The Headaches
He watched in horror as the train barrelled into the tiny, frail body of the little girl on the tracks. It all happened so fast, but it felt as if someone had hit the slow-motion button on life. Every second that the train neared closer and closer to the girl lasted longer than a split-second but he couldn't move, couldn't make a sound. There was no sound, no smells, just a blur of motion as the train passed taking the little girl's body with it. It felt like the air had turned to soup around him.
A moment before the little girl had been no where in sight. It's not like there were any hidden spots along the tracks. Where had she come from? Suddenly he felt sick to his stomach. Brandon flung his car door open leaped towards the tracks. He got maybe 10 feet before he became aware of the girl standing beyond the tracks on the other side. She was staring at him, eyes glowering. The air around her head looked dense and black, as if there was a thick mist of pure evil around her.
'Run!' The word sang out in his mind. It took him a moment to register that he was in danger, and then his feet moved of their own accord back towards his car. He jumped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door ....
“My keys! Where the hell are my keys?!”, he yelled.
There was tap on the driver's side window and Brandon yelped. The girl. The girl was standing at the window, glaring in at him, her teeth bared. And they weren't normal teeth. Each one, honed to a point, dripping with saliva, drooling down over her lips and chin. Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, as if lit from the inside of her skull.
Brandon slowly became aware of a high keening. And as the girl breathed heavily and seemed to grin even wider, Brandon realised it was his own screaming. His throat was hoarse with it. His fingers scrambled uselessly at the ignition, tearing his nails as he tried to turn the key.
Wait ...
The key … it was already in the ignition. That startled his scream into silence. That silence settled heavily around him as he stared at the keys that had not been there a moment before. He reached forward with wonder to switch the car on. The key made a subtle grinding vibration in his fingers … had the engine been on all this time? He couldn’t hear it.
The girl! He didn’t want to, but he had to look for the girl. He had to know where the girl was standing. He had to be sure she was still on the outside and not trying to get in the car with him. He looked out his window … and there was no one there.
He blinked. And blinked again.
Sound returned. Birds chirping, the clanging of the railroad signals, the rumbling of the oncoming train ... the low chortle of the car engine, and the tinny sounds coming out his radio. Colour returned. Smell returned. He only just managed to get his car door open before he emptied his stomach onto the side of the road.
'What the hell ...' he thought to himself.
He looked around at the day; the day that hadn't changed. The train hadn't yet reached the crossing, the lights were flashing and the rumble was steadily increasing to roar, punctuated by the squeal of wheels as they glided over the tracks.
And then ... pain. His head felt like it was about to explode.
The migraines were getting worse now. And with each one came ever more harrowing visions of horrible creatures.
He needed help.
wrote this one back in October of 2013