Perigee

Created by Christopher Moore

Midnight

The silence was deafening.

The shadowy grass blades stood as if they were soldiers at attention.

The trees’ leaves formed rank upon rank of silently watchful spectators bathed in faint grey light.

The darkened landscape stood perfectly still, yet it quivered with thunderously noiseless anticipation.

Then suddenly, a colossal presence bore down upon me. It felt as though the weight of the sky had been thrust upon my shoulders. The roar of silence intensified as I tried and failed to will myself to move, but I was paralyzed by the weight of my insuppressible terror. I was a deer in the headlights, trapped in my own unmoving flesh. The overpowering force pressed me further down to the ground. My throat wrenched open to scream, but nothing could be heard above the cacophony of quiet. Then, to my horror, my eyelids grew heavy. I knew I could not fall asleep now, yet my rapidly fading consciousness could not cope. An abyss of pure darkness yawned before me, and I let out scream after silent scream, but I could do nothing but fall down into the inky blackness, and as the darkness swallowed me, I caught one last glimpse of the gargantuan orb of silver light floating right above me.

Moonrise

I wrenched awake, my heart and lungs racing to satisfy my erratic brain. With a shuddering sigh, I realized that I had only been dreaming, and the nightmare was now gone. I sank back into my sweat-drenched covers with relief.

Well, it’s no use trying to sleep now, I thought to myself. I stretched drowsily, then climbed out of bed and ambled over to the kitchen. As I blindly filled a glass at the tap, I couldn’t help but squint into the darkness for something lurking. I felt stupid, like when I was a kid and would run up the stairs like something was chasing me. I forced an awkward laugh from my lips, but its only amplified in the following silence.

With my eyes widened as large as I could to try to see through the darkness, I tiptoed past the piles of barely visible clutter over to the sagging armchair. But then I stopped. A beam of moonlight peeked through an opening in the curtains. It was bright, for moonlight, but nothing else seemed special about it. Yet I just gaped at it.

A sudden curiosity rose within me. The Moon must be bright tonight, I pondered, I wonder what it looks like. I started to draw near the window, but I tripped over something… something alive! I scrambled to my feet in panic, but then I saw that it was just my cat.

“Hey, stinker, what makes you think you can just lie on the floor like that,” I asked as I opened my arms for a consoling hug, “… Jeff?” That was odd, Jeff would always snuggle in when I opened my arms. “Jeff? I’m sorry for tripping on you, I didn’t mean to.” He still didn’t respond. “Are you hurt?” I slid closer, but he didn’t move. He didn’t even acknowledge me. He sat rigid with his face in the thin beam of moonlight.

The urge to pull open the curtains grew immense, but something stopped me. This wasn’t right. Why wouldn’t Jeffrey move?

I got up. My breath shallowed, and my heart beat faster. This is just like my dream, I thought, but the reason why escaped me. Yet I knew one thing with certainty: I couldn’t look at the Moon.

I stepped back away from the moonbeam, and I tried to think through the thick clouds of drowsiness crowding my mind. I tugged the curtains closed, then I turned to see Jeff’s reaction. He rose slowly, mechanically, his eyes never moving or blinking, and leapt with uncanny precision clear across the room onto the center of the curtains, digging his claws deep into the fabric. The cheap polyester tore under his weight, and a grey light flooded the room.

I threw my arms in front of my face to shield my eyes as I cowered in terror.

I crouched for a moment, but then I realized that the light did not reach me. With a flicker of embarrassment, I stood upright. Jeff sat on the windowsill as still and silent as if nothing had just happened.

I tried to steady my racing heartbeat, but panic gripped me like an iron clamp. The shadowy walls closed around me, squeezing me, forcing me to submit. I had to get out of there

I raced out into the hallway and down the stairs.

The empty lobby sat watchfully still as I dashed out the entrance.

The night opened up cool, clear, and serene before me. Yet a patient and persistent presence still tugged at the corner of my mind