Where the light goes.

"You are just imagining things, it is best you forget about it." Old man Proctor said before rushing off to the opposite side of the road. He was actually on his way to the store on the side he just rushed away from but wanted to be sure the kid would leave him be. After quickly ducking into another store he breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Ruben has moved on.

"Stupid lecher." Ruben cussed as he stepped off the sidewalk and almost got run over by a carriage. "No one in this town is any help, they are all cowards." He thought as he made doubly sure nothing was coming down the road again.

After a whole day trying to find answers from the towns people, Ruben was at the end of his tether. It did not make sense how the folks were acting. Maybe it is because he was new to town. It could be some local taboo they were afraid of. Whatever it is did not, make sense.

He headed to the nearest Saloon, well the only one, for a whiskey. It was still a few hours till sunset and he wanted head to the eastern cliffs. “Out!” The barkeep yelled the moment Ruben stepped into the saloon. “Get out!” He said again, quickly coming around the bar towards Ruben. 

Ruben backpedalled quicker than a chicken spotting a pot. He felt his breath only return once he was a distance away. “Crazy damn totem pokers!” He yelled back, at whomever will listen and increased his pace. 

He knew what he saw was real. It baffled Ruben how people didn't even try to explain it away as a natural event. They either freaked out or refused it existed. That is what really got him spooked. 

Clouds don't just glow in the middle of the night. They don't shake the earth with what Ruben could only describe as shockwaves, either.

He made up his mind, and headed to the little cabin he had rented when he came to town. It was a small place but he liked how it was a bit away from town , and now he thanked his pessimistic view of being too close to people all the more. “There is still a good amount of daylight left, I might just make it to the nearest inn or motel.” Ruben said hissing, as he quickly covered the distance to the cabin. 

Packing his belongings, Ruben thought through what he knew, “The clouds seem to be moving more and more west, well the light.”  Going outside with his compass he faced west to be sure, “Then near those peaks it went ballistic… then did it move again?” He paused for a moment but could not recall anything after that. Ruben was sure there was a quake though. 

After packing his backpack and clothes and plenty of water, he got into his beat up faded blue car. “Why was I almost run over by a carriage back there?” Ruben asked himself aloud and stared back at town.  From his cabin he could barely see the buildings , far enough away from humans but not too far away from a beer. “I get it is an oldy kinda place, but what the hell.”

Thinking back on the last couple of weeks Ruben realised just how “oldy” the place was. In fact the only modern things around was his car and the cabin he rented. “Eerily oldy.” He thought, then started the car, but it just sputtered.  “Damn that sun sets fast!” Ruben didn't notice that during his packing and reverie the sun had gone down. He felt that the situation did not bode well. 

Turning the ignition again the car showed no signs of life. Ruben began to panic, “Done, I am done, done, done. Calm down.”  He said in calm voice but not feeling calm as he kept trying to start the car. He also kept his eyes on the sky in front of him, for a moment he was unsure. Then where there were no clouds a moment ago, there were many. Not only did the clouds form in blink, they were lit up like a Christmas tree. “That light is even brighter than before. This can't be good.” 

Ruben gave up on the car, took his stuff and started walking in the opposite direction from what he felt the light in the clouds were moving .  As he walked he kept looking back and noticed the clouds swelling slowly as they did the evening of the shockwave. The clouds were beginning to take their mushroom form and still growing. 

He was panicked but still mused how the only thing he knew of mushroom clouds were that they happen after a very big kaboom, so he found it peculiar. Not enough to stop walking in the opposite direction peculiar though. 

He was not sure how far the next inn was in the direction he was walking. So he just took solace in at least having a rain jacket, and enough warm clothes to likely make it through the evening in the desert. He sincerely hoped he would. The lights seemed to slow down a bit but Ruben knew it did not matter, the light in the clouds seemed brighter, almost like a tiny sun casting its rays from inside a cloud ball. 

Ruben just kept walking. It felt like hours, but if he had been watching the clock it would only have been a minute. In the next minute, the giant storm of light reached the town. In the previous minute Ruben had in fact been walking for two hours. 

In the last minute, the earth beneath his feet seemed alive as it violently shook. Ruben quickly fell to the ground and just sighed in relief that he was in an open area. Then he panicked wondering if the ground will swallow him. 

The shockwave passed quickly , relatively if measured in minutes from outside the cloudy area. It actually took another couple hours for everything to be over. Ruben's nerves were in tatters . Getting up from the ground, he took a shirt from his bag and wiped the sand and sweat from his face. Looking back in the towns direction the clouds seemed to be dissipating. His fears however were not. 

Steeling himself for the journey to safety he has already embarked on Ruben decided to keep going. The car was a lost cause anyway and he had most of his belongings he needed on him. 

“Maybe I should go back, I can't be sure there is even anything nearby anyway. It took me six hours by car knowing where I was going. How am I possibly going to find a safe place on foot.” Ruben thought in concern but kept walking.  After a final glance back, he stopped. Ahead of him was his car, and behind his cabin in the distance was the absence of buildings. 

From where he was standing he could not be sure so he kept walking, and the closer he got the more sure he was. Where the frame of an eerily old town should be , was now only scene with gravestones.