THE FOG

I was driving back from work that day. I had to work overtime in the next town over. It was already dark and the roads were only lit by my car's headlight.

I was looking forward to going home and putting my feet up. I hadn't been able to rest much lately, too busy with work.

It was about half an hour after I had left work when it started to get foggy. There were storm clouds ahead, but that should have been about an hour away from me.

There hadn't been any rain for a while, so the roads should have been clear at least for another ten minutes or so. It happened very quickly though, within a minute of driving it looked like someone had put a pillow over everything around me. The car's headlights only went so far in front of me before being swallowed by the fog.

I slowed down and tried to keep myself calm even if there was a powerful urge in my gut to floor it. I was going down a one-way road, no exits or anything around me.

Most of the places on this road were empty and had been for years. If you drove into that fog though there was the chance that you would get lost and never emerge. There used to be warnings on the signposts, but they were removed some time ago, people just started disappearing after all.

I kept seeing shadows through the fog, but they disappeared when I looked straight at them so it did nothing to calm me down.

I continued driving for about fifteen minutes before deciding that if I didn't see another car soon I should turn back even if it meant taking longer than going home by myself. I didn't want to risk it, regardless of how likely I was to get lost. There was a rumour going around town that the fog swallows people and they never find their way out again.

I saw a car an hour or so away from turning around and made sure not to pass it on the road. It had been pulled over with its hazard lights on. The fog was mostly burnt off by then so I could see it clearly after another minute or two.

I got out of my car and noticed that there wasn't any damage to the other car that would have caused it to stop there and that even if someone's battery had died they wouldn't need their hazards like that.

There was no one around the car. The tyres were flat, windows rolled down and the insides were full of dirt. I ran up to the car and looked around. There wasn't anyone in sight, but there was a thick smell of salt in the air that mixed with the smell of burnt rubber from the fog just disappearing.

I kept looking around and saw footprints leading inwards towards where I had seen shadows in the fog—where they went was anyone's guess.

I started walking in that direction when something caught my eye through the trees on the side of one of those tracks. It was a faded red ribbon on top of some brush, it looked like someone marked the place hurriedly before running into the woods, though it could have been anything really. It seemed sad since whoever left it probably wanted to head back home soon but couldn't at the moment.

I ran after the tracks and wasn't too far from where I had seen the ribbon when a sound made me freeze on my feet. It was a mix between a howl and a cry of pain, though it didn't have any shape at all—it sounded empty, like an animal dying just out of sight.

My heart raced as I moved forward again until I saw them through some trees that were there for no reason since nothing grew here. There was a group of people with their backs towards me standing around one person —I couldn't make out who they were or why they were doing what they were doing but something about them seemed off.

I slowly got closer until I saw the person on their knees turn around. Their hair was burnt and some of it had been ripped off, facial features were missing as well as a chunk from their neck, but from across the large distance that separated us I could see those eyes looking straight at me—they were dead and without a soul behind them.

This figure didn't move though even when they realised someone was standing there watching them. It stood there looking at me for a moment or two before letting out another sorrowful cry, this time one filled with sadness before going back to what it originally did.

The group turned towards me then and I knew that whatever was happening couldn't be real because if it was then something horrible had just happened. I felt a sting in my leg and fell to the ground, everything started going numb shortly after that.

It was August 5th when I disappeared from sight, can't say much more than that though since everything is dead silent without a doubt in my mind.