, desperately trying to get his attention, nearly on the verge of tears. I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted to shake him awake, but I couldn’t bring myself to even touch him.
He managed to turn around to face me slowly, slapping his wet feet in the puddle of gore under him in a mindless, robotic motion. His eyes were lifeless. Spinning rings replaced his irises. I looked downward at his chest. Chunks of meat and syrupy pulp fell to the floor. The shine of the steak knife sunk into his torso, etching around in circles into his flesh.
He was carving a giant, gaping hole in his torso.
…
“LINDY,” I screamed. I sped up the stairs and slammed open the door to Oliver’s bedroom. I jumped on his bed and aggressively shook the Lindy-shaped mound under the covers.
“Nathan, what the fuck?” she mumbled at me, clearly half asleep and pissed.
I stammered, “We need to get out of here. Oliver is…” I didn’t know what to say next. I didn’t know what was happening with Oliver. Why did I feel like we had to run out? Shouldn’t we stay and stop him, call the ambulance or something?
Lindy looked at the empty side of the bed and stared at me with curious concern.
“What’s going on?” she asked me, trying to hold back the fear in her voice.
“Whatever happened to my mom is now happening to Oliver. He’s fucking stabbing himself downstairs!”
Her face turned pale. I couldn’t tell if it was because my story terrified her or if she thought that I was an insane person. We just met the night before, so I didn’t know if she trusted me.
Lindy shot out of the bed and moved past me, barreling down the stairs three at a time. She peaked over the banister and saw the exact same thing I did moments prior. Her instincts took over and she practically leaped over the railing to go to Oliver, shrieking madly in the process.
Before she could stop him, I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“What the fuck are you doing? Let go of me!” she wailed at me in desperation, squirming in my grasp.
“I don’t think you should touch him,” I stammered, “I think you get it if you do.”
She stared at me in confusion.
The wet sloshing continued in front of us. Oliver continued to carve into his body in a trance-like behavior. Something that looked all too familiar with the others I’ve seen in town. His arm was now reaching into his body, stabbing deeper until the knife poked out from his back. The knife struggled as it hit the bone, snapping and popping as it carved through.
He stared forward at us, and the rings in his eyes began to shine a bright gold. He began walking, each step spreading more of that oily black pulp behind him. His insides were a deep darkness, looking like the void of space instead of human guts. The lights then sparked to life, and the living room became drowned by a blinding white light.
I pulled Lindy out of the house. I think she snapped out of it. She knew he couldn’t be saved.
We both got into my car and we sped off towards the hospital. I looked into my rear-view mirror, and I could see Oliver standing in his yard, now hollowed out. He somehow managed to stay standing despite his injuries. I could see through the giant circle in his torso, the light from the house shined through him, mimicking the rings that were now his eyes.
…
Lindy got off the phone with the police. She was surprisingly calm despite it all.
“It’s okay. They’ll take care of him. They’ll patch him up. They’ll–”
Lindy interrupted me, “What do you mean I couldn’t touch him?”
I focused on the road in front of me, trying to ignore the group of children on the side of the road, holding each other’s hands and spinning a little too fast.
“I don’t know. I just got a feeling that if you touched him, you might catch whatever happened to him. I felt this resistance when I got near him, like something really bad would happen if I touched him.” I thought back last night, “I felt the same way when my mom was going through her episode. She was carving the floors in my room in a circular pattern, too.”
We sat in silence for a couple minutes. I felt like I was experiencing this weird shit alone. It’s good to know that I wasn’t the only one who witnessed this stuff.
My mind raced. I just witnessed my best friend turn his body into a fucking hole punch and he somehow didn’t die. And I didn’t do anything to help. I needed to talk about something else. I needed something to distract myself.
“So,” I muttered, desperately reaching for a new topic, “how’s Kate doing?”
Lindy shot an angered glance at me, “Really?”
I could feel my body tense in embarrassment, “No! Not like in any way like that. I just mean, is she doing okay? She’s your friend after all.”
