The Dark
Disclaimer: Victorious and its characters are the property of Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. No profit is intended or wanted for this story.
Summary: Something comes over…
Note: This is not a bright story/ There will be death and other worse fates in store for many of the characters.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but someday the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new Dark Age.
H.P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu. published in Weird Tales, February, 1926
There are things out there. Beyond the edges of the world, Things that sidle around the corners of reality as we know it. Out beyond what we know. Beyond what we can see, touch, hear, smell, taste or even begin to imagine how to detect. To even sense the existence of such entities is all-too often the stuff beyond nightmares. Sometimes these things are what humans consider good. Sometimes they are evil, as mankind understands such concepts. But, for the most part, they are totally amoral as we understand the concept of morals, existing only to exist and ignorant of other beings outside of their own narrow scope of discernment.
It was one such. It came from somewhere to arrive somewhere else. It had no understanding of where It came from or where It was, nor how It came to be there. It did not care. It needed. It needs.
And It doesn't care about what is needed, It just needed.
Somehow, unknown to It, It came through the etheric barrier from an omni-dimensional space into a region of high and low temperatures. Of shapes and solids. Of light and dark. Of gravity. As much as It could, It experienced a different, but limited multi-dimensional environment even as it did not completely understand any of these new concepts or forces It had to experience.
Such things as light and dark or heat and cold did not affect It. The concepts were unattainable to It. It found the differences as more of a sensation. A curiosity. It felt a differing level of intensity but It had no conception of what It was sensing. It learned that if It expanded Itself, the sensation waned. If It pulled inward, the sensation increased.
So, in a new, unknown environment, It moved on across an irregular plane. The first such dimensional solid It had encountered. It found the concept of solidity…interesting.
It was fascinated that It did nor rise above what It was moving over. Gravity and solids were new, unnamed, undefined concepts to It.
The feeling of warmth was equally interesting. And new. As It turned to this new sensation, the sensation slowly faded.
Uncaring at the loss of sensation, It moved on across this new multi-dimension.
It was a typically bright, sunny morning for Los Angeles. The Santa Anas were blowing in from the desert, carrying the smog out to sea while lowering the expected humidity even as the temperatures rose. The regional temperatures were very un-October-like.
Tori Vega enjoyed the warmth and sunshine as she walked over to her friends at their table on the Asphalt Café. "He-ey!"
She was greeted with a chorus of greetings from the five sitting around the circular metal picnic table.
"How's everyone?" she asked.
"Well, my brother got…" Cat started to say before Jade cut her off by placing her hand over the redhead's mouth.
"No one wants to hear about his weirdness right now," Beck gently said as Cat turned her eyes to the Canadian.
"Ever!" Jade added as she removed her hand from Cat's mouth.
Robbie said, "How 'bout that weird thing that happened up in the Verdugo Hills? Where the wild fire just died out?"
"Probably air drops of water or fire retardant," Beck suggested.
"No. That's what was weird. The firefighters were concentrating on the area above Brockmont. The fires above El Miradero and Glendale were fresh before they just died out."
"That is weird," Andre muttered. "Fire should've flashed down into the Valley. It's been really dry this year. And with the Santa Anas blowing those fires should've flared up, not died out."
Bored with this conversation, Jade said, "Guess who's my understudy in Sikowitz's new play?"
Tori just rolled her eyes. This was the fifth time that day Jade mentioned Tori being her understudy.
Strange would be It's thought, if It had coherent thought. Coming on a shape, It was stopped at the surface. It moved around the shape but It could not move through the surface. It had a rudimentary sensation of curiosity at the unyielding surface. Instead, It continued on.
After moving down into an area of small, angular shapes separated by narrow flat stretches, It continued up that surface as the surface rose from the horizontal to an angle, not that It understood angles or horizontal or vertical. It just sensed change and It followed the change. Light grew in the area as did the sensation of heat but was not as great as the first time It experienced light and heat combined. While light and dark, heat and cold, were basically as one for It, the noticeable change in environment was merely unusual and interesting.
As It moved, which It did slowly as It had no need or concept of hurry, It felt the light dying and the warm cooling.
Coming up on a series of tall, narrow structures, It settled to sense the changes around It.
When the area cooled as the light turned to dark, It roamed through the narrow, tall structures before coming to a solid in It's way. Seeking a way beyond, It finally went up to find the blockage was a narrow shape easily passed over.
Beyond was a mass of shapes. Some were moving which caught It's attention. These were the first shapes It found that moved. Another new concept.
Two multi-dimensional shapes seemed to move randomly before moving toward It, vibrations coming from the shapes were interesting but unimportant. In a large expanse beyond the narrow shapes in a row that kept It out, another mobile mass was vertically elongated. A narrow flatness led to another moving shape that came at It.
Elsa was the oldest lion currently in captivity. She was just over twenty-eight years of age in human terms. Unknown to her, if she lived another year and some months, she'd be the oldest lion known. Most lions in the wild live to be twelve or thirteen years of age. She was already over twice as old as the oldest of her free cousins.
