This all happened to me around four years ago. I was on a several hour drive across New Zealand, traveling to Mount Ruapehu to go snowboarding with some friends. I had incorrectly assumed that a full tank of gas would last me the whole trip and had found myself almost out of gas amongst miles of nothing but farmland.
It was around quarter past five when I finally found a town to stop at. The withered town sign emerged from the sunset-soaked fog, scarcely readable within the oppressive, crimson haze. The words it held were no matter to me; I was simply relieved to find a place to refuel, so I kept my eyes on the road ahead. As I continued on, I began to see the first signs of humanity: run-down houses, presumably on the edge of town. Continuing further, the old wooden shacks turned into well-kept cottages and eventually somewhat modern houses as I neared what seemed to be the town centre. As I searched the town, hoping to spot a gas station, I felt more and more like an unnatural darkness was permeating the cold streets, but I could not pinpoint why I felt as such. I thought that perhaps most of the houses had their lights off, but hidden within the fog, I could not be sure. Nonetheless, I eventually found a local gas station and pulled in to fill up. The station’s lights felt unnatural amongst the oppressively dark rest of the town but were still somewhat comforting as a sign of life in the otherwise desolate area. After filling up my car, I made my way towards the brightly lit gas station building.
The rusted automatic doors let out a horrific screech as they struggled to reveal the station inside. Immediately upon entering the station, I could feel the clerks’ eyes staring into me, following me as I walked towards the drinks cabinet. I reached into the cabinet for a bottle of water and anxiously turned back towards the watchful clerk. His features were twisted and unnerving, feeling barely within the realm of natural, yet I approached him nonetheless, careful to avoid eye contact. He scanned the bottle and added the cost without even a flinch, his face completely stationary and gaze alike unmoving. I grabbed the bottle and hastily walked out of the gas station, excusing the disturbing interaction as the result of my six-hour drive and employees’ late shift exhaustion.
As I stepped back out into the fog-covered town, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Something about how the dishevelled buildings swayed in the evening breeze with wind like a whisper upon the rotting wooden planks inspired a deep feeling of anxiety within me. The walk back to my car felt like it lasted an eternity as my eyes darted between the twisted and long shadows cast by the dim street lights. I got into my car and began driving down the dim streets once again. As I continued, I occasionally passed the darkness-shrouded shapes of people standing stationary in the street. All of them had strange proportions and were completely stationary, apart from their unnatural head movements that drove my stomach to churn. Seeing no other option, I simply kept my eyes forward and avoided eye contact.
I continued on through the town, getting further from the town centre and closer to my perceived safety. As I slowed to take a turn, I could not hold my gaze in place any longer, and forced by my morbid curiosity, I took in the scene in its entirety. The fog had waned much since my arrival, leaving behind a thin haze coating the dimly lit streets. A few metres to the side of me was an old, run-down-looking house with windows entirely blocked by blinds. Barely held by the aged blinds, I saw something imbued with unnatural life, something truly grotesque, more so than I could have ever imagined.
Terrified by what I’d seen, I desperately made my way out of the town as fast as my car could take me. I kept my speed all throughout the outskirts of the wretched town and continued with eyes facing forward until dawn had fully broken. I desperately scrambled within my mind to excuse the terrors I’d seen, but as I looked back with vision unimpeded, I saw the town’s grotesque shape now with its subtle rhythmic writhing and finally understood the horrific truth.
The town breathes.