Lindy sighed and faced the window, absent-mindedly tracing her finger on the fogged glass.
“Drop me off at my house,” she said in a near monotone.
“Oh… okay. Where is it?” I ruined whatever comradery we both had in the moment. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to meet my mom in the hospital alone, especially after Oliver. Another witness to these events would probably help, too.
“It’s near the hospital.”
We were a good ten minutes away. I wanted to spill out all my thoughts to this girl I just met yesterday. I was exhausted. I was confused. I was scared. But we just met the night before. And the only thing we really had in common was watching my best friend mutilate himself.
Then I thought about it. What were his last words to me?
“Hey, Lindy. Did you guys…”
I felt embarrassed to even bring it up right now. But I needed to know.
“Did we what?”
“Did you guys have sex last night?”
She just glared at me; her eyes filled with annoyance and anger. She looked offended I’d even bring something like that up.
“We didn’t have sex, Nathan. Jesus Christ. Why the fuck are you asking this shit?”
I stammered, unsure of what to say next, “Sorry. Sorry I assumed. I was just asking because I assumed you guys were sleeping together.”
“Here is fine. I’ll walk home.”
I stopped the car for her.
“Lindy, please. I just need to know if you touched him at all last night.”
She shook her head in disgust. I don’t blame her. I sounded insane.
“You ought to know better than to ask that type of shit, especially now of all times?”
I sighed and looked at her wordlessly.
“You need to make smart choices, Nathan,” Lindy said and slammed the door, walking off from me.
Wait.
Those were Oliver’s last words to me. “Make smart choices”.
Déjà vu.
My mom said the same thing to me. So did Mrs. Clairemont. And then everything went to shit. I panicked. Lindy must have touched Oliver last night, right after he talked to me. And when she ran to him, I pulled her back. Wait, was she wearing a long sleeve shirt? Did I touch the skin of her arm? I don’t remember. I scanned the area around me. She was gone. Was she going to be affected now too? Was I?
Then I thought about the paramedics who took my mom in. If this thing could spread, what’s happening at the hospital?
I noticed the window, and in the spot Lindy was tracing, was a small circle etched into the fog on the glass.
I drove as fast as I could.
An ambulance sped past me in the opposite direction.
…
Outside things looked fairly normal. Although, it wasn’t very busy. Very little cars and virtually no people. I stormed inside and hustled to the front desk, asking for my mom’s room and any paperwork I’d have to sign.
“Oh.” The receptionist said, looking solemnly at me, holding up a thick finger at me and reaching for the phone, dialing what I assumed was for the unit my mother was in, “Yes. The patient’s son is here… Yes. Of course. I’ll pass you along.” She then handed the phone over to me, “It’s for you.”
I tentatively took it from her, my hands shaking, wondering what was going on. I answered, “Hello?”
On the other end, an echoing screeching sound rang into my ear, sounding like a scattered ring in a hollow tunnel. I stared worriedly at the receptionist, unsure of what to do. She just shrugged at me back. Great.
“Hello?” I said again, “Mom?”
The line went dead.
“What room is she in? What’s going on?” I pleaded towards the squat woman at the front desk. Desperately clinging to some sort of rationality of all the horrors happening around me. She was writing something down behind the counter while she spoke to me.
“Your mother is having some difficulties. Didn’t they explain any of it on the phone to you?” I could feel the annoyance radiating off her.
I dumbly looked at her, throwing my hands up in exacerbation, “No! There was nothing! Just some obnoxious noise on the other end!”
The woman sighed, scanned the empty room, looking around for some sort of help, and got up to presumably lead me to wherever my mother was. I followed her.
“I don’t know the details, per se. But the doctors should know more about her condition. Apparently some sort of seizure caused by psychological shock. A nurse is supposed to come up and get you, but I guess that’s my job today, too.”
I scanned the halls in desperation, hoping there weren’t any other symptoms of circles or scratches or weird black puddles anywhere.
