Extra-Terrestrials
Mary knocked on the ancient green door with its fresh coat of paint and smiled as her elderly mother opened the door. “Hi mom!” She said as she stepped inside and embraced her mother. Her husband Tom followed her inside. “so who’s all here so far?” She asked taking off her jacket and hanging it over a chair.
“Tyler’s on his way and should be here in a couple hours, Trevor will be here with Jasmine and Micah tomorrow since Trevor’s trying to finish his presentation, Jenny’s out shopping and well…who knows if Linda will show up.”
“Mom...” Mary stopped deciding that she would rather avoid getting into a fight about her sister at that moment besides she had more important things on her mind then what her mom’s opinion of Linda happened to be.
Thankfully Tom changed the subject. “So where’s Jeff?”
“Oh he’s out in the barn like usual.”
“I think I’ll go find.”
As Tom left Tannia turned back to her daughter the smile completely gone from her face and Mary knew exactly what her mother was going to say and she was thankful that she had waited until Tom had left before asking. “So where’s Kyle?”
“At home.” Mary tried acting nonchalant about the matter as if her son wasn’t the cause of most of the discourse at home and the cause of an extremely stressful 2 hour ride.
“Why didn’t he come?” her mother attempted to be equally flippant about it as she headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Mary wouldn’t be able to hold it back for long and her mother knew it. She knew her children well and could always tell when something was bothering them and she had a feeling she had hit the nail on the head. It was just a matter of time before Mary would come clean.
Mary sighed. “He didn’t want to come. He said if we made him come he’d take a train home in the middle of the night anyway so we might as well just leave him home.”
“And you let him get away with that?”
Mary slumped into one of the kitchen chairs and put her head in her hands. “I don’t know what to do with him mom. He just doesn’t seem to care about anything anymore. No matter how hard Tom and I try he just doesn’t listen. We’ve punished him in everyway possible but he’s impossible to punish he just doesn’t care. It’s almost like punishing him just adds to the thrill of his life. Tom’s at his wits end. Needless to say the trip up here was pretty tense.”
“I remember feeling that way about your sister.”
“Linda?”
“No, Jenny.”
“Jenny?” Mary was surprised at this bit of information as far as she’d always been able to tell Jenny had always been mama’s angel and Linda was always the one that had driven her crazy.
“Yes, a couple years ago when Jenny was 16 she got involved with this girl who was bad news. I knew from the moment I met her that Sarah was no good and I tried my best to keep Jenny from hanging with her. But the more I tried to keep the two apart the more I ended up pushing them together. One night Jenny came home late she looked she looked horribly disheveled not at all like the beautiful girl that she had left as. She refused to tell me what happened but I could tell she had been drinking. I saw less of Sarah after that night she came over once and I could hear them fighting all the way from the barn but I never saw her after that. My point is be patient with Kyle and continue to be there for him. He’s a good kid he’ll come around.”
Kyle had opened the fridge and glanced inside closing it again after discovering there was nothing of interest to eat. He walked to the pantry and grabbed a bag of chips and moved to the living room and flipped on the TV flipping through channels until he found something of interest. There was a knock on the door and Kyle groaned as he pushed himself off the couch. He stole a glance at himself in the mirror by the door taking a second to run his hands through his hair before opening the door. He’d gotten up only an hour ago and through it was nearly noon he hadn’t even taken the time to throw on a shirt.
He opened the door and was surprised to see Maria standing outside his door tears streaking her face. He was surprisingly self-conscious at this turn of events and wished he had taken a minute to grab a shirt before seeing his girlfriend.
“Maria what are you doing here?” He asked crossing his arms in front of him causing the muscles in his arms tightened.
“I needed to talk to you.” Maria said after regaining her composure at the sight of him. “Can I come in?” Kyle didn’t know what to say. His parents would kill him if they found out and they would find out, somehow they always found out. But since when had he cared what his parents thought.
“Yeah sure Maria, come on in.” He stepped aside for her to enter indicating the couch where he had been sitting. There was a shirt lying across a chair where he had thrown it the night before and he grabbed it and pulled it on then grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “So what’s wrong?”
“I needed somewhere to go.” Tears were filling her eyes again and Kyle moved over to put his arm around her as she cried into his shoulder.
He let her cry for sometime before asking, “What happened?”
“My mom kicked me out.” She managed to sob before dropping into tears again. “She-she said…she…never…wanted…to see me…again.” She choked and then buried her head in his shoulder. Kyle wrapped his arms tighter around her and pulled her closer. Maria’s mother had always practically hated her. Constantly referring to her as “The Mistake”.
Her mother had gotten pregnant not long after high school and after telling the father she thought they would be a family. But he had ditched her not long after Maria was born leaving her mother to raise her alone. Maria’s mother drank heavily and on a good day would just ignore her daughter’s existence on a bad day her mother was abusive telling her daughter she was worthless and couldn’t do anything. The abuse got worse after she started dating Kyle as her mom was convinced that all boys were like her father and that if she continued to date him she would become just like her. Maria had rebelled believing that Kyle was the only thing that could make her happy and in the end had been kicked out.
Finally Maria stopped crying. “What do I do now?” She said looking up at him with her beautiful brown eyes and giving him a pleading look.
Kyle had to think quickly. “I’m not completely sure, Maria. My parents are out of town I’m sure they’ll be glad to help when they get back but they won’t be back until next week.”
“Can’t I just stay here until they get back?” She pleaded, “By the time they get back my mom will probably have come to her senses.”
Kyle looked at her and couldn’t bear the thought of sending her away. “Of course you can stay…but you’ve got to be out of here before they get back.”
Jasmine pulled the bottle out of the microwave and tested the temperature on her wrist. Satisfied that it wasn’t too hot she brought it to Micah her 6 month old son who stuck it in his mouth and began to suck on it as if the world depended on it. She placed him in his crib where she hoped he would fall asleep once his stomach was full.
Pleased that her son was content for the time being she grabbed the suit case off the floor and moved it onto a chair and began filling it with the clothes and other items that were spread along the couch. Trevor was still at work and wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours. In the mean time she needed to take this opportunity to pack. They would be leaving for Dubuque as soon as he got back and while it wasn’t far maybe a half hour at most they still didn’t want to waste any time in arriving.
There was a noise in the baby’s bedroom and she put down the shirt she was folding to go check it out. Micah had probably dropped his bottle through the cracks and would start crying any minute now.
She peeked her head in the room to see him still sucking on the bottle happily. She looked around the room but nothing seemed to be out of place. A paper fluttered to the floor and she moved to check the windows but they were all pulled shut.
A noise came from the kitchen and reached for the baseball bat hanging on the wall it had been Trevor’s bat when he was a boy and he was anxiously waiting for the day when Micah would be able to use it. But until then she would use it as a weapon if need be.
She walked down the hall toward the kitchen and a flash of something caught her eye as it dashed into the living room. Her heart was pumping wildly as she entered the room. The room was empty everything just the way she left it.
Micah began to cry; she took one last look around the room and convinced that it was only her overactive imagination headed toward her son’s room. But when she looked into the room her blood froze in her veins for standing in the room was a cloaked figure and he was holding her son.
Jenny walked out of the store juggling 5 bags of things that she just had to purchase. She fumbled with the keys for a couple seconds before giving up and setting a couple of the bags on the roof. After the door was open she set them inside and climbed in. She was a shopaholic that much was certain to anyone who knew her. And it was even worse when she was home in Dubuque you couldn’t get these prices in Seattle.
She pulled in the long driveway and turned off the car. She stopped before grabbing her bags. Something didn’t seem right. For one thing there wasn’t a living creature anywhere in sight usually her father stayed outside until he could hardly see his hand in front of his face and even then would sit under the stars until past 10 he had a thing about nature and couldn’t stand being cooped up in the house. Even the animals seemed to have been put to bed much earlier than usual. A bird flew across her vision and landed…in mid-air. Her heart leapt into her throat and began beating rapidly. Something was most definitely not right. Images of the stories her sister used to tell her as a child came flooding back and she imagined ghoulish monsters waiting inside for her.
She turned to run and ran right into the waiting arms of a hooded figure his ghostly hands wrapped firmly around her arms.
“Kyle there’s someone in the house.”
Kyle jumped at the sound of Maria’s voice causing him to fall off the chair he was standing on. “Maria it’s probably just your imagination you are a little overworked about your mom. Now if you don’t mind I need to fix this light before my parents get back and see that I broke it.
He moved to climb back onto the chair but Maria grabbed him. “Kyle I’m serious. There is someone in this house.” Kyle looked into her terrified eyes and saw the fear there.
“All right all right I’ll check it out.” He grabbed a knife off the counter more to reassure her more than anything else and headed toward the other room.
There was a rustling coming from the direction of his parent’s bedroom and he pushed open the door to see a hooded figure standing before them as if waiting for them. “Who are you?” Kyle shouted at the figure. It didn’t answer. “I asked you a question.” The hooded figure began to walk towards him. “Stay back I’ve got a knife.” But he continued to come. Kyle took a step forward and plunged the knife into the figures abdomen closing his eyes as he did. Maria screamed from behind him and he opened his eyes. The figure was staring at him the knife buried in its stomach after a moment it took a step forward swallowing both knife and the hand that held it. Kyle let go of the knife and took a step back. The figure advanced and he took a couple more steps back careful to keep Maria behind him. He looked to see that the knife had fallen to the floor with out the tiniest bit of blood on it. His heart was beating wildly and he was unsure of what to do.
He grabbed Maria’s hand and looked around for a way to escape that was when he noticed that the figure was not alone.
Beep, beep ,beep…beep ,beep, beep Brittney pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. “Hello.”
“Brittney?”
“Chris what is it?” She could tell by the tone of his voice that something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”
“Brittney, are you with Joe?”
“I’m following him yeah, why?”
“Don’t let him come home Britt.” She heard voices in the background. “They found me. Just do it, Britt don’t let him come home.”
There was some yelling in another language, then the sound of a struggle, she heard the sound of a gun shot and the sound pierced both ear and heart. Then there was silence.
Brittney shut the phone and did her best to compose herself. She had to keep herself together for Joseph’s sake at the very least.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow Brad.”
“Yeah see you then.”
