O.S.: I saw something in the window, but it was gone before I got a good look

This is for Pfec55 's writing contest.

It's not as refined as my other entries, but I hope you'll enjoy!

[Btw: Chiara is pronounced "Kiara"!]

•••

I saw it in the window first, but it was gone before I got a good look.

It was like a jump scare in a horror movie; the window completely went black, as if turning off a TV screen and flickered back to normal before I could even comprehend.

"Did you see that?!" I gasp and stare at the window, wondering if it would happen again.

"See what?" Natalia, my best friend, looks up from the science project we were working on and gazes in the same direction I was in. "What did you see?"

I frown and struggle to explain the odd event. "The window just...flickered black."

"Maybe a large bird or something?" She suggests. A sudden chill runs down my spine, making my already unsettled figure shiver with unease.

I shake my head and begin walking towards the large wall of glass. "No, I know what I saw." I don't know what I saw, all I knew was that it wasn't supposed to happen.

"Did you black out then?" Natalia drops her pen and comes up by my side. "Chiara...?" I ignore my best friend and tentatively squint outside. We both examine my bedroom window, holding our breaths.

Then it happened again, but much longer this time.

I stumble back, watching in horror as the window turns into its own black hole. The hairs on the back of my neck raise in pure terror. Natalia screams before the window flickers back to normal.

"Holy—" Natalia's face pales. "Oh heck no, what was that?"

I shake my head, both of us still staring at the window like it were to grow legs and swallow us whole. "I-I have no idea." Though there was one thing for sure, we were getting out of that room.

Within seconds, Natalia and I run out of my bedroom and slam the door behind us. Our chests rise and fall rapidly from the building adrenaline within our bodies. I quickly go through our options: my parents weren't home due to their job, so we couldn't go to them. The last resort was to just get out of the house and go to the neighbor...

"Come on!" I don't hesitate before gripping onto Natalia's wrist and sprinting downstairs.

Natalia tugs on my grip to stop us from running full speed to the front door. "Woah! Where are we going?!"

"Mrs. Phillips' house!" I begin dragging her again. We were about five feet from the front door before we both freeze at the commotion coming from outside. It was as if every neighbor in the neighborhood had flooded into the streets in panic. Some were barefoot as others struggled to fix their hair. I notice a lot of them were on their phones, trying to get into contact with the police. Others stumble confusingly and try to reason with others.

"Did anyone see that?!"

"The windows just—"

"A blackout maybe?"

Cries of confusion carry along with the fall breeze as both Natalia and I watch. It's clear that what happened to us occurred with everyone else. I can feel Natalia trying to pull me back in the direction we came from.

I don't think there's a full way of describing what happens next, but I just couldn't see.

Blind people often tell us that they can't see black, and being blind is literally not seeing anything. Never in my life have I ever experienced something like this until now. It's as if part of my brain just shut down. Goosebumps painfully nick at my skin as I struggle to control my breathing. I grip onto Natalia's hand tightly as she cries out beside me.

"Chiara? Chiara? I can't see!" She gasps and grips onto me tighter.

"I can't either!" I can hear some neighbors scream to the top of their lungs. Sounds of footsteps and people tripping over things resonate in my ears.

Then it was back to normal.

My eyes widen as I notice about half of the growing crowd unconscious. Trees, mailboxes, and houses were completely blacked out—as if they were voids within a technical code. Natalia and I stare in horror as the ground beneath us glitches rapidly.

As if on que, the police flood in.

Where did they come from? I know for sure that they weren't there before. In fact, the closest police station in nearly thirty minutes away.

"EVERYONE GET BACK INTO YOUR HOMES NOW!"

I was so deep in thought, that I didn't even notice the officer rush towards Natalia and I. I flinch as he begins forcing us towards my house.

"Get inside young ladies." The officer behind me urges. I can hear the panic in his voice. "It's not safe out here. Get in a room, and stay away from the windows!" My heart pounds in my chest as I try to question him. But the large man stays fast to what he said and closes my front door in our face. The air in the house is now icy and unwelcoming. Something in my gut tells me that I don't want to be anywhere here.

"Come on Chiara!" Natalia grips my hand and we run upstairs to one of the only places without windows: the bathroom. Though before going in, I tear her grip away from me. She looks at me in disbelief. "What the heck are you doing!?"

In all honesty, I don't know what fueled me to do it, but I couldn't control the compulsion of uneasiness the more we got closer to the bathroom door. And thank God we didn't walk in, because literally seconds after I backed up from the entrance, it blacked out just like the window in my room.

And it stayed that way.

A complete void has taken over the area where bathroom door was. Natalia screams bloody murder and drags the both of us away from the growing black hole. I stumble after her into the closest room away from it: my bedroom.

"Holy crap." I try to control the unprecedented terror building inside of me. Natalia looks at me with wide, teary eyes. We both jump when we hear a large boom from outside. I grip onto my desk with our science project to keep from falling from the aftershock of whatever blast had occurred.

I look at Natalia.

She looks at me.

We both turn our heads to the window.

Slowly, but surely, we reach the window and look outside.

And boy, do I wish we didn't.

The world was two. Flickering between extremes.

One moment, I was gazing at the grass lawns and falling autumn leaves of the trees.

In the next, the world was a wasteland.

The houses were crumbling, the trees were blackened, the grass was a red dirt, and the sky is stained a horrific grayish-brown.

I can't help but notice the void of black silhouettes in the midst of it all. Some looked like people, other were trees, cars, potholes, and much more.

What is this?

"Chiara." Natalia whispers as she takes hold of my arm. I hesitantly tear my eyes away from the hell-like landscape and track where she's pointing. Both of our phones sit idle on my desk and abandoned project.

<SYSTEM FAILURE>

Our phones repeatedly beep and glitch as the bold white words over the black backdrop sear into our visions. Everything made me nauseous. The air, the blaring sounds of the electronics, Natalia's cries, the world flickering.

And all we can do, is watch in horror as the world burns from the inside out.

•••

It's honestly not my best work, but these past few weeks have been excessively busy for me. Though I hope that it was intriguing enough to keep your attention!