“Have you seen or heard any weird things around here?”
“It’s been more quiet than usual.”
I thought about the state Oliver was in. I’m sure an ambulance will bring him here soon enough. It’ll be a lot less quiet when he gets here, I’m sure.
The hallway seemed to brighten the closer we traversed towards my mother’s room.
“Alright, here’s her room. They should know you’re here, at least. Feel free to go in.”
She waddled away from me as fast as she could, then shuffled behind the doors that led back to the reception desk.
I readied myself and opened the door, which felt like a heaving monolith, as if it were a gateway keeping me away from what I was about to witness.
…
I don’t know what I expected. I was worried I was going to see my mother in the same state as before. I was worried she’d still be in a crazed madness, destroying our home and frantically muttering to herself. Instead, she was just in her bed. Asleep. Plastic veins snaked themselves from her arm and nose, and her chest moved gently. On the side of her bed lay her necklace. It no longer looked like a crucifix, but instead a torn up hunk of metal with stray splinters of wood still stuck to it. It clung to the cord in a desperate attempt to maintain its status as jewelry.
I pulled up one of the chairs and sat by her side. I wanted to lean in close, hug her and cry. I wanted to let loose all of my confusion and fear into an explosion of tears and sobs. But I couldn’t. I simply leaned back and fell asleep.
…
I awoke, God knows how long I was asleep. It was shitty sleep.
I noticed my mom was starting right at me. I jolted out of the chair, unsure if I was terrified or elated that she was awake.
“Mom. Mom! Are you okay? How are you doing?” I leaned in closer to her, clasping my hands together so tightly it felt like they’d go numb.
“It’s okay, Nate. I’m okay.” It looked like she was going to cry. She held her eyes tight.
“I’m so glad to hear that, mom. I was so worried. You just started saying stuff about Saturn, and you tore my room up, and the house was all bright and it was so scary.” I could feel the tears crawl down my face. My words were choked out between tears.
“Don’t worry about any of that, Nate.” She shushed me, “we’ll all be okay. Not like Cassini.”
I laughed awkwardly, “Cassini? Is she someone you knew from church?”
“Oh, no. We ate Cassini. Several years ago. But you won’t end up like her. You’ll be okay. You, me, Mrs. Clairemont, Oliver, Isaac, everyone.”
“Wh-What?” I stared at her, dumbfounded, my chest still heaving from my emotional outburst.
“Mrs. Clairemont showed it to me. I ate from the essence of the stars and now I see it, too.”
This wasn’t my mother. My mom didn’t sound like this. It sounded like she was being puppeted.
“I don’t understand. I thought you were okay. I thought you just had an episode.” I was panicking. I shot out of my seat and backed myself into the wall. My mother was still in her bed, her eyes tightly closed, but her head still followed my movements.
“Sweetie, you have to make smart choices. We’re all going to go to Saturn, together.”
She then opened her eyes, her entire sclera were replaced with spinning golden rings.
She then let out that echoed warping screeching from her lips, like a cursed garbled whistle.
I rushed out into the hallway, screaming at the top of my lungs for help. For anyone to do something.
A nurse, seemingly materialized from a side hallway, stopped me.
“Woah there, Nate, calm down. What’s going on?”
I broke down, trying to slow my words down to catch up with my thoughts. I was waving my arms and pointing frantically at my mother’s room.
“My mom, she’s going through something. She’s—” then it hit me, “How’d you know my name?”
“Oh, your mom let us know. As soon as we brought her in here, we were all made aware.”
I wanted that statement to calm me down. But it felt off. It felt like someone with a vague grasp of human speech and cadence was speaking.
The man coughed in front of me. Like a toddler. He didn’t cover his mouth or excuse himself. Instead, he absent mindedly coughed chunks of dark wet, chunky goop that slapped on the floor, and he smiled at me with a line of stained black teeth.
