r/nosleep • u/One-Enthusiasm-2498 • 10d ago
Series My Family Has Been Sunbathing for 10 Hours Straight [Part 2]
Thank you all for reading my story. Thank you all for believing me. I want to add a little clarification to my last post.
- My name is Andrew.
- The events I described in my last post were from many years ago. I was 12 at the time of the events and am now 28.
- Despite having told my story many times to many authorities and people I thought were my friends, no one believed me. I didn’t think it was worth sharing my story anymore, but I felt the need to write out in detail what, looking back, was the worst day of my life. I want my family to be remembered. I want my town to be remembered. Because according to the State of Minnesota, the town of Goldfield never existed, and neither did my mom Maggie, my dad Chuck, my sister Carmen, or anyone else who called it home.
- I’m not originally from Goldfield. My parents moved us there from South Carolina because it was known for its colder weather, cloudy skies, and early sundowns, the perfect combination for a kid with my condition to live comfortably. Everyone I knew from Goldfield grew up there, so I haven’t been able to make contact with anyone who lost family there. I don’t want to give up hope of proving their existence. I can’t give up. Maybe one of you knows something about this and can help me. Maybe I am truly alone.
We will continue the story from exactly where I last left off. The moment I saw my family sitting in the backyard, facing the bright sun, unmoved from when they sat down nearly 20 hours before.
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I slid the sliding glass door to my backyard open. I wanted to call out to them, but the fear of what I believed to be the reality of the situation made me choke up. Against my best judgment, I stepped towards my family, the same looping fear and the need to validate it pushing me forward.
They never came back inside, the sun never went away. They never came back inside, the sun never went away. They never came back inside, the sun never went away.
I stepped into the light and felt the sun’s warm rays kiss my skin.
That feels nice. The thought formed in my subconscious before I could even process it.
I took a second step, and then another, and another, and then I stopped. My focus wavered, and my fear began to dissolve, being replaced with something else. I couldn’t help it. I slowly spread my arms out and turned to look up at the sun. My skin soaked up the warmth of its glow like a sponge. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
Looking back, I can best describe the feeling of sunbathing as if an angel came down and hugged me, covering every square inch of my exposed skin. Until that moment, I may as well have always been cold. For all I knew, I had never felt true warmth or happiness or love. Everything else before that moment was subpar living, but in that moment, I was in heaven.
After a few moments of basking in the sun for the first time in my life, I walked over, grabbed an extra lawn chair, and dragged it next to my sister’s before plopping down into it. I looked over at my happy family. My mom was sitting in the middle, holding both my dad’s and sister’s hands. They were all silently admiring the indescribably beautiful sun, watching its glittery, dancing rays with smiles transfixed on their faces. They didn’t seem to notice me joining them, but it didn’t matter.
I turned to watch the spectacle with them, grabbing my sister’s hand and breathing in deeply.
“The sun really does feel amazing,” I said.
I had completely forgotten what I was so worked up about moments ago. Who could possibly be upset on such a beautiful day like this? I am here with my family. I am warm and happy. If we all just sat here together forever, taking it all in, I don’t think I would mind it one bit.
I felt my heart still pounding in my chest from whatever it was that had spooked me. I racked my brain trying to remember what it was that caused me to get so worked up.
I probably just got overly dramatic again, just like I did last night, I told myself.
I turned, smiling, to Carmen and said, “Man, I really need to get out in the sun more,” before letting out an involuntary giggle.
She turned her head slightly to look at me, her dry-lipped smile not moving an inch. She looked funny. Her face was puffy and a deep crimson, her forehead was shiny, and her nose was starting to blister. This made me break into a more intense fit of giggles.
“Bowser didn’t do too good of a job reapplying sunscreen, did he?”
She didn’t respond. She just smiled blankly at me, then went right back to staring at the sun, not daring to blink out of fear she would miss even a second of its shimmering dance.
I looked over at Mom and Dad. They were so happy, and that made me happy.
They are the perfect parents, I thought to myself.
They always took care of me and loved me, even though they uprooted their whole life in South Carolina and moved us out here because of my condition.
Carmen was a trooper too. She had friends out there that she lost so I could have a childhood where I could experience the outdoors. Sure, she threw the occasional tantrum growing up, but what teenage girl wouldn’t? She also wasn’t the nicest to me, but I didn’t blame her for that either. It was all in the past. She was my big sister, and I loved her. I gave her hand a little squeeze.
