Dimension X

Tess is walking home from a long shift at the diner. It’s a lot of work, but she’s got to pay for college somehow. A cold rain soaks her to the bone. She pulls her hood up and starts to jog a bit. Her car has been acting up, so she’s been walking to and from work.

A stranger passes by on the sidewalk. He’s so hunched over that Tess can barely even see his face. An unsettling feeling washes over her like the rain still beating down.

The same man walks by her again.

Wait—how’d he do that?

Then a third time.

What’s going on?

The stranger snaps his fingers. Tess sees a flash of light and feels the sensation of floating. Once the light fades, she looks around and realizes she’s surrounded by an endless white void.

Tess starts to flail in horror, trying to get her feet on the ground, but it’s like gravity doesn’t exist in this plane. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out.

This must be some kind of dream. She pinches herself hard and opens her eyes—it doesn’t work.

That’s when a disembodied voice begins to speak from nowhere.

“You must warn your fellow humans of the coming flames,” the voice says.

Then the snap of fingers.

Another flash of light bursts into her vision, and she’s right back on the sidewalk, standing in the rain.

Months pass. Now Tess can be found on the corner of 7th and 1st. Her clothes are ragged, and she looks almost unrecognizable. She often holds up a cardboard sign that says THE END IS HERE.

No one believes anything she has to say.

But only she can see the smoke gathering in the sky.

Gabriel Bates is a writer living in Pittsburg, Kansas. His work has appeared in several publications, online and in print. Keep up with him at facebook.com/gabrieljbates