Joseph continued on his way after saying good-bye to his friend. His house was only a couple blocks away which gave him some time to think about what had happened at the train tracks. As he neared the next street he looked up in order to glance both ways and his breath caught in his throat. Watching him from across the street was the woman who had saved him. As he began to cross the street she turned and moved down the street disappearing around the corner. He ran to keep up with her but when he turned the corner she was gone. He sighed frustrated by the fact that he kept losing her.
He turned back in the direction of home. As he neared the house he couldn’t help but question where he’d seen that woman before. As he opened the door an eery feeling fell over him and he immediately got the feeling that something wasn’t right. “Dad?” He called out but there was no response. He began to panic and ran through the house calling out for his father and pausing when he reached his fathers office.
In the middle of the room stood the woman. Tears soaked her face and her hand was resting on the wall. She looked his way and removed her hand revealing the writings etched into the wall words he had never seen before. “They found us.”
A million questions fill Joseph’s head but only one made it to the surface. “What does it mean?” He asked coming nearer to get a closer look at the words etched on the wall
“They were written by your father before they killed him.”
Joseph looked at her the blood completely drained from his face.
“Yes, Joseph he’s gone.” She said answering the unasked question.
Joseph gulped swallowing the tears realizing that the tears would have to wait until later. “But what do they me mean? Who’s ‘they’ and who’s ‘us’?”
The woman sighed “It means that if we don’t do something quickly something horrible is going to happen.”
“Like what?”
“You ever heard of an extra-terrestrial?”
“You mean like aliens?”
“Well let’s just say that Chris knew a thing or two about aliens.”
“And now he’s dead because of them?”
The woman nodded.
Joseph stared at his feet for a moment thinking over what she had said and when he looked up again it was with a skeptical look. “Who are you anyway? And how did you know you father.”
The woman looked down and it was then that Joseph realized she was holding a small statue of an angel in her hand, something that his father had greatly treasured. When she looked up her eyes were filled with tears. “I had hoped that even after all these years you wouldn’t have completely forgotten me. But then you were only five.” She swallowed and put the statue back on the shelf where she found it the words “I’ll be there” etched into the base. Joseph picked it up examining it and running his hand along one of the wings and then the words.
“This was my mothers before she died. Her and my father died when I was young.”
“I know.”
Joseph looked up at her the tears running down her face as well.
“Our mother was a beautiful woman.”
Joseph swallowed understanding of this woman’s words flooding him to speechlessness. “So what do we do now?”
“Now we get help from the good guys.”
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Earth Under Attack (Chapter 2)
Guardian Angel
The hours seemed to tick by with such slowness that Joseph was afraid he would die of boredom as his teacher droned on and on about some type of mathematical formula that was supposed to make sense but really just didn’t. Joseph cast an annoyed look at his friend Brad who faked a yawn and placed his head down on the desk. Joseph looked back at the clock and sagged in his seat five more long minutes and he’d be free.
Finally the bell rang and Joseph jumped up so fast he nearly knocked over the girl at the desk in front of him. But he didn’t care he had to get out of that room, out of that school before he exploded. He burst out of the classroom followed closely by Brad. The two made a dash for the exit bowling through a group of 6th grade girls and grabbing a hat off of one of them. “MY HAT!” The girl screamed catching the attention of one of the teachers.
“Bradley Hickman you get back her with that hat!”
But the boys ignored them and kept running straight out of the building, across the lawn and down an alley not stopping until they were a safe distance from the school. Both boys fell up against the wall gasping for breath in between their laughs. “Did you see her face?” Brad jeered, “It was priceless!”
“Definitely a Kodak moment.” Joey said slumping to the ground and snagging the hat from his friend. Brad reached for it but Joey jumped up keeping it out of his reach.
“Give it back Joey it’s mine.”
“It’s not yours its Sarah’s”
“Well it’s mine now, give it back.”
Joey stopped holding the hat above his head and just out of Brad’s reach. I knew it you do like her.”
“I do not, now give it back.”
“Then why do you want her hat?”
Brad stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “Never mind you can keep it.” He said leaning up against the wall like it was no big deal.
Joey smiled and tossed the hat to Brad and leaned against the opposite wall. “well then if you don’t like her I guess you don’t really care that it’s her birthday this weekend and that her and a bunch of girls are camping out in her backyard.”
Brad’s eyes widened. “I just got a great idea.”
Joey smiled, “I knew you would.”
“Let’s go scare them.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“So we’ll meet there 10 Saturday night.” Joey just nodded a slight smile planted on his face.
It was beautiful the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on and it was because of her that this beauty would spread throughout Imaginess. Brit reached down and pulled the flower out of the soft ground and lifted it up to her nose to smell it. The sweet smell of the lilac filled her nose causing her to release a sigh of contentment.
“You’ve done such a wonderful job Brit!” Dr Jent exclaimed as she entered the room where Brit stood. She reached down and picked a red tulip and ran her finger along the smooth petals. “I never thought that Imaginess could ever grow something so beautiful. But because of you we did.”
Brit smiled at the little woman beside her. Dr. Jent had been shorter than Brit pretty much from the beginning but now that Brit was 20 and the older woman close to 40 Brit nearly towered over the scientist. Like usual the woman’s midnight black hair was pulled back into a long ponytail that reached nearly to her waist.
Dr. Jent reached up and tucked the red tulip behind Brit’s ear, the color contrasting her curly, shoulder length, blond hair nicely. Brit smiled her eyes sparkling as she reached up and pulled the tulip out of her hair and grabbed her black hat off the ground. “The serums all ready,” she announced as she placed the hat firmly on her head, “it should be ready to ship to Pookum by the end of the week. Soon all of Imaginess will be as beautiful as this city has become.”
Dr. Jent smiled. “And we have you to thank for it!” Brit blushed her already rosy cheeks becoming darker at the compliment. “Your grandmother would have been so proud of you.”
Brit nodded sadly as she took another look around the palace garden. “I wish she could have seen this. She would have loved it here.”
“Have you told your grandfather yet?”
“No, I called him last night but he was so worried about Joseph it just didn’t seem like the right time.”
“When was the last time you went and visited them?”
“It’s been five years. It was just easier for Joseph.”
“You should go visit again.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because Joseph doesn’t remember me. He was seven the last time I saw him.”
“That’s all the more reason why you should go.”
Brit shook her head. “We’ve had this conversation before Doctor I can go but I can’t visit. I’m his guardian angel nothing more and nothing less.”
Joseph sat behind the bushes with Brad his heart racing wildly. They had been sitting there for the last hour waiting for Sarah’s parents to finally go inside and go to bed. Joseph yawned and turned with his back to the campers trying to find a comfortable way to sit.
“Hey now,” Brad said in his ear startling him out of his doze, “don’t fall asleep yet…we haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet.”
Joseph yawned again and turned back around
“Come on let’s go this is where the fun begins.”
The girls had finally climbed into their tent and were whispering and giggling about something completely unaware of the two boys who were sneaking up to their tent.
“So Sarah, truth or dare”
“Truth!”
“Do you like Bradley Hickman.” Bradley froze in his tracks and Joseph could see the look of hope on his face.
“Hey I’m not really for guys that steal the new hat my grandmother gave me. So I’d have to say no, I don’t like Bradley Hickman.”
Joseph shot Brad a look and Brad rolled his eyes then moved closer to the tent.
“How ‘bout you Lacey,” A girl named Paula asked, “Truth or dare”
“Wait its Sarah’s turn.” “Ok Paula,” Sarah said turning to her friend “Truth or dare
“Dare!”
The boys stopped interested to see what kind of things a bunch of girls would do with a dare. “It’ll probably be something lame.” Brad whispered to Joe.
There was a pause as Sarah obviously thought through what to dare Paula to do. “Um ok I dare you to…pour this cup of water over your head.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s the best you could come up with? You aren’t really good at this game are you?” There was a splash of water and a slight scream from a couple of the other girls and then Paula spoke again. “Alright Lacey truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
“Alright I dare you to go outside take 20 steps away from the tent and stand out there for 10 minutes.”
“But there are snakes and stuff out here.”
“Are you saying you’re chicken?”
“No, no I’ll do it.”
“And they better be decent steps none of those dumb baby steps.’
The boys froze as they heard the tent open and Lacey step out. They heard her walk the 20 steps from the tent and then stop. “Here’s our chance Brad whispered.” Joe watched as his friend disappeared in the direction Lacey was standing. A scream rent the air and Joseph knew that Brad had probably tapped her on the shoulder or poked her foot with a stick or some such nonsense.
“What is it?” Sarah’s voice came from the tent.
“Something touched me!”
“It’s only been 2 minutes you’ve still got 8 to go.” Paula Jeered.
“I can’t do it. It’s creepy out here.”
“Fine Chicken!”
“Ok wait I can do it.” It was quiet for a couple minutes then she screamed again. “I’m telling you there’s something out here.”
“Only your imagination playing tricks on you Lacey…come on 5 more minutes.” Two more minutes passed.
“Ok I can’t take it anymore.”
“Wait there’s just 3 more minutes…you don’t want people to think you’re a chicken do you?”
“Ok…OK”
“Two more minutes…one more minute, 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1
At “one” three things happened at once. First Joe heard Lacey start running back toward the tent then fall with a scream. Second he felt Brad grab his arm and tell him run. And third the light of a flashlight stopped them cold before they could take more than 3 steps.
“What’s going on out here?” Sarah’s father was standing there, flashlight directed at the boys.
“I should have known it’d be you” stated Sarah hands on her hips.
“I just don’t know what to do with him anymore Brittney.”
Brittney sat opposite Chris a cup or warm tea in her hands. She had decided to come in person to tell her grandfather the wonderful news about the serum but he had been so stressed when she got there that her good news had been put on hold.
“I know it has to do with your parents.”
“What about them?”
“He found out a couple months ago how they died and he hasn’t been the same since. He started hanging out with that Bradley kid. He’s bad news and has been talking Joey into doing things that he knows are wrong.”
“Well I can keep an eye on him.”
“Oh I couldn’t ask you to do that Brittney you’re so involved with your work on Imaginess I don’t want to put more than your fair share of pressure on you.”
“Grampa Chris he’s my brother I can’t just ignore the fact that he’s struggling with our parent’s murder. I’ve struggled with it too you know.”
“I know but you’ve just got so many other things to worry about you don’t need a reckless brother on top of it all.”
