"Have you ever thought about what it's like up there?" asked Rachel. I could feel her light breathing while her is head resting on my shoulder.

"I have but I don't think my fear of heights would ever make me want to go up there," I softly replied.

As we sat outdoors there on an oak bench on the side of a forested hill, the night sky felt infinitely close and majestic with innumerable stars dotting the sky. Peaceful was an understatement due to the lack of traffic, people, and airplanes out here.

When all of a sudden, the once darkened night sky flashes white for a second before returning to normal as quickly as it happened. An instant later, a shock wave causes us to fall off the bench and collapse on the earthen ground. I can feel the dirt and wood chips vibrate as if tremors were occurring. Completely caught off guard, I look over to my left to see Rachel gripped by fear. I try to reach out to her but I'm immediately pulled back to the ground as if I were a magnet. This lasts for a few more seconds until it all stops just as suddenly as it began.

"Are you alright?!" I say as I rush over to her side. She stays still on all fours with her head still focused on the ground.

"I'm fine..." she replies with uncertainty.

"Let's hurry up and go home," I suggest as I walk back to the bench to grab my backpack. I quickly sling one strap over my shoulder and as I turn back around over to where Rachel is, I freeze dead in my tracks.

Where she had been a second ago was a large viscous ooze that shined silver in the moonlight. I could hear a small gurgling noise as it slowly jiggled and moved in place. That's when I saw it.

A single arm reaching out towards the sky from within the globule of silver liquid. I can feel the blood in my head start to rush, and at the same time, I feel numb and not in control. The urge to vomit begins to rise up from my intestines as I collapse on the dirt gripping my stomach.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle..." is the only sound I hear at all coming from the slime. Everything else has become silent for me, the wind, the leaves rustling, the cicadas.

Suddenly I feel a chilling liquid touch my hand and raise my head to see the giant ooze slowly enveloping my hand in its smooth liquid. I try pulling my hand away, but get the sensation I'm trying to escape from a sea of glue. That's when I realize, I can't see my shadow in front of me anymore.

I twirl around only to see the ooze towering over me like a giant wave that's about to crash down on me. In an attempt to scream for help, I begin to open my mouth and that's when the ooze rushed forward.