The Power of Schizophrenia

Submitted into Contest #58 in response to: Write about someone who purposefully causes a power outage.... view prompt

1 comment

Thriller Adventure Drama

It’s the middle of the night. About two in the morning. Flint is terrified to go to sleep. Apparently in the nearby cities, there’s been creatures causing power outages so that nobody will see them and then the next morning everybody would be slaughtered. Nobody knows who or what is doing this or what city they will attack next. Flint just wants to run away and move to a different city. Maybe even a different country! But he can’t afford that. He can barely afford his next meal. Let alone a whole move. So he sits. Waiting in his living room. Waiting for them to attack. He has his shotgun in his left hand, ready to shoot if they came into his house. It was his dads. He gave it to him for his 16thbirthday. It was the neat gift he could’ve asked for. He never thought that he’d have to use it. He’s terrified to shoot anybody or anything but if he has to, he will. Then all of a sudden he hears a boom. He goes to the window and looks outside but doesn’t see anything. Then his power shuts off. He runs downstairs into the cellar and locks the door. He keeps bearing crashing sounds, booming, screaming. He’s terrified but at the same time he wants to know what the hell is causing all of this. “Who or what is it!?!” He yells to himself. He grabs his hair and starts pulling at it, wanting to just rip it all out. That’s when he heard something in his cellar. He grips his gun, getting ready to shoot. The only problem is, he can’t see anything to be able to shoot. That’s when he grabs his phone and turns on the flash. That’s when it appeared. One of the creatures. It looked kind of like a giant ball with long skinny legs, two eyes, and a huge mouth with long sharp teeth with drool dripping out. It was just standing there, looking at him. Flint didn’t know what to do. He was in so much shock at what he was looking at. Then the creature pounced  onto  him. Making Flint drop his gun. He started throwing punches. One hit after the other but the creature wouldn’t budge. He kept pounding and pounding while the creature kept trying to bite at his neck. Flint tried to reach for his gun but to no avail. It was too far away. When the creature noticed he was trying to reach for his gun, it picked him up and started carrying him outside. Flint didn’t have his gun. Or his phone. He didn’t have anything to protect himself with. He was terrified. “What are they going to do with me?” “Are they going to take me to their hideout?” “Or are they going to kill me and leave me in the streets?” He kept asking himself more and more questions, all without any answers. That’s when he looked around. His city was on fire. Dead bodies just lying in the streets. He kept looking around, and that’s when he noticed the other creatures. There were so many. So so many. The creature carrying him stopped in the middle of the street, waiting on his colleagues. After the other creatures were done destroying the city, they all gathered around the one holding flint. They all started to communicate in a weird language. All the other creatures took a good look at flint and then suddenly jumped up and all of them started to run out of the city. Including the one that was holding flint. He started to pound the back of the creature holding him. He didn’t want to go with them. He didn’t. He wanted to stay. Or at least go to the police. Somewhere safe!! But he couldn’t get loose. The grip of this creature was undeniable. 

They ran for what felt like ages when they suddenly stopped. Flint looked around and noticed a huge dark cave. All of the creatures entered and placed Flint next to a fire. They were all staring at him. He ran up against a wall, sat down, and curled up into  a ball. He was crying, saying he wanted to go home. That’s when the creature spoke. “Now now you skittish fool. You’re going to be perfectly fine. You just have to take your medicine. Now calm down. Here it is. Go on take your pill and everything will be just fine.” The creature said. But flint knocked the pill out of its hand. All of the creatures looked down at the pill, then looked at Flint. Full of rage. Their eyes turned scorching red. Their skin started to drip with sweat. They all gathered around him. All of them breathing heavily. So heavy, Flint thought he seen smoke come out of their noses. Then suddenly, the creatures gripped his legs and arms down tightly while another one shoved the pills in his mouth, forcing him to take them. Flint kept trying to fight them. Trying to shake them off one by one. But nothing worked more creatures joined in. Holding down his stomach and head. Shoving the pill in his mouth and holding his mouth shut until he swallowed. “Did you swallow?” They asked. He nodded his head. The creature holding his mouth, moved it hands and told him to open and stick out his tongue. So he did. That’s when they all let him go. He sat down next to the cave wall. Just staring at the creatures. “What pill was that?” Flint asks. “Your schizophrenia pill. You see we let you out about a week ago and when we let patients out, we have to check on them weekly to make sure they’re doing okay. Well, we went to check on you today and you were in your garage with a shotgun talking about how “they’re coming for you and your city” and talking about how scared you were. So now you’re back here with us. At the mental institute. Welcome back.” They finished talking. That’s when the monsters started to turn into regular people with with coats on and Flint was laying in his bed. Safe. He turned his back to his doctors and tears started to run down his face.  

September 05, 2020 20:35

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1 comment

Ariadne .
19:36 Sep 16, 2020

The story is excellent. I like the fast-paced style you wrote with - it adds to the suspense and thrill. Good work! I was thinking you shouldn't use so many choppy sentences, but after reading it again, I believe you wrote this way to indicate Flint's messy thoughts. Am I right? Please like and comment on my stories! Thank you! :)

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