Brittney paused and took a drink of her tea. “This wasn’t how I wanted this to go but I came to tell you that the serum I’ve been working on is finally bug-free. It’s being shipped out tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news Brittney. What are you going to do now? That serum had become your life.”
“Well for now I’m going to focus on that brother of mine and until he’s back in shape I’ll be close by.”
They heard voices coming from outside and Chris stood to look out the window. “It’s Joseph and Brad I guess they decided to come here to study.” He turned back to where Brittney had been sitting but she was gone. He sighed he was never going to get used to her sudden disappearing and reappearing. I swear that belt is going to be the death of me.
“Be careful Brad don’t push you almost made me fall.” Joey was balancing precariously 50 feet as he tried to make his way to the other side of the railway bridge.
Brad gave him another nudge from behind “Hurry up Joe I want to see what’s on the other side of this bridge. Besides you don’t want to be on this bridge if a train comes do you.”
“Well I’m not going to get there any faster with you nudging me like that. If you wanted to get over so bad you should have gone first.”
Brad rolled his eyes and watched as Joe took another small, precarious step and stopped to catch his balance. “Come on!” Brad nudged him again right as Joseph was getting ready to take another step knocking him off balance and over the edge of the bridge. Luckily his shirt caught on a nail giving him time to grab onto a piece of wood that stuck out at an odd angle.
“Brad help me.” He called up to his friend who was now looking down at him with terrified eyes. Brad made his way down onto his knees and reached down just barely out of reach of his friend’s hand.
“Get down on your stomach.”
Brad did what he was told and was able to grab hold of one of Joe’s hands “I’m not strong enough.” He shouted down.
Suddenly the most dreadful sound Joe had ever heard rent the air. It was the sound of a train coming down the tracks toward them. Brad looked up horrified. “Quick Brad help me up.”
Brad pushed himself to his knees. “I can’t I got to get out of here.”
“Wait don’t leave me here.” Fear was beginning to really take hold of Joey now as the train got closer. He barely had a grip of the piece of wood anyway and he knew when the train crossed it would shake the wood right out of his grip. He winced as a splinter went into his hand and he let go with one hand. There was no way he could survive this.
“Give me your hand Joseph.” Joseph looked up to see a beautiful blonde woman leaning over the side of the bridge reaching her hand down to him. The train was only about 100 feet down the track but the woman didn’t seem to notice. He tried reaching his other arm up but couldn’t get it above his head.”
“I can’t do it, go save yourself.”
The woman glanced at the train nearly 50 feet away now. “Please Joseph the trains coming.”
“I know, no go before you die too.”
“I’m not leaving with out you.” The train was just over 10 feet away when to his horror the woman threw herself over the bridge grabbing on to Joseph as she fell and caused him to lose his grip.
He closed his eyes as they fell waiting for the moment when his body hit the earth, knowing it would be the last sensation he ever felt. Suddenly he realized he wasn’t falling anymore. He opened his eyes to see that he was standing in some bushes beneath the bridge the blonde woman standing behind him breathing hard. When he looked at her she smiled. “Well that was a close one eh? Let’s not do that again, alright?”
Joseph nodded and then asked the first question to enter his mind. “How do you know my name?”
She smiled again. “I know a lot about you Joseph.”
He looked at her for a moment. “Who are you?”
That same knowing smile. “I’m your guardian angel”
Footsteps behind him caused him to turn as he saw Brad running up behind him. “Dude, you’re alright.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you make it?”
“This woman saved me.” He pointed in the direction of the woman but when he turned to look she was gone. ‘Where’d she go? She was just here she saved my life and said she was my guardian angel and she knew my name”
“Yeah sure, dude”
“And what’s even weirder is that I think I’ve seen her before.”
Brittney watched as the two boys walked in the opposite direction. That belt of hers had really come in handy when it came to Joseph and had given her the real feeling of being an angel. She was so glad that she had followed Joseph today she didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if she hadn’t. She would have to keep a closer eye on him. There was no way that she could go back to Imaginess for even a day. Joseph was now her number one priority.
The hours seemed to tick by with such slowness that Joseph was afraid he would die of boredom as his teacher droned on and on about some type of mathematical formula that was supposed to make sense but really just didn’t. Joseph cast an annoyed look at his friend Brad who faked a yawn and placed his head down on the desk. Joseph looked back at the clock and sagged in his seat five more long minutes and he’d be free.
Finally the bell rang and Joseph jumped up so fast he nearly knocked over the girl at the desk in front of him. But he didn’t care he had to get out of that room, out of that school before he exploded. He burst out of the classroom followed closely by Brad. The two made a dash for the exit bowling through a group of 6th grade girls and grabbing a hat off of one of them. “MY HAT!” The girl screamed catching the attention of one of the teachers.
“Bradley Hickman you get back her with that hat!”
But the boys ignored them and kept running straight out of the building, across the lawn and down an alley not stopping until they were a safe distance from the school. Both boys fell up against the wall gasping for breath in between their laughs. “Did you see her face?” Brad jeered, “It was priceless!”
“Definitely a Kodak moment.” Joey said slumping to the ground and snagging the hat from his friend. Brad reached for it but Joey jumped up keeping it out of his reach.
“Give it back Joey it’s mine.”
“It’s not yours its Sarah’s”
“Well it’s mine now, give it back.”
Joey stopped holding the hat above his head and just out of Brad’s reach. I knew it you do like her.”
“I do not, now give it back.”
“Then why do you want her hat?”
Brad stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “Never mind you can keep it.” He said leaning up against the wall like it was no big deal.
Joey smiled and tossed the hat to Brad and leaned against the opposite wall. “well then if you don’t like her I guess you don’t really care that it’s her birthday this weekend and that her and a bunch of girls are camping out in her backyard.”
Brad’s eyes widened. “I just got a great idea.”
Joey smiled, “I knew you would.”
“Let’s go scare them.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“So we’ll meet there 10 Saturday night.” Joey just nodded a slight smile planted on his face.
It was beautiful the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on and it was because of her that this beauty would spread throughout Imaginess. Brit reached down and pulled the flower out of the soft ground and lifted it up to her nose to smell it. The sweet smell of the lilac filled her nose causing her to release a sigh of contentment.
“You’ve done such a wonderful job Brit!” Dr Jent exclaimed as she entered the room where Brit stood. She reached down and picked a red tulip and ran her finger along the smooth petals. “I never thought that Imaginess could ever grow something so beautiful. But because of you we did.”
Brit smiled at the little woman beside her. Dr. Jent had been shorter than Brit pretty much from the beginning but now that Brit was 20 and the older woman close to 40 Brit nearly towered over the scientist. Like usual the woman’s midnight black hair was pulled back into a long ponytail that reached nearly to her waist.
Dr. Jent reached up and tucked the red tulip behind Brit’s ear, the color contrasting her curly, shoulder length, blond hair nicely. Brit smiled her eyes sparkling as she reached up and pulled the tulip out of her hair and grabbed her black hat off the ground. “The serums all ready,” she announced as she placed the hat firmly on her head, “it should be ready to ship to Pookum by the end of the week. Soon all of Imaginess will be as beautiful as this city has become.”
Dr. Jent smiled. “And we have you to thank for it!” Brit blushed her already rosy cheeks becoming darker at the compliment. “Your grandmother would have been so proud of you.”
Brit nodded sadly as she took another look around the palace garden. “I wish she could have seen this. She would have loved it here.”
“Have you told your grandfather yet?”
“No, I called him last night but he was so worried about Joseph it just didn’t seem like the right time.”
“When was the last time you went and visited them?”
“It’s been five years. It was just easier for Joseph.”
“You should go visit again.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because Joseph doesn’t remember me. He was seven the last time I saw him.”
“That’s all the more reason why you should go.”
Brit shook her head. “We’ve had this conversation before Doctor I can go but I can’t visit. I’m his guardian angel nothing more and nothing less.”
Joseph sat behind the bushes with Brad his heart racing wildly. They had been sitting there for the last hour waiting for Sarah’s parents to finally go inside and go to bed. Joseph yawned and turned with his back to the campers trying to find a comfortable way to sit.
“Hey now,” Brad said in his ear startling him out of his doze, “don’t fall asleep yet…we haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet.”
Joseph yawned again and turned back around
“Come on let’s go this is where the fun begins.”
The girls had finally climbed into their tent and were whispering and giggling about something completely unaware of the two boys who were sneaking up to their tent.
“So Sarah, truth or dare”
“Truth!”
“Do you like Bradley Hickman.” Bradley froze in his tracks and Joseph could see the look of hope on his face.
“Hey I’m not really for guys that steal the new hat my grandmother gave me. So I’d have to say no, I don’t like Bradley Hickman.”
Joseph shot Brad a look and Brad rolled his eyes then moved closer to the tent.
“How ‘bout you Lacey,” A girl named Paula asked, “Truth or dare”
“Wait its Sarah’s turn.” “Ok Paula,” Sarah said turning to her friend “Truth or dare
“Dare!”
The boys stopped interested to see what kind of things a bunch of girls would do with a dare. “It’ll probably be something lame.” Brad whispered to Joe.
There was a pause as Sarah obviously thought through what to dare Paula to do. “Um ok I dare you to…pour this cup of water over your head.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s the best you could come up with? You aren’t really good at this game are you?” There was a splash of water and a slight scream from a couple of the other girls and then Paula spoke again. “Alright Lacey truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
“Alright I dare you to go outside take 20 steps away from the tent and stand out there for 10 minutes.”
“But there are snakes and stuff out here.”
“Are you saying you’re chicken?”
“No, no I’ll do it.”
“And they better be decent steps none of those dumb baby steps.’
The boys froze as they heard the tent open and Lacey step out. They heard her walk the 20 steps from the tent and then stop. “Here’s our chance Brad whispered.” Joe watched as his friend disappeared in the direction Lacey was standing. A scream rent the air and Joseph knew that Brad had probably tapped her on the shoulder or poked her foot with a stick or some such nonsense.
“What is it?” Sarah’s voice came from the tent.
“Something touched me!”
“It’s only been 2 minutes you’ve still got 8 to go.” Paula Jeered.
“I can’t do it. It’s creepy out here.”
“Fine Chicken!”
“Ok wait I can do it.” It was quiet for a couple minutes then she screamed again. “I’m telling you there’s something out here.”
