Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm.
In a city drenched by relentless rain, Chrissy’s only goal is to get home and get dry. But a chance encounter with a bizarre, otherworldly creature interrupts her path.
Chrissy’s boots were well soaked, a sloshy pool circling her toes within her socks and rolling forward like waves at the beach. Excellent. The rain had fallen in sheets for what felt like weeks, holding up commuters, making children edgy and over-excited, and drowning any hopes of a weekend in the sun. She held tightly to her umbrella, which again reminded her she needed a new one – this one was far too small. Such thoughts were too late, however, so she would have to make do.
Amongst the deluge she wished for shelter, whatever shelter could be found. Emmett would likely be home already, feet up with his toes licked by the curls of the fire. She had no doubt that she would resemble a wet dog upon returning home and with the amount of water that had seeped through her jacket, shaking it off like a dog was probably the only sensible first step. Emmett would likely quarantine her to the foyer until the drips dripped their last.
While others had been sensible and decided to wait out the worst, she had pushed onward. Her favourite television show finale was set to air in twenty-five minutes – no time to delay. Running through the rain would be the necessary sacrifice to enjoy the frivolity of trashy television. So, she ran. But the rain was pushing back harder than what she was prepared for. Seeking a moment’s peace, she hopped over deepening puddles to a small footbridge within the park. The damp stones of the bridge weren’t exactly welcoming, but the reprieve from the overhead downpour was. She awkwardly brushed her hair out of her eyes, peeling her glasses off before trying to find some remnant of dry clothing on her body to clean them.
Suddenly something moved on the other side of the bridge footing – a creature. A cat, she thought. But when it moved again she realised this creature did not resemble the four-legged felines she was accustomed to seeing on the streets at night. It had six hairy limbs, plus a tail of feathers and an obnoxiously large bill. Was this an alien mixed with a platypus? It moved with an awkward gait, as if its buttocks was lighter than its head, leading its rear end to drift unusually high into the air. It wobbled with a lopsided dance, an odd sight to be sure. But despite the unusual rhythm, it seemed to move quite quickly.
Chrissy had rubbed her glasses dry as best she could and scrambled to get them back on her face. To her astonishment it was not her eyes playing tricks nor failing – she had seen the creature correctly. Searching around her she learned that her and the “thing” were most certainly alone. Its duck-like eyes watched her intently, barely blinking. It was studying her.
Realising it was most likely harmless (surely it would have attacked her by now if otherwise?) she attempted a step towards it. Unperturbed, it gently turned to the side and began to trot away into the falling rain.
‘Wait!’ she spoke over the din. It continued to move into the shadows and in an effort to keep eyes on it she pulled her jacket up under her ears and followed after it.
It zig-zagged through the trees with a light patter, creating fast-moving shadows under the park lamps. She was just able to keep up. Her own footsteps squashed the creature’s unusual footprint pattern with her regular, human boot, the mud billowing to the side with each movement. She didn’t have time to be concerned about that right now – she needed to keep her eyes on the creature.
Looking up she realised they were about to reach the open pond, which on a beautiful day was filled with light and quacking ducks. At this stormy point in the evening it was filled only with flashes of lightning, shakes of thunder and a human following a strange animal across the surrounding grass.
‘Slow down!’ she tried to yell. But it did not hear her. These pleas only seemed to make its behaviour more erratic, increasing the distance between its prances. She tried to emulate the distance so as not to lose it but one long jump brought her to a standstill.
The creature was no longer running, that much she was able to grasp. Now it sat higher off the ground, sheltered by a towering, dark figure that held the creature close to its chest, stroking it not unlike a cat owner would a cat. The figure was cloaked from a stiff collar on the neck downward – several shoulder lines creating a geometric silhouette. Looking above the cinched collar, Chrissy allowed her eyes to wander, following a scaly jawline, resembling a turtle or fish (or perhaps both?), an oceanic deep seaweed green colour broken only by bright eyes. The pupils were dark as any humans, but the iris was a rustic silver, and the whites of its eyes beamed through the raindrops like torches. The face she observed was completely dry, some kind of shield protecting it from the inclement weather. It glared back at her, neither impressed nor vengeful, eventually opening its mouth. Not to speak to her, of course, but to the creature that had settled into the embrace of what Chrissy realised was its owner.
‘Ja’uint vapor nolaneri, heraety,’ spoke its voice with a layer of deep tones and husk. Chrissy was startled by the sound, holding her hand up to her forehead to try and relieve some of the rainfall so she could see better. But with a sudden implosion both the cloaked creature and its pet were gone. They ceased to be present. Chrissy frantically searched around for any sign of their movement, whether to the treeline or out of the park altogether, but nothing remained except her. Abruptly an enormous spotlight shone down on her body, with a giant wind overwhelming her. Some kind of spacecraft was leaving the area, leaving her behind. The rain pummelled her like bullets, and she bent down in desperation, covering her face and head with her arms. The craft lifted upward for several metres, before blasting off toward the black clouds above.
A few moments later the only sound and movement that remained was that which had been there from the beginning – the rain. With a sudden flood of urgency Chrissy wiped hair away from her face once more and ran home without stopping.
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