I ran passed him and nearly tumbled into the lobby, frantically scanning for any sort of help. Where the fuck was everyone? Why was this hospital empty?
I looked behind the now empty receptionist desk and noticed that the entire surface area was covered in black rings, scrawled with some unknown ink.
Isaac has to know something about this shit. He went to space camp last year, for Christ’s sake.
I shot open the front doors and the previously empty parking lot was now filled with dozens and dozens of people. Every single one of them was linking arms in a chain. Doctors, nurses, security, patients with bandages and rubber cords hanging from their bodies. It was like the entire hospital emptied to create some kumbaya circle, reaching to surround the whole building. I noticed that among them, Oliver’s hollow body somehow managed to stand, grasping his darkly soaked hands with two ambulance drivers. I expected him to have some sort of reaction to me, but instead he just looked ahead, still just as entranced as he was before.
I slowly approached my car, expecting everyone to unlink their arms and chase me down and attack me or something. But nothing happened. Instead, I simply started my car, drove up to the human barrier, they let me pass, and then they attached their arms again.
I wanted to look back, but the echoing screams that emerged from the crowd as soon as I left kept me from doing so.
…
The memories resurfaced from the childhood birthday parties, late night sleepovers, and the occasional summers spent when I pulled up to Isaac’s driveway. I sighed. I felt like I was responsible for not keeping up with him. I let him get absorbed into this space obsession, but I never once tried to relate with him or talk to him. I thought it was weird, and I was too cool to get close to him.
I knocked on the front door. I don’t know why I expected any of this to play out normally. Nothing else was. Last time I saw him, he was stabbing into his notebook and wouldn’t even look at me.
I scanned the windows and saw nothing in sight. Nobody was home.
I tried the door, and it was locked. I moved the fake rock by the foot path and took the key from under it. I used to think his mom was a secret spy because of that. A fake rock hiding stuff? Iconic.
“Hello?”
I felt like an intruder. I haven’t been here in years, and I felt unwelcomed. I probably was.
I let out another “hello” and then I realized I was saying nothing to no one.
I looked around at the familiar knickknacks and furniture and childhood photos in a domain I haven’t even thought about in forever.
I moved through the home, expecting to find some sort of answer for what was happening to everyone in town. I felt like a dumbass. Why would Isaac know anything about this shit? I was desperately grasping at straws, trying to find some sort of answer to what was probably a fucking alien invasion.
But why has no one else done anything? No army? Nothing. I even checked the news and there’s nothing going on anywhere else in the world. I tried 911 again and I just reach a dead signal.
I felt trapped and like I couldn’t escape. All the people in my life are affected by whatever this is and I feel like I’m going to be next.
Then, as if I summoned it with that thought, I heard that screeching noise again. It was faint. But I could hear it. Was it going on this whole time? That same cacophony that came from everyone from the hospital was… being streamed from Isaac’s room?
I approached his door. It was unchanged since we were children. He still had a sign hanging from it, crafted by him and his dad, displaying “Isaac’s Room”.
…
Space shit. Everywhere. Pictures of Sagan, Einstein, constellations, model rockets, satellites. Kid was obsessed. He never expressed this interest when we were younger. I’m glad he found a hobby, I guess.
That obnoxious, haunting sound was on a loop, playing from his computer. That exact sound that my mom was screeching at me. This was the sound playing:
“Cassini RPWS September 2, 2017”? What the fuck was that? Is this what my mom meant by “Cassini”? I shut the thing off. It was obnoxious.
I scanned Isaac’s desk, trying to find an answer to any of this, toppling over astronaut bobble heads and grey alien figures. I desperately flipped through notes and random scrawled papers that was in a smudgy, chaotic writing. I was overwhelmed by all of it. I couldn’t even recognize half of was written down. I noticed a sticky note on his computer. “Make smart choices! -Mom”. Huh.
I found a notebook filled with dates. Finally. Something.
JAN 6: Telescope works very well. Thanks, mom.
