The Cold lonely embrace

I wrote this short piece on a whim one afternoon two years ago or so. It’s a bit of horror that’s been knocking around in my brain for over ten years. Back when I was stationed in Greenland I would go outside to have a smoke during the dark season and would think about this story. The dark season in Greenland is amazing and chilling at the same time. Not just chilling because of the temperature, but the complete stillness and remoteness of the place lends a bit of underlying mystery and terror. Perhaps I’ll flesh it out into an actual novel someday, but for now it’s just a bit of fun.

A cold assignment

She had always preferred solitude over the company of others. The art of acting in ways that served others' suitability always seemed disingenuous and exhausting, with little to no reward or tangible benefit. That's why she showed a rare expression of excitement at a chance to go on a work detail to Greenland. Her job fit well with her personality. Analyzing scientific and mathematical readings was her gig. While others find this line of work cold, impersonal, and boring – she found it comforting. No need to engage in complicated social niceties with data. And so when it happened, she wasn't all that upset.

Who needs friends anyway?

Her life in northwestern Greenland was only to last for one year. But when the opportunity to extend her job assignment two more years arose, she jumped at the chance. Her officemates were less than enthused at her extension. She didn't fit in and made them uncomfortable…no…uneasy. But people tend to dislike what and who they don't understand. And what she was, what she is, they clearly did not understand.

Deafening silence

The sound is really all she remembers of when it happened. At night, when the camp seemed like a small town during the day – she would stand outside and let the stillness of the world envelope her. The quiet of the Arctic is like nothing else you can ever experience. You could say the silence is deafening. You can hear the snow shift, your eyelids blink; she would sometimes think she could listen to the Earth itself move. It was her favorite moment of every day.

Better left alone

The day it happened for her seemed like any other day. The same as the one before, and the one before that. The others had been more excitable and agitated than usual the last few weeks. They had found something, or at least the numbers they had her analyze indicated that they had located something. There was discussion that more people from the home office may need to come to see for themselves what was discovered. She didn't concern herself with all that, but deep down, in places she preferred to ignore, she was the one feeling uneasy.

It begins

It started as a high pitch ring in her ears. Loud enough that she couldn't hear anything else. Not the other's voices, not the sound of her machines – just the pitch. Then, noise disappeared as if turned off like a light. Not just the pitch – all noise. The silence only lasted about 15 seconds but felt like an eternity. And then, it began.

A cry from within

First came the screaming, not from her colleagues, but from something else. Unlike any human scream, it sounded more animal – but also with an eerie metallic engineered sound. It was a mix of what may be a scream from a living monster and the sound of two plates of metal scraping against themselves. Whatever it was, it sounded immense, like a battle cry versus a terrified, wounded scream. Those screams would follow.

Out of sight…out of mind

She didn't see it happen, only heard the thing that did it and the screams of her coworkers. All she saw was gray – like what you see before you black out. Her vision got fuzzy like a television that had lost its signal. Throughout, what she could only assume from the screams and cries was sheer horror; she felt nothing – both externally and internally. The event, she estimated, lasted a few hours. All the while, she remained still, quiet, and blinded by the gray at her workstation. When the screams ceased, the noise from whatever had been released was done with its ghastly duty, the gray dissipated, and she was alone. It was as if all the others had never existed. There was no blood, no bodies, nothing. It had taken them and left her.

Best kept secret

She still enjoys the quiet, her quiet. It happened years ago, she figures. She stopped keeping track of the passage of time. No one ever came, although, to be fair, she never tried to reach outside her Arctic camp. Was everyone gone? For her, they might as well have been. All's for the best, she felt. After all, people could never understand what she was or what she is.