The Zachary Donovan Enigma - (( Watty Awards! ))

The Zachary Donovan Enigma - (7)

Chapter Seven

(7)

The bush was filled with screaming. All around, people cried out in fear, horror and despair. Smoke from various spot fires clouded the warm air as dark-skinned members of the Aboriginal tribe ran panicked in all directions.

No one was safe.

Despite the shrieking, all the small child could hear as his mother dragged him further into the bush were his own sobs, and the frantic throbbing of blood pounding in his ears.

Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a crack of thunder that no one heard. A nearby gum tree caught fire and began burning out of control in the rainless storm.

No one gave the blazing tree a second glance as they ran helplessly through the bush and the smoke.

The small boy staggered after his mother, tears streaking his vision. He tripped over a fallen branch, and fell sprawling into a pile of dried leaves. His mother stopped and cried out frantically in aboriginal before hurriedly pulling him back to his feet.

There was no time for patching wounds, or comforting words. There was only time for running and escaping. The mother continued to pull her child away from the village and into the deep forest.

The child whimpered, shaking with fright. He didn’t understand what was happening. In fact, no one understood. They were all frightened and confused.

All they knew were the lights. The lights were evil.

Suddenly lightning hit the tree in front of the pair and burst into flames. The wind quickly carried the flames onto the long dry grass, and in no time at all, the route ahead was barricaded by a wall of fire.

The mother cried out in despair and quickly turned to sprint the other way, dragging the sobbing child behind her.

The woman screamed in terror as she saw a swarm of the lights begin to enclose around her and her child. The luminescent discs bobbed above the ground, shining brightly even in the fading daylight.

They floated closer, forming a tight circle around the pair, and blocking any escape.

The mother let go of the boys hand and raced forward, trying to distract the lights from her child. The boy screamed for his mother, but she continued forward, attempting to dodge the glowing discs.

But the lights converged on her, engulfing the woman in a brilliant, bright, white light. And when they dispersed, there was nothing left of the small child’s mother but a cloud of sparkling dust, drifting away in the wind.

The boy was frozen in terror, and for a brief moment, the lights seemed to have forgotten the child and began to waft away in search of more prey.

 Then an involuntary whimper escaped from the child’s lips, a whimper for his murdered mother. And as fast as lightning, the lights changed course, flying with an unnatural speed towards the boy, who shrieked out desperately for his mother.

--

I gasped in alarm and jerked into a sitting position, instantly awake. My eyes quickly searched the darkened room for any signs of danger and I drew my knees tightly to my chest, hugging them close and suppressing a shiver of fear. It was just a dream; I reminded myself, wiping a clammy hand on the thin bed sheet. Just a dream.

But it had seemed so real. The terror on the child’s face, the shining white lights, the fire. It had seemed all too frighteningly real.

I hugged myself tighter, holding back another tremble, and sneaked a glance at the bedside alarm clock. 3:12 am. There was no way I could get back to sleep now. I don’t think I’d even be able to close my eyes with the horrific images of the nightmare replaying over and over in my mind.