West Dingleton’s
Loss of Humanity

by Richard H. Fay

It all started with a strange cloud,
A nebulous mist of colours
Glowing faintly
In the night.

An aurora in the east
Some suggested.
Electrically charged fog
Others said.
Ambient mood lighting
A few joked.

It descended upon the sleepy town
In a dull rainbow shroud.
Noises were muffled,
Bare flesh
Tingled.
No one worried too much
Until the changes began.

Subtle hints appeared at first,
Crooked eyes,
Drooping lips,
Peculiar warts,
Odd tufts of hair.
Deformities soon multiplied
And grew more and more grotesque.
Limbs twisted,
Noses dropped off,
Mouths expanded into
Gaping maws,
Bulbous lumps of human flesh
Sprouted vestigial limbs.
Their minds remained clear
As their bodies were corrupted.
Tears fell
While tears could still fall.

Word of the calamity soon spread.
Surrounding communities panicked.
The outside world
Shunned the town,
Barricaded roads,
Protected mankind.
Plans were made
To wipe out the creatures,
Destroy the mutations,
Cleanse the land.

The poor people of West Dingleton
Had become something different,
Something monstrous,
Something dangerous,
Something alien,
No longer human.

Or did they?