Her eyes suffered from cataracts so, of course, they weren't what they used to be, nor were her other senses. She didn't understand that she traded her freedom and shorter lifespan in the wild for the slow degradation of her senses. Her claws were blunted, her teeth were worn stumps. As a result, she often ate food that was typical of domesticated cats, a meat paste with small, easily digestible bits of real chicken or beef. Fortunately, she either ignored or forgot the difference in her continued existence. Given the next few moments, most likely the former.
The pride of the zoo noted some odd things across the human walkway. Animals she had long since ceased to consider prey suddenly disappeared. She saw something dark pass under one of the human light trees.
Baring her eroded fangs, she growled deep in her throat. As It came near, she rose up, she could no longer leap, and tried to bite the thing in front of her. One paw raked at the shape, the result, unfortunately, was as useless as her bite.
Another moving shape came towards It. Soon, the mover became part of It as the others had, in some way It did not understand.
It returned between the narrow vertical shapes and away from that place.
"Didja hear about the zoo break in?" Andre asked the next day.
"Yeah, it's pretty weird. No one can figure out how they did it," Robbie added.
"What break in?" Tori asked.
"At Griffith Park. That old lion, Elsa…"
"Aw, Elsa? She was so…"
"Do not say sweet, Vega."
"But she was. I loved going to see her when I was little. Did you know she was named for the lion in that old book about…"
"Blah, blah,,blah, Vega. The thing is, no one knows what happened to the two elands, the giraffe or…"
"MR. PURPLE!" Cat yelled, grabbing her bag. Pulling out the small, plush, purple giraffe, she breathed out, "Whew! I was so scared!"
Jade looked at her friend and shook her head. "Anyway, other than Elsa, two elands and a giraffe are gone. But no one cares about them, just that old lion.
"Anyway, it is weird. No sign of anyone breaking into the zoo or the habitats. No video footage of anything odd. Nothing whatsoever."
"Wow, that's weird." Tori then added, "At least, if they got out, they won't be too dangerous…"
"Why would anyone steal two African deer, a giraffe and an old lioness?" Andre asked rhetorically.
Beck addressed the question, "Maybe they're like some of those hard-core PETA types? Trying to save the animals from humans?"
"Then why not take more animals? Why only four? Not to mention, the lioness cannot possibly survive in the wild now." Jade replied.
They all shook their heads. Soon, the lunch conversation turned to the upcoming play which led to Tori and Jade arguing over who deserved the lead role.
While time meant nothing to It, some time passed before the sensation of warm and light came to It again. There was a regularity to this warm and cold cycle but It wasn't interested in that – temporal considerations were far beyond any conception to It. It was more intrigued by the variety of shapes and forms as they changed as It moved along this strange existence.
Passing through an irregular pattern of tall, round forms that spread out above It, It crossed a flatness that sloped down and away. The downslope was new to It's experience so It followed the slanting surface.
The flatness was again level, as little as It understood such a concept. Now there were more shapes of varying sizes. Many were angular large masses but almost as many were smaller, less angular forms. The larger forms created an array and the smaller, with some few exceptions, bordered the areas of larger shapes.
It came up to one of the larger shapes and found many small, tenuous items that filled It's senses. It reached out to one of those filmy shapes, contacting what It didn't know was wet or soft. Moving on, It came to the large shape, finding an aperture in the middle of the hardness. Curious, It moved through the opening into the larger shape.
Sandy Crenshaw had just finished hanging the sheets out to dry. She hated housework but, after graduating from high school and no interest in college, it was one of the prices to pay to live in her parents' house. After hanging the wash out on the line, she had dishes to do and furniture to dust. Before she bothered, she turned back to the TV. Settling into her old man's recliner, she turned up the sound on The View.
Plenty of time to finish her chores before her parents got home.
Within the larger shape, It found a wide variety of smaller forms of different sizes and shapes. Vibrations led It through a smaller, inner opening to a slightly larger space. Among the shapes within were two that were warmer than the others. Curious, It approached the cooler warmth then moved on to the larger, warmer shape.
Something startled Sandy from her doze. Her eyes still slightly bleary from sleep, she made out some nothingness blocking the TV but nothing registered in her blurry mind until she was enveloped by the dark.
The poor girl didn't even have time to scream.
After It found It could not absorb the other cooler warmth It moved to the larger warmth. This became part of It. After absorption, It moved back out of the large shape and across more flat then over vertical forms to other large shapes. None seemed to have any openings so It continued on. Several times, It came upon smaller, moving shapes. Like the warmth inside the angular form, these became part of It.
Reaching a long flat ribbon that ranged from one side of It's perspective to the other, far beyond It's sensory field. A loud vibration filled It and It moved onto the narrow flatness. The vibrations grew as It sensed an irregular shape approaching. As the vibration reached a peak, the shape came upon It, part was warmer than the other. Then part of the shape, the warmer part, fell into It as the rest of the moving shape continued even as that object slowed and changed orientation.
The LAPD squad car came up on an apparent crash along Mulholland Drive. There was a once-cherry 1948 Indian Chief motorcycle, the engine finally sputtering to a halt as the last of the fuel in the fractured, tear-drop tank was drained. The mystery wasn't as much about why the classic bike was on it's side in the middle of the road, although there was some confusion about the lack of skid marks. The real mystery was the fate of the missing, unknown driver.
