Disturbed Continuum

Starlight guided him in the darkness. Why would he be walking on this beach, at this time of the night while the owls are out hunting? These were my thoughts, from the balcony of my condo. I just walked out for a smoke under the starlight. He was roaming in all directions instead of using his smartphone, what kind of a caveman! He stopped abruptly and reached for his pockets, I wonder did he hear my mind? Uff... he was just resting his hands inside his pockets. He looked up at the sky and at that moment there was a power outage in the entire city. The sky started a show of milky-way galaxy stretching light-years.

Billions of stars separated by billion light-years, scattered uneven, in an asymmetric arrangement, yet the most satisfying thing on this planet. He felt elevated from the ground and lost contact with Earth as he looked into the sky show. The Earth’s horizon was visible on either side from where he was standing. That was an extension into the ocean for onlookers. Hm... That is weird! There I see a stone bench at the end of that extension. I am living here for more than five years and I haven’t seen any such thing there until today evening. This guy walked to that bench, he extended his hands and scratched or dusted the surface of that bench.

I could weirdly connect with him from my balcony and I felt like he is searching for something or someone. Maybe the weird power outage, the silence of the night, and me standing under my dim light using my backup power looking at a guy far away, altogether playing games in my mind. At this point, I am sure that he is unsure of something but it felt like he has overcome his struggle and entered zen. He then just sat on that stone bench as his eyes fixed on the ocean surface.

At that moment I felt like he is able to sense my vision falling on him. His head slowly turned towards the direction of my balcony. When almost he made complete contact, the wind blew up my cigarette flames in the air and few particles fell into my eyes. I rushed inside to wash my eyes with water. When I came back, the bench was empty. I scanned the entire area from my balcony on the sixth floor. It would take at least ten minutes for someone to escape my vision from where he was standing and I was gone merely for a minute. I was worried and ran to my stairs. The power was back and the city returned back normal. So I took the elevator instead of walking down the stairs. 

I ran towards where he was standing as my mind was suggesting to me that he jumped into the ocean. My mind was suggesting only negative things and I could not be any positive at that moment. I was halfway there when I first saw him from my balcony. I just realized that it was stupid of me to come here alone, what if this was a trap? I wanted to call my buddies and let them know things happening and my hands landed on my empty pockets. I left my phone at home in that panic moment. I was surrounded by the ocean and the ocean surface reflected the stars from the sky. I looked up and once again there was a power outage. I wonder where does my taxes go? 

The wave noise, ocean breeze, and stars in high-definition almost diverted me from my purpose. Then I walked to the bench and it was really dusty. But I see some writings covered under the dust. I wondered if he wrote something before jumping off... I wiped off the dust and understood that whoever wrote this has never been to school. All this dust in my hands to be a part of the prank? The text read, “Invisible, don’t belong, if you rest, you run along!” 

I cannot believe I walked all this distance to read a riddle. But I thought I will light a cigarette so I sat on that bench. I felt like someone is watching me from distance. So I turned towards where my mind suggested. I saw a light flash! Am I being framed for something? I got confused and panicked. I ran as fast as possible back to my condo. The thought in my mind while I was running suggested that it was a camera flash in the distance. I was preparing to answer questions by the cops tomorrow as I was running.

As I reached my campus, I took the stairs as the power was still out. But as I reached the first floor, power was back. The sudden lights all around caused my vision to blur and I slipped on the floor hitting the back of my head.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the middle of the night with a note from my neighbor. “Claire here. You fell hitting the back of your head. A doctor visited and he mentioned you would have temporary memory loss. No worries, I used the keys from your pocket. Take rest and don’t go anywhere for 48 hours.”

I was so confused and I wanted to smoke. I walked out to my balcony with my cigarette. I saw a guy all alone on the beach; 

Starlight guided him in the darkness, why would he be walking on this beach......