*This is one of my earliest stories I have written when I was a kid. I had a weird imagination back then. I am hoping by writing alot in this blog that I can find my "weirdness" again and write more stories. Please let me know what you all think of this. More early days of Gilberto's writings to come. Thanks for reading, and continue to travel through "The Chronicles of Gilberto" And now to our featured story:
The man was walking in the rain. The rain fell hard on the man’s head. His head was drenching wet and this didn’t seem to bother the man at all. He walked briskly as the trickle of water on the ground became nosily clear that the rain was falling harder than before. The man wore a gray suit with a worn out tie that had splotches of red on a white background. The tie looked like it went through a lot of wear because the tears were obviously starting to appear.
The wet weather seemed to last for days on end. The traffic on the road was light for no one wanted to be out here in the rain — no one. At least the man in the gray suit and the splotchy tie and brisk walk didn’t mind this weather. The cloud overhead cast a gloomy mood but this man looked content as if nothing in the world could bother him. Not even the cloudy skies ready to burst open with wet weather.
The man walked all around the neighborhood and in one house a little boy peeked through the curtains watching the rain fall. The boy spied on the man walking on the sidewalk wet with water. The little boy peered through the windows with hard concentration as if he didn’t want to lose track of the man. The falling harsh rains blurred the little boy’s vision. The rain seems to be picking up. Faster the drip-drops were falling onto the ground, not to mention the man’s head.
The man didn’t seem to be bothered by the rain at all. The sounds of rain were all over the place. This little town sheepishly seems not to take noticed of a man walking in such a crazy weather. The town was all nestled into their warm brisk homes, probably by a fireplace warming up. Even though the townspeople were sometimes curious whenever a stranger came into the town, but only one person took notices, thus it was this little boy peering through the window.
The little boy peered through the window from standing on the sofa. The mother, inside the house, from the kitchen hollered out, “Zach, get off the couch! If you want to sit on the couch, sit properly — and take your feet off the couch!” The sound of Zachary’s mother’s voice seem to give him a slight jump for his whole concentration was focused on this one man walking out there in the rain in high neighborhood. This was more Zachary’s concern than his feet being on the couch. So, he ignored his mother.
“BAM!” the mother’s hand came down and slapped his behind.
“You didn’t have to do that!” cried Zachary. “I was going to go ahead and get my feet off anyhow.” He jumped from the sofa and told his Mother what he saw outside. His Mother wasn’t going to believe a word he said, thought Zachary. So he tried again: “Mom there’s someone out there walking in that rain!” Sniffing, gathering his courage to bring in those tears — trying not to cry, Zachary told his Mom again. His Mom seems to ignore him at the inopportune times.
“What did you say Zach?” asked his Mother.
“I said there’s someone out there walking in the rain.” Zachary seems to be saying this rapidly, but his Mother was used to Zachary’s fast high-pitched voice. He only did this when he gets excited about something. Excitement got the better of Zach because he kept on talking in his famous high-pitched voice.
Outside the clouds started to get darker as if they were gathering for a dark meeting. The clouds merged together one by one and created such an atmosphere by crashing and blowing. These sounds were the beginning of a storm. Lighting flashed the winds picked up and the rain flashed down suddenly created mini-pools of water all over the roads. The roads looked slippery for any cars to be going on and this was wise of this town for they were not out at all. They all seem to be snuggled in their beds or sitting by a warm fire. Zachary was the only one who peered through the windows and saw this strange man in the gray suit just walking briskly across the street to the lot where he lived.
The winds picked up and blew fiercely and the lighting flashed. The afternoon seems to be pouring away to the evening. The sun just seems to disappear behind the dark clouds. Soon the sun was gone forever down the horizon. The little boy still peered out from his window trying to see the figure or shape of this man who was walking in the rain.
Zachary stared in horror as the demented figure of the man in the gray suit walked up his doorway and stopped to peer at Zachary through the window. Zachary again tried to stifle a scream as not to wake up his mother. The man spotted Zachary sitting up on that couch staring at him. Zachary ducked down as if he didn’t want the man to see who was looking at him. The man started to approach the doorway, but he kept his eyes on the window from where Zachary hid the whole time. Suddenly Zach looked at the man and very wide-eyed, the man seemed to squint at Zach with this most evil wicked stare and the man smiled at Zach.
Zachary couldn’t help but smile back. The most fake smile Zachary ever smiled to anyone. But he felt he had to smile anyway for what would happen if he didn’t smile back at the man in the wet weather just standing there in the wet rain drenching. The man smiled back and revealed sharp fangs and very ugly crooked teeth. The man’s tongue came out and started to flick in and out like a serpents tongue. Zach became even more scared as he thought of the Wizard of Oz’s evil witch and wondered if this creature could melt in the rain from the waters. But nope, the man looks immune to wet weathers. Zachary felt like he should call his mother over and to like tell her what exactly to expect the next few days. But he didn’t.
Suddenly, the unexpected happened — the man slowly started to walk towards the window Zachary peered at! Zachary becomes even more frightened that this time he didn’t give a startled scream but a deathly agonizing scream. Zach’s Mother ran into the living room where Zachary still screamed while holding on to the mm blind controls and she could hear the crashing down of the mini blinds on the wooden board where it holds the windows in place. Zach was breathing hard as if he cried out to his Mother.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” she asked Zachary with such a huge concern on her face. Zachary looked up with this wild-eyed stare at his Mom and peeked towards the mini blinds that were not closed. “Why you close the mm blinds, this weather is lovely to see from in here.” She started to get the mini blind control from Zach, but he pulled it away from his Mom.
“Don’t.”
His mother looked at him with such a strange quizzically face. “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
The sound of the rain seems to hit the roof harder than ever and Zachary didn’t take any notice of this, but his Mother did.
