After getting the assignment, my mind came up with TOO many story ideas. I started writing one, then I'd quit and write another. There were so many options with this topic. Finally on Saturday morning, I started a drama-type story filled with melancholy and sadness that, I was sure, could win this competition. But about 700 words into it, I re-read it and it was boring. My wife read it too, and she was bored. I realized I wouldn't be able to do it justice within the time frame allowed. I wasn't used to this type of story and knew I'd need a few more days to make it good.
There was only about 7 hours left to turn in the story. Frustration, and a diminutive sense of panic, set in. Then I started over. I didn't use any of my grand ideas. I just started writing whatever spilled out of my mind, and somehow I was able to submit this story below. I haven't read it since I turned it in, so I'm sure there are some typos I didn't catch. Also, this story is a little bit short at 1,700 words. There were some things I would have liked to add to it, but I didn't have time. So, with that lengthy introduction, enjoy this brain vomit:
Hayley’s Essence
Synopsis: When Ian Stone wakes up in the middle of the night to find his wife missing, he’s certain The Neighbors have taken her. While saving his own life, he is led to something else that gives him hope in this post-apocalyptic tale.
Ian Stone woke in a sweat. His body felt ablaze, yet he shivered from some unknown source that chilled his core. Fingers of dawn grabbed at his face through cracks in the two-by-fours that boarded the windows. His eyes felt sticky as he tried to pry them open. He turned over on his right side and leaned in to hold his wife for a few minutes.
He only felt pillow and bedspread. The right side of the bed was vacant. He popped up and frantically searched the bed.
“Baby, you here?” He jumped off the bed and opened the bedroom door. “Where are you? Hayley?”
“Ian,” a voice called out from the dark room.
Ian recognized the voice, but couldn’t immediately place it. His vision was blurred and it was too dark to see clearly into the dusty living room.
“Ian, I’m here to help. But I can’t stay long.” The voice was clearer, more recognizable. It was Hayley’s voice. Her figure materialized out of the darkness in a faint glow. He recognized Hayley, but knew something was different. Something was wrong.
“Hayley?” Ian said as he stepped closer. He reached out to her, wanting even more to hold her again, but stopped and stared at the woman he loved. His heart pounded, his stomach churned nervously. He knew this was not his wife.
Ian and Hayley had both created their “essences” in case one of them was taken by The Neighbors and the other was left alone. The essences were programs downloaded to an implanted chip in the partner’s temporal lobe. If one of them was dying, or losing their humanity, the chip would automatically activate in the other person. They were meant to guide whoever was left to safety, and to say goodbye if there wasn’t a chance. Only Ian could see Hayley’s essence.
“Hayley, no! How could they have taken you?” Ian dropped to his knees. His thoughts immediately drawn towards his last memory of her. Just last night they laughed together. Ian had watched her breathing when she fell asleep. He loved the woman and her peaceful sleep softened his soul.
The glowing apparition moved closer and put the back of its hand on his tear-soaked left cheek. Ian could almost feel the warmth of the hand. He could almost feel Hayley’s soft skin caress his face.
“Ian, it’s no longer safe here. The Neighbors know you’re here. You have to move. You have to leave this place. You have to continue on without me.”
“No, I can’t.” But he knew he must. “It’s not worth it alone.”
With a translucent finger, Haley’s ghost reached down and pulled up his chin with its index finger. Just like Hayley would have done. “Ian, I will always be with you, my love. You must continue on. For me. For you.”
Ian closed his eyes. His mind’s eye saw an image of her when they were in the Oregon Coast, before The Neighbors came, when the oceans still teemed with life. She stood in a light sweater with her hands in her pockets. Her head was cocked to the side, she smiled at him. The sun shone brightly. Waves crashed in the distance. The air smelled of saltwater and sand. She took off her sweater and bounded into the blue Pacific, laughing –
“The Neighbors are here, now.” the hologram said, waking him from his daydream. “They’re through the back door. You must hurry, Ian. It’s not safe here anymore.”
Then he heard it. A slight creek on the floorboards near the back door. The Neighbors usually operated in complete stealth. But the old floorboards were sensitive to any movement.
The beaming figure turned sharply. In a rush of static, specs of light spun in the air then vanished. Hayley’s essence dematerialized.
As the Essence disappeared, Ian saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He jumped to his feet and ran back into his room and locked the bedroom door. More light filtered through the boards over the window. He ran to the window and started ripping boards off. It would be his only escape from The Neighbors.
Hayley would soon become part of The Neighbors. She was probably going through it at this moment. Changing. There would be no stopping it now. There would be no saving her. Hayley was truly gone.
The Neighbors were at the bedroom door. He could hear them scratching, cutting. Soon the lock would be broken. If he was in the room when they broke in, it would be over.
“Hurry, Ian.”
Hayley’s voice was comforting, even though it was just the Essence speaking somewhere in the abyss of his mind. Ian kicked the last board down and stepped up to the window. The light coming through wasn’t the sun. Just a streetlamp aimed at the window. Night drowned the lifeless city two stories below.