JAN 10: Curious pink star. Doesn’t align with any charts. Wonder if undiscovered?
JAN 20: Pink star seemed to have disappeared.
FEB 1: Been noticing strange noises.
FEB 12: Saturn is getting closer.
FEB 15: Found source of noises. Been listening on repeat. Cassini signals.
FEB 18: Think I found some sort of signals from the noises. Something with circles… rings?
FEB 20: Rings = Portal?
MAR 2: Black stuff came out of portal.
I noticed an empty jar on his desk, clearly containing something that stained it a familiar dark color.
MAR 14: Need to make enough for summon.
APR 16: Saturn’s rings are turning.
APR 19: They’re facing us now.
APR 20: I’m going to Saturn.
MAY 20: We’re all going to Saturn.
What the fuck is this shit?
I scanned over at the window and noticed that Isaac’s telescope was still set up, staring out. I looked inside the eye piece to see what the hell he was staring at.
The telescope was facing Saturn, although it wasn’t as you’d expect it when you see it in books or online. You normally would expect to see the planet with the rings on the side, right?
But they weren’t. It was like I was staring at Saturn from above. The entire planet and its rings were facing the Earth. It looked like a fucking eye.
Cassini’s cries returned. I turned towards the computer. I thought I turned it off. And I did. The sounds weren’t coming from the computer. They were coming from outside.
Isaac was staring right at me, not even ten feet from the window.
…
“Isaac, what the FUCK?”
I nearly fell backwards, knocking space shit onto the floor.
I thought he was playing those fucking sounds from a speaker off his phone or something, but they were instead coming from him somehow. Like an aura surrounded him.
I opened his bedroom window to talk. He seemed more… coherent than the others in town. More in control I think?
“Isaac, are you still in there? Or are you just as fucked as everyone else in town?”
Isaac just looked at me, unblinking. He managed to let out some sort of cough and it sounded like “no”. He began to cry dark tears. Black sludge dribbled out of his nostrils. His lips began to peel open upwards and sideways. Skin moved as if you were skinning a potato. His head became a deep solid darkness that I felt like an opening to space itself. And within that darkness, I think I could see stars.
He began walking towards the window, and I ran the opposite direction.
The lights began to glow so brightly within his home, it looked like I was in the inside of an explosion. I tumbled out of the front door, and as soon as I did, I noticed him disjointedly crawl into his bedroom window, and his body bent and moved as if he were a giant fluid filled garbage bag.
I had to just leave. Just get in my car and drive. The one guy I knew that would have some sort of answers had fucking nothing.
Wait, maybe I have one more shot.
I remembered that Kate gave me her number last night.
…
“Hey, this is Nate, right?”
“Holy fucking shit thank God. Are you okay?”
She took a second to respond, obviously surprised.
“Yeah, I’m fine… why? How are you?”
“Okay, Kate. This is going to sound weird as hell. But have you noticed any weird things going on in town?”
“Well, not here. Didn’t Lindy or Oli tell you that I didn’t live there?”
Wait. She didn’t live in town? How far was she?
“Wait, where do you live? Wait, no sorry, that sounded dumb. I don’t mean it like that,” I felt stupid to be embarrassed right now of all times, “I just mean, how far are you from out of town? Weird shit is happening.”
“Oh. I, uh. I live about 30 minutes away. Weird things?”
“Okay, yeah remember what happened at the theater with the weird shit with that woman and the lights? It’s like that, but everywhere now. I’m trying to get out of town. I don’t feel safe at all.”
“Hey Nathan, you seem to be freaking out. Why don’t you take a breather for a second? I learned in my pysch class that anxiety can make you think some wild things—”
I interrupted her.
“Kate, thanks but I don’t need this right now. Can you please tell me where you’re at so I can get some help? The fucking police aren’t even responding right now. Oliver and Lindy are fucked right now.”
She went quiet for a second. I’m sure she felt overwhelmed and scared as shit with a guy she just met demanding to see her.