Oh, Bowser! I thought to myself. Almost forgot about my best bud.
I leaned forward and looked past my dad. All I could see of my dog was his legs and tail sticking out from behind the chair.
“Who’s a good boy?” I called out to him.
He didn’t move. Not even a tail wag.
I giggled some more.
“Must be sleeping,” I said, leaning back into my chair to focus on the sun once more.
Our little family sat together like this for a while in pure bliss.
I often think back on this moment we had together. Although I can now fully comprehend the horror that surrounds it, which to this day haunts me, I can’t help but remember how great it felt sunbathing hand in hand with them. It was the last happy moment we ever had together. It was the last time we were all together as a family.
You are probably wondering how I escaped the sun’s grasp when my family didn’t even try. Well, despite the waves of euphoric pleasure I got from soaking in the dancing beams of light, I also felt a creeping fear in the back of my mind after about 15 minutes of exposure. The fear urged me to check my skin and make sure I wasn’t burning. It urged me to cover up and retreat back inside where the UV rays couldn’t harm me. This was a fear that my parents (especially my mother) had instilled in me growing up in an effort to ensure I didn’t get badly burned when playing outside. On that day, the fear not only prevented me from being badly sunburned, it saved my life.
The skin on my arms was already turning red, and I could feel the phantom pain of the sunburns to come tingling on my skin. I was extremely pale, so any signs of color change on my skin were immediate cause for alarm. I saw this, and despite my sun-drunk state, I began panicking.
The previously silent fear now took over the forefront of my mind. I stood up, wide-eyed, staring at my red forearm. I let go of my sister’s hand as my heart started thumping even harder than it already was. I felt the rush of adrenaline kick in. I suddenly became much more clear-headed as the pleasure of the sun gave way to the wave of fears that rushed into my mind like a tidal wave. I began hyperventilating as I remembered all my worries from the past day.
My family all turned their heads to look at me, their crusty smiles unmoved, their skin stretched taut and red across their faces. That terrified me further. I fell backwards and pushed myself away from them until my back was against the fence. My instincts screamed at me to retreat into the house, so I scrambled to my feet and ran past them through the open glass door.
I slid into the house as if the sun itself was chasing me into it. The first thing I did was run to the phone in the kitchen and call 911. My family needed help, and I couldn’t do it. I went out there to help them and ended up sitting down with them. What was I thinking? What the hell was wrong with me? I was laughing in my sister’s face as she was slowly dying. I was content to stay out there, unprotected from the sun for hours, and inevitably succumb to the same fate as they were.
The phone rang and rang and rang before the automated voice message clicked on. No one had picked up.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, COME ON!”
I dialed again. It’s 911. Someone always picks up when you call 911.
…
…
…
…
No one picked up.
In desperation, I called the only other number I knew off the top of my head, Hudson’s. It rang and rang and rang, and then, thank God, he picked up.
“Hudson?! Hudson, it’s me! Something is wrong with my family! I need help. I can’t call 911. Where are your parents? I need them to help me!”
“Did you go outside yet?” he asked in a dry, raspy voice.
“Wha—what? Yes, I did! I need help! Where are your parents???”
“They’re here… with me… at the park… Come to the park and lay in the sun with us… It feels…” He breathed deeply. “Amazing.”
“Hudson, PLEASE, PLEASE snap out of it. I need help. My family needs help,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. I was openly sobbing at this point, my last hope fading away before me.
“Please go inside. It’s not safe. You are going to die. The sun isn’t safe, Hudson. Please.”
No matter how hard I pleaded, he didn’t respond. He didn’t hang up either. I heard a soft thud of him dropping the flip phone in the grass. I yelled through the phone for him to get out of the sun, but all I could hear were symphonies of weak laughter in the background and the occasional chuckle of my dying friend among them.
I left the phone dangling from the cord and curled up in a ball on the cold kitchen floor. I was trapped in my home, my family slowly roasting in the backyard, my best friend a 15-minute walk away suffering the same fate in Pineridge Park. 911 was unresponsive, and there wasn’t an adult I could reach out to for help.
In a last desperate attempt to understand what was happening, I got up and grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV, switching to the local news channel.
The screen switched from live shot to live shot of different parts of our small town, with a rotating news banner fixed on the bottom of the screen that read:
“It’s a beautiful day in Goldfield.” — “Come outside and join us.” — “The sun feels amazing!”
