4 Coming

We are old.

But we are not weak.

We have fed on stars.

When your pitiful world was young, we were ancient.

Before your pathetic sun was born, we had devoured galaxies.

We are death, but we are much, much more.

We are the beginning and the end.

We have slumbered, but now we are awake.

We are hungry.

                                                                *********************

5 Outback

In the grey hours before dawn, when human reason is at its weakest, the future is sometimes glimpsed.

Anna jerked awake with a scream poised on her lips. She was trapped. Swaddled in clinging, damp tentacles that would keep her from Newton. “No!!” she yelled and with superhuman strength ripped the tentacles from her throat.

Came fully awake.

Her bedroom.

Her bed.

Her soaking bedclothes trying to strangle her.

Anna gave a sob of relief. She was trembling violently and perspiration was streaming down her back and between her breasts. She shook her head and disentangled herself from the sheets. The nightmare seemed to linger in the room with her. The window was still open and the insect screen intact. Outside, the early Outback dawn was greying the sky. The digital clock read 3:48am. Her door was open a crack as always when John was away, so that she could hear if Newton stirred. Everything seemed normal. There was a residue in the room, like a slug leaves as it moves. A residue of sickness. That’s what it was. At the very edge of her sense of smell, she could smell vomit.

Anna jumped out of bed in her flannelette nightgown and bolted to Newton’s room. Flinging open the door, she stepped through the doorway and immediately slipped on something wet and fell to the floor. Her head cracked against the edge of Newton’s cot and she lay stunned for a few seconds. Newton started to cry.