“Only your imagination playing tricks on you Lacey…come on 5 more minutes.” Two more minutes passed.
“Ok I can’t take it anymore.”
“Wait there’s just 3 more minutes…you don’t want people to think you’re a chicken do you?”
“Ok…OK”
“Two more minutes…one more minute, 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1
At “one” three things happened at once. First Joe heard Lacey start running back toward the tent then fall with a scream. Second he felt Brad grab his arm and tell him run. And third the light of a flashlight stopped them cold before they could take more than 3 steps.
“What’s going on out here?” Sarah’s father was standing there, flashlight directed at the boys.
“I should have known it’d be you” stated Sarah hands on her hips.
“I just don’t know what to do with him anymore Brittney.”
Brittney sat opposite Chris a cup or warm tea in her hands. She had decided to come in person to tell her grandfather the wonderful news about the serum but he had been so stressed when she got there that her good news had been put on hold.
“I know it has to do with your parents.”
“What about them?”
“He found out a couple months ago how they died and he hasn’t been the same since. He started hanging out with that Bradley kid. He’s bad news and has been talking Joey into doing things that he knows are wrong.”
“Well I can keep an eye on him.”
“Oh I couldn’t ask you to do that Brittney you’re so involved with your work on Imaginess I don’t want to put more than your fair share of pressure on you.”
“Grampa Chris he’s my brother I can’t just ignore the fact that he’s struggling with our parent’s murder. I’ve struggled with it too you know.”
“I know but you’ve just got so many other things to worry about you don’t need a reckless brother on top of it all.”
Brittney paused and took a drink of her tea. “This wasn’t how I wanted this to go but I came to tell you that the serum I’ve been working on is finally bug-free. It’s being shipped out tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news Brittney. What are you going to do now? That serum had become your life.”
“Well for now I’m going to focus on that brother of mine and until he’s back in shape I’ll be close by.”
They heard voices coming from outside and Chris stood to look out the window. “It’s Joseph and Brad I guess they decided to come here to study.” He turned back to where Brittney had been sitting but she was gone. He sighed he was never going to get used to her sudden disappearing and reappearing. I swear that belt is going to be the death of me.
“Be careful Brad don’t push you almost made me fall.” Joey was balancing precariously 50 feet as he tried to make his way to the other side of the railway bridge.
Brad gave him another nudge from behind “Hurry up Joe I want to see what’s on the other side of this bridge. Besides you don’t want to be on this bridge if a train comes do you.”
“Well I’m not going to get there any faster with you nudging me like that. If you wanted to get over so bad you should have gone first.”
Brad rolled his eyes and watched as Joe took another small, precarious step and stopped to catch his balance. “Come on!” Brad nudged him again right as Joseph was getting ready to take another step knocking him off balance and over the edge of the bridge. Luckily his shirt caught on a nail giving him time to grab onto a piece of wood that stuck out at an odd angle.
“Brad help me.” He called up to his friend who was now looking down at him with terrified eyes. Brad made his way down onto his knees and reached down just barely out of reach of his friend’s hand.
“Get down on your stomach.”
Brad did what he was told and was able to grab hold of one of Joe’s hands “I’m not strong enough.” He shouted down.
Suddenly the most dreadful sound Joe had ever heard rent the air. It was the sound of a train coming down the tracks toward them. Brad looked up horrified. “Quick Brad help me up.”
Brad pushed himself to his knees. “I can’t I got to get out of here.”
“Wait don’t leave me here.” Fear was beginning to really take hold of Joey now as the train got closer. He barely had a grip of the piece of wood anyway and he knew when the train crossed it would shake the wood right out of his grip. He winced as a splinter went into his hand and he let go with one hand. There was no way he could survive this.
“Give me your hand Joseph.” Joseph looked up to see a beautiful blonde woman leaning over the side of the bridge reaching her hand down to him. The train was only about 100 feet down the track but the woman didn’t seem to notice. He tried reaching his other arm up but couldn’t get it above his head.”
“I can’t do it, go save yourself.”
The woman glanced at the train nearly 50 feet away now. “Please Joseph the trains coming.”
“I know, no go before you die too.”
“I’m not leaving with out you.” The train was just over 10 feet away when to his horror the woman threw herself over the bridge grabbing on to Joseph as she fell and caused him to lose his grip.
He closed his eyes as they fell waiting for the moment when his body hit the earth, knowing it would be the last sensation he ever felt. Suddenly he realized he wasn’t falling anymore. He opened his eyes to see that he was standing in some bushes beneath the bridge the blonde woman standing behind him breathing hard. When he looked at her she smiled. “Well that was a close one eh? Let’s not do that again, alright?”
Joseph nodded and then asked the first question to enter his mind. “How do you know my name?”
She smiled again. “I know a lot about you Joseph.”
He looked at her for a moment. “Who are you?”
That same knowing smile. “I’m your guardian angel”
Footsteps behind him caused him to turn as he saw Brad running up behind him. “Dude, you’re alright.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you make it?”
“This woman saved me.” He pointed in the direction of the woman but when he turned to look she was gone. ‘Where’d she go? She was just here she saved my life and said she was my guardian angel and she knew my name”
“Yeah sure, dude”
“And what’s even weirder is that I think I’ve seen her before.”
Brittney watched as the two boys walked in the opposite direction. That belt of hers had really come in handy when it came to Joseph and had given her the real feeling of being an angel. She was so glad that she had followed Joseph today she didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if she hadn’t. She would have to keep a closer eye on him. There was no way that she could go back to Imaginess for even a day. Joseph was now her number one priority.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Earth Under Attack (Chapter 1)
A Prisoner Escapes
7 years later
It was a rainy day on the swamp planet of Mars. Mars was the second rainiest planet in the galaxy besides Neptune and Earth was the third. And sitting in a leaky cell that was half submerged in water sat a figure wearing rags it was not a Martian, no not even close it was in fact a Saturian it was thin and pale from lack of food for it had lived in a dark cell for more than 13 years.
The rain seemed to just add to his misery. Misery had been his only companion for longer than he wanted to admit and more than once it had been overcome by craziness, after all who could stay sane in such surroundings as he had lived in for years. The only time it ever remembered being happy was a couple years ago when he had gotten his first cell mate but that had only lasted a week before the war, the war in which all the prisoners had had to fight and the cell mate had been killed, but not before he could get the information from him, The information that would give him a status on Saturn. His name would be shouted upon the city streets of Saturn for miles around. What was his name you might ask? He could no longer remember, his name had no value to him or any other person on this devil of a planet, for as long as he could remember he had been known as prisoner 591, besides the information he held was much more valuable than a name.
Now all it had to do was get back to his planet and he would be rich and famous and that would most definitely make up for the years and years in which he would have rather been dead. But the chances of that ever happening were little to nothing. And so he entertained himself by rehearsing the information in his head and fantasizing what it would be like to get home and live in luxury for the rest of his life. But deep inside he knew he would die before that ever came to pass.
591 reached up and touched the metal collar around his neck it was practically a part of him now he had been in this prison for so long. He stood up and moved to the door grabbing onto the bars that made up the windows with both hands. The hallway outside his cell was empty the guards wouldn’t be by again until it was time for the meal. The moans of the sick plutonian down the hall was the only sounds that could be heard on this dismal day.
A scuffle behind him caused him to turn around and he smiled slightly to see his small shukan friend come scurrying out of a hole in the wall. 591 moved over to where his food was and grabbed the crust of bread that was left on his plate. It had become his habit in the last couple years to save a small piece of his bread in exchange for the shiny treasures that the little thief happened to steal. The little shukan hurried over to the little nest of hay that he had made in the corner of the cell and dropped the object in the nest with his other treasures. 591 moved over beside the nest and dropped to the ground beside it. The creature stuck its head out in curiosity a peace of hay clinging to its fur. 591 stuck the crust in front of the creatures nose and the creature took it in its paws stared at him for a moment and then stuck it in its mouth and hurried off to another corner to eat its prize.
While the creature was distracted by its meal 591 took the opportunity to dig out the object that the shukan had hidden in the hay. He finally found what looked like a small metal object with three holes and three prongs. He picked it up, stood and moved over to where his own bed was and dropped down into it examining the object as he did.
He loved trying to figure out what type of a person the objects belonged too. And what they were used for he imagined the holes used to have gems in it and that maybe it was a type of brooch for some great lady. Maybe much like himself he had been captured when the Martians had attacked his planet. Finally he tired of creating scenarios for the object and placed it down in the corner with his other treasures then he curled up and went to sleep.
He woke up a couple of hours later. He sat up to see that the bowl that he had left by the door had been refilled indicating that it was the next morning. He moved over and grabbed the bowl forcing it down his throat then grabbing the piece of bread and eating most of that setting aside a crust of bread for later. A scuffle at the hole announced the shukan’s arrival right on time. This time the creature held a small piece of reflective glass that 591 guessed was from a mirror. Moving over to the bed he stared into it getting a glimpse of himself for the first time in what seemed like millennium. His hair was short courtesies, of the annual shave that was given to all the prisoners on the anniversary of his capture, his skin was pale even for a Saturian and his eyes which were a light shade of purple had wrinkles and circles under them even though he got more that his fair share of sleep and rest. He then examined his neck and the collar around it. His neck was covered in scars from where the collar had rubbed the hardest in the first couple weeks. The collar itself was dirty but even so as strong as it had been the day it had been put on. The Martian language was scribbled around the side probably telling his number and other important things that the guards might want to know upon running into him. There were three small holes on one side probably meant for unlocking the thing all though he’d never heard of anybody who’d had the collar removed. The other side had two small circle marks that was anyone’s guess as too their purpose.
He lowered the mirror and turned to place it in the corner with the other objects when his eyes fell on the metal object from the night before. He picked up the mirror once more along with the object and moved back into his previous position.
Examining the collar once more with the mirror he took the device and pressed it into the holes. His heart jumped when three prongs popped out on the other side of his neck. With heart racing and hands beginning to shake he moved the key into his other hand and pressed the holes over the prongs. There was the sound of gears shifting and a small electric jolt raced through him as the collar opened and fell from his neck into his lap. Tears sprang to his eyes as he picked the object up and reached up to touch his callused neck. The tears came harder as he gripped the collar with all his strength then watched as it phased through his hand and fell back to his lap.
