The Scream

• Layah Conry, Grade 9, Calvin Christian School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

The Scream

They are completely oblivious to the tension and unease they are causing, though everyone else can feel it in the very atmosphere, as though the world itself were holding its breath. No one has seen them before, nobody knows them, yet they walk purposefully to every person with an air of determination and growing impatience before moving away, unsatisfied. Anyone who tries to avoid their penetrating glare is immediately immobilized by some strange influence. I can't imagine what is going on but everyone is edgy, including me; the slightest sudden movement or sound making us cringe. Everyone is worrying that these mysterious, unearthly people will find what they are looking for in them.
Suddenly, a wave of overwhelming nausea rolls over me, causing me to double over in pain. It’s as if I have a direct connection with the earth. I feel an excruciating fear ripple through nature, tearing the peace and sanity to shreds; 'this isn't natural, it isn't supposed to be like this!' I sense the attention fixed upon me as I struggle to straighten; the centre of focus, the next target for the strangers.
Maybe it's the fact that strikes me with a certainty that I can't afford not to trust it; despite my fervent hopes I am who they are looking for, but something in me triggers a release and my muscles go into overdrive. I have to get away. My heart thunders in my chest, threatening to break free of the restraints of my ribs. I glance back at my pursuers and my feet falter. They are walking at a leisurely pace yet not falling behind. On the contrary, they are catching up. Something evil is at work here.
Then time stops. Or so it seems. Despite my urgent endeavour to escape the clutch of these monsters I am caught, as helpless as a fish on land. I scream but no one seems to hear me, as if I’m in a bubble of space where sound doesn't exist. I’m frozen, my mouth forming the silent plea for help with my hands grasping at my head as it begins to throb with the lack of normality and lucidness. I now understand the terror of the earth; this...'being' is too powerful, its grip on the world so complete and unbreakable. I am trapped, my mind is cornered, a wild animal desperate to escape yet unable to tear itself away from this overpowering sensation.
A finger of consciousness reaches to me from the depths of my immobility. I snatch at it desperately, my lifeline, the only reminder that I’m still in my right mind. 'I am who I am and no one can take that away from me.' That’s my sole comforting thought as a probe of limitless power extends past my mental boundaries, undeterred by my frantic, if not feeble efforts to protect my mind, and slips into my innermost being with an unbreakable ease. I am completely at the mercy of these invaders.