“Yeah, yeah. Let me just call Lindy real quick.”
She then hung up. Fuck. I didn’t know where I was going. So I just punched in some random hotel a half hour away and sped that direction.
The lights in homes and lamps began to glow white hot. It looked like each house was primed to explode in fiery bursts. I noticed in people’s yards there were giant, circular scorch marks that seemed to bore into the earth itself. I didn’t make out much detail, as I was going nearly 70 miles per hour through residential neighborhoods.
The radio rang to life and the sounds of Cassini trilled through. I attempted to turn it off, but the dial refused to register being changed.
My phone rang. I was worried I’d hear those same sounds, but then I noticed it was Kate.
“Kate, thank God.”
“Lindy didn’t pick up… what’s happening?”
“Kate, I swear to you I’m telling you the truth. All this horrific shit is happening and it feels like the end of the world. Can you please meet me at the Marriott in Lewisville? I’m about 10 minutes away from it.”
“Yeah… yeah I can do that. Lindy always responds and she hasn’t been talking to me all day. I’ll meet up with you.”
I was so relieved. This is the first normal person I’ve spoken to all fucking day. Thank God. Thank God.
“Thanks. I’ll see you there.”
I felt warm inside. A dumb crush making me feel like this. All while the world seemed to be falling apart.
Five minutes away. I’m nearly out of town. I’m going to get out of here. Fix all of this.
…
I didn’t make it to the Marriott.
As soon as I sped past the sign, indicating I was leaving here and entering Lewisville, I was on the other side of town. I stared forward. Did I make a wrong fucking turn somewhere? Did I miss something?
I did a U turn. I then entered the east side of town. The north entrance. I took another U turn. Now I could see the Lewisville border. I put my car into reverse and slammed on my acceleration, trying to drive backward into Lewisville. Instead, I drove backwards on the other side of town.
I got out of my car. I ran across the town’s border, hoping that I could somehow, desperately, materialize on the other side of it. But the same thing. I just appeared on the other side of town. It was like a fucked up game of Pacman.
Kate called me, she asked where I was at. I told her that we’re all going to die. That it was pitch black everywhere now and that a giant monstrous planet is above all of us, and it’s going to all take us in. Devour us like Cassini. We were all going to Saturn, now.
“What are you talking about? I don’t see anything. It’s day time. I’m really worried about you guys. What’s happening?”
A barrage of a thousand other panicked questions were on the other end of the line. I just let the phone drop to the ground. I couldn’t hear any more of her questions, anyway. Those warbled cries that sound of infinity and nothingness echoed all around me. The rings that pockmarked the town were now gateways, allowing the physical manifestation of space and stars through.
I got back into my car and drove. Back to the hospital, where I was hoping to see my mom for one last time, even with her current state.
…
The giant globe hovered over us, taking up the entire sky. The rings spun violently.
Thousands now clung their arms tightly together in a ring, surrounding the hospital, each person with several giant holes poked through, acting as openings for the void to spill out onto the ground. Golden rings devoured their heads, like manic discs shredding their skin and humanity.
I pushed past the crowd; I said my goodbyes to Oliver. He was still wearing his stupid sleep shorts. I assumed Lindy and Mrs. Clairemont were among this mess. The shredded skin of Isaac lay nearby, and a black form was hovering above it all.
I entered the hospital, still as empty as before, albeit, covered with more ooze and scratches. I stumbled into my mom’s room. She was surprisingly still there, wrapped with blankets and cords. I grabbed the destroyed cross necklace from her side of the bed and fumbled it in my hands, kissing it and holding it to my chest.
Those hollow wails spilled from her lips, and her head was beginning to be devoured by those golden rings. Nevertheless, I made space by her side and cuddled against her, telling her that I loved her and how sorry I was for swearing.
She then stopped wailing, and told me, as comforting as she could, mixed with a thousand souls all merged as one, “We’re all going to Saturn. Together.”