With windows closed, I can barely see past the flowers I planted last year, their leaves swayed and blurred, the shape of their stems nothing but vague silhouettes.

This can’t be normal. Sure we experience occasional fog, but not to this extent. I never seen a fog as thick as this one, it is almost solid.

I flopped down the sofa, laying my worry upon the soft cushion.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Boy, can we stay in your place for a while?” Asked a familiar voice.

I opened the door and what greeted me is Uncle George from across the street along with a little girl I never seen before, both faces stricken with unease.

Hmm, he never told me be got a daughter.

I paused, looking at them, before opening the door wider. I can’t possibly let them outside, especially a child, not when it’s this unsafe.

I waved inside, sporting a small smile. “Come on in, pardon I don’t have anything to eat yet, haven’t cooked yet.”

They went in, eerily quiet, but with hurried footsteps.

I went ahead and grabbed a pitcher of pineapple juice and a pair of glass cups, pouring them each a drink.

Uncle George took a sip, but the little girl didn’t, eyes lingering between her father and the juice, hands grabbing tightly against his.

“Uhm, sorry for intruding” he said after a long pause, eyes looking down.

“So, is everything al..right...” my voice faded as his eyes met mine and the little girl quivered in visible fear, gripping tighter than before.

I gulped, sustaining the eye contact before he replied “ Let’s uhh talk in private.“

The little girl turned to him, with pleading eyes bordering tears “Please don’t leave me...”

He hugged her and rubbed her back “Shhh, it’s alright sweetheart, it’s safe here.”

“But... promise?”

“Promise.”

She finally let go and he stood up, suspiciously looking outside the window.

I watched in silence with heart throbbing in unease, hesitation even. I don’t like this.

We walked towards my room after leaving her with some toys to play and a blanket.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, not breaking eye contact

“It’s better if you see” he said as he fumble with his pocket, retrieving his phone and opened it.

“Holy shit...” I grasped, almost tripping back. I almost can't believe my eyes.

“Yeah...”

His phone flashed brightly with a singular image depicting the inside of his house with cracked floor and veins throbbing on his walls. I would have called it edited, but it’s way too realistic and I know nothing that can instill so much fear to someone.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

He grabbed my shoulder a bit too tight for my likeness, but his eyes won’t let me push them away “Listen, the fog, it’s not safe, we have to leave.”

His breathe is abated, harsh cold breath right on my neck.

“Oh, sorry...” he let go, shaking his head, and collapsing to the bed.

I sat beside him “Is it real?”

He nodded, eyes tightly closed.

“Damn...”

I unconsciously looked into the fog and shivered. Just what is out there...

In silence we left the room, finding ourselves with his sleeping daughter.

“You know, you never told me you have a daughter”

“She’s my niece, her mom uhh, her mom dropped her on my care yesterday.“

“That was a nice car.”

“Worth millions”

“Then I don’t suppose you want a drink?”

“No.”

“Fair enough.”

I went to the kitchen and prepared us a hearty meal with meat, potatoes, and seasonings, not too much in case his niece doesn’t like strong flavours. I scooped it into a bowl and brought it to the living room along with some plates.

He is gently caressing her hair while humming a tone I often hear him hum whenever we go on fishing trip. He often dodge my questions when it comes to his hum.

“So, why didn’t you date my sister?”

“Man, that’s a strange question to ask” I chuckled.

Indeed, his sister is beautiful, but I don’t think she’s looking for a guy. It will be disrespectful of me to cross that boundary when she obviously have no interest.

“Sorry, just trying to calm nerves” his eyes didn’t leave her sleeping face.

I offered a plate full of rice “You sure love your niece.“

He received it “ She deserve better.”

“I see” I said, not prying further.

We ate to our fill, the taste dulled by our situation, eat bite almost tasting like tasteless gruel.

We stayed until the night, as much as we plan to leave we are not sure of the dangers outside. He showed me more of the pictures, veins and meat growing out of every corner of his house and garden with strange pulsating blobs growing from them.

We are not sure what they could be, but we are preparing to leave tomorrow morning lest they grow further and swallow the roads. I went ahead and packaged all the supplies and food I have that won’t perish. Potatoes, a bunch of them, and canned goods, rice and bottled water, flashlight and batteries, everything that I can fit in my car.

By night, the electricity went out, plunging us in darkness, and silence only broken by quiet sobbing and comforting words. We’re left with the warmth of candles and lamps, their orange glow giving us a little bit of assurance, a false sense of safety.

Even in the darkness I can still see them, the flowers.., no, they are not. Their stems writhed and twitched, leaves swaying with cracking sounds eerily reminiscent of cracking bones. I can hear them...whispering, scratching, and trying to get in.

No... we won’t leave tomorrow, we will be leaving now.

I shook uncle out of his slumber “Shh, we must leave now, I can hear them outside.“

He nodded and quietly carried his niece with him, too tired to be awoken by our movements.

The scratching intensified, scraping against the glass windows and concrete. I held a knife high, heart throbbing and eyes darting at every bit of noise. We tread carefully through the dark, not even daring to use our flashlights in fear that it will attract them.

We eventually found ourselves in the garage and boarded my car, a huge lump gone from our throat only to be replaced by another.

The walls have turned red and bleeding from multiple open veins. Cancerous tumors grew out of the veins, pulsating with squishy, squirming appendages pressing against the thick membranes.

I gagged as my nostrils were violated by a repulsive stench like a pit of decaying carrions swarming with fresh maggots and flies.

I started the engine even as my nose burned my eyes teared. The garage opened and I hit the wheels, crashing out, shaking within our seats. The gate locks broke and we nearly hit a tree through the thick crippling fog.

There we saw them, despite their blurry outshines... houses warped into hives of infested tendrils and jotting bone spires, all below a moonless sky. Shapes moved through the fog, blotted dark smudges, and silhouettes of many skittering legs.

The fog churned and thinned as above us a colossal shadow moved, floating with thousands of tendrils below its belly and flapping with fleshly skirts, and it too was soon consumed into a murky figure.

I drive in silence, passing by houses we never dared look, and trees that screamed as they tried to choke our path with many bony appendages.

It’s gone...

Us too...

And we drive further into this realm of fog...