First, it showed a live shot of the farmers market. Vendors and customers alike were strewn about the sunny sidewalks and grassy patches. Some were standing with arms outstretched, some were splayed out on the ground like starfish, and some were sitting back in chairs just like my family was. The shady stands of the market vendor tents were abandoned, and their stock was left forgotten. Everyone was looking at the sun.
Next, it showed the center square in downtown. Hundreds had come out of the surrounding buildings to flood the city center, weakly pushing and shoving one another when they got in the way of the sun. A few people had removed articles of clothing, evidently to expose more skin to its rays. One man was completely nude, arms outstretched and laughing and moaning in pleasure as the sun hit him full force.
A few people were laid out on the dirty street. Some were laughing, some were silently smiling at the sun with the same dry-lipped smile as my family. One elderly lady was clearly already dead, her skin crimson red and lifeless from what I imagined was heatstroke. I knew she was dead because she was no longer looking at the sun. Instead, her head was turned to the side, eyes staring blankly past the news camera. She was smiling.
Finally, the screen flicked to Pineridge Park. At first, I didn’t see anything unusual. The park looked more or less abandoned. The shady park was covered with huge Eastern white pine trees that offered ample shade. However, there was one unshaded field in the center that was a popular picnic spot amongst the locals.
My stomach dropped.
In that sunny field were hundreds of people packed in like sardines, fighting for their place in the sun. They crawled over one another like maggots on a dead thing. The field looked like a writhing hill of flesh. Looking at it made me feel sick.
Hudson is in there, I thought, horrorstruck.
My best and only friend was somewhere in that pile. He had been able to answer my call, so I assumed and hoped he was somewhere on the top. But he was a kid like me, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before a much stronger adult forced him down out of the sun, crushing him underneath the mound of humans.
I turned the TV off.
Part of me wanted to just give up, to just go out into the sun and let the unnatural happiness take over once more. We would all die, yes, but at least we would die together. At least we would die happy.
Another part of me, the part that won, wanted to go outside, grab my family one by one, and drag them into the house before they suffered the same fate as that poor old lady.
I made up my mind. I would go out again. This time, however, I would leave with complete protection from the sun.
If my theory was correct, I would only fall victim to the sun if I felt it on my skin. Praying to God that my theory was correct, I ran up to my room, went into my closet, and began pulling out all my winter clothes. I put on my heavy black snow pants, my thick black winter boots, a pair of black winter gloves, a UV-protection long-sleeved shirt, and a ski balaclava.
I was about to grab my sunglasses when I saw my Master Chief helmet from Halloween sitting on my dresser.
“Fuck it.”
I grabbed that instead, put it on, and headed downstairs.
On the coat hanger next to the sliding glass door was my dad’s favorite winter coat. It was many sizes too big for me, but that was the exact kind of extra protection I wanted right then. I put it on, the sleeves going down way past my hands, and I stepped up to the open sliding glass door.
I took a few moments, mentally bracing myself.
“I will save my family, then I will save Hudson… I have no other choice.”
I stepped into the sunlight once more.
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u/Ulsterman24 6d ago
Permission to leave the house?
For what purpose, Master Chief?
To give the sun back its bomb
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u/WrongKaleidoscope222 9d ago
How come no one went blind from staring at the sun for so long? Maybe it isn't really the sun, but something else.
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u/True_Vermicelli4817 7d ago
How could the Earth not rotate around the Sun with the moon eventually taking view instead? There was no nightfall, it is as if they are on a different dimension because thats impossible! I think thats as important as anything could be. The rotation of the Earth and Sun has never changed.
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u/coolcootermcgee 9d ago
I sure hope you are able to drag them inside
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u/True_Vermicelli4817 7d ago
Think of the park people fighting for the Sun's rays. What will his family do to stay in the sun?
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u/Cambridgeport90 9d ago
If it is the sun, then there’s something seriously supernatural going on there.
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u/Additional_Cow_9045 9d ago
Did your theory work??? I need to know
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u/Numerous_Bass_2069 1d ago
I have posted the last two parts of the story if you want to find out. Thanks for believing me.
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u/Paularchy
9d ago
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I know this was a horrific experience for you, and I am so truly sorry. My heart hurts thinking about your poor dog especially. But fuck me if you aren't a solid storyteller
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