18 February 2013
I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could, stumbling only when I heard Paulo's crew screaming. I could only assume the figures had returned to deal with them.. I froze as I reached the door to what was Paulo's apartment. My mother was still down there. And I had just left her. Tears sprung to my eyes as I debated going back downstairs, regardless of the consequences. It dawned on me that I heard no more sounds coming from downstairs. No "popping" sounds. No screaming. Turning the handle to find it unlocked, I found the apartment lights on. I rushed to the window overlooking the street for a clue. I could see three police cars and the remains of what was supposed to be our rescue. The few groups of people left on the high street that had no idea what had happened were moving towards the police cars.
Sliding down against the wall, I tried to figure out what I had to do. "I'm only me, what could i possibly do?" I muttered as tears crept into my eyes. "Mum..." I whispered as I sobbed quietly. I stayed there for minutes but it felt like hours. I had no clue how to save myself, let alone go back downstairs and save my mum. As the tears started to dry up, I wrapped my arms around myself, noting that ten minutes had passed. Pushing myself up from the floor, I stilled as I heard the handle turn. My mouth opened in a O of a scream but my throat wouldn't work. A figure walked in through the door without making a sound. In the light, I could see it's skin was a smooth teal colour which was sinewy with muscle. It's body replicated ours, only it had no sexual organs to distinguish gender. Those long fingers gripped the gun as it seemed to look around the room. Those eyes would haunt me forever, big sky blue eyes that seemed to shine even in the light. Moving closer to the window, I shook with fear as clearly the end had come for me. A solitary tear fell at the thought that I wouldn't see my mum again. Waiting for the figure to focus its gun on me, I was shocked when the figure turned to leave the room and closed the door behind itself.
I stood and waited for a minute, only moving when I realised it wasn't coming back. How had it not seen me? The room was lit up like Christmas, how had he missed me?
As I pulled the window up to look out onto the street for an escape, I gasped as I saw the figures walk out onto the street and ignore the people gathered around the cars. They made a small circle and suddenly a bright blue light shone into the late afternoon sky with a persistent hum. It was as if I had dipped my head underwater, the sound had become a numbed out echo and I felt nauseated. From the corner of my eye i saw the picture next to the window slowly shift to the right and then to the left. I turned back to the figures and gripped the window pane tighter, we weren't on the high street anymore!
Watching the clouds disappear, I felt light headed that maybe I wasn't ever going to make it out alive. The figures non-reaction to seeing me made me worry I'd died but I could still hear my heartbeat clearly. With a last look at the window and earth, I moved to sit on the couch. "Fuck, I didn't even want a haircut" I muttered to no one. It was just me. And mum if she was still alive.
Figures II • Opuss № I