Finally he stood to his feet and walked toward the door pausing to look at the shukan who was still eating its meal. 591 bent down reaching his hand out to his little friend he motioned for the creature and it scurried up to him hesitating for only a moment in order to smell him before racing up his arm and onto his shoulder. “I owe you my life little guy!” 591 managed to whisper. “The least I can do is repay the favor.” Then he phased through the wall and out of the cell in a matter of moments he had made his way out of the prison without too much hassle. Then with no further delay he raced in the direction of the air craft hanger, powered up one of the machines and headed for home.
The Neeuk Bedula sat on her throne the weight of her world on her shoulders what she wouldn’t give to have her husband either one of them back to rule the planet so she didn’t have to. Or even for her three year old son Pula to grow up and take the throne. It wouldn’t be so bad if the late Gnik Tuck hadn’t left the planet in search of his fiancée leaving his kingdom to rot. Now the planet was nothing but ruins and her first husband the Gnik Oral had been Tuck’s advisor and became Gnik when Tuck disappeared. At that time she had been pregnant with her daughter, Farsi. When Oral was killed in an accident she married her husband’s best friend, Malon. Malon was the father of Pula but not long after Pula was born Malon had died from a disease called Quaple. But Malon had been a very foolish Gnik and had refused any advisors. So now Bedula ruled until her son was old enough to take her place or until by some miracle the true Gnik returned.
As she sat there trying to comprehend what to do about the latest dilemma that had surfaced, Ullie a man in his late 50’s and guard of the front gate entered “Your majesty a peasant at the door would like to speak with you, he says he knew Oral.”
“Let him enter.”
The prisoner sat in the courtyard examining all the beautiful glass sculptures he was sitting on a glass bench across from a sculpture of a Zulus a large magnificent creature with stubby little wings and thick white fur and scales on his head and feet. Just then the guard returned and led him to the throne room he bowed and told the Neeuk his news. “Your majesty,” he said his voice hoarse from neglect “I come with very important news that you my want to hear it come from a man in the depths of a prison clearly forgotten with no hope of being rescued and when in such a state you tend to tell your most trusted secrets.” Here he paused waiting for permission to go farther.
“Continue,” The Neeuk said “But make it quick…and it better be worth it I got bigger things to worry about than trivial matters.”
The prisoner nodded and continued obviously assured that his news was worth hearing. “My fellow prisoner had a secret that would have made him rich, he said he knew the where abouts of the one called Su Kutcha.”
“Who is this Su Kutcha you speak of?” The Neeuk interrupted.
“I am told she is one of the most wanted people in the universe. Mars wants her captured, Jupiter and Mercury want her captured. I think it would be good for us if we were the ones who captured her”
“What are you suggesting?”
“She was raised on earth, while she doesn’t live there anymore her family still does.”
Bedula nodded beginning to comprehend what 591 was starting to get at. “I see…we go for the family and we get the girl.”
“Exactly!”
591 sat in a bedroom a soft, rich blanket covered the bed. Oh how it would feel to live like this. He stretched himself out along the bed. The blankets felt familiar in fact this whole room seemed familiar. 591 sat up quickly and looked around sure enough the room looked like something straight out of his memories. He just couldn’t put his finger on why. 591 stood up and began pacing the room. He stopped in front of the fireplace. Above the fireplace hung a picture of a woman she had long beautiful hair that hung down around her shoulders. The prisoner reached up and touched his own stubby hair. The prison warden had made sure all the prisoners had short hair including the woman so that no one could tell the difference between male and female and everyone was just called he.
He glanced at the picture again. Underneath the picture was inscribed
“To my dearest Chi Chi.
I love you
From:
It was smudged so he couldn’t see who it was from. The prisoner sighed and walked over to the bed and lay down. Love stories how dull. His own love story had been disappointing he couldn’t even remember why all he knew was that it was sad so he didn’t try to think about it any longer. Soon he fell asleep the best sleep he had had in years
Days later the Neeuk herself had readied an army to go to earth. The Neeuk was standing on a hill overlooking a valley where her troops were getting ready beside her stood 591. She turned to the prisoner “If you are wrong about this you will spend the rest of your life in prison and you will not escape.”
“Trust me your majesty you won’t be sorry I got the information from a very reliable source a man in the pit of despair with out any hope of ever escaping. Like I said before, when in such a state one tends to tell his most trusted secrets. And even then the only way I could extract the information from him was to promise him his freedom when I escaped. But we were separated and I never saw him again but they killed him trying to get the information out of him.”
“For your sake I hope you are right.”
7 years later
It was a rainy day on the swamp planet of Mars. Mars was the second rainiest planet in the galaxy besides Neptune and Earth was the third. And sitting in a leaky cell that was half submerged in water sat a figure wearing rags it was not a Martian, no not even close it was in fact a Saturian it was thin and pale from lack of food for it had lived in a dark cell for more than 13 years.
The rain seemed to just add to his misery. Misery had been his only companion for longer than he wanted to admit and more than once it had been overcome by craziness, after all who could stay sane in such surroundings as he had lived in for years. The only time it ever remembered being happy was a couple years ago when he had gotten his first cell mate but that had only lasted a week before the war, the war in which all the prisoners had had to fight and the cell mate had been killed, but not before he could get the information from him, The information that would give him a status on Saturn. His name would be shouted upon the city streets of Saturn for miles around. What was his name you might ask? He could no longer remember, his name had no value to him or any other person on this devil of a planet, for as long as he could remember he had been known as prisoner 591, besides the information he held was much more valuable than a name.
Now all it had to do was get back to his planet and he would be rich and famous and that would most definitely make up for the years and years in which he would have rather been dead. But the chances of that ever happening were little to nothing. And so he entertained himself by rehearsing the information in his head and fantasizing what it would be like to get home and live in luxury for the rest of his life. But deep inside he knew he would die before that ever came to pass.
591 reached up and touched the metal collar around his neck it was practically a part of him now he had been in this prison for so long. He stood up and moved to the door grabbing onto the bars that made up the windows with both hands. The hallway outside his cell was empty the guards wouldn’t be by again until it was time for the meal. The moans of the sick plutonian down the hall was the only sounds that could be heard on this dismal day.
A scuffle behind him caused him to turn around and he smiled slightly to see his small shukan friend come scurrying out of a hole in the wall. 591 moved over to where his food was and grabbed the crust of bread that was left on his plate. It had become his habit in the last couple years to save a small piece of his bread in exchange for the shiny treasures that the little thief happened to steal. The little shukan hurried over to the little nest of hay that he had made in the corner of the cell and dropped the object in the nest with his other treasures. 591 moved over beside the nest and dropped to the ground beside it. The creature stuck its head out in curiosity a peace of hay clinging to its fur. 591 stuck the crust in front of the creatures nose and the creature took it in its paws stared at him for a moment and then stuck it in its mouth and hurried off to another corner to eat its prize.
While the creature was distracted by its meal 591 took the opportunity to dig out the object that the shukan had hidden in the hay. He finally found what looked like a small metal object with three holes and three prongs. He picked it up, stood and moved over to where his own bed was and dropped down into it examining the object as he did.
He loved trying to figure out what type of a person the objects belonged too. And what they were used for he imagined the holes used to have gems in it and that maybe it was a type of brooch for some great lady. Maybe much like himself he had been captured when the Martians had attacked his planet. Finally he tired of creating scenarios for the object and placed it down in the corner with his other treasures then he curled up and went to sleep.
He woke up a couple of hours later. He sat up to see that the bowl that he had left by the door had been refilled indicating that it was the next morning. He moved over and grabbed the bowl forcing it down his throat then grabbing the piece of bread and eating most of that setting aside a crust of bread for later. A scuffle at the hole announced the shukan’s arrival right on time. This time the creature held a small piece of reflective glass that 591 guessed was from a mirror. Moving over to the bed he stared into it getting a glimpse of himself for the first time in what seemed like millennium. His hair was short courtesies, of the annual shave that was given to all the prisoners on the anniversary of his capture, his skin was pale even for a Saturian and his eyes which were a light shade of purple had wrinkles and circles under them even though he got more that his fair share of sleep and rest. He then examined his neck and the collar around it. His neck was covered in scars from where the collar had rubbed the hardest in the first couple weeks. The collar itself was dirty but even so as strong as it had been the day it had been put on. The Martian language was scribbled around the side probably telling his number and other important things that the guards might want to know upon running into him. There were three small holes on one side probably meant for unlocking the thing all though he’d never heard of anybody who’d had the collar removed. The other side had two small circle marks that was anyone’s guess as too their purpose.
He lowered the mirror and turned to place it in the corner with the other objects when his eyes fell on the metal object from the night before. He picked up the mirror once more along with the object and moved back into his previous position.
Examining the collar once more with the mirror he took the device and pressed it into the holes. His heart jumped when three prongs popped out on the other side of his neck. With heart racing and hands beginning to shake he moved the key into his other hand and pressed the holes over the prongs. There was the sound of gears shifting and a small electric jolt raced through him as the collar opened and fell from his neck into his lap. Tears sprang to his eyes as he picked the object up and reached up to touch his callused neck. The tears came harder as he gripped the collar with all his strength then watched as it phased through his hand and fell back to his lap.
Finally he stood to his feet and walked toward the door pausing to look at the shukan who was still eating its meal. 591 bent down reaching his hand out to his little friend he motioned for the creature and it scurried up to him hesitating for only a moment in order to smell him before racing up his arm and onto his shoulder. “I owe you my life little guy!” 591 managed to whisper. “The least I can do is repay the favor.” Then he phased through the wall and out of the cell in a matter of moments he had made his way out of the prison without too much hassle. Then with no further delay he raced in the direction of the air craft hanger, powered up one of the machines and headed for home.
The Neeuk Bedula sat on her throne the weight of her world on her shoulders what she wouldn’t give to have her husband either one of them back to rule the planet so she didn’t have to. Or even for her three year old son Pula to grow up and take the throne. It wouldn’t be so bad if the late Gnik Tuck hadn’t left the planet in search of his fiancée leaving his kingdom to rot. Now the planet was nothing but ruins and her first husband the Gnik Oral had been Tuck’s advisor and became Gnik when Tuck disappeared. At that time she had been pregnant with her daughter, Farsi. When Oral was killed in an accident she married her husband’s best friend, Malon. Malon was the father of Pula but not long after Pula was born Malon had died from a disease called Quaple. But Malon had been a very foolish Gnik and had refused any advisors. So now Bedula ruled until her son was old enough to take her place or until by some miracle the true Gnik returned.
