The Fog

The fog was closing in on me. One touch from the cold force and it would kill me, the same thing it did to my friends...

Everyone's dead - the fog sucked the life out of everything it touched and I was next...

I don't want to die...

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It came loudly from nowhere, it echoed all throughout the dark forest where I was unfortunately trapped. The beeping was so familiar as I tried to recall where I first heard it. Then, all of a sudden, the fog was no more... Yet the screaming sound kept on and on and on...

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm clock frantically tried to wake me up from my nightmare as my wasted body slowly recuperated from the hair-raising experience.

What time is it? I asked my groggy self, wiping the cold sweat on my forehead as I reached for the wretched clock and ended its disturbing noise.

7:00 am.

A sudden jolt of energy rose me from the comfort of my bed as I finally remembered that I will soon be late for school. It was as if I drank a liter of Red Bull which made my body forget that it still wanted to rest.

I was never late. I will never be late. I will not lose my record to Kev Thurman!

I dashed all my way to the bathroom and made my daily rituals in a snap. In fifteen minutes, I was already downstairs, about to kiss Mom goodbye, who apparently wasn't there.

The sun greeted me with its boastful rays as I squinted my shocked eyes to avoid being blinded. I took my rusty old bike from the garage and rode with the autumn wind, wondering why the neighborhood seemed so quiet.

Or rather, TOO quiet. Where are the kids walking to school?

7:20am

Oh dear. Five minutes more and I will be late.

7:28am

I have arrived. Phew. I parked my bicycle in my usual spot, not noticing it was the only bike in the rack.

Where is everybody?

As I entered the hallway, the silence gave the school an eerie feeling. No kids running around the supposed-to-be busy hallway, no slamming metals of lockers, no crazy girls talking about their boyfriends, no bullies asking a poor kid for money...

No one. Except me. I suddenly remembered my nightmare, about the fog, about how it almost got me, but I shrugged it off - I took a bath and I felt the cold water on my skin. This is real.

My feet wanted to stop walking, but my mind commanded I should hurry. As I reached my classroom, I was hoping that everything was just a prank - a big prank. Unfortunately for me, no one's inside. The unbearable silence was too much - I was close to going nuts!

I didn't expect things would still get worse, as white smoke from the door cracks suddenly crept like fog in the room.

The fog... It's... Real!

My eyes grew wide with disbelief - I'm dreaming... I'm definitely dreaming. My friends... My parents... They're all dead... I'm the only one alive and it came back to get me...

I closed my puzzled eyes, hoping that I will wake up, but I was wide awake. I can smell the noxious smoke coming to get me, to suck the life out of me...

The monstrous fog's coming towards me, crawling, filling the small room inch by inch with its deadly gas...

I stood up, as I finally decided to make a run for it. Clumsy as I am, I fell to the floor, losing my glasses in the desperate process.

Close to tears, my trembling hands blindly searched for the wretched glasses. My heart thumped so hard it hurt, I wanted to just give up.

Finally, my fingers caught my spectacles as I immediately wore it, facing the big white board in front of me, with letters looking like ancient hieroglyphs.

I screamed my heart out as the letters finally made sense...

"No classes tomorrow due to a scheduled fumigation."