Shimmer - January 05, 2013

[note: this was written during a writing exercise: we had 20 minutes to write something inspired by the word "shimmer". This is the result, unedited, exactly as it appeared when time ran out. You can read all of them in the waves category]]

Shimmer- Squiddy Geiger - January 05, 2013

Brandon trudged through the snow towards home, his thoughts filled with the new semester that was coming. New classes that would bring new professors and new challenges. It worried him but he was looking forward to it, too. First week nerves, and it was still a weekend away.

The Christmas break had been great, a good relaxing time with family, the occasional party with friends, and most importantly, plenty of time with Rebecca. He smiled as he thought of her, as he always did. Deep in thought, it was nearly a minute before he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the shimmer keeping pace with him.

He stopped, and it stopped. He looked towards it and it moved, never leaving the corner of his eye. He started walking again, and it followed, just at the edge of his vision. It reminded him of the shimmery glittery light of the teleporters on Star Trek - the original series, not the later ones.

He tried flipping his head and turning very quickly, but it was no use. He couldn't look directly at it. He tried spinning around the other way, but the same thing happened. It spun with him. Whatever it was, it was fast and it wasn't far, because it never went behind any objects as it spun with him. Brandon was just starting to think it was a problem with his eye when it growled.

It didn't growl at him, it growled, very softly, as someone went by in the other direction. Well, it was sort of a growl, with a soft whistling sound in it. Weird, hard to describe, really. The other person didn't seem to hear. He heard the growl several more times before he arrived home.

By the time he got home, he had deduced that the growl came when people passed too close to him. If they stayed at least 15 feet from him, it was fine. Less than 15 feet and the shimmer growled. He was thinking about this as he opened the door, and his roommate, Ryan, shook his hand to wish him Happy New Year. It was the last thing Ryan ever did.

The shimmer left no trace...

Posted by Squiddy at January 5, 2013 08:45 PM | TrackBack