Night of the Neon Doughnut

"Bawrk?!"

I could hear Zuggy's cry through my window over the digital whirring of the video game I was playing. He didn't usually make noises like that.

Ian was already at the sliding glass door, peeking through the blinds our mom made us close when the sun started going down.

"Did you hear that? What's going on?"

I pushed past him and into the backyard. Zuggy was limping around the flower bed, whining.

"Zuggy," I called. "Are you o--oh my God what is that?"

A glowing doughnut-shaped object about the size of a baseball was nestled in the lawn.

"Do you think it hit Zuggy in the head?" asked Ian. "He sure is acting funny."

I reached out to pet him, but he scampered into the flowers and hid.

"What is that thing? It's like, lighting up the yard."

Ian and I crouched over the glowing doughnut. Though the light coming from it was very bright, it didn't hurt our eyes, and it didn't seem to be singeing the grass.

Ian reached out to touch it, but I grabbed his arm.

"Don't."

He tried to wrestle away from me. "Mom said you're not supposed to hurt me, Kayla."

"I'm trying to keep you from getting hurt! We don't know what it is."

He backed off and crossed his arms. "What are we supposed to do about it?"

"I don't know. Mom should be home any minute now."

The glowing doughnut entranced me. It gave off a white-blue color and pulsed like a heartbeat. Where did it come from? Did somebody hit Zuggy in the head with it?

I waded into the flowers to check on my dog. He was trembling and yelped again at my touch. Did he have a concussion? I'd never seen him behave so strangely.

I heard my brother's shriek and swiveled around to see him staggering back from the doughnut.

"Ian, no!" But it was too late. His eyes bugged out, staring at nothing. He stepped from side to side like a marionette.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to get him to look at me. "Ian, what did it do to you?"

His head shook back and forth, empty, but then it stopped for a second and he met my gaze.

"I can see how you're gonna die."

Just then I heard the door slide open. "Kayla! Get your hands off him!"

"It wasn't me!" I cried. "It was that thing!" I pointed at the doughnut.

She gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Right then I noticed what looked like thousands of glowing dots spreading out from the doughnut like a neon flood.

As I dragged Ian to the house, I shouted, "Mom, get inside now. Dial 9-11!"

I slammed the sliding door shut just in time. The glowing dots wriggled up the glass as I heard my mother dialing her phone.

"Ian." I shook him. "Ian?"

But he would never speak to me again.

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Story and photo by me, @hope-k! The contest can be found at this link: https://steemit.com/twentyfourhourshortstory/@mctiller/writers-win-5-steem-about-usd25-in-the-24-hour-short-story-contest-topic-5-for-february-20