And why the authentic leather seat was gone, leaving only the internal cushion. Forensics later found buttons and metallic objects like a belt buckle scattered near the wreck.
Several times, It again found straight but not as narrow, more dense flatness with several solids moving rapidly along the harder plane. Curious but nothing It considered beyond direct interaction. By now, the heat and light had increased again.
Joining with the moving solids was disconcerting to It. Not able to actually consider the events, It merely experienced the different sensations. It moved on from the large array of solids into the more chaotic cylindrical solids that again flared out over the surrounding area. Beneath these shapes, the temperature and the light were less which was another interesting thing.
These odd shapes, that widened significantly as the height increased even as their density decreased, were scattered along the sloping surface until a large opening was discerned.
Moving out of the light, It flowed into the oval opening to stop and, in It's own way, consider for a period It didn't realize existed. Oval was another new experience that It gave it pause.
Robbie had been riding his urban car-of-the-future home, his thoughts had been on those reports of drivers telling of a dark cloud that they swore wasn't smoke from the wildfires up in the hills, when the chain on his pedal-powered surrey snapped and several links flew off in different directions.
"Darn it all!" he exclaimed.
As he was picked up from the basket, Rex snidely said, "Still more manly rage…"
With one hand in Rex to manipulate him, Robbie walked along the edge of the empty street, picking up a half dozen individual bike chain links. As he approached another, he accidentally kicked it forward to teeter on the edge of the large storm drain along the gutter. Then it fell in.
"Jeeminies!" He placed Rex on the curb and reached down, trying to feel the small piece. After a couple of minutes of fruitless groping, he shook his head. "Rex, keep an eye on the car. I'll be right back."
Rex stared in Rob's direction sightlessly.
Lying on his stomach, Robbie scooted backwards into the drain mouth. He could feel the upper edge pressing into his butt but he was skinny enough to pass through. Although he did bop his head once as the last of him slid down.
"Ow! That hurt!"
Rubbing his head, Robbie looked around for the link. In the weak sunlight, he realized it was hopeless. It could be anywhere in the layer of soft muck and dead leaves covering the bottom.
Deciding to get out of the drain, the curly-haired boy realized he couldn't grasp the opening. It was just out of reach. Jumping, he could touch the lip with his fingertips but not enough to get a grip. His pretend cell phone was worthless.
"Hey! Anyone? Help! HELP!" Then, worthlessly, he cried out, "REX! Go get help!"
'Hearing' Rex's voice as if from a distance - actually his own subconscious, Robbie was sure Rex was talking to him, "Go out the storm drain. It opens in the woods on the other side of the hill."
Yelling for several minutes, Rob gave up when his voice started to get hoarse. He finally decided to do as Rex 'suggested'. That delay may have been the reason for what happened next.
He remembered that Rex had 'suggested' the back opening. He had played in this area when he was a kid and used it as an imaginary fort when he ran from neighborhood bullies.
A concrete pipe, about six feet in diameter, led back under the houses along the street. The light weakened as Robbie moved through the large pipe. Not understanding the difference between a storm drain and a sewer pipe, he gave a little prayer, "Please don't let anyone be home to flush right now…"
Soon, he was feeling his way in the almost total darkness until he saw a glow ahead. It had to be the opening and his way out. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rob continued towards the light.
Suddenly, the light vanished and his heart skipped a beat. "What…?"
Cold filled him and seemed to ooze into his pores. Suddenly, the cold turned to icy pain as Robbie felt his entire being split and inverted before dissolving away in the darkness.
It felt another moving shape approach and went to meet it. The shape emitted a short vibration before becoming a part of It. The vibration was a still curious sensation to It but much shorter-lived than the earlier ones It had experienced.
Settling back, It faded into the surrounding shadows for an unknown reason and an unknown length of time – both concepts unfamiliar to It.
Tori was sitting on her couch at home when her father walked in. "Hey, Tori, your friend Robbie? He has that four-wheeled bike, doesn't he?"
"Yeah? Why? Did he try to drive on the freeway again?"
"No. But a red surrey was found between here and Northridge by the side of the road and a ventriloquist's dummy was sitting on the curb. From what I heard from the reporting officer, the drive chain broke."
"Oh! Was Robbie hurt?"
"Actually, we're not sure who was there or what happened."
"But a red bike and a dummy? Has to be his stupid urban future car and Rex!"
"I'll call the station to see what they might've learned since the initial report," David said as he heard the concern in his daughter's voice. He headed to his home office.
Suddenly frantic, Tori tried Robbie's email but didn't have the patience to wait for a response. She knew the cell number Robbie had given all of them was worthless and she didn't have the Shapiro's home number, if they still had a land line so, to an empty room, she declared, "I'm going to call Cat. Maybe she's heard something."
Tapping quickly at her phone, thanks to experience, Tori held it away as she heard, "HEY TORI!"
"Cat, not so loud!" she chastised her daffy friend. Then, trying to sound nonchalant, she asked, "Hey, have you heard from Robbie today?"
