emergency alert
Evelyn’s body had frozen as the words peeled themselves out of the radio speaker. Hitting her ears like hail the sound waves seemed to stun her. The announcer was professional, cold even as he told of something that lurked in the shadows. This activated a primal fear in the middle-aged woman like she had never known she could feel.
Her grip tightened around the chef knife in her hand as she stared at the chopped up tomato in front of her. Paralyzed by concentration on what had just been explained as she was preparing dinner.
Beads of cold sweat started to form on her forehead and made her use a sleeve to wipe it away. She stared at her shaking hands in strange apathy. Her mind didn’t want to believe this was happening but her body reacted without the need of factual proof.
What could it be? No help from anyone? Not even the military? Don’t go underground, even during daytime? What was going on?
There was a loud noise outside her window, ripping her out of thoughts and back into the moment. She rushed towards a window, almost tripping over a footstool, to look out over the street. A car started its engine and seemed to flee the location. More people became visible in the windows view of the street. They mustn’t have heard the news. They looked serene as they strolled along the pathways. Cheering and laughing. These fools didn’t even suspect something was wrong! Should she shout out to them?
The sound of a door hitting its frame hard made her jerk up. The neighbor across the street didn’t even take the time to get his coat on as he ran down the street. Was he fleeing? How had he been so fast? She hadn’t even been able to process all this.
A bubbling noise made her turn around, and she remembered the noodles cooking on the stove. Rushing back she almost threw the blade she had held on to, back on the cutting board. The unpleasant smell of starchy water burning on the hot cooking plate did nothing to ease her rising panic.
As she was wiping away at the hot fluids there was a knock on the door. Evelyn threw herself around to face it. Without thinking, she grabbed the knife and held it in front of her in what she hoped would help in defending herself. “Who’s there!” she shouted, wincing at the trembling in her voice at the end of the two words. There was no answer.
Her heart was pumping like a diesel engine forcing itself up a steep mountain now. She felt her armpits getting hot and damp while the adrenaline in her veins burned like red-hot iron. “I said: WHO IS THERE!” she shouted at the door, raising the knife over her head, ready to attack whatever broke through the door.
“It’s. It’s Thomas?” a friendly baritone voice explained confused. Evelyn’s heart rate dropped like the knife. All right, she remembered what she was doing, cooking dinner for her guests. It was Movie Night after all. The speaker on the radio faded back into her consciousness: “This concludes this week’s horror audio play, and we hope that you will join us again next week.”
She opened the door, first removing the chain from the top and then unlocked it with a key. There he was, Thomas, one of her best buddies. “Man, Eve. You look like someone tried to stab you. All right with you?” he asked concerned. She hadn’t seen him this worried in ages. As she took a deep breath he added: “You need to sit down or something? You are pale like a MF.” Evelyn erupted in laughter and punched his shoulder hard for an answer. It changed into a giggle as she went through what happened moments before and explained: “Man. I need to stop listening to audiobooks while I cook. I’ll get a stroke some day. Come in you bastard.”
This was a response to a Writing Prompt: [TT] “This is an Emergency Alert. Barricade all entries to your house. Do not go outside after sundown. Restrict contact with others. Do not go underground during daytime. Keep the lights on at all times. They hide in the dark. Military aid is unavailable. Good luck.”