Dark After Midnight

Dark After Midnight

By Lee Kendrick

Liz and Frank had just spent the whole day looking at the sights of London. They had travelled yesterday by train from Bristol.

Both of them admired the lit-up golden-coloured building of the “Houses of Parliament” as they observed the building across the Thames. It was a lovely, sultry, warm summer evening. The reflections of the London night lights shimmered in the water.

The Thames pleasure boats were still busy giving tours to the hundreds of tourists hopping on and off the boats along the Thames.

“What a wonderful evening, Frank, to what has been a perfect day!”

“Yes, it's normally overcast or raining when we've been to London before.”

“Oh look, there's one of those party boats!” Said Liz watching it pass by. The music was blaring out; the song was I Believe in Miracles, sung by Errol Brown.

“Could be a wedding party!” Said Liz, as the boat passed by.

“Maybe!” Said Frank. Anyway, we better be making our way back to the hotel, Liz. We've had a long day.” He continued.

Moments later the Big Ben clock struck Midnight. Shortly after there was a terrific din. The Thames barrier alarm sounded…A similar sound to the sirens in the London Blitz during the Second World War…Warning the civilians to rush to the shelters… just before the German bombers flew over!

“What the heck is going on?” Said Frank.

By now there were crowds of people looking over the Embankment at the Thames…It was a flooding alert from the Thames Barrier.

“It's probably a false alarm!” Liz said.

Just then, they could hear a roaring sound in the distance making them look to their right… Further down the Thames, out-of-sight a wave washed over the Thames barrier. The barrier was too low to repel…The Surge wave which simply…high–jumped the Barrier…The wave, about forty feet high, was now heading in Liz and Frank's direction…It was unstoppable!

“Oh my god!” Shouted Liz as many people in the crowd pointed to the massive wave, roaring towards the party boat and others.

Women were now screaming as the wave smashed into dozens of boats, knocking people into the river and sinking the pleasure boats.

“Come on Liz!” Shouted Frank, pulling her arm, let's hurry to the hotel!”

A moment later another alarm sounded off…seeming more urgent than the first.

Frank turned around… “Quick Liz, we need to run, he bellowed”…he could see the river level was rapidly rising and was overflowing the embankment further down the Thames. Everywhere now was flooding! People began screaming and running away, in all directions.

“We need to get somewhere higher before the river rises anymore!” Frank said, holding Liz's hand, tightly.

Meanwhile, there was another surge higher than the first, racing down the Thames River, covering both sides of the river, smashing into the London Eye… It was so powerful that it toppled over the Ferris wheel…which only a couple of hours before carried hundreds of tourists riding on it! The Houses of Parliament next to it was now submerged under water. The whole area was now in pitch darkness.

Both sides of the Embankment had no electricity. Now in complete darkness, people, including Liz and Frank, were using their phones as torches to see where they were going!

As they climbed some concrete steps, they heard the sound of water and saw it creeping up closer to them in their torch beams. The water was splashing and creeping up the stairs… following menacingly behind…like a dark stranger, in the night stalking someone! Moreover, the pair of them felt an evil presence; unsettling them, causing both of them to keep looking behind…expecting someone or thing to be there.

“Frank, I don't like this at all, I'm sure someone is behind us!” Liz said as she shivered.

“Oh, darling, it's just because the lights are out…your mind is playing tricks on you!” He replied, trying to console her…but hid his fear that he, too, was having similar feelings.

Suddenly, they both heard a crash… As if something made of glass had fallen, then there was a woman screaming. It seemed to come from the next flight of steps.

“Oh, Frank, I'm frightened; what do you think that was?” Asked Liz, her eyes widened as she grabbed his arm.

“Probably a cat!” Frank said, unconvincingly. Trying desperately to calm his wife down.

Finally, they reached the top of the steps and heard… an unholy whisper forced them to cling to each other. Their hearts pumped close to bursting as they pointed the torch beams to a shadowy figure standing in a foot of water… The water level was still rising!

The shadowy thing then seemed to bend and splash into the water… as if it somehow connected to it and then disappeared.

As Frank shone his torch at a corner by a concrete pillar, he and Liz saw a dead cat… it was as if it had all its life sucked from it!

By now Liz and Frank were trembling partly because they were wet and cold but also due to their fear.

“See, I told you it was a cat.” Said Frank.

“Yes, but what caused the poor thing to die like that?” Liz questioned.

“I really don't know, Liz!” Replied Frank. “Look the water level is going down! He continued as he shone his torch on the stairs… it was ebbing away, splashing down each step…one by one.

“Quick! Liz, let's go back downstairs!” He said.

Moments later, as Frank and Liz walked down the stairs, her torch faded out as her phone shut off.

The river water was now at the bottom of the stairs and strangely receded towards the embankment …Moving like a living creature!

Frank and Liz continued to follow the water as it seeped over the Embankment and back where it came from… in the River Thames.

Moments later, all the lights came back on along the Embankment, the Houses of Parliament and nearby London landmarks.

Just then, Liz and Frank caught sight of more dark, shadowy figures melding with the water as they met with the River Thames.

Finally, after walking a few blocks exhausted and tired, Liz and Frank arrived at their hotel. It appeared that the surge had stopped short of reaching the area.

The next morning, they turned on their TV in their hotel room, hoping to hear news about the Thames Barrier disaster …

“Just before Midnight last night, a surge had washed over the Thames barrier, drowning hundreds of people after the Thames Barrier failed to stop the surge from flooding the city”,…said the Newscaster…”Some reports say several people were also found with mysterious puncture holes over their bodies; forensics are investigating what possibly could have caused the punctures!

Ends