October 2025 short story of the month

The moon broke through the clouds, and the four of them stood there, frozen waiting for something to happen. They were in the middle of an open field, and it was as if a spotlight had been trained on them. Suddenly without warning, the air was filled with static and everyone within five miles could feel the vibrations. The light never moved. It stayed, fixed on the four strangers.

Rose was the first to try and leave. When she tried to step out of the light.

“What is going on?” she shouted at the others.

Corrine tried to answer her by shaking her head, but she couldn’t move it. Not being in control of her body caused her to panic.

“I don’t know,” said Tristan. He was scowling, which wasn’t unusual for him. “Which one of you did this?” He asked, not hiding his disdain for the other three present.

“I can’t move,” shouted Lori. “What is happening?” She tried to turn and see what the others were doing, but like them, she was stuck, looking into the light. She was unable to move anything other than her mouth.

No one replied. The light continued to shine down on them, and the buzzing continued.

They stood, unable to move for over an hour. The light didn’t waver or dim, and the vibrations continued.

Every few minutes one of them would ask something that none of the others could answer, so mostly, they just ignored each other.

“We need to do something,” said Tristan, by this point fully aware that everyone was just as stuck as he was.

“There’s nothing to do,” said Rose.

“I don’t think it’s hurting us,” said Lori.

“Except we can’t move,” commented Corrine. “It still means to do something to us without our permission.”

They all stopped talking after that. She was right, but what could possibly be going on and what was being done to them?

At the end of the hour, the light switched off and the buzzing stopped. They all fell to their knees, not very gracefully.

They looked around at each other, not knowing what to say. They also all looked up and scanned the sky, trying to determine what had just happened. Nothing was learned from looking up.

“Can you walk?” Rose asked Lori.

Lori nodded. “How about you two?” she asked the other two.

“I think so,” answered Corrine, “But I think I need a minute. I feel strange.”

Rose and Lori nodded. They felt off too.

All three looked at Tristan. He was scowling at them. He ignored them, stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and started to walk away without helping the others.

They didn’t bother watching him leave. They focused on helping each other get up and mobile.

****

The next afternoon, after sleeping in, and still trying to wrap her head around what happened the night before, Rose returned to the field. She walked around, scanning the ground, looking for any sign that something had happened. She didn’t find anything. She even got down to the ground level.

It was just an ordinary field. There was no indication of the places they’d stood or that any thing had been there. Rose was getting ready to give up and go home when she spotted the others – all three of them.

They were watching her. She waved, and they waved back, even Tristan.

“What brings you all here?” she asked.

“Probably the same thing as you,” Tristan snapped. He sighed. “Sorry.”

Rose shook her head. She was used to Tristan. Until recently, the four of them had been the best of friends. They’d grown up on the same street. However, Rose was dating Tristain’s older brother now, and Tristan wasn’t happy about it. It was destroying their friend group. He seemed to be equally mad at the others, like they should do something to stop Rose from dating his brother.

“Did you find anything?” asked Lori.

Rose shook her head again. “Nope. It’s just a field.”

“Why don’t we go back to my house and talk about what happened,” suggested Corrine. “My folks are both at work today, so we have the house to ourselves.”

They all nodded. For some reason, as they’d made their way home the night before, they hadn’t talked about what happened, and again, on their walk home again, they didn’t discuss it.

When they were all sitting in Corrine’s living room, she finally said what they were all thinking.

“I don’t know how I got to that field last night.” She looked at the others to see if they would believe her.

They were all nodding.

For some reason, that filled her with relief. If they’d all had the same experience and survived, they were going to be okay.

They talked, each of them sharing another part of the experience. In the end, they’d all endured the same thing, beginning from some sort of sleepwalking experience to the field, the light immobilizing them, and then coming home and having strange dreams. Each of them had also immediately thought of searching the field once they’d finally gotten out of bed.  

After they finished their story telling, they all sat in quiet contemplation.

“What should we do now?” Asked Corrine.

The others looked at her.

She shrugged. “I mean, like, should we tell anyone?”

“Who would we tell?” Asked Lori.

“And what would we even say about what happened?” Asked Rose.

Tristan nodded as Rose spoke. “I agree. What would we say, and I think, as far as we can all tell, nothing seems wrong with any of us, right?”

The others nodded.

Corrine sighed. “You’re probably right.”

“I think it’s best if we just keep it to ourselves. I mean, think about how people treat others when they talk about alien abductions and what not. That’s kind of what happened to us,” said Lori.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” said Corrine. “You all are right. We shouldn’t tell anyone. They’ll think we’re crazy.”

The others laughed. The humor didn’t reach their eyes.

They sat a bit longer and talked about school and every day things, and in the end, they all walked home feeling only slightly better for having talked about what happened.

****

Rose didn’t notice the first time it happened. She was in her room, trying to get a pair of jeans to fit.

She blurted out, “Just fit, damnit.” The pants fit perfectly all of sudden. “Huh?” She said, turning and admiring her reflection in the mirror.

A couple of hours later, she was sitting in the living room, but she realized she left the tv remote in the kitchen.

“Ugh,” she sighed again. “I wish I had that remote.” The remote appeared in her hand. She gasped. “How did that?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I wish I had an ice cold soda.” A drink from the fast food restaurant down the street appeared in her other hand. She sat the cup down and thought quickly. She rushed into the kitchen and dialed Corrine’s number.

Corrine answered on the third ring. “Hello, Corrine speaking.”

“Corrine, it’s Rose. Has anything weird been happening to you?” Rose asked.

“Other than the other day, no. Why do you ask?”

“Well, something is going on here. Can you come over?” Rose paused. “Can call Lori and invite her too. I’ll call Tristan.”

In only a matter of a few minutes, they were once again all together. This time they sat in Rose’s living room.

“Okay, watch.” Rose didn’t want them to think she was crazy, so she hadn’t told them yet. She wanted to show them. “I wish I had a large cheese pizza.” A pizza box from her favorite pizza place showed up in her outstretched hands.

The others all jumped up.

“How did that happen?” Asked Tristan.

She told them all about the remote and the soda.

“Do you think this has something to do with what happened to us?” Asked Corrine.

“I mean, it has to, right? It’s not like this has ever happened before. I think I would have known if I had powers.” Rose sat down and opened the pizza box. She took a bite. “Yum. It’s still hot.”

“I wish for a hamburger,” said Lori. Nothing happened.

“Maybe you have a different power,” suggested Rose.

“Or maybe it will come later,” said Tristan.

“We should keep in touch with each other if we learn anything else,” Rose suggested.

They all agreed. Over the next week, each of them developed the ability to work their will on the world like Rose. They started meeting every day after school to find out what each one had used their powers to accomplish.

Corrine was the only one concerned about things. “Maybe we should be more careful. We don’t know if there are any side effects.”

The others didn’t listen to her concerns though.