Behind the Clouds2 – Albert Talks

Albert had been a good friend. He always listened carefully and never offered an unkind word. Seeing this turned, and grown upside down vision, was disturbing to say the least. It felt unnatural, almost sinister.

Forest continues to stare, trying to absorb the sight. It’s a gruesome sight and he shudders. He turns and goes back to the kitchen, fighting an urge to vomit. He can only imagine how Albert must feel, and he pours out the glass of water, with shaking hands.

Now he really needs to get ready for work, however he is beginning to doubt his mental state, and he considers calling out today. Then he thinks of spending the day with Albert, in his current condition, and decides work is best.

Thirty minutes later he’s locking the front door and turning to leave, when he spots it. It’s at the edge of another oddly shaped cloud, and it’s full daylight, he is unaware of dropping his coffee.

He trips down the front steps as he’s watching it watching him. He lands hard but manages to avoid the worst. When he looks back at the sky, the thing is gone again. The sky is devoid of all but clouds. He gathers himself, and shakily gets in his car to leave.

The Clouds

The drive to work is uneventful and within the first hour of being there, Forest’s anxiety begins to settle. As he calms down, he thinks about what he has seen. Or, more accurately, what has seen him, seeing it.

It is large and belongs in the sky. In contrast, it wasn’t flying or hovering, it appeared perched and on solid footing. Yet it was in the sky. Similar, but only barely humanoid in shape, yet appearing metallic, as though made of steel.

He had felt like prey. That was the feeling that had almost sent him running pell mell for the door, early this morning. And then again on the porch, when he had fallen, he had known he was being observed. In fact he felt as though he was meant to see that he was being observed.

This thought causes chills to race up his spine and he feels the anxiety building. It’s just not possible. There had to be some logical reason behind this, this…event? Could he even say it was an event? He remembers Albert’s impossible condition, and shudders.

Albert

After lunch, the day speeds by. Forest tries to do some research on the anomaly, but the day’s workload keeps him preoccupied with other things. He had been able to convince himself that he had imagined things to some extent.

The best thing he could do was approach it logically, do some research, and find out which weird phenomena he had experienced. The possibilities were large that it was a celestial mirage of some sort. This train of thought had eased his apprehension considerably.

With less than two hours left in the workaday, Forest is considering another overtime shift when his phone rings. He picks up and does the company greeting that prompts for response.

“Hello Forest how are ya old buddy?”

Having many clients that he is on a first name basis with, is natural for Forest, so he responds in kind, “I’m doing well and how are you?”

“I’m doing great pal! Say, listen good buddy, I’m afraid we’re going to need you home early today, we have company.”

Forest is confused and feeling mystified, “Excuse me? I don’t understand, who is this?” He waits impatiently for a response thinking it’s a crank call.

“Don’t you recognize me pal? It’s me, Albert.”

Behind the Clouds

Virtual Dispatch