As she sat there trying to comprehend what to do about the latest dilemma that had surfaced, Ullie a man in his late 50’s and guard of the front gate entered “Your majesty a peasant at the door would like to speak with you, he says he knew Oral.”
“Let him enter.”
The prisoner sat in the courtyard examining all the beautiful glass sculptures he was sitting on a glass bench across from a sculpture of a Zulus a large magnificent creature with stubby little wings and thick white fur and scales on his head and feet. Just then the guard returned and led him to the throne room he bowed and told the Neeuk his news. “Your majesty,” he said his voice hoarse from neglect “I come with very important news that you my want to hear it come from a man in the depths of a prison clearly forgotten with no hope of being rescued and when in such a state you tend to tell your most trusted secrets.” Here he paused waiting for permission to go farther.
“Continue,” The Neeuk said “But make it quick…and it better be worth it I got bigger things to worry about than trivial matters.”
The prisoner nodded and continued obviously assured that his news was worth hearing. “My fellow prisoner had a secret that would have made him rich, he said he knew the where abouts of the one called Su Kutcha.”
“Who is this Su Kutcha you speak of?” The Neeuk interrupted.
“I am told she is one of the most wanted people in the universe. Mars wants her captured, Jupiter and Mercury want her captured. I think it would be good for us if we were the ones who captured her”
“What are you suggesting?”
“She was raised on earth, while she doesn’t live there anymore her family still does.”
Bedula nodded beginning to comprehend what 591 was starting to get at. “I see…we go for the family and we get the girl.”
“Exactly!”
591 sat in a bedroom a soft, rich blanket covered the bed. Oh how it would feel to live like this. He stretched himself out along the bed. The blankets felt familiar in fact this whole room seemed familiar. 591 sat up quickly and looked around sure enough the room looked like something straight out of his memories. He just couldn’t put his finger on why. 591 stood up and began pacing the room. He stopped in front of the fireplace. Above the fireplace hung a picture of a woman she had long beautiful hair that hung down around her shoulders. The prisoner reached up and touched his own stubby hair. The prison warden had made sure all the prisoners had short hair including the woman so that no one could tell the difference between male and female and everyone was just called he.
He glanced at the picture again. Underneath the picture was inscribed
“To my dearest Chi Chi.
I love you
From:
It was smudged so he couldn’t see who it was from. The prisoner sighed and walked over to the bed and lay down. Love stories how dull. His own love story had been disappointing he couldn’t even remember why all he knew was that it was sad so he didn’t try to think about it any longer. Soon he fell asleep the best sleep he had had in years
Days later the Neeuk herself had readied an army to go to earth. The Neeuk was standing on a hill overlooking a valley where her troops were getting ready beside her stood 591. She turned to the prisoner “If you are wrong about this you will spend the rest of your life in prison and you will not escape.”
“Trust me your majesty you won’t be sorry I got the information from a very reliable source a man in the pit of despair with out any hope of ever escaping. Like I said before, when in such a state one tends to tell his most trusted secrets. And even then the only way I could extract the information from him was to promise him his freedom when I escaped. But we were separated and I never saw him again but they killed him trying to get the information out of him.”
“For your sake I hope you are right.”
Earth Under Attack (Preview and Synopsis)
Synopsis:
7 years have past since Brit left to live on Imaginess promising her younger brother that she would do her best to watch over him. Now Joseph is 12 and doesn’t remember much about his sister, Chris is getting on in years and has struggled to help his young son from letting anger at his parent’s murderers consume him and Linda’s sister is going through a handful of struggles with her own teenaged son.
But when aliens attack Earth all problems are suddenly put on hold as the people of Earth try to sort through the madness and the people of Imaginess pull out their laser guns to help. In the end friends and families will be reunited and help will come from the most unexpected of places.
Preview:
There was a rustling coming from the direction of his parent’s bedroom and he pushed open the door to see a hooded figure standing before them as if waiting for them. “Who are you?” Kyle shouted at the figure. It didn’t answer. “I asked you a question.” The hooded figure began to walk towards him. “Stay back I’ve got a knife.” But he continued to come. Kyle took a step forward and plunged the knife into the figures abdomen closing his eyes as he did. Maria screamed from behind him and he opened his eyes. The figure was staring at him the knife buried in its stomach after a moment it took a step forward swallowing both knife and the hand that held it. Kyle let go of the knife and took a step back. The figure advanced and he took a couple more steps back careful to keep Maria behind him. He looked to see that the knife had fallen to the floor with out the tiniest bit of blood on it. His heart was beating wildly and he was unsure of what to do.
He grabbed Maria’s hand and looked around for a way to escape that was when he noticed that the figure was not alone.
7 years have past since Brit left to live on Imaginess promising her younger brother that she would do her best to watch over him. Now Joseph is 12 and doesn’t remember much about his sister, Chris is getting on in years and has struggled to help his young son from letting anger at his parent’s murderers consume him and Linda’s sister is going through a handful of struggles with her own teenaged son.
But when aliens attack Earth all problems are suddenly put on hold as the people of Earth try to sort through the madness and the people of Imaginess pull out their laser guns to help. In the end friends and families will be reunited and help will come from the most unexpected of places.
Preview:
There was a rustling coming from the direction of his parent’s bedroom and he pushed open the door to see a hooded figure standing before them as if waiting for them. “Who are you?” Kyle shouted at the figure. It didn’t answer. “I asked you a question.” The hooded figure began to walk towards him. “Stay back I’ve got a knife.” But he continued to come. Kyle took a step forward and plunged the knife into the figures abdomen closing his eyes as he did. Maria screamed from behind him and he opened his eyes. The figure was staring at him the knife buried in its stomach after a moment it took a step forward swallowing both knife and the hand that held it. Kyle let go of the knife and took a step back. The figure advanced and he took a couple more steps back careful to keep Maria behind him. He looked to see that the knife had fallen to the floor with out the tiniest bit of blood on it. His heart was beating wildly and he was unsure of what to do.
He grabbed Maria’s hand and looked around for a way to escape that was when he noticed that the figure was not alone.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Brittney's Story (Chapter 7)
Brittney’s Choice
3 years later
“Are you sure you want to do this Leena?” Mattim leaned up against the wall his arms crossed in front of him. His wife sat in a window seat looking out the window.
“I’m sure!” She replied without looking at him. “It’s what I want to do.”
“But you said –“
Leena turned to look at him cutting him short “I know what I said Mattim.” She scolded him gently but firmly. She crossed her arms in front of her. “It’s for the betterment of the planet.” She stated turning back to the window.
“You and your excuses.” Mattim said coming to stand behind her.
Leena turned around surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Come on Leena.” Matthew nudged her playfully. “You may fool the rest of the planet with that whole ‘Betterment of the Planet” speech but you aren’t fooling me.”
Leena smiled. “Your right Mattim, you see right through me.”
Mattim smiled too. “You’re right…but do you still want to do this.”
Leena’s smile broadened. “Definitely!”
The cool breeze blew through Brittney’s curly blonde hair and she closed her eyes and smiled as the wind blew a slight mist from the sprinkler into her face. She took a deep breath and tried to remember the smell of Imaginess, the feel of the early morning mist on her face, she could almost hear Shanti’s laugh, and taste the flower-nuts.
It had been 3 years since Brittney had been to Imaginess and not a day had gone by that she didn’t think of the things that had happened there. In fact she had been caught day-dreaming more and more often. She was certain Chris had noticed by now but he hadn’t talked to her about it and so she continued to dream.
“Brittney!” her little brothers shouts from the back door filled her ears and burst the dream-bubble before it had had much of a chance to grow.
“Coming!” she yelled grabbing her jacket and racing through the sprinkler toward the door. “What is it Big Guy?” She asked when she got there.
5-year-old Joseph stood at the door holding on to the doorknob above his head “Daddy says that he wants to talk to you in the livin’ room. There’s some people here who want to talk to you.”
“Who is it?”
Joseph shrugged his shoulders until they nearly touched his ears his eyes widening as he did so.
“Ok thanks Bud,” She said heading in the direction of the living room. “Hey why don’t you go and play with your cars and when I’m done we can walk down to the corner and get some ice cream, how does that sound?”
“Yeah!” Joseph shouted jumping up and down.
“Ok, now just relax. Go play with you cars and I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
“It’s really up to her.” Chris was saying. “Things haven’t been the same for any of us since Kira died. We’ve both mourned in our on way. I’ve distracted myself with Joseph, but Brittney…well I worry about her. She’s been very distracted lately she can’t focus she spends a lot of time out reading her fantasy and science-fiction novels down at the park but mostly she day-dreams. To tell you the truth I think it would be good for her to get away for awhile.”
“I’m not talking about for just a little while Mr. Baker. If it’s alright with you and of course Brittney we’d like for Brittney to stay there…forever.”
“Forever!”
“I’ve already talked it over with the Zotac she would have the best of care, an incredible education that any hard-nosed student would die to have, and she’d be working to make our planet beautiful something I’m told is a weakness of your daughter’s.”
“Yes, she’s very into nature.”
“Which is why she’s the perfect one for the job. Now I’m going to need your approval to do this Mr. Baker. If you aren’t 100% for it I won’t even offer it too her and of course it will be open for her to visit, or even for you to visit anytime.”
Chris stood to his feet and walked over to the mantle looking closely at a picture of his wife. “Kira loved nature you know. That’s one of the reasons we chose to come here when we ran from the Martians but she hated that she couldn’t do anything about her own home. I remember her constantly complaining about how we had the only dead yard in the entire neighborhood.” Chris turned back to the woman sitting in the chair by the door. “I think my wife would have been proud to have Brittney help in something like this…and so will I.”
The woman smiled just as she door opened and Brittney stepped in.
Brittney knew right away that the woman sitting in the living room wasn’t human. After all how many women did her dad know with aqua colored hair? Not very many she was sure.
“Brittney!” Chris greeted her as she entered the room. “Come have a seat this woman Dr. Jent has something to ask you.”
Brittney found a seat beside Chris suddenly very nervous and a bit freaked by this unexpected visit. “What’s going on? Do I have a secret case of Quaple that you’re here to tell me about?”
