Scuttling Rain

The next chronicle from the small town revolves around a dark cloud and the small, crawling things that rain down from it.

As someone who hates insects, this one is rather difficult to recollect without shuddering.

  It was a bright and sunny day--or, at least it should have been. The forecast had said so: a nice 80 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, perfect day for an outing, etc., etc. Yet, with a sigh, I was forced to grab my umbrella on the way out the door that morning, on account of the large dark cloud that was steadily drawing closer to us. Little did I, nor anyone else, know that this would be no ordinary rainy day.

  The store I was going to was fairly close to me, so I decided to walk. By the time I had reached my destination, the cloud was looming above us, and thunder rumbled every now and then. I was just about to go through the doors when, from behind me, I heard a soft thud, followed by a bloodcurdling scream. I whirled to see a woman staring in horror at something on the ground. I ran over and saw that the object was an enormous beetle. It was at least an inch-and-a-half long, with a shimmering black shell. It was lying on its back, legs flailing in an effort to right itself.

  “It’s alright, ma’am,” I told the woman, attempting to comfort her, though I was slightly disgusted myself. “It’s just a beetle. It was probably flying and something knocked it ou--” I was cut off by an object falling from the sky and landing next to my foot. Looking over, I saw that it was another beetle, this one a bit smaller with a green and blue shell. I was just registering this as another beetle bounced off my head before hitting the pavement and scuttling away. The woman ran away shrieking. I looked around to see beetles falling left and right. Recoiling in horror, I covered my head and bolted into the store. As the doors slid shut behind me, I saw people huddled around the windows, watching the creatures plummet from above. I looked up as far as I could through the window, expecting to see perhaps a migration of the insects, but the sky was empty, save for the large dark cloud. With a jolt, I realized that the beetles were in fact falling from that cloud. All we could do was watch in disgust and shock as beetles continued to drop from the sky. Within minutes, it turned into a torrential rain of the insects. They crawled in masses on the ground and swarmed through the air. People ran screaming in every direction. Those who were in cars took it upon themselves to try and rid the ground of the creatures, crushing them under their tires. This proved to be useless as more took their place. I tore myself away from the pandemonium outside the window and sat down on a bench near the cash registers. What could we do? There didn’t seem to be a solution to our predicament.

   Eventually, the barrage stopped and our small invaders crawled off to other business. As we emerged from the store, however, we had no idea that this was all but the end of our encounter with the creatures. Though the rain had stopped, the cloud still hovered threateningly above us. Even as people continued with their day, they eyed the cloud cautiously. Late that night, our suspicions were confirmed. I woke up at about two o'clock in the morning to hear what sounded like rain hitting my rooftop. However, I knew better. I grabbed a flashlight and, dreading what was to come, opened my front door. In the beam of light, I could see dark objects falling once more. However, upon investigating one that landed at my feet, I found that these were, in fact, not beetles. Instead, sprawled on the ground in front of me was a massive spider. Repulsed, I tore back into the house, slamming the door behind me. What was happening?

  Similar events persisted for the remainder of that day. The spiders continued falling until sunrise. At about three in the afternoon, the rain began again, this time of cockroaches. I took shelter in my basement, not able to even venture upstairs at the thought of what was happening outside. When night fell, I finally gathered enough courage to peer out of the window. It seemed that the cloud had finally passed on. Words cannot express how relieved I was.

  To this day, what is left of the insects still reside here. If you listen closely near a drainpipe or a sewer grate, you can still hear the scampering and scratching of their tiny legs. I’m shivering at the very thought. I pity those that were made to endure the wrath of that cloud after it moved on. I pray that such events do not happen again, here nor elsewhere.

Author's Note

This is the fifth chapter/section of my book, Strange Happenings. For context, read the rest of the book. These may seem relatively short, but I promise there will be plenty of them. They're also going to vary in size, so we shall see what we shall see. Anyway, feel free to post your feedback. I will continue to post chapters as I finish them.