"Not since school. He was going to take Rex up to Northridge for some reason." As Cat blathered on about something her brother did, Tori shuddered, remembering the Northridge airheads she shared Beck's car with recently. That was even worse than having to pedal that stupid surrey to school with Robbie.
"Why?" shocked Tori back to the hear-and-now.
"Huh?"
"Why are you asking about Robbie?"
"Well, I have a project and I thought he might be able to help me with it…"
"Ooh! What kind of project? A new snowman? I love to help! I'll be right over!"
Before she could dissuade the redhead, the connection was broken. She then called Beck and Andre, asking the same thing. The calls were much easier to handle but Beck did say he heard about a red surrey abandoned north of them. He often listened to his father's police scanner when he was bored and didn't feel like doing homework.
Soon, Trina came in. As she started to close the front door, it was blocked and she turned to see Cat stuck in the door, laughing. "I'm in a trash compactor! Like Princess Leia!"
Trina let the door open and Cat sidled past her. "I saw Beck's car coming up here. Are we having a party?"
"No, Cat."
"Thanks for inviting me!"
"There's no party Cat," Tori insisted.
"You're having a party and you didn't tell me?!" Trina huffed indignantly.
"I'M NOT HAVING A PARTY!"
Beck, followed by Andre, entered the still-open door. "What party?"
"No party! There is no party! Not here! Not anywhere!"
Andre chuckled, "I bet there's a party somewhere…"
"So not the point!" Tori declared.
Beck interrupted, breaking the apparently out of control conversation, "Any word on Robbie?"
"Not yet," Tori replied. "Dad's trying to get some information now."
Suddenly, she was deluged with questions from Andre and, especially, Cat about their classmate. Tori tried to shush them all when David walked in.
"Uh, what's going on?" he asked the suddenly silent group.
Tori spoke first, "Any word on Robbie?"
Sadly, David shook his head, "No. But the detectives did determine his book bag was in the bike – the books all had his name in them. It was his surrey and Rex that were found."
He avoided mentioning the other missing people – the girl and the biker. Or the other strange reports – missing pets with tags, tracker chips and leashes left behind - coming from the area around the Griffith Park Zoo, especially the area immediately to the west of the zoo – east of where the Vega home was located.
It moved out of the darkness into the lesser darkness, passing the arrayed shapes heading in a different direction. Not able to form thoughts but curious none-the-less, It moved on slowly through the various shadows.
Trina was upset, not by Robbie's disappearance, but because she was stood up by her latest date, Jimmy Olafson. She snuck out of the house to meet him at an Inside Out Burger but he never showed. Disgusted, she left the brightly-lit fast food joint to head home.
Driving back the way she came, she saw Jimmy's car on the other side of the road. The back end was jacked up and the rear tire was lying there, flat. She stopped and walked over. The trunk was open and the spare had been pulled out of the wheel well. But there was no sign of Jimmy.
"Jimmy? JIMMY? You out there?" she called into the darkness of the surrounding park. No answer. She glimpsed the spare tire off to the side as if it rolled away and fell over. Some objects, coins and other metal, flashed in the growing dusk even as Trina yelled, "JIMMY! THIS IS NOT FUNNY!"
Suddenly, Trina felt extreme cold from behind. It seemed to be flowing into her through her clothes. As if through thick mud, she tried to turn and saw nothing. Part of her mind, as she felt her body explode in pain and her parts exposed, realized where Jimmy was. What had happened to him.
Beck had taken Andre and Cat home. His truck easily accommodated the redhead's pink bike and the three of them were relatively comfortable in the front seat. Cat was in the middle, being the smallest. Normally, she'd be enjoying the man sandwich she was in but she was too upset about Robbie.
"Hey, Little Red, you're kinda quiet. Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Andre asked.
Cat sat and twisted her fingers together. "I'm worried about Robbie! What happened?"
"I don't know, Cat. But Mr. Vega will let us know once the police learn anything. I'm sure he's okay."
"Yeah, Cat. It's Robbie, he's survived the wrath of Jade… How many times?" Andre chuckled, ignoring the unease buried in him.
They continued down out of the Hollywood Hills to Santa Monica Boulevard. Before leaving the hills, Beck slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone forward in the cab.
"What the hell, man?"
"Eeee….!"
Beck didn't respond but stared straight ahead then started to scan the area around them. He muttered, "What the fu…"
Andre brought him out of his thoughts, "Dude! What was that all about?"
"Didn't you see it?"
"See what?"
"The black shape. It was… Hell, I don't know… Like a cloud but not smoke… Black but not like black… Like a… Man, I don't know!"
"Sure it wasn't smoke from one of the wild fires?"
Beck shook his head, "Wasn't smoke. It looked more…solid. But not…firm."
"I saw something in the dark once…" Cat muttered. Then she added in a quiet voice, "It was my brother hiding in the hall closet."
Andre shook his head and looked at his friend, "What do you mean? I didn't see anything."
"Nothing? It was a big, dark…something. It crossed right in front of us from the shadows over there across the street and into the woods over there," Beck nodded to the right. "You didn't see it? Did you, Cat?"
