Blue Light

The sun began to set as Dark clouds covered the sky and rain fell across the winding mountain road. Felix didn't mind the weather.

He works as a driver for a food delivery service, and nothing makes people want to eat-in more than a rainy day.

He looked at the clock on his dashboard.

"Wow, Eight o'clock already. That makes this…13 hours."

His stomach growled as he turned towards the pile of packaged food sitting on the passenger seat, from which a mouthwatering aroma filled the entire car.

"I don't know what that is but I am so tempted to find out.", he said, looking back towards the road.

Living in a mountainous region, he occasionally received orders that took him on winding roads like this, but none yet had taken him this far up.

Large trees lined both sides of the snake-like road, creating an uneven canopy of leaves overhead that sloped the steep incline of the hill. Rainfall had left a shiny glaze upon everything in sight outside of the car, and a light fog hovered above the ground.

According to the GPS map on his phone, he was 15 minutes away from his destination. Scenic drives like these made the longer distance orders worth it, and just meant more time away from home.

Felix hated going home, if you could even call it that. His parents died when he was four and without having any other relatives alive, his uncle took him in. He was an alcoholic, and didn't hold back his anger when he got drunk. Going home to that was like a one way trip to hell.

Felix was 18 years old, having recently graduated from high-school. Still living at his uncles house, he had vowed to save up enough money to get his own place and finally escape the abuse he'd become so familiar with.

He had always been skinny and pale growing up, which made him an easy target. Whether it was at home with his uncle or at school with bullies, his childhood taught him the harsh reality of this world: The strong prey on the weak.

While he no longer had to deal with the bullies in school, the only way he could avoid his uncles drunken rage was to avoid his uncle altogether, and so he had been working late into the night every day, hoping his uncle would be passed out by the time he got home.

The road seemed to get narrower as he climbed up the mountain path, curving around the hill and disappearing from view in the distance. Music from the cars radio had been playing, keeping him company on what would have otherwise been a lonely drive.

As he came around the curve, the radio began to crackle with static, interrupting the smooth melody with a strange and eerie sound of interference unlike anything Felix had ever heard before.

"That's not creepy." He said sarcastically as he turned down the volume on the radio.

Normally he wouldn't have thought to comment on the noise, but the sun had just set, blanketing the world in a darkness cut through only by the headlights of the car. Not to mention the last house or building he saw was at least 10 minutes down the mountain, creating a desolate and lonely atmosphere that, coupled with the fog, seemed straight out of a horror film.

Maybe it was due to the strange static, the dark forest, the lack of society, or even all of them; something left a feeling of anxiety and dread within Felix that made him uncomfortable.

After driving for a few minutes the static began to get louder and more frequent. His anxiety increasing with every screech from the radio, Felix quickly turned it off in the hopes he could shake the terrible feeling that was building up in his chest.

The static noises stopped and he let out a sigh of relief, however a slight feeling of nervousness remained.

He drove out from under the canopy into a clearing where the road straightened out, when the car started to act strange. The radio began turning on and off, broadcasting the interference in what almost seemed like timed intervals. The lights inside and out of the car were flickering, as if somehow influenced by the strange noise.

The car began to slow down and the gas pedal wasn't working no matter how far down he pushed it. Not sure what was happening, Felix steered the car to a small overlook clearing on the right side of the road.

He would have admired the view of the valley from the overlook if he wasn't preoccupied with the apparent meltdown his car was having.

He reached down and turned the car off, hoping a restart might fix whatever was wrong, but to no avail. Not only did the problems persist while the car was off, it would not start up again.

Unsure of what was happening and what to do, Felix opened the door and got out to check the engine. Thunder rumbled in the distance but thankfully, the rain had slowed to a drizzle so he wasn't getting soaked.

He lifted the hood of the car and took a look inside. Everything seemed normal.

"Maybe it's the battery?", he said, glancing along the wires that connected to a large black box in the back.

Felix didn't have much mechanical experience, so he wasn't sure what was wrong. Even if it was an issue with the battery, he'd need another car to jump start his own, and as far up the mountain as he was, it was unlikely there were any nearby.

He looked at his phone, which showed he only had 10 minutes left to reach his destination before the order would be late.

"Of course this happens 20 freaking miles up the mountain." He said, looking back at the car and sighing. "What am I supposed to do now?"

One might think now would be the perfect time to call a friend for help, however Felix had never really had any close friends he could rely on.

Suffering from bullying for so many years, he learned to keep his head down and stay to himself.

As angry as it made him to get bullied and see others get bullied, he knew it would only make things worse if he spoke up. This allowed him to survive through high-school, but it was moments like these that he regretted not being more social.

The cars lights were still flashing, and the static could be heard even though the doors were closed.

Felix decided he would have to call a tow truck, and groaned at the thought of how long it would take for one to get here.

He began to walk back to the drivers side door when he noticed his flashing headlights seemed to be speeding up in interval. The static noise grew louder as well, evolving from a once tolerable nuisance to a now ear piercing shriek that made him feel nauseous.

He took a few steps back and covered his ears as the sound grew louder and louder, dropping him to his knees.

"Aaghhhhhh!" He shouted, now hunched over on the road in a great deal of pain. It felt like someone had jammed two needles as far down his ears as they possibly could.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPE-"

Both headlights suddenly and violently exploded, launching shards of glass in all directions. One of the shards sliced his cheek, sending him recoiling backwards.

Stunned, it took Felix a few seconds to recollect his thoughts and get up off the ground. His head was ringing and a small trickle of blood fell from the wound on his face.

The lights in his car were no longer flashing and the noise had stopped entirely, leaving him enveloped in silent darkness. Now terrified, he searched the ground for his phone which had flown out of his hand during the explosion.

"Come on come on, where is it" he said, a small tremble in his voice.

As he stumbled around in the dark, something began to change around him. The air seemed to get thicker and vibrate slightly, causing the hairs on his arms and neck to stand up. It was a captivating feeling, almost like being surrounded by water that had no volume.

Felix moved his hands back and forth, seemingly hypnotized by the feeling of this strange air passing through his fingers.

Suddenly a bright blue light flashed on directly above him, illuminating the surroundings in a ten foot diameter with Felix at the center. A subtle electronic hum seemingly emanated from it.

He peered up to see where the light was coming from, but it was so bright he had to shield his eyes.

Felix dashed towards his phone, now visible within the circle of illumination beaming down from above. Just before he could reach down and grab it, something began pulling him back. It was an invisible force that surrounded him and made him feel progressively lighter and lighter, as if countering gravity.

His fingers were only a few inches away from the phone but it was too late. The force had ramped up in a matter of seconds and he now felt completely weightless. He began to slowly rise up in the air, flailing his arms and legs around in an instinctual effort to regain control.

"HELP ME!", He screamed at the top of his lungs. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Despite his movements and cries for help, he continued to rise upwards towards the now buzzing blue light. As he got closer and closer it became bigger and brighter until the light filled his entire field of vision. Even with his eyes shut the light pierced through and shone as brightly as if he was looking directly at the sun on a clear day.

And then- darkness.

The light had vanished along with Felix, leaving the broken car, dropped phone, and surrounding Forrest shrouded in pitch black once more.

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