The woman chuckled. “Oh no nothing like that. I actually have a proposal for you.”
“A proposal?”
“Yes, now I should probably tell you that I work for the Zotac of Imaginess. I’m a biologist specifically I study plants. Now I don’t know if you realize this but earth is the only planet with controlled plant life the rest of the planets just can’t seem to figure it out. I’ve tried for years to find a solution but I keep coming up empty.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
Dr. Jent smiled her eyes gleaming. “Brittney,” Her voice couldn’t contain her excitement as she said her name. “you are the first human to have ever stepped foot on Imaginese soil.”
“Yeah?...So?”
“What nobody not even you realized is that humans have an amazing ability to control vegetation. The places where you walked were filled with some of the most beautiful flowers any of us have ever seen.”
“What do you mean ‘were’?”
A frown creased the doctor’s forehead. “The flowers lasted only about six months after you left…and then disappeared. It’s taken us all this time to make the connection between you and the bloomage.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to come back with us.” Brittney began to protest but Dr. Jent interrupted her. “You would live on Imaginess and bring life to our land. I’ve already talked to the Zotac and she’s agreed to let you live with her.”
“But what about my family?”
“I’ve already talked to Christilone. He’s ok with your going. Your brother’s young enough not to take it to hard. The people of Imaginess would –“
“I’ll do it!”
“You will?”
“Under one condition.”
“Anything!”
“I’m free to return to Earth if I ever choose too and can come visit anytime I choose too.”
Dr. Jent stood and crossed the room holding her hand out to Brittney in agreement. “It’s a deal! I’ll pick you up tomorrow so be sure your ready.”
“Make it a week and you got yourself a deal.”
Brittney watched her brother playing with his matchbox cars. It had been nearly a week since Dr. Jent’s visit. Dr. Jent would be coming to get her any minute and she still hadn’t told Joseph about her decision “Joseph there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?” He asked pulling himself to his knees and his hands on his knees like he had seen his sister do time and time again.
Brittney sighed trying to think of the best way to tell him. “Joseph I’m going to be going away for awhile.”
“Where are you going?”
“That lady who came wants me to work for her and I said ‘yes’”
“But why?”
“Because Joseph she needs me.” Brittney looked around and noticed a single white lily sitting in a vase on the table by the couch. “Joseph you see that lily?”
“Yeah?”
“Well the place where that lady comes from doesn’t have flowers and things like that lily and she wants me to go and help them to get beautiful flowers like that one”
“When are you coming back?”
Brittney thought about it for a minute. “I’m going to stay there for awhile but I’ll come back and visit you I promise.” Brittney stood up and sat down on the ground beside Joseph grabbing him gently by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. “No matter what Joseph I’ll always be there to take care of you.” She smiled then. “I’ll be like your guardian angel. You may not always know I’m watching you but I will somehow I’ll always find a way.”
Joseph nodded sadly still not fully understanding but knowing that somehow what his sister was saying meant change.
There was a knock on the door and Brittney could hear her dad answering it, she could hear Dr. Jent’s voice down the hall
“Here I have something for you.” Brittney stood up and raced in the direction of her room when she returned she held a small statue of an angel the inscription around the base said ‘I’ll be there’ “Here.” She handed the statue to Joseph. “This was our mothers. I want you to have it now. It could be something to remember both of us by. To remind you that we’re both watching out for you.”
Joseph took the statue gently from his sister. “I’ll miss you Joseph” She said grabbing on to him and pulling him close. “Be good for daddy.”
“Ok!”
Then she grabbed her bags and followed the doctor out the door. She would miss Joseph she knew that, she would miss Chris too. But she would come back just like she had promised Joseph. She couldn’t promise that he would always know when she was around after all it would be better for him if he forgot he ever had a sister. But she would watch him, she would be his guardian angel.
3 years later
“Are you sure you want to do this Leena?” Mattim leaned up against the wall his arms crossed in front of him. His wife sat in a window seat looking out the window.
“I’m sure!” She replied without looking at him. “It’s what I want to do.”
“But you said –“
Leena turned to look at him cutting him short “I know what I said Mattim.” She scolded him gently but firmly. She crossed her arms in front of her. “It’s for the betterment of the planet.” She stated turning back to the window.
“You and your excuses.” Mattim said coming to stand behind her.
Leena turned around surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Come on Leena.” Matthew nudged her playfully. “You may fool the rest of the planet with that whole ‘Betterment of the Planet” speech but you aren’t fooling me.”
Leena smiled. “Your right Mattim, you see right through me.”
Mattim smiled too. “You’re right…but do you still want to do this.”
Leena’s smile broadened. “Definitely!”
The cool breeze blew through Brittney’s curly blonde hair and she closed her eyes and smiled as the wind blew a slight mist from the sprinkler into her face. She took a deep breath and tried to remember the smell of Imaginess, the feel of the early morning mist on her face, she could almost hear Shanti’s laugh, and taste the flower-nuts.
It had been 3 years since Brittney had been to Imaginess and not a day had gone by that she didn’t think of the things that had happened there. In fact she had been caught day-dreaming more and more often. She was certain Chris had noticed by now but he hadn’t talked to her about it and so she continued to dream.
“Brittney!” her little brothers shouts from the back door filled her ears and burst the dream-bubble before it had had much of a chance to grow.
“Coming!” she yelled grabbing her jacket and racing through the sprinkler toward the door. “What is it Big Guy?” She asked when she got there.
5-year-old Joseph stood at the door holding on to the doorknob above his head “Daddy says that he wants to talk to you in the livin’ room. There’s some people here who want to talk to you.”
“Who is it?”
Joseph shrugged his shoulders until they nearly touched his ears his eyes widening as he did so.
“Ok thanks Bud,” She said heading in the direction of the living room. “Hey why don’t you go and play with your cars and when I’m done we can walk down to the corner and get some ice cream, how does that sound?”
“Yeah!” Joseph shouted jumping up and down.
“Ok, now just relax. Go play with you cars and I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
“It’s really up to her.” Chris was saying. “Things haven’t been the same for any of us since Kira died. We’ve both mourned in our on way. I’ve distracted myself with Joseph, but Brittney…well I worry about her. She’s been very distracted lately she can’t focus she spends a lot of time out reading her fantasy and science-fiction novels down at the park but mostly she day-dreams. To tell you the truth I think it would be good for her to get away for awhile.”
“I’m not talking about for just a little while Mr. Baker. If it’s alright with you and of course Brittney we’d like for Brittney to stay there…forever.”
“Forever!”
“I’ve already talked it over with the Zotac she would have the best of care, an incredible education that any hard-nosed student would die to have, and she’d be working to make our planet beautiful something I’m told is a weakness of your daughter’s.”
“Yes, she’s very into nature.”
“Which is why she’s the perfect one for the job. Now I’m going to need your approval to do this Mr. Baker. If you aren’t 100% for it I won’t even offer it too her and of course it will be open for her to visit, or even for you to visit anytime.”
Chris stood to his feet and walked over to the mantle looking closely at a picture of his wife. “Kira loved nature you know. That’s one of the reasons we chose to come here when we ran from the Martians but she hated that she couldn’t do anything about her own home. I remember her constantly complaining about how we had the only dead yard in the entire neighborhood.” Chris turned back to the woman sitting in the chair by the door. “I think my wife would have been proud to have Brittney help in something like this…and so will I.”
The woman smiled just as she door opened and Brittney stepped in.
Brittney knew right away that the woman sitting in the living room wasn’t human. After all how many women did her dad know with aqua colored hair? Not very many she was sure.
“Brittney!” Chris greeted her as she entered the room. “Come have a seat this woman Dr. Jent has something to ask you.”
Brittney found a seat beside Chris suddenly very nervous and a bit freaked by this unexpected visit. “What’s going on? Do I have a secret case of Quaple that you’re here to tell me about?”
The woman chuckled. “Oh no nothing like that. I actually have a proposal for you.”
“A proposal?”
“Yes, now I should probably tell you that I work for the Zotac of Imaginess. I’m a biologist specifically I study plants. Now I don’t know if you realize this but earth is the only planet with controlled plant life the rest of the planets just can’t seem to figure it out. I’ve tried for years to find a solution but I keep coming up empty.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
Dr. Jent smiled her eyes gleaming. “Brittney,” Her voice couldn’t contain her excitement as she said her name. “you are the first human to have ever stepped foot on Imaginese soil.”
“Yeah?...So?”
“What nobody not even you realized is that humans have an amazing ability to control vegetation. The places where you walked were filled with some of the most beautiful flowers any of us have ever seen.”
“What do you mean ‘were’?”
A frown creased the doctor’s forehead. “The flowers lasted only about six months after you left…and then disappeared. It’s taken us all this time to make the connection between you and the bloomage.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to come back with us.” Brittney began to protest but Dr. Jent interrupted her. “You would live on Imaginess and bring life to our land. I’ve already talked to the Zotac and she’s agreed to let you live with her.”
“But what about my family?”
“I’ve already talked to Christilone. He’s ok with your going. Your brother’s young enough not to take it to hard. The people of Imaginess would –“
“I’ll do it!”
“You will?”
“Under one condition.”
“Anything!”
“I’m free to return to Earth if I ever choose too and can come visit anytime I choose too.”
Dr. Jent stood and crossed the room holding her hand out to Brittney in agreement. “It’s a deal! I’ll pick you up tomorrow so be sure your ready.”
“Make it a week and you got yourself a deal.”
Brittney watched her brother playing with his matchbox cars. It had been nearly a week since Dr. Jent’s visit. Dr. Jent would be coming to get her any minute and she still hadn’t told Joseph about her decision “Joseph there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?” He asked pulling himself to his knees and his hands on his knees like he had seen his sister do time and time again.
Brittney sighed trying to think of the best way to tell him. “Joseph I’m going to be going away for awhile.”
“Where are you going?”
“That lady who came wants me to work for her and I said ‘yes’”
“But why?”
“Because Joseph she needs me.” Brittney looked around and noticed a single white lily sitting in a vase on the table by the couch. “Joseph you see that lily?”
“Yeah?”
“Well the place where that lady comes from doesn’t have flowers and things like that lily and she wants me to go and help them to get beautiful flowers like that one”
“When are you coming back?”
