Ringing
Always, there was the strange ringing, but tonight it was much worse. Buzzing, a million bees flying around in his skull and body. Calmness evaded him as he ran, clutching his head. Down the street he flew, possessed by ungodly fear. Every sense was clouded; Fear blinded his eyes, clogged his nose and mouth.
“Go away, go away!”, he shrieked, head whipping behind him as if to look for an assailant.
Half the neighborhood was awake now, jolted from sleep by the screams.
“Insane”, they shook their heads, “Call the police.”
Just the street lights illuminated the scene. Kirk continued to run, attempting to escape the horrid throbbing in his head and limbs. Lights began to flash blue and red as the cops arrived, their hands ready on their guns. Mouths agape, they stopped and watched the hysterical man shriek and sprint blindly, headed straight for the river. None moved as a foul wind swept through the neighborhood and made the lights flicker and die. Only the red glow of the moon, much larger in the sky than it should be, remained.
Panicking still, he hit the river, falling on his chest into the rushing current. Quiet were the townspeople as they watched him flail and grow still in the water. The waters carried his floating body downstream. Suddenly, Kirk reemerged, and moving ominously slowly, turned to face the crowd that had gathered. The blank face he wore was unnerving, and as the townspeople watched, they heard it. Unusual ringing in their ears caused them to look around and at each other, and once they realized all of them heard the same thing, panic ensued. Voices of terrified people echoed in the night as the ringing became unbearable. What reason they had left abandoned them, and soon the ringing changed. Xylophone-sounding chimes were heard, until everyone in the town under that red moon had the same blank face as the first. Yielding for nothing, they began to march in unison, their minds no longer their own. Zeroing in on an unknown and ominous destination, they marched on, leaving the town behind them abandoned.