Author's Note

Ok, so not gonna lie, unlike my other stories, which have at have some sort of road map, I'm gonna wing with this one and see just see what comes out of it

Please point out any mistakes I may have made
Constructive criticism is always appreciated
Until next time, TTFN!

"Going, Going...Gone"

Waking with a loud groan, Aleksei sat up in his bed, the plump mattress and duvet doing nothing to help get rid of his grogginess. Clearing himself from the soft confides of his duvet, he ripped it off of his slowly waking body, getting up from his bed and lumbering to his bathroom. Splashing his face, he rapidly woke from the sudden chill as the cold water dripped down his face and off his thick Verdi styled light brown beard. Quickly brushing his teeth, he walked out of his bathroom and out of his bedroom, slowly traversing the short corridors and to the kitchen.

Grabbing a mug, he decided to forego the usual machine coffee, having instant coffee instead. Going into the cupboard, he noticed a lack of any foodstuffs, having eaten most of it the night prior. Checking another nearby cupboard, he also noticed a lack of alcohol. He didn't usually have much in the way of alcohol anyway, but what was there, was now pretty much gone. Would explain the headache and hazy memories.

"Must have been one hell of a party." He said to himself, his voice resonating in his throat, rubbing his eyes as grabbing what remained of a box of cereal. "Going to have to restock."

Quickly eating his breakfast, he made his way back to his room, coffee mug still in hand and changed into his normal clothes. A plaid red flannel and a plain pair of semi-baggy blue jeans. Checking himself in his mirror, he made sure everything was in place.

Aleksei wouldn't say he was the most attractive man to exist. He would say, however, he was far from the worst. He sported a lean body build as a result of helping his father around his shop. However, he was on the short side in terms of height, being only 5'5. The aforementioned thick beard hid a rather rounded face, something he, while not self-conscious about, was eager to hide.
His segmented heterochronic eyes stared back at him, the brown and blue in his left creating a stark contrast to the rights bright green. A scar running from the right of the bridge of his nose and continuing under his left eye, a result of a wolf attack, was something he was self-conscious about, as he often got odd looks from any he walked past. All of this was topped off with his short, light brown hair, complementing his beard nicely.

Nodding in satisfaction, he was happy to find nothing out of place. Just like it always is.

Walking out of his room, he chugged the last of his coffee and put the mug in the kitchen sink, he grabbed his keys and exited his home, locking it behind him and jumped in his car.

The long journey through the empty winding roads was one filled with relative silence, as Aleksei was never one to have the radio on, always preferring the sound of the cars engine and the wheels rolling on the road. Eventually, after the better part of two hours, he made it to one of his 'local' stores, one that his father knew the owner of. Parking his car in one of the nearby parking lots and walked into the store, the owner greeting him wholeheartedly.

"Aleksei, my boy!" Igor said, the older man positively beaming. "How are you?"

"Fine. thank you." Aleksei said as he scanned the isles for the essentials, Igor's positive demeanour surprisingly rubbing off on him this early in the morning. "Where's the mincemeat again?"

"Isle 5," Igor replied. "Thought you'd know that by now."

"Well, considering your constantly changing the layout, I find it hard to keep track." Aleksei retorted with a smile.

"Fair enough."

No further words were exchanged between the two, Igor having to serve other customers and Aleksei perusing the isles collecting what he would need to do him for the week. Once done, he took the items to the till Igor quickly scanning them and placing them in a plain plastic bag. A few buttons were pressed and he turned to address the younger man.

"3701.03 Ruble's."

Pulling out his wallet, Aleksei quickly paid, collecting the bags and exiting the store, doing his best to wave bye and walked to his car. Much like the journey to the store, the one from was filled with equal silence and was equally as long. It, however, felt longer. As Aleksei turned around a sharp bend, a soft glimmer caught his eye. Slowing down to a crawl, he expected it to fade or just completely disappear as the road he was on came closer, thinking it was just the early morning sun reflecting off of something. But it did not. In fact, it seemed to get brighter and brighter as his car reached its limit on the road. Now, normally a person would just dismiss this and proceed home, however, seeing as the area Aleksei lived in was barren in way of events, this change in the scenery he knew like the back of his hand did more than catch his interest.

Parking his car, he slowly exited his vehicle, his eye fixed on the shimmering light like it would vanish if he were to take his eyes off it. Weaving through the forest that surrounded the road, he was thankful he brought his long shearling jacket, the wool innards protecting him from the otherwise biting cold. Eventually, the ground around him started to flatten out, and after a few moments, there was nothing but a flat sheet of white.

What he saw baffled him. There, sitting in the middle of the white clearing, was a bright light, hovering roughly four feet off the ground. A light bright enough to where he had to squint to be able to see but combined with the reflective white snow beneath it, he had to shield his eyes.

People that knew Aleksei would say he's always been an intelligent person, however, in this instance his mind wasn’t able to process what could be making the light appear. Looking around, there was nothing in the immediate area that could be producing light like this and there was nothing in the distance. Doing a quick circle around the light to make sure there was no source behind it, his face scrunched up upon discovering there wasn't. As he finished his lap, he ended back to where he had started and was even more befuddled. Every part of his brain was telling him it shouldn't be here. It simply shouldn't exist. And yet it was, floating in front of him. Almost tauntingly so.

Bringing his hand to his chin, he silently weighed his options.

He could leave it alone, get back home and just move on like it was never here.

Or...he could investigate.

As if there was any debate.

As he wasn't able to look directly at it, he reached his right hand out, still shielding his eyes with his left as to keep himself from going blind. He inched forward and felt nothing. So, figuring that he had miscalculated its distance, he reached further. But, again, nothing.

As he stopped, the light seemed to dim, just enough for him to be able to lower his hand. What he saw, made his heart drop. He was already elbowed deep.

Pulling with all his might, he tried desperately to withdraw his hand from the light but found it wouldn't budge. Not one inch. His arm was completely stuck, despite the lack of any grip he could feel. But just as he thought it couldn't get worse, the light started expanding, his body being slowly consumed.

He kept pulling and pulling in a vain attempt to escape the approaching illumination. As the light grew in size, so too did it's intensity. As more and more of his body was slowly engulfed, he tried his best to keep his head as far away as possible, but with no intention of stopping, it slid past his neck and Aleksei finally lost the battle of might, as it completely consumed him, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. His final words on earth being nothing more than screams of dread.