The Green Light

A loud, shrill scream startled me awake from a dark dream. I sat up, attempting to peel the sweat-soaked sheets from my trembling body as I looked around my room. What did I just dream of? The light of the streetlamps that flows through my open bedroom window was absent, replaced by a dim, eerie green light that cast a ghoulish glow about the room. That’s weird, that light was in my dream, but what happened?? I need to check it out. Looking at the clock on the nightstand, it was 2:30 in the morning. I put my feet on the cold, hardwood floors, feeling around with my feet for my fuzzy slippers. After slipping my feet into something warm and soft, I carefully made my way out my room to the living room, turning on the lights in the house as I went. I grabbed my fleece jacket from the hook by the front door and put it on over my pajamas and left the house.

The empty, small front yard was still and quiet. No one seemed to be awake at the other houses on the street and all the streetlamps were out. The same faint green glow I saw in my room lit up enough of the outside to see no one else around. Weird. I’d usually see lights on in several homes on the street of people who were night owls, watching games shows or playing video games, and then there would be those so into fitness that they’d be out running, yet, there was no one around. No one to witness this strangeness happening around us. I felt hopelessly alone. I shivered, the long-sleeved flannel night shirt and long pants not helping against the chills I felt closing in around me, and wrapped my jacket tighter. As I made my way around to the back of the house, where I saw the light through my window, I started to see my breath in the air. Somethings not right, what’s happening?

The backyard was slightly bigger than the front yard, with empty clothes lines hanging and waiting for something to be hung on them to dry. The yard was closed in by a single row of short bushes, with a space wide enough to walk through in the center. On the other side of the backyard was a wide, grassy meadow, but meadow isn't exactly how I would describe it now. A meadow has a feeling of peace and serenity, and tonight, this area was covered in deep darkness and I felt doom seeping into my very core. The green light seemed to be a short distance away, on the other side of the meadow. Usually, I'd wouldn't mind making the relatively short walk to the other side, to the small, mom and pop restaurant with a happy bright pink and red sign that served the best apple pie I've ever had, but tonight I hesitated. I dreaded stepping into the meadow, fearing that I might fall from existence.

Instead, I stood at the edge of my backyard shivering, and staring at the faint green light, wondering where it was coming from. It was then that I noticed it was slowly moving towards me. I stood transfixed, as the faint green light bloomed into a brighter green as it got closer. I felt something familiar about it, but I couldn't figure out what is was. As the green light got closer, I noticed the space behind seems to be swallowed up. Nothing was left behind. My feeling of doom grew. If only I could remember that dream! All of a sudden, I heard an earth-shattering pop, and then the light vanished and everything around me became painfull. Although I couldn’t quite explain why I needed to do it, I knew I had to get away, I knew something terrible was coming for me in that darkness. I turned to run to my car, sitting on the street in front of my house, when I started to panic, wondering if I left my keys on the table beside the front door, because all I was doing was going to the backyard. I didn't want to waste time running back into the house, so, praying and out of sheer desperation, I checked my jacket pockets. It seemed like I was being watched over, because there my keys were!

I carefully and quickly navigated myself through the dark yards towards my car by instinct, trying to remember what I had lying around on the ground and hoping my eyes would adjust quickly to the darkness. Thankfully, I made it as safely as I could to my car. As I got closer, I heard a tiny sound at my feet. I looked down and could barely see the most pitiful kitten, trying to run as well, but couldn’t quite get on its feet. I couldn’t leave it there I bent down to pick the kitten up, unlocked the car, climbed in, put the kitten in the passenger seat, and then took off! We drove until the sun came up, and then rented out a room at a small motel. I took the kitten into the room, locked the doors, and covered the windows. The doom feeling had subsided into nothing, but I was still terrified. We spent the rest of the day in the room, ordering pizza and having it delivered. When night set in, I realized how exhausted I was, and felt safe enough to try to get some sleep. I was woken up by the kitten meowing and a blinding green light radiating from the its gigantic mouth that swallowed the whole room. At that moment, I remembered my dream. A demon, in the body of a kitten, promised that these would be my last moments on earth and it would find me and take back what belongs to it when I woke up. Then, everything turned black.