Both passengers shook their heads. "Maybe I need an eye exam." Beck moaned, "Man, this whole thing must be getting to me…"
He eased off the brake and drove his friends home then back to his house. He considered calling his ex-girlfriend Jade but decided against it for now. Her grandmother in New Jersey had passed away so she was back east, having left that morning for the funeral, returning tomorrow or the next day. And it was three hours later for her.
Moving out of another mass of irregular shapes that rose up and expanded above, It emerged into an area of new shapes in front of It. Many were larger, the largest It had sensed, and more densely clustered. There was an array of wide flat areas that interconnected. There were also narrower flatnesses between the large shapes.
Shapes moved at different rates alone the wide and the narrow flatnesses. It noticed more activity on the wide flatnesses and found that fact interesting but unimportant. There were also varying amounts of smaller, moving shapes exhibiting higher warmth than the larger moving shapes or the large moving shapes. Some warm shapes were idle in the narrow flatnesses.
It moved closer to explore…
Bill Fall was once a respected surgeon but an addiction to pain killers caused him to lose two patients. The State Board revoked his license once the drug abuse came to light. Before too long, any money - nearly a half million - he had accumulated from a once-thriving practice was gone. Knick knacks, then electronics then furniture were sold off to pay for his habit. The house was lost to back taxes and Dr. William Fall found himself homeless and destitute.
He was forced to go through the horrors of withdrawal from the opiates but managed to use cheap wine and whisky to dull the pains. Now an alcoholic with growing dementia and aspects of Parkinson's, he spent his days in a stupor, if possible. If not, he was usually in some degree of harsh discomfort.
Unlike many in his situation, he didn't blame others. He knew this was all his fault as was the loss of his marriage to the lovely Paulette.
The alley was dimly lit and many of the lights on the back walls of buildings lining the alley were dark. When light seemed to go out to Fall's left, he stared blearily at the darkness.
"Tha'sh no' righ'…" he slurred.
Before he could frame a coherent thought, he was enveloped in the darkness. Cold filled him even as it tore him apart.
Into my cellular structure, he guessed incorrectly. In fact, his very atoms were being absorbed by It.
Tearing me inside out as my body is absorbed
The former, disgraced surgeon's last thought was, I hope Paulette has found happine…
Not surprisingly, the following day's Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Tribune did not mention the disappearance of the former surgeon. In point of fact, neither of the dailies, or the local news shows, reported the disappearances of a number of dealers and pushers, hookers or homeless. The LAPD asked that the story be squashed until they were able to ascertain who managed to get rid of so many residents of the urban underbelly of Los Angeles. However, they only had a twenty-four-hour window before the story would come to light.
Still, the Vega house was stirred up. They realized Trina snuck out the night before and nothing had been heard since. David had his cell with an open, constant line to the local station house, plugging it in when necessary. Holly was calling Trina every few minutes and getting her voice mail. Tori was doing the same as well as checking with her friends, just in case.
When Trina's car was found, apparently abandoned with her cell phone inside, near a car with a flat tire, anxiety soared in the Vega household.
There had been many moving things around It but, as It came across them and they became one with It, the curiosity about any specific object faded. It moved back towards the sloping surface. It found more of interest there. Fewer angles and more variety of shapes from the narrow that splayed out above to the large variety of warm movement.
The fact that these moving shapes almost always became part of It was becoming a familiar, if still unusual, sensation. Sustenance, to It, was as alien a concept as were the dimensional shapes It was interacting with since It's realm changed. It did not question this, It did not understand this, It did not consider this. It merely found the situation…interesting.
It wasn't mindless, but It wasn't completely self-aware. It experienced, It felt. In essence, It lived. But It did not wonder. It did not consider. It did not think or ponder. It just was – no past, no future, nothing beyond the moment. Always, It was in the moment. Even as that concept was foreign to It.
None of this occurred to It. It just was. It went on from one sensation to another.
"Dad, what's going on?" Tori asked, fear evident in her voice. "I mean, Trina…" She sobbed but went on, "And Robbie and… all those others… Is this a serial killer? Or…"
David sat down next to his daughter and pulled her into another hug – the whole family had been hugging a lot since Trina's car was found.
"I don't know sweetheart. I don't know what it is that's doing this but I don't think it's a serial killer. I shouldn't tell you this..." David took a deep breath. "Between you, me and Mom, every scrap of anything organic was gone from the sites."
"What do you mean, David?" Holly asked stridently. She was on the verge of a collapse after Trina disappeared.
"Whatever is doing this, it's taking anything that is not synthetic. Anything. Or plant-based materials like cotton. Plants are not affected either."
David stared at the floor for a moment then said, "Crime Scene techs aren't even finding the usual vermin at the sites. No rats, no cockroaches… Not even droppings or even traces of dead bugs, which are always present. The latest reports show no traces of even normal bacteria."
"But… How, Dad?"
"No one knows, Tori. There's no trace of unusual radiation or chemical source for such a thing. From what one of the bigwigs said, even a neutron bomb would show traces of…anything. And that would leave bodies…"
As It moved further out into this place of dimensional shapes, It found a substance that was solid but not solid. Initially, It found this sensation in depressed areas like the roundness in the upslope in It's past journey.
