Screams

Last night I awoke to the sound of screams. No, not my own... I was sleeping peacefully. They were coming from outside; I could hear them through the open window. At first I thought it was just some drunk person yelling his head off, because the screams were just inarticulate howls. The screaming stopped for about half a minute, and then I heard a woman screaming. Then the man started screaming again. They screamed together for a while, and I began to realize that these weren't just inarticulate howls; they were screams of anguish, of dire pain, of heart wrenching agony. And I began to make out what they were saying:

NO! MY GOD NOOOOO! OH MY GOD, DEAR GOD NO!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I jumped up and looked out the window. The screams were emerging from a house about 150 yards away and up the hill. I could make out the silhouettes of two people moving behind curtained windows, moving frantically back and forth.

OH MY GOD!!!! CALL 911!!!!! NOOO, GOD NOOOOOO, PLEASE GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I grabbed the binoculars but still couldn't make anything out beyond the two shadows moving inside the house. I stood there and watched for a long time, until the screams finally abated and the shadows stopped moving. I never heard sirens and emergency vehicles never showed up, at least, not while I was still awake. I finally went back to sleep and dreamed that I was watching the death of a dear friend tangled up in power lines as I dialed 911.