“Jump, Ian. You’ll land safely.”
Ian jumped as the bedroom door swung open. The decayed trash in the dumpster wasn’t as soft as Ian thought it would be. Fueled by adrenaline, he rolled out of the dumpster onto the pavement and sprinted towards cover in the buildings to the north.
A silent flicker of twilight blue …
The dumpster exploded.
He dared not look back for fear of spotting The Neighbors in pursuit. He could not bear to view them. Each time he saw one, something dark roiled his insides.
Down an alley, the Essence stood pointing at an abandoned building. Ian leaped inside. He took only five steps into the hallway before he crashed through the floor.
****
He wasn’t sure how long he was out. He opened his eyes and saw Hayley standing above him. He sat up in a pile of debris. His body bruised. His right ankle was pounding. He tried to stand but collapsed.
He stood up again and was about to speak to the Essence, but it held a finger to its mouth, “Shhh ... ,” the Essence then pointed to a closet door.
“What is it?” Ian whispered. “What’s in there?”
The Essence looked puzzled. Then finally spoke, “I’m struggling for the right words.”
Hayley’s real consciousness must be fading, overtaken by The Neighbors.
Ian walked over to the door. “You want me to open it?”
The Essence nodded.
Ian slowly opened the door.
Something buried itself in the corner of the closet, in the fetal position, shivering from fear and cold.
A little girl. Another human! How did Hayley know? She must have seen her when she was taken.
Ian crouched down to the floor and whispered, “Hey there. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”
The girl looked up. Her large hazel eyes were pools of sadness and fear. She was no more than ten years old.
“What’s your name?”
“Hayley. Hayley Brown.”
Ian paused and stared at the girl. “Your name is Hayley?”
The girl nodded, “Uh-huh.”
Ian looked up at the Essence. It was smiling for the first time. Ian looked back at the girl in the closet “Well, Hayley, it’s nice to meet you.”
The girl smiled and looked to the ground, embarrassed.
“Hide her!” the Essence said. “They’re above us now.”
Ian saw worry painted on the Essence’s face. He looked back down at the girl. “Hayley, can you hide here for just a few more minutes?”
“Please don’t leave me alone. The bad things will come get me.”
“I’ll be back for you I promise. I won’t let them get you. Be really quiet so the bad things don’t find you, okay?”
The girl nodded her head. Ian quietly shut the door.
“They are coming down the stairs,” the Essence said, panicking.
Ian ran back to the rubble pile and buried himself in drywall and sheetrock, hoping that if he stayed still, The Neighbors would only see him as part of the building. He looked back at the closet. The Essence was gone.
He waited about 10 minutes before he saw one come down the stairs. It walked with impressive agility. It seemed to float along the floor like a ghost. Parts of its body glimmered in the faint light. The machine parts. The parts that stole humanity.
It turned its head toward Ian, its red, laser eye piercing the darkness, searching for signs of human life.
Ian stayed still. Hayley, I can’t do it alone. I can’t continue without you. If I get caught, they’ll just bring me to you. Then I can be with you again. If I just stand up, it’ll be over.
“Ian, no.”
Hayley, you’re still there?
“I’m not what I was or who I was anymore. What I was is now dead.”
Hayley, without you, I’m dying. Without you, I’m dead.
Hayley’s essence again materialized in front of Ian. “I can’t keep the Essence going, Ian. You must save yourself and that little girl. For us. Keep me alive in her. I will soon be gone.”
The Essence pointed to the closet again. The Neighbor was a couple feet from the door. It reached for the door handle.
“Save her and live,” the Essence said.
The Essence dematerialized. Ian picked up a slab of concrete and ran to The Neighbor. The Neighbor turned.
A flicker of twilight blue …
****
The sun shone brightly on the Oregon Coast. The blue Pacific Ocean rolled in the distance. Waves rumbled. The sea lapped against the beach, leaving trails of foam. Air pockets in the sand blew bubbles as the water receded. Gulls cried in the sky.
Ian sat with his feet submerged in the warm sand and looked out at Hayley. The little girl was playing in the surf. She laughed as a wave knocked her over.
Hayley ran back with something in her hand.
“Ian, Ian. Look what I found.”
She opened her hand and a crab-like creature spun around. The movement tickled, and she let out a squeal, dropping the crustacean. It quickly burrowed into the sand out of sight.
Ian laughed.
“What are those, Ian?”
“Those? Oh, those are sand fleas.”
“Life?”
“Yes, life.”
“Let’s go find some more,” and she ran off back to the surf.
Ian couldn’t help but smile. He stood up to follow and saw the massive burn scars on his right arm, triggering the memory of the conflict with one of The Neighbors. He thought of his wife, and then looked at the girl playing in the surf trying to catch sand fleas. He remembered his wife’s last words, “Keep me alive in her … Save her and live.”
Ian jogged to meet Hayley. He would catch as many sand fleas as he could.
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