It followed a downslope, even as It had no concept of up or down, just the sensation of change in orientation. It came across this less stable surface moving past. The substance did not support It but It lost only a fraction of It's substance outside the surface. And the moving surface was noticeably cooler to It, like the times of less light. Which It merely noted, not really experienced. It could not, beyond the basic aspect, as the sensation was so alien to It.
During one of those less-light times, It came down to a wide expanse of this not-solid surface. The surface moved but more forcefully than before. It wasn't affected but It was interested in the experience. While under this moving surface, It came across regular cylindrical items stretching above It. These were mottled but the irregularities became part of It.
There were also moving objects around It and these became part of it unless they managed to move away.
Moving back to the more stable surface, It found more warm objects. As It moved to these objects, It perceived the vibrations again. As these shapes became one with It, It moved on.
It came up on a solid,vertical surface again and pushed. Vertical meant nothing to It. However, the surface moved and It entered the larger shape.
Cat and Sam were sitting in a booth at Bots, with Cat's grandmother, eating appetizers. At some point, Dice and Goomer were due to meet them. Depended on how long Goomer's match lasted.
Nona and Sam were arguing about technology. Cat was distracted by Robbie's disappearance. She still wouldn't acknowledge she liked the boy but, at the same time, she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. Is that why… She'd been worried about Rob since she first heard he was missing.
Meanwhile, Nona was saying, "These robots do worry me so…" She fell silent as she stared past her young friends towards the door, her face slowly.
At that point, the patrons all began to scream even as Red rolled up, asking, in it's mechanical voice, "May I help you?"
Sam turned just in time to see Red disappear into a large black cloud. "We need to…"
She was enveloped before she could say more. Even as she tried to scream, her vocal cords were dissolved. In the nanosecond before her ears ceased to function, Sam heard Cat's scream before it was cut off.
The surface It came to moved in a circular motion. A new dimension in movement. Then It was inside.
An object came up to in, vibrations coming from it before It passed over. Other, warmer objects also put off vibrations which drew It forward. These all became part of It.
Passing through the inside, It found another inside and moved through that, sensing a higher level of heat as well as more moving objects that became part of It. From the inside, It found another inside but much colder one with no other opening. It went back the way It came through the second inside and the first inside before It passed through the circular moving surface.
David got the report from the Venice Division. Bots was the latest weird disappearance scene. All the patrons, wait staff and kitchen staff were just…gone. The scene was discovered by a pro MMA wrestler and his young friend, both of whom were in shock.
The scene was chaotic, of course. Most of the food was gone as well. The freezer, which was open for some reason, contained the only food still there – all slowly thawing by the time authorities arrived on the scene. Oddly, there were traces of synthetic foodstuffs left behind. An example was the hot cheese reservoir in the big red robot which was empty except for some synthetic binding material. As well as the usual synthetic clothing materials that were left behind at other disappearances. No wool, real leather or the occasional fur were found – only the occasional inorganic labels.
"What the…" He was worried. This was not a serial killer, at least not like any the LAPD had experienced. "This is X-files territory," he mused. "Or even Kolchak."
"How do I tell Tori?" he muttered as he returned home, holding s small, purple giraffe.
"Tell me what?"
"Tori! Um… I have some bad news…"
"C-cat?" Tori asked, her voice quavering as she grabbed the stuffed animal.
Things were publicly getting really weird.
Due to the scope of the disappearances, the Federal Government sent in specialists to consult with the LAPD, the LA County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol as well as the California Bureau of Investigation. The number of disappearances continued to increase. Pets and even wild animals in the hills that were being tracked by Animal Control suddenly vanished in increasing numbers. Like the pets who disappeared leaving their chip behind, the tracked animals left their tracers behind but no remains. No signs of any predator or poacher or…any normal culprit.
Conspiracy theorists blamed everything from the Rapture to UFOs. A few were closer to the mark with their allegations of extradimensional invaders but assumed that the invaders were purposeful.
One of the more widely accepted theories was the Santa Ana Winds. There were legends of the winds driving people to insanity. As with other, more sane theories, this didn't account for the number of disappearances. How could one person kill so many and make their remains disappear?
Homeless shelters were packed beyond capacity. Only the homeless in the worst stages of life, or the stupidly brave, stayed out.
While the disappearances were not solely at night, most people opted for a self-curfew. Restaurants, movies, theater and other businesses were adversely affected by the drop in trade thanks to this curfew.
Over-the-road truckers still made their runs in and out of the LA Basin, primarily from the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor in in the south. The local truckers were worried but refused to be cowed since the out-of-town freighters didn't seem to care about the weirdness.
Jim Paton left the freight terminal near the San Pedro waterfront and drove north along the Harbor Freeway. He had a load of Chinese fireworks headed to a wholesaler in the Valley.
The wholesaler sold to towns for the Fourth of July, the Dodgers and Angels for home run and potential post-season celebrations as well as the City of Los Angeles for New Years. This load was for the forthcoming baseball season. Paton knew there would be more shipped in for the Fourth. As he was the best local driver when it came to combustible cargo, he was sure he'd get that gig.
