Sunshine – A Short Story By Coletha Albert

Last night I was driving when I heard a “Thump, Thump, Thump!” I was freaked. I ran through my rolodex of experiences and knowledge to ascertain what it could be. I was driving at night and I was alone. It’s 10 days from Halloween during a pandemic and Alec Baldwin shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on set today in New Mexico… Freaky things are happening in our world right now.

I checked my rearview mirror and saw no other cars. I checked my side mirrors. There were no vehicles on either side of me. “Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump…” I rolled my driver side window down and listened…just then I heard a thud on the roof of my car. The bottom of my car hit the pavement and I heard screeching like I have never heard before!

I squeezed my eyes shut against the noise as my mind and soul went into fight or flight mode. I press down hard on brakes. Something, someone went flying off the roof of my car. I shifted into reverse and pressed the gas pedal!!! As soon as I could I turned the wheel to the right and shifted into drive. I peeled out heading to anywhere that people were… I crossed I-5 South entering a wooded area that would lead the Safeway. As soon as I saw the lights of the store, I sped to the parking lot. I shifted into park and looked around cautiously. I listened. I looked behind me and all around the parking lot. I listened. I looked into the store and saw a group of five people standing inside the doors looking beyond me into the sky.

I looked up and saw something BIG, flying toward the store… I swung open my car door and ran to the entrance of the Safeway…One of the employees put the key in the door and they swung open for me. The employee stepped behind me as I fell at the feet of the onlookers. They reached out and pulled me toward them as a loud screech assaulted our ears.

I squeezed my eyes closed and covered my ears as the screeching continued. When it didn’t burst through the glass after me, I opened my eyes and looked through the glass doors… There this “thing” was standing on the other side of the doors screeching at us. It was over six feet tall. I couldn’t see how it had flown but I knew it was heavy and it was strong. It had followed me to the store and now it was at the door.

It didn’t know how to get in or understand the doors. It wanted us though… As it screeched it was joined by another one of it’s kind, then another… The employee pulled down the safety doors as another barrier in case the creatures decided to break through the glass doors. Instead of waiting to see what would happen next the employee took us up to the employee break room. There were windows and security cameras that we could monitor.

Looking at the cameras, we saw…nothing.

We ran over to the windows and saw…nothing.

We stood there gawking into an empty parking lot. The street lights buzzed quietly. The nightingales were silent. There was no wind. There were no traffic. It was as quiet as a cemetery in rural Texas, long forgotten and overgrown with bluebonnets.

It was surreal.

We went back to the cameras and panned up, down, left, and right. We saw nothing. We said nothing.

The phone rang just then and we all screamed!!! Looking at the phone, the employee picked up and listened. The caller wanted to know what time the pharmacy opened. Just like that the nightmare was over.

We all went back downstairs and watched as the employee lifted the storm door. There was nothing out there. My car was parked nearby just as I left it. I walked over to the Starbucks area of the store and sat down. My legs began to shake uncontrollably. I let them. The others followed me and sat down near me. We quietly sat there waiting for the sun to come up.

We did not call the police.

We did not call the fire department.

We felt that we were the only humans on the planet and we were no longer at the top of the food chain. We were the prey. All the tribes we have killed. All the fellow citizens we have tortured and brutalized. All the animals we have driven into extinction… Now there was something that was stalking us. Now there was something hunting us. Now we were truly the prey.

We sat quietly. We waited on the sun to rise…

It never did….