“Oh dear! The rain is hitting the roof hard!” His Mother looked up at the ceiling as if the rain was going to come through the roof and land in her living room creating a pool for both Zachary and her to swim in. “How awful the rain is falling harder than ever!”
Zachary was shaking, from the cold perhaps? Not so. His Mother noticed this and questioned him. “Why are you shaking? Are you cold sweetie?”
Zachary was still holding on to that long string that attached to the mini-blinds to open them up. He actually clenched on that string tighter as if he was trying to keep it close shut tight forever and won’t let go. His Mom could see the tension on his face. His wide-eyed stare was still there and he dreamily let go of the blind and it swung back into its normal position. Suddenly the thunder rolled and the lighting flashed outside. Just for a tad bit of a second the lights flickered with the sound of the storm.
Suddenly at the door there was a loud knock and Zachary looked towards the door. The doorknob was turning. Luckily, his Mother always kept the doors locked. Zachary gave a deep cry and sighed heavily as if he were about to faint. He gathered up the courage to say, “No, Mom, don’t open that door if your life depended on it.” Zachary wanted to tell his Mom what he saw out they’re in the rain, but he didn’t want to frighten his Mother.
“Mom, don’t.”
“Now who would visit us at this hour and in such nasty weather?” His Mom walked up to the door about to turn the lock, “Hmmm... Wonder who it could be?”
Zachary pulled open the blinds faster than ever to check if the man was still standing outside his window wet from the rain. Zach wanted to see if that man was still with that sneer of a nasty smile and flicking that nasty serpent’s tongue. But in the falling rain he was not there at all. Zachary looked down at the ground where he stood just few minutes ago and saw the man’s footprints in the wet ground.
Not to anyone’s attention Zachary heard the thunder rolled and the sounds of heavy breathing behind the door his Mother was about to open. Zachary jumped from the sofa and ran to where his Mother stood. He ran so fast, that his Mother only gave a glimpse of Zachary running from the living room to the door. But it was too late, the door was unlocked and his Mother was opening the door.
The rain was falling into the house and Zachary could feel the wet rainfall into the living room. At the doorway his Mother opened the door and Zachary could see the gray coat and the red botched tie. Most of all Zachary could see the sneer and the flicking tongue. The man reached into the house and grabbed his Mother and closed the door shut. He was inside the house and he heard his Mother’s screams into the dark rainy night.
* * * * * *
Zachary just sat on the living room floor and he breathed hard. He thought this was maybe a nightmare, but his Mother was gone. Somewhere out in the storm with this strange man. Zachary didn’t know what to do. He ran to the phone and dialed a number only he could know.
“Police.” the voice on the other end sounded seldom. The voice was a male cop seemly bored with the weather and nothing to do.
“Help, my Mother is gone!”
“Calm down please sir, would you please give me your address and your name.” Zachary couldn’t believe such information was needed for emergencies. “I’m Zachary . . . I live on Willow Lane.” Zach was breathing hard at the sight of the man’s arms reaching out to grab his Mother and snatch her into the night.
“What exactly is the problem Zach?” The cop seems mild manner and he sounded patience. This was good for Zach. Zach began to explain the situation of what happened to his Mother and about the strange man.
“My Mother is gone!” cried Zachary.
“Where did she go?” asked the cop.
“I don’t know! That’s why I am calling you!” cried Zach.
“Okay, calm down sir,” the cop took a deep breath, “Explain to me what happened son.”
Zachary explained about the strange man and the cop was bewildered by kid’s explanation of such weird turn of events. The cop was disbelieving and said he will send someone down. The cop said he would send an investigator. Zachary listened to the cop’s instructions and said the investigator will be down shortly to the address that Zach provided. The lighting strike and the thunder rolled again when Zach asked what this investigator’s name was and what he would look like so he would let him in. Just about when the cop was to answer, the flash of lighting struck again and the phones went dead as the thunder rolled.
“Sir?” Zachary repeated again and again. “Sir? Sir?”
The phone went dead. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Zach didn’t realize that the cops would send a guy down right away and not that fast. Still he kept a cautious distance from the door. He stared at the doorknob waiting for it to turn. He walked up to the door and yelled out, “Who is it?!”
No answer.
“Who is it!!?” Zach yelled louder this time.
Still no answer once again.
Suddenly: “Zachary!” It was his Mother’s voice.
Zachary ran to open to door and let her in. “Mommy!” Zachary ran to hug her and he cried tears of joy. He beamed up at her and hugs her tight. The thunder rolled and the rain kept on falling. This was obvious from Zach’s Mother’s dress that was drenched with the rain. Zach stared up at his Mom and said, “I miss you, I was worried — wait a minute how did you come back?”
Zach could see the look in his Mother’s eyes — dead, lost and didn’t seem like Zach’s Mother at all. Suddenly she began to sneer and her tongue came out like a serpent,
“Come and join us Zachary!” The thunder rolled and the rain crashed onto the roof; the thunders loud crashes covered the screams of Zachary and the screeching sounds of Zach’s Mother’s voice as if she called the others to come. The rain fell and the thunder rolled as the sounds of screeching continued throughout the night. Meanwhile, the investigator came and saw the door ajar. He went in and saw Zach’s Mother.
“Did you get another one?”
Zach’s Mother replied with a hiss, “Yes.”
The investigator looked behind him as the man in the gray suit came into the house and looked about him and saw Zachary on the ground. Zachary’s face was frozen with a sneer. The lighting flashed and the rain beat on the roof loudly. The man in the gray suit with his sneer hissed and said to the two others in the house, as his tongue flickered out, tasting victory: “We should make this our nest for now. Let’s wait for the rain to settle and then we’ll move on to other neighbors.”
THE END
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