The stars were Shelley’s favorite part about living on Odin III.
The night sky was brilliantly studded with countless twinkling orbs that swept over the horizon. She loved night walks along the edge of town in the cool air, especially on nights like tonight, when she and her fiancé, Father Luigi, were fighting again.
This time, the argument was prompted when he canceled date night. Another dinner lost to his obligations at work. She knew his position in the church demanded a certain level of commitment to the congregation, and she was okay when they spent time apart because of work requirements, but he’d made an obligation to her as well. She was important, too, and yet he always put her last on the priority list.
Shelley snatched a rock up from the dusty path and turned it over in her hand, brushing the sand free. She gripped the rock hard enough for it to feel the way she felt in her gut when she lost time with her fiancé. Constricted—that was a good word for it. She threw the rock hard into the night.
Her biggest issue with the whole thing had been the way he handled it. Instead of apologizing and making her feel like he actually wanted the time together, he gave her a pitiful shrug and left! Why couldn’t he just set some boundaries? Was it that hard? If this was what it was going to be like, Shelley wondered if there was any point in getting married. He just made her so angry.
The ground crunched beneath her shoes as she walked slowly along the path. She paused again to look at the sky when she heard the shuffle of blowing sand on the path behind her.
She turned and looked. The light of the stars dimly illuminated the path, but she didn’t see anything. The shifting stopped.
Shelley’s pulse quickened. Was it a night razor, or some sort of unknown predator everyone in town was always talking about? She’d never had a run-in with anything this close to town. Her walks had always been peaceful things.
She continued down the path, faster this time, hoping to put some distance between her and whatever it was.
The shifting sound continued, louder. It came closer, closer, until she felt stinging grit on the back of her legs. Whatever it was pounded the ground with loud thuds. A gurgling sound erupted like a burp right behind her.
Shelley ran toward town, her heart hammered in a frenzy. It had been forever since she’d run anywhere, but no matter how hard she pushed her legs, the town only seemed to get farther away.
No, no, no, not this. Not now, she screamed inside her head. Odin III had so many peculiarities to it, anomalies that disrupted the flow of reality. She needed to get away. Fast.
The sounds behind her stopped.
She risked a glance behind her and only saw an empty path. She stopped running, sucked heavy breaths into her burning lungs. The path was empty, and she didn’t see anything around her in any direction. She knew she didn’t imagine it, though. The sounds, the feeling of sand blowing on her legs. It had all been so real.
Shelley wiped the dust from her face with trembling fingers. She took long, slow breaths to slow her stammering heart.
The shuffling sound started again.
This time Shelley could see the swirl of sand down the path. A man-shaped shadow. It spun the grit into a cloud. At the center was darkness. A void that seemed immune to the starry night.
“Hello?” she called. “Who’s there?”
It ran towards her.
Shelley’s heart leapt into her throat. Every nerve and goose bump pin-pricked into all out panic. She turned to sprint away again but tripped over a wild shrub, stumbling into the rough sand. She felt a rock beneath her hand and gripped it hard, teeth grinding, angry, for she wasn’t going down like this. She prepared to strike out at whatever was going to attack her.
It never did.
She looked around and was shocked. Somehow, despite taking the path away from her apartment, and running from the creature, she’d wound up back the way she came. Her workplace, and her little bedroom above it, was only a short walk away. She could make out the lights of the deli.
She stood and brushed off her knees. They felt tender and she was sure there would be a rash from digging them hard into the sand. She closed her eyes and tried her best to collect herself. When she opened them, she looked around again.
Still nothing.
She knew she hadn’t imagined it. Stories went around town. Tales of other strange happenings that added to the mystery of Odin III. This was the first time she’d had a brush with something out of place.
Shelley shuddered as she thought again of the man-shaped void. Her pulse still thrummed behind her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so afraid. Or so angry.
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath of cool air. She risked one final glance over her shoulder at the empty path. The creature wasn’t there. She walked toward her apartment, ready to be indoors and away from that thing. She’d face it if she had to, but she’d rather settle down behind a locked door.
Something she was certain of as she walked, was in that moment when she feared for her life and was ready to defend herself, she’d thought of Luigi. And if that wasn’t a sign that he was the one, then she wasn’t sure what was.
But it was complicated. She loved the man, but she couldn’t let him steamroll over her, even if he never knew he did it. Poor, clueless Luigi. Still, she adored that innocence.
He had a kindness inside of him that she loved. He’d made Odin feel like home to her. And she had an ability to organize and get tasks done that he could use in his life. She’d stop being afraid to tell him what she thought. He needed to set boundaries with work, but that was something she could help him with. She wanted, needed, more time with her fiancé. Shelley looked at the rock she still held in her hand. She wasn’t one to give up. She was a fighter, just like she’d fought against…whatever that thing was. She would fight for this relationship because despite everything, she loved him.
She was going to help him set those boundaries and was going to marry him. She was sure of that now.
New to Odin III? Find out what you’ve been missing!
Check out The Complete Episode Guide.
Coming Saturday: Episode 49, “The Show Must Go On,” by Gustavo Bondoni
Eric Fomley's stories have appeared in Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy's Edge Magazine, and many other places including, of course, here on Stupefying Stories, where he’s been a fairly regular contributor since 2021. (We’re particularly fond of “Getting Sponsored.”) You can find more of his stories on his website, ericfomley.com, or in his Portals or Flash Futures collections.
You might also want to check out our mini-interview with him, “Six Questions for...”, which ran last August.
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