The fact didn't escape him that his route took him past Dodger Stadium as the 110 skirted Chavez Ravine to the east just after he passed downtown LA. Paton followed the ramp to I-5 northbound into the Valley.
Pleased with the lack of traffic, he was sure he'd be home early enough to catch some softcore porn on Cinemax before his wife came home from her late shift at the hospital.
The darkness suddenly appeared before his rig, seeming to come out of the Ravine. He slammed on the brakes but was swallowed nonetheless.
His foot slipped and hit the accelerator even as his foot and most of the leather boot ceased to exist. The semi flew across the lanes and through the guardrail, arcing over Riverside Drive before slamming into a couple of homes at Riverdale Drive and Riverside Drive.
The fuel tanks erupted and engulfed the truck and the houses. The conflagration spread as the pyrotechnics quickly started to cook off. The dry season helped the fireworks start a series of fires all over the neighborhood. The fire leaped over the Los Angeles River into Cypress Park.
A large swath of northeast Los Angeles near Eagle Rock was destroyed. Hundreds were dead or injured and thousands were suddenly homeless.
It came up an elevation to another wide stretch of flatness with some swiftly moving shapes. One of the larger shapes passed through it. The moving warmth within joined It and the shape moved on.
Soon, It sensed the heat from somewhere near It. It moved towards this heat and It moved into the large warmth. On the fringes of the large warm, there were many smaller moving warms that It moved over, the smaller warms becoming part of It.
Tori, Beck and Andre sat in the Vega living room, mourning the losses of Trina, Cat and Sam.
"I can't believe they're gone," Tori lamented for the hundredth time. Given the circumstances, the Vega family had little hope that Trina was just missing. "I know Trina was a pain and… But she's my sister. I love her and…"
Beck glared at his hands as he sat on the other couch, "I'm still so mad now that I didn't… Trina was pretty and… I just wish I'd taken that chance…"
"Man, you can't think like that!" Andre stated as he had his arm around Tori's quaking shoulders. "But I'm sorry I never had a chance to thank Trina for those times she helped us."
At that point, David entered. "Tori, boys, how are you holding up?"
Tori looked up, her eyes streaming tears, "Better than Mom. Did you get in touch with the Valentines?"
David nodded, "They're going to come back as soon as they're able. Mr. Valentine said it might be next week. Due to their son…"
"That damned brother!" Andre snarled.
"Andre!" Tori said. Andre nodded but didn't retract his statement.
"How's Mom?"
"She's sleeping. The sedative the doctor left really knocked her out."
"I'll go up and see."
"Detective?" Beck asked as Tori got to the head of the stairs, turning the corner for the bedrooms.
"Yeah, Beck."
"That truck disaster in Cypress Park? The fire died out in a meandering path through the neighborhood."
"Yeah, that was weird but I'm leaving that to the LAFD to examine."
"But it's true?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, remember back just before the zoo disappearances? The wildfire in the Verdugo Hills that died out?"
"You think there's a connection?"
"I dunno. It just seems weird that a growing fire died out with no one stopping it. Then this one with the weird path through the burn…"
Andre added, "Not to mention, the lack of bodies? The driver? The missing in the area? I know some are just lost or with friends but… Robbie? Sam? Cat? The people in Bots? Um… Trina?"
David looked down, considering what the boys said, even as he tried to hold in his grief over his still-missing oldest daughter. "Maybe worth mentioning to the big boys…"
But he suspected they already knew more than he. All the surveillance tapes from Bots were taken before anyone below the highest grade could see them.
Unknowing, It moved back near the area where It had come over from It's own realm. It continued along and passed over one of those long, narrow flat stretches. Then back into the area with irregular shapes that started narrow then expanded out above It. The shapes moved as the area around It was brushed by light pressure from a single direction. A sensation It was finding all too common in this alien, multi-dimensional realm.
In the larger shapes above, small warmths darted about. Small vibrations were sensed from these by It. It tried to move up to these warmths but the objects moved up and away from the larger, cooler shapes. It continued on until It came out of the area of narrow shapes.
Another wide flatness then more regular shapes with narrower flatnesses between the shapes.
Jade West's flight from Newark arrived at LAX. She got her bags and caught the airport shuttle to her car in long-term parking. This was the reason she insisted on driving to the airport the other week. She knew her old man and his trophy wife would want to stay longer in Jersey while Jade couldn't wait to get home.
Once she walked into the house, she actually shivered. For the first time in years, she felt the emptiness of the old building.
Shaking her head, Jade muttered, "Just all the weird shit in the news. And after the funeral…"
Jade took her bags up to her room then said, "Bet they're all at Vega's…"
Twenty minutes later, Jade was knocking on the door of the Vega house.
"Jade! What are you…"
"Yeah, yeah, Vega. Whatever…" Jade strutted past Tori and fell onto the couch. "What's on TV?"
"Um… CSI reruns? There's an old Hitchcock movie on TCM but it's almost half over. Or…"
"I don't really care, Tori. Just watch whatever you want."
"Jade?"
"Don't read too much into things, Vega. I just buried my grandmother while friends of mine have disappeared…"
"Well, you just missed Beck and Andre. They were here but headed home."
