"Rain"

It started with the factories, but nobody took any notice. Of course nobody did, since people build factories everywhere. You drive past them every day, why should these new ones be any different from the rest? They just blend into the background, like grass or trees, or wallpaper. So there's new ones nearer to town, who cares? Nobody really cares who built them, or what they make, they're just...there.

So what if all the workers look weird, maybe they're foreign or something, right? With their dull, lifeless eyes, and their weird, oddly fluid movement, and the fact that they wear damp clothes even if there's been no rain for a month...just ignore it and move on.

And what does it matter that nobody knows what they make. They must make SOMETHING, right? It's not as if it's just there for no reason, right? Besides, it's hardly worth worrying about.

And that huge amount of smoke and steam they produce? Only natural. ALL factories produce that much. Even if it's one factory, clouding the entire sky with clouds of smog. It's just a side effect of the industrial process, nobody really notices, nobody really cares.

And so it went on. Unnoticed. Just another event in an uneventful town. I don't think people were even aware of it.

Until it started to rain.

But nobody noticed that, either. It always rains, it's England. Just a part of nature. Water coming out of the sky, getting into drinks, into ponds, into swimming pools. Into anything, really.

And then we drink it.

It was a day later when tragedy struck. People going into comas. Half the town. More! People noticed THEN, Didn't they? Something was obviously behind it. Something must be wrong, but what? Can't be the factories, of COURSE not, they're everywhere. They must be safe. Can't be the rain either, of course, it always rains, so rain must be fine.

And then the rain stopped, and people started waking up. They were... Odd, at first. Only spoke when spoken to, repeated the same phrasing, seeming to have lost all sense of self, but in a few weeks they were back to normal, living their lives, talking to their families and whatnot. No trace of what had happened but quickly forgotten memories. The police investigated, of course, but they couldn't find the cause and eventually just...gave up. It's not like anybody's dead. Not like anything is REALLY wrong, just a few people went to sleep for a while, that's all.

Things went back to normal pretty quickly. Most people forgot the incident entirely, minus the odd piece of gossip or speculation about what had really happened. The factories kept on going, the sun kept on shining and the wheel of life continued to turn. That was a year ago.

And then the rain came back.

They're slamming against my window now, the people who fell, the people who drank the water, who stood out in the rain. Their eyes are dull and lifeless, their movements strange, oddly fluid and yet... still utterly wrong. Human bones don't work like that, human BODIES don't work like that. Just like the men from the factories.

I haven't drank the water. I've been keeping a supply i bought the next town over. Supposed to be made from Emerson Lake, wherever that is. Can't leave the house though, or they'll do what they always do. What they did to those who wouldn't go out into the rain, who just sit inside and play video games, or read books or something. Hold them down and pour it down their throats.

So i've been stuck in here writing. Just... writing. Always writing, i guess i've nothing else to do. Besides, every time i try to stop, well... there's nothing else i can really be bothered to do. So i write this, and a million other pages of nonsense, as i try to think of a way out. Try to FOCUS. Which is getting harder and harder... so i just keep writing. Gotta keep writing...

Always writing.