• “This is the life of Riley Ruth, a woman in her twenties who is obsessed with her looks and frequently goes to the mall. What she doesn’t know is that she has just skimmed the surface of…the Twilight Zone.” The dramatic tone followed his voice, and then the distinct theme song as the credits rolled by.
    Ruth stared at the screen for a moment. It was coincidence that her first name was the character’s last, but with her last the character’s first…no, it was just a coincidence: the show was at least fifty years old.
    The theme music became silent, bringing her back to reality. Then the TV blurted, “Next on Sci-Fi: The Twilight Zone.”
    Not wanting to watch another, she stabbed “POWER” on the remote, but the television didn’t respond. “Crap!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Batteries must be dead.” So, like every normal human of the electronics-dependent Information Age, she walked all the way to the back of the house to look for more batteries instead of turning the television off manually.
    Finding two AA’s—one Energizer and the other Duracell—she returned to the living room. There was a flash outside and the crash of thunder, and then the already steady-pounding rain beat on the roof even harder. Ruth stared out the window for a moment; she would be at the mall if it weren’t for the damned storm, but she wasn’t going to get wet by walking to the car!
    As she was turning back to the sofa where the remote lay, she caught a glimpse of something outside the window. Startled, she spun around. Nothing.
    She darted to the door, flipped the floodlights, and raced back to the window: again, nothing.
    “It’s just your imagination,” she whispered to herself, “nothing more.”
    “Now we return to the New Year’s Twilight Zone Marathon!” the television announced.
    “Oh, I think I won’t be,” Ruth replied to the air, and took the back cover of the remote off. She tried to get the battery out with her fingers, only managed to spin them around. “Ergh!” she groaned, then slapped the remote on her hand, forcing the batteries to fall into her palm.
    She started to put the unused batteries in when she heard, “This is Riley Ruth, a woman whose life circulates around shopping and her appearance….”
    Ever-so-slowly, she turned. It was the same episode.
    “It-it’s just a mistake,” she breathed, rather not convincing herself. “Yeah, that’s all, a mistake.” Then she resumed placing the batteries into the remote.
    The introduction ended, and then a voice said, “Oh, this rain!” The storm threw a lightning bolt—in reality and on the television.
    Just coincidence, she thought.
    “What was that? Outside the window!” the same voice asked.
    Slowly, Ruth backed up and locked the front door, the sprinted away from it. A small breeze found its way into the house, rubbing against her skin—not cold, but cool enough to give her bumps. It was coming from the window by the TV set. “Tha—that was closed. H-how did that o—wait, no; I simply overlooked it. Then she thought, Why isn’t there a puddle on the floor? Surely the rain’s been going on long enough? Well, I guess it’s just falling in the other direction.
    Yet even as she assured herself it was just her imagination, she walk cautiously to shut the window, and tried closing it just as quietly, but it was stuck. Putting her whole weight on it didn’t help; the window wouldn’t budge. Finally she gave up, turned, and began walking away when the window slammed shut—on its own. The sound startled her, forcing her to turn back around. There was nothing there; It was only the wind.
    A scream drew her attention back to the television. A man-like face with a sharp chin and bold nose was in the window the TV girl was looking at. He smiled, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth. Slowly, his eyes turned to Ruth, then, with his smile growing, he turned to his right. Ruth followed his gaze to find him at her window. “Oh, God,” she whispered. The TV turned crimson, the window shattered, and Ruth was dead.
    From the TV came the narrator’s voice, “This was the life of Ruth Riley, and she’ll never know she was just inside the outer reaches of…the Twilight Zone.” Thunder roared, and just before the power went out, he smiled.