"Home…" Jade muttered as she suppressed a shiver.
Noting the girl's reaction, Tori asked, "Jade, you want to stay here tonight?"
Expecting some acidic barb, instead Tori heard, "Yeah. Um, thanks. That place is too…"
Tori nodded and turned her attention back to CSI: even as she felt a shiver of dread race up her spine.
Beck drove out of the Hills towards Hollywood. He and Andre decided to grab a late-night bite. The silence in the car was deafening but neither really had anything to say.
They headed out of neighborhood where the Vegas lived, turning onto Mulholland Drive and west into the Laurel Canyon neighborhood. As he drove on, Beck jerked the wheel when Andre shouted, "BECK! STOP THE CAR!"
Slamming on the brakes, he eased to the side of the road even as Andre got ready to jump out.
"What then hell, dude?"
"Didn't you see it? Man, it's freaky. It was so dark and… Like what you said you saw the other night…" Andre stared up along a small cul-de-sac that branched off from the street they were on. "LOOK! There! Near that streetlight!"
Beck strained his eyes and saw an ill-defined shape that was blacker than the night. "What the hell is it?"
"Betcha it's that thing that's causing all the disappearances. Let's go. See where it goes and maybe find our friends…"
Beck pulled a heavy duty Maglite flashlight from his glove compartment and followed Andre. "Dude, you sure this is a good idea?"
"No but I got no better idea. Do you?"
Pulling his Pearphone out, Beck dialed the Vega house. "Hey, Detective? Andre and I saw something. We're… Andre, where are we?"
"I dunno. We were on Woodrow Wilson Drive… Look! There! It's so dark!"
Beck shined the flashlight beam on the blackness. "It's like the light's being absorbed…"
A tinny voice came from the speaker as David yelled, "Beck? Don't go near it! Get away now!"
Andre cried out as a part of the darkness flowed over his arm, pulling him in. "AAAIIIEEE!"
"Andre! Andre, man, get out of there!" Beck dropped the phone and yelled as the blackness flowed over him. This was so fast, Beck couldn't even cry out as his body was shredded into subatomic parts.
Back in his study in the Vega house, David paled as he heard Andre scream then Beck shout to Andre as a weird sound - like rubber gloves being pealed off someone's hands - filled the phone's speaker. "Beck! Andre? Do you hear me? Beck?"
He shook his head and said, "If you can, I'm hanging up. I'm calling the division to roll out to your area. Hang in there, boys!"
After called the station and telling them what he heard and where the boys thought they were, David pulled his small, snub-nosed .38 from his locked drawer and loaded it. He never carried a gun in the house unless he was leaving or returning from duty. But this was not the time to worry about in-home gun safety.
Stepping into the living room, he said, "Girls, I have to tell you something…"
About a half hour passed before a call came over David's phone. He saw the ID and answered, "Yeah, Sid? Uh-huh. Nothing? No sign? Belt buckles and zippers and change?"
Tori, who was curled up with an equally distraught Jade, looked up, her red, weeping eyes questioning.
"No, I understand. Sid? Is there air searc…? Oh? Good. Any report? Wait, I hear a chopper outside now. Hold on, Sid… Tori! Make sure the doors are all locked!"
Tori jumped up, glad to be doing something. As she double-checked the patio door, she saw something so dark and so…weird, she could only scream.
The small kitchen window was slightly open and blackness began to ooze in, pooling across the counter and onto the floor. The mass grew, blotting out the lights in the kitchen.
David faced it and held the gun steady. He slowly squeezed off a shot and heard it impact the door to the garage. Another shot passed through and pierced the refrigerator. Shot after shot went through It and slammed into the walls, cabinets and crockery until all six chambers were empty.
Even as Tori screamed, she watched her father disappear. The weird sound was accompanied by a litany of metallic rain as non-organic items fell through the darkness.
Knowing it was worthless to run, Tori stood in sad recognition. Jade took her hand and stood with her even as the coldness enveloped them while their existence was torn inside out and they knew no more.
It passed back through the open window, aware that another warmth was above It but sensing a need to move on. So It moved along and, again, came to the place of crossing over. This time, It passed back through the thin dimensional membrane.
It left the limited multidimensional space and was back in It's own omni-dimensional space. It left behind a swath of death, destruction and despair. But It did not know any of this. If It was able to comprehend those concepts, It would not care. If It could care.
It just was.
Post-script Note 1: Back in the 1940s, there was a radio show called Light's Out hosted by Arch Obeler. One of his shorts I heard on a revival broadcast on Halloween when I was much younger is the inspiration for this. It was called "The Dark" as well. It aired on NBC in 1937.
The Halloween host, who was an expert on old thriller radio like Light's Out and Inner Sanctum, among others, explained that the sound of people being turned inside out by the black mist was done using rubber gloves being removed.
The original story, as well as over 80 others, are available for listening on the Internet Archive. It really works if you listen in the dark…like a certain teenager did years ago.
Pot-script Note 2: I've been working on this off and on for the past year. I had hoped to post it last Halloween but I couldn't find the right ending. Finally, I went dark and here it is in time for this Halloween