Luke DeLalio

Summary

A man encounters a levitating woman with orange hair outside his bathroom window who warns him of the impending last night on earth, but he is unable to join her before the rain starts, leading to her dissolution.

Abstract

In a surreal and poignant narrative, a man is interrupted while using the bathroom by an otherworldly woman floating outside his window. She urgently implores him to come outside, insisting it is the final night on earth. Despite his hesitation and the fact that he is only in his underpants, he is tempted to join her, but as the rain begins, she starts to dissolve. The moment passes, leaving the man to return to the mundane reality of his life, contemplating his to-do list as he goes to bed, the memory of the encounter lingering in his mind.

Opinions

The author conveys a sense of surrealism and urgency through the floating woman's warnings about the

POETRY

The Thing in the Night

This woman pale with orange hair floated outside the bathroom window:

“I’m peeing here, you know?!”

“Come out before the rain comes. This is the last night on earth.”

She was floating. No strings or CGI. Floating. Like a leaf in an updraft but without the chaos.

“Come out! The rain is minutes away. This is your last chance!

“I’m in my underpants.”

She was in a nightgown and gave me a blank look. Her hair started rising up, from the ends to the roots, each strand maybe the contrail behind a tiny flying bug.

“Come! Come now! It’s almost too late!”

I guess I started to push up the window, I don’t know. Maybe I was opening the screen when a drop of water hit the bridge of her nose and trickled down the side towards the corner of her mouth.

“Ah… it’s too late.”

The rain picked up tempo, pelting her with drops. Dissolving her.

She floated there, staring at me, until I was a guy in his underpants staring out a window, staring at rain. Thinking about all that I needed to do tomorrow, things on a worthless todo list

I thought to myself as I climbed into bed, hearing the rain, and electric fan with a wobble at the foot of the bed. Asthma medication at the head. Typing this out on an iPhone.

Poetry On Medium

Poetry

Visitors

Spirits And Angels

Recommended from ReadMedium