*Tap*

A slow trickle, a droplet. A soaking wetness coating my cheek.

Huh? Is it raining? Is the ceiling leaking? I find myself questioning as more droplets woke me from my cosy slumber, opening my eyes to water soaking my pillow and droplets hitting my cheeks.

Turning my gaze up, I found the culprit. A slow trickling hole in the ceiling seeping with water and yet, strangely I hear no rain...

I stood up from my bed and parted the curtains, greeting me with thick darkness coating the sky and buildings and yet the weather look fine. No howling wind and certainly no droplets. Still... the darkness creeps me out... it is as if someone put a thick blanket on the sky and turned off the light. I don’t like this.

I turned around to take another look at the leak and yet I found nothing. I touched my cheek and it welcomed me with dryness. I rub the pillow and found no spill.

Am I dreaming? 

I rubbed my eyes and yawned, ready to go back to bed and that is when it dawned to me.

“2 pm...”

I tilt my head at the clock in confusion, taking my phone to check, showing the same number in kind.

“Huh? What is happening?”

I reset the time and still it displayed the same time. Nonetheless the sky remained dark, accompanied by that chilling air brushing the curtains. My hairs stands just by their mere touch, my skin lightly shivering.

“This doesn’t feel right...”

I raised my hand, slapping my cheeks with such a force that my palm burn with pain and the impact seeping through my jaw like a searing burn.

“... Alright?”

I slapped myself again, the pain being too real for me to be dreaming and any drowsiness in me drowned away by the pain on both of my cheeks. It will heal with time, but I have to make sure I’m not in a threatening situation because all of this doesn’t feel right.

I should look outside, see if anyone is wondering the same as me. I looked down the window, seeing a conglomeration of people below talking to each other. Some of them are even holding weapons.

I grabbed the knife I always hide under my pillow plus my pepper sprays made extra potent with some of my spicy concoctions with the most spicy chilli I can find in the market and legally add to a pepper spray. I’m not even sure if I can still call them pepper spray, or should I just call them ‘burn your eyeballs spray’?

Stuffing them in my pockets, I grabbed my keys and locked the door behind me before going down the stairs. On my way however another pair of footsteps echoed behind me.

“Hey, uhm you going down there?”

An arm reach my shoulder with a tap and I stopped, looking at the man looking at me with quite an expression. His hands sweat and his eyes darting from side to side with uneasiness. I know this man, he is one of the kindest in the apartment. An aging old man seeking company. He often give others some of his dishes when he cooked too much and he always does.

“Oh, yeah... I have to check what is going on”

I smiled and he smiled back, awkwardly.

“Mind if I come? The darkness there... I feel like I’m being watched...”

He shivered at the mention of it, as if it bring some unkind memories. He subconsciously looked back at the dark before letting out a subtle sigh of relief. 

After much of his delicious meals that saved me in hard times, that is the least I can do for the man.

“Sure”

“Thanks... the darkness there is...”

“Yeah, it gives me creeps too.”

We descended downstairs towards the crowd and someone seems to be at the front. By his attire he must be one of the local police. Just one? How serious can it be that they sent just one of them to quell the commotion?

Parting the crowd for the old man, we went closer so we can hear among the hushed conversations.

“Listen, go to your homes! We are doing our best to fix the situation, so please go back to your home”

The man shouted, against the protest of many.

“It has been going on for hours!”

“Look! We don’t even have connection here!”

“I can’t call my daughter! Just what the fuck is going on?!”

The crowd pressed on against the poor man, his face visibly shaking and those eyes tell me he just how much pressure the man must have been.

“Please, just listen, go to your home. We will assure you we will fix this and give everyone an explanation”

He shouted once again, exhaustion visible on his face. Just how long has this been going on?

“You have been telling that and you are still to give an explanation!”

“Yeah!”

“Tell us”

-sigh-

This won’t end well if this continue. I looked at the old man, still as uneasy as before if not more so.

I stepped out from the crowd and flashed a card to the guy. He stared at it before reluctantly giving me the megaphone he is using. 

They stopped, they stared at me. They consider me one of them so they should listen to me. Some of them I even know for years now.

“Hello everyone, I think we should do as they said. If we continue rambling here we will achieve nothing but add more to the commotion and stretch their power to fix whatever is happening”

They protested even still.

“We need to know!”

“We have the rights to know!”

Oh my, these people... humans really are... oh my.

“Again, do you want to leech their power to investigate what is happening? If you want answers, then get a representative! Instead of all of you trying to pressure this young man who is only doing what he has been ordered to do, why don’t you get a representative who you all trust? After all you all need rest, do you not?”

Silence, though there are still hushed conversations amongst them.

“If you all protest here, you will all just tire yourself. But then if you have a representative, then you will all have powers when you think they are lying to you! I am one of you as well and I lived here in this apartment for more than 4 years already. I’m sure you know me and I want answers too and this is not the way! We will only create further chaos by doing this and so once again pick your representative”

I have to inflate their ego a bit, give them the idea that they have a bit of foothold and leverage in the discussion. After all, humans are easier to calm down when they think they have some control. It is necessary I do so if I don’t want to be stuck here talking to a crowd who won’t listen.

They all looked at each other, trying to choose whoever to throw into the grinder. Silence, none of them spoke and none of them stand up. They are too busy trying to choose who to pick and those who want to are all quite, silently waiting for someone to pick them.

Eventually someone broke the silence and a lady walked off the crowd, someone I know. She is blonde and tall, with visible wrinkles of age on her face. She is one of the people who lived before I even came, a mother of 3 and a plant lover. I occasionally visit her over a cup of coffee if I feel alone or stressed. Of course I am not a freeloader and I help her in house chores as payment for wasting bit of her time. She often refuse, but I insist and I won’t have it any other way.

I passed the microphone to her and pulled the young man away.

“So, what happened?”

I whispered 

“Sir, the reports...”

“Reports?”

“Yes sir, reports came that the city... is lost”

“Lost?”

“Yes sir, no contacts from the outside world are working. We can’t contact anyone outside the city and the satellites connections are down”

“Reports also came that the city is covered in a wall of fog”

Oh shit...

I shook my head and turned back to the crowd and to my horror....

“Do you mean...that fog?”

A wall fog on the horizon, slow but ever creeping. With it came shadows, countless shadows all flying and moving with far too many arms and far too many heads...

“Sir... that’s...”

“Run”

I uttered the word. 

“Tell them...to run... Get every weapon you can and fortify a base. NOW”

He scrambled to get his walkie talkie and I too rushed to the crowds and get them inside. They are unsure, but they still followed. Some tried to resist, but they still did as the crowd.

It came...it truly came...

I scrambled to get them all in, and in panic I didn’t notice a cut on my arm...slowly healing...

(Author: I checked the grammar, but there are bound to be words and spellings that I passed by)