It's a sunny day out on the park, the park was buzzing with life, the air filled with laughter, the scent of popcorn and cotton candy drifting through the breeze. I ran ahead, my sneakers pounding against the pavement as I weaved between people, too excited to slow down.
"Damian, slow down!" Mom called from behind me, her voice carrying both amusement and warning.
I knew I should listen, but as a kid I couldn't help myself. Everything felt so alive—kids playing tag, a magician performing tricks, the distant jingle of a carousel. It was the perfect day.
Until suddenly, it wasn't.
The laughter around me twisted into something else. Confused mutters. I turned around to see everyone gazing at the sky.
Above the park, hovering in the sky, was a small metallic box. It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before—smooth, humming, glowing with strange symbols that flickered across its surface like shifting code.
Then, It spoke.
"LOCATING SUITABLE VESSEL… HOST NOT SUITABLE." The box chant's upon descending, moving over to a man, as it scans him.
And then—
He disappeared.
No flash. No noise. Just… gone.
At first, everyone thought it was just a publicity stunt or something of a such, or maybe the box was in fact a drone. But that would all change in a moment.
"OVERCROWDED POPULATION DETECTED. SYSTEM WOULD NOW RUN AN AREA SCAN."
With that, the box let's out an outburst of energy in a circular path which hit majority of the crowd, and in a blink—
They're all gone.
"NO SUITABLE VESSEL FOUND." The box exclaims.
The air around me crackled with panic as people screamed and bolted in every direction. The box moved again, gliding over to another person and like with the man, they vanished.
I slowed down, coming to a brief stop as I scanned around to find my parents but they were gone.
"Mom? Dad?" I shouted, my voice lost in the chaos.
I tried to run toward where I had last seen them, but the crowd shoved me aside. I stumbled, hitting the ground hard, my hands scraping against the pavement. Someone's foot kicked me as they rushed past.
More screams. More people vanishing.
And then within a minute—Absolute silence.
I couldn't tell if it was because there was no one around me, or because I was frozen in fear.
I lifted my head. The park, once so full of life, now empty.
Food carts were overturned, toys and strollers abandoned. The only sound was the eerie creak of a lone swing moving in the wind.
I swallowed hard, my heartbeat slamming in my ears.
"Where was everyone? Where were my parents?" I couldn't help but ask.
Just then a deep hum made my stomach drop.
I turned slowly only to see the box descending to my level.
It hovered just feet away, pulsing with an unnatural glow. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe.
"SUITABLE VESSEL—" The box chants before halting to a stop from what seemed like a malware or glitch.
Its form distorted as it lose it's glow and then suddenly, it dropped to the ground.
....................................................................................................................
Bright red and blue lights flashed against the darkening sky as sirens wailed through the empty park. News vans lined the streets, reporters speaking urgently into their microphones, their voices barely audible over the chaos. Federal agents in dark suits and tactical gear swept the area, scanning the ground with strange devices, taking notes, and speaking in hushed tones.
I sat inside the open doors of an ambulance, a scratchy blanket wrapped around my shoulders, my hands trembling in my lap. The paramedics had checked me over, but I barely heard them. My mind was still stuck in that awful silence—the moment everyone was gone.
I flinched as a soft voice called my name.
"Damian?"
I looked up.
It was Aunt Amma.
Her dark eyes were filled with worry as she rushed toward me, her curly hair a mess, like she'd run here herself. I barely had time to react before she pulled me into a tight hug, her arms warm and trembling.
"Oh my God, you're okay?" She whispered. "I was so scared."
I didn't answer. My throat felt tight.
She pulled back, her hands gripping my shoulders, looking me over like she had to make sure I was real..
"I heard what happened." She said, her voice shaking.
I swallowed hard. I didn't want to say it.
"I… I don't know…" I said shying my face away.
"They were here, and then—"
I couldn't finish.
Her face crumbled, but she held it together, nodding slowly.
"It's okay." She said, though we both knew it wasn't.
"I'm here now. We'll figure this out." She added.
Behind her, a group of agents was setting up a perimeter, their expressions unreadable. One of them, a tall man with a badge clipped to his belt, spoke into a radio.
"No bodies. No traces of struggle. Just… gone."
Another agent, a woman with short-cropped hair, was scanning the air with a handheld device. The screen flickered with strange readings.
"There was no energy spike from the box like he claimed. For all we know it could just be a normal cube and nothing more." She muttered.
"I know he's the only survival and all, but are you sure we should be listening to a ten year old? I mean he could have just imagined the whole thing up or something." She added.
The news crews were capturing everything, cameras flashing as reporters threw out theories. Some were talking about a terrorist attack. Others whispered about something even stranger.
I clenched the blanket tighter around me.
Aunt Amma brushed her hand through my hair, trying to console me when another agent walked up to ask,
"Damian was it? Are you sure of your testimony? Do you really remember all that happening?"
I hesitated, my stomach twisting. I remembered everything. The floating box. The words. The way it had scanned me, had chosen me—
And then glitched.
I looked past my aunt, toward the other agents.
"They probably don't believe me, do they?" I muttered to myself.