Brittney thought about it for a minute. “I’m going to stay there for awhile but I’ll come back and visit you I promise.” Brittney stood up and sat down on the ground beside Joseph grabbing him gently by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. “No matter what Joseph I’ll always be there to take care of you.” She smiled then. “I’ll be like your guardian angel. You may not always know I’m watching you but I will somehow I’ll always find a way.”
Joseph nodded sadly still not fully understanding but knowing that somehow what his sister was saying meant change.
There was a knock on the door and Brittney could hear her dad answering it, she could hear Dr. Jent’s voice down the hall
“Here I have something for you.” Brittney stood up and raced in the direction of her room when she returned she held a small statue of an angel the inscription around the base said ‘I’ll be there’ “Here.” She handed the statue to Joseph. “This was our mothers. I want you to have it now. It could be something to remember both of us by. To remind you that we’re both watching out for you.”
Joseph took the statue gently from his sister. “I’ll miss you Joseph” She said grabbing on to him and pulling him close. “Be good for daddy.”
“Ok!”
Then she grabbed her bags and followed the doctor out the door. She would miss Joseph she knew that, she would miss Chris too. But she would come back just like she had promised Joseph. She couldn’t promise that he would always know when she was around after all it would be better for him if he forgot he ever had a sister. But she would watch him, she would be his guardian angel.
Brittney's Story (Chapter 6)
Wilkelm
The next morning Shanti led Brittney outside to a courtyard filled with beautiful, fake flowers. “I have something for you” Shanti said after she had shown her all the different kinds of flowers. “But you have to follow me to a special place” she led Brittney all the way to the Utavi lake there she gave her a small box. Brittney opened it inside was a small blue bug
“What’s this” she asked scrunching up her nose in disgust
“It’s a pill bug all you do is choose an animal you want, get it wet, shout it, and it becomes that animal. Blue ones turn into water animals”
“Cool” said Brittney smiling now “I’ve always wanted a dolphin”
“Great now all you have to do is say dolphin and then throw it into the lake”
Brittney did. And a couple seconds later a beautiful dolphin surfaced whistled and then dived back in “I have something else too” she pulled a suit covered in tubes and things of all sorts “It’s a water suit I made it so you can go underwater and play with your dolphin I have one too want to give it a try”
“Yeah” Brittney was really at this news she’d always dreamed of scuba diving and had liked pretending she was a mermaid when he parents took her to the beach.
She took the suit noticing that her hands were shaking slightly as she did. “Are you all right?” Asked Shanti
“I’m fine.” Brittney replied taking the suit from her friend. She tried stepping into the wetsuit but as she lifted her right leg to step into her vision blurred and she put her foot down to steady herself.
Darkness had enveloped her vision and her ears were ringing. “Shanti” She said although her voice sounded funny and a tingling had filled her entire head and was rushing down her hands and toward her feet. She heard her friend’s voice but it sounded distant and surreal. The tingling had reached her feet and had made them numb she tried to take a step forward but lost her footing. She felt herself falling. But never felt herself hit the ground
When Brittney finally came to nearly 3 hours later she awoke to about six faces peering over her. There was Mernas and Grampa Chris and Shanti and three others she didn’t know. One was a familiar Imaginese alien that she around before. Shanti had said he was a doctor. The other two were strangers: one was completely white with no color in his eyes or hair; the other had a long nose with two mouths on either side of it and no teeth in either one.
“Thank goodness you’re all right.” Grampa Chris said grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. “This has never happened before.” Mernas, “Usually when a Neptunee heals someone they stay healed but as far as I can tell this thing isn’t really hurting her. She’s not in any danger.”
“Well that’s good to know.” Chris said letting go of Brittney’s hand and turning to the long-nosed alien. “What’s your take on it Jatar.”
The alien studied her for a moment before saying, “Well I can’t tell what’s going on in that little brain of hers.” Stated Jatar, “This girl of yours has a very tough brain I can’t seem to get inside it to find out what’s happening. Chris this little girl of yours is very special.”
“The Quaple must have been worse than my mist thought.” Put in Mernas.
“What do you mean?” asked the white man “what Quaple?” “She had Quaple when we found her. A fairly mild case that my mist were able to take care of before it got deadly. But it’s quite possible that she’s now receiving a side effect. How long did you say she’s been with you Christilone?”
“A year.”
Mernas’s skin turned white. Brittney had begun to learn by watching the Neptunee aliens that they’re skin changed color in order to show emotion. From what Brittney could guess White meant fear or worry. “What’s wrong with me Mernas? Am I gonna live.”
The color of the alien went back to blue. “Of course you’ll live dear. It seems you picked up an alien disease. We’re not quite sure what the outcome will be but Mist healed you so you shouldn’t die.”
“She should rest.” Said the white-eyed man.
Jatar nodded and the rest followed them out of the room leaving Brittney and Chris all alone.
Grampa Chris turned to her as the door closed. “So how are you feeling sweetheart?”
“Confused!” Brittney stated as she pulled herself into a sitting position. “What happened?”
“You passed out at the lake. Shanti ran back to get help. You don’t seem to be in all that bad of shape which is saying a lot considering the circumstances. Not many people can say that they’ve survived Quaple.”
“Isn’t that the disease that’s killing Gramma Kira?”
“Yes dear, but it’s a different. Quaple is any disease that you pick up from an alien species.”
“So why am I ok and Gramma’s dying?”
“Gramma got a much worse case then you.” Christilone sighed and stood up trying to figure out the best way to describe this too such a young girl. She was smarter than most her age but even still this was a hard concept for someone so young to grasp. “Most aliens when they leave their planet and go to a new planet will pick up some kind of a disease. It’s pretty much guaranteed. Most aliens get minor sicknesses like colds that are barely noticed and go away with in a couple days. Some of the weaker aliens get hit hard with diseases that, if not treated quickly and correctly will kill them in a matter of days.” He paused then and came to sit back beside Brittney on the bed. “And there are some very rare cases, like your grandma, who get secret diseases. They get a cold that goes away and they think they’re fine and then you find out years later that the cold had only gone into remission and has now become a ravaging, deadly, disease.”
Brittney was quiet for several minutes then changed the subject. “So who were those other people who were in here earlier I didn’t recognize a few of them?”
Chris shrugged relieved that she didn’t question him anymore on the Quaple subject being that he didn’t know any better way to explain it. “There all just people who work here. There was Doctor Utopia and the guy with the long nose was Jatar. He’s a Juptan who’s been living here for little over a year. He can read and control minds. But he’s very polite and would never invade other people’s privacy or freewill without permission. He lives in the palaces basement in hiding only the people who live and work here know of his existence.”
“What about the other guy?”
“What other guy?” “The guy with the white eyes.”
Chris paused for a moment staring at her and for a moment Brittney wondered if that was a question she shouldn’t have asked but then Chris spoke. “I forgot! I never told you that me and Kira had a son did I?”
Brittney was shocked. They had a son? Brittney shook her head still too shocked to speak.
“Well the Man-with-white-eyes is our son Mattim. He’s an albino Imaginese and one of the most powerful aliens on the planet. He’s married to the Zotac, Leena, who I do believe is your dear Shanti’s cousin and the most powerful Imaginese on the planet maybe even the entire universe.” Chris paused and looked at Brittney’s still shocked face that only got more shocked the more he said. “Perhaps you’d like to meet them?”
Brittney nodded mutely her mouth hanging open slightly. Chris laughed. “Brittney’s throwing a party tonight which I’m sure you’d enjoy. Shanti usually attends so I’m sure she can help you. I’ll send her up.” With that he left the room.
The party was amazing and Brittney found herself immediately swept away by the wonder of it all. Brittney and Shanti entered the big Northern Hall which was lit up by about a million lights. The room reminded Brittney of something out of the Cinderella cartoon that she had watched so many times as a kid. The middle of the room was cleared for dancing and hundreds of couple were moving across the floor in colorful costumes that matched their hair. Each person spun around the room clinging to their partner with three sets of arms and dancing dances that Brittney would never be able to dance for her lack of arms.
Shanti – who was wearing a long yellow green dress that had teeny little green flowers all over it and had her hair pilled on top of her head with more of the same flowers – had done a wonderful job of preparing Brittney in much the same way and had done a marvelous job in adding extra ruffles where the extra sleeves should have been to make the dress the most beautiful thing Brittney had ever seen.
As Brittney was still taking it all in Shanti grabbed her new friends hand and ran in the direction of the stage where a group of people stood. As they got closer Brittney discovered that Christilone was among them. “Ah there she is!” Chris exclaimed when he saw her “Brittney I want you to meet the Zotac” Brittney neared them hesitantly until Chris grabbed her and pulled her in front of him. The young woman standing before her was quite beautiful she had to admit. She had long reddish-orange hair with white streaks that was cut fairly short and spiked. She wore a bright red dress that was cut off right below the knee with slits on each side. She didn’t wear the heel-like shoes she had seen on the other woman but instead wore flat shoes that looked much like the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz. She had a scar across the right side of her face but even still she was beautiful and Brittney noticed that she was almost as tall as her husband who, she noted, was quite tall.
Mattim, whom she now realized was Chris and Kira’s son, also had his hair spiked and had dyed the tips black. He had put in some creepy looking contacts that was supposed to put swirls in your pupils but being that he was pupiless it looked kind of creepy but after she got used to them Brittney had to admit that they were very cool.
“Brittney there’s someone else I want you to meet.” Christilone said grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the side of the stage where a woman stood holding something in her arms. “Brittney I’d like you to meet my grandson Wilhelm the future ruler of Imaginess.” Brittney looked at the woman in confusion and then dawning lit her face as she realized that the woman was holding a baby.
“Oh can I hold him?” Chris gave a reassuring nod to the nurse and she handed the infant to Brittney.
“He’s only a couple weeks old.” Chris gushed, “He was born right in time!” A shadow crossed over his face then and understanding filled Brittney as she remembers about Gramma Kira’s sickness. She looked down once more at the small baby with dark red skin and platinum white hair and then handed him over to Chris.
Chris realized that he was depressing Brittney and so tried to smile. “Don’t let me get you down, Sweetheart. Why don’t you go find Shanti and go have some fun.”
He watched as the little girl raced off and his shoulders slumped again as soon as she was out of sight. His life was falling apart at the seams and it was all he could do not to have a meltdown in front of the sweet little girl. He had to be strong for her and