Pirates of the anti-matter variety. Don't look away, they'll steal your everything!

the sun rose above the hills, moist and orange. kind of how an orange would, had it been the sun. only bigger and hotter.

birds chirped merrily in the trees, worms wriggled in the dewy grass, the milkman trundled around in his 9v battery powered milk float.

the was a stir of noise from a way away, almost soothing to the ears of pedestrians at this distance. the sound of the busy city traffic blurred to nothin more than a feint mumbling.

the sound soared up the hillside from the valley that the city stood in, and began it's decent upon the small village which rested the other side.

it dissipated as it tumbled through fields and bushes, and became almost nothing more than a sigh from the air around it.

the village was small and tidy, with rows of cottages lining the main road.

it was the kind of village where electricity was somewhat a new import and most locals would have thought genetically modified fruit was a homosexual apple picking orchard boy with downs syndrome. not to say that it was behind the times, but telephony was nearly as new as the new bread slicer in the village bakery. and that was still under warranty.

usually, the main street would be busy at this time. not today though.

the town's two cyclists were not out today. and neither was mr and mrs routledge, who usually strolled around the village doing their daily shopping at this time, with the yapping dog at their heels.

and that weird old man that was sometimes stood around outside the paper shop wasn't around either.

in fact, there was noone around at all.

not even the birds in the trees.

come to it, neither were there any trees.

or anything else either for that matter.

the milkman was missing as well.

it was eerily quiet in the village. not a creature stirred. not even a mouse.

not even that really restless dog that lived at number 15.

an alarm clock was ringing.

it continued to ring.

and ring.

and ring.

and then after a loud smash, it stopped.

several minutes went by before any other noise was heard. besides the yawn of the city, which narcoleptically halted by the outskirts of the village.

a ruffling erupted from number 5. there was a short shuffling of feet. and the elephant-esque noise of an over-weight sperm whale lethargically sauntering down the stairs.

it wasn't an overweight lethargically charged heavy footed sperm whale though. although it might as well have been. daniel was almost completely the opposite. except for the lethargic part.

he scratched his head and rubbed his eyes, while simultaneously picking his nose, scratching his bum, and putting on his dressing gown as he trundled downstairs.

after this incredible feat of male preening was complete, daniel adjusted his pyjama bottoms, and pulled up the latch on the door.

as he pulled the door back, he held his hand over his eyes, expecting the winter sun to singe his eyebrows, and melt his pale skin.

but it was mysteriously dark this morning. in fact, as he slowly opened his eyes, expecting the sun to be hiding round the corner and jump out on him any second, he noticed that in fact there was no-one there at all. not a single soul.

daniel wobbled along the garden path, suddenly curious about the complete lack of life in the current vicinity.

he picked up the daily paper from the end of the path, and spun on his heels to head back to the house.

he looked up as he neared the house to ensure that he didnt smack into the doorframe as he had so often done in the past. he gasped in shock as he peered forwards into complete blackness.

his house had gone.

he spun 180 degrees.

the garden gate, and most of the path had also disappeared.

he spun 180 degrees again.

blackness.

all aorund him was blackness.

and in the wink of an eye and a nudge of the elbow, daniel disappeared into anti-existance. then, as pointlessly as it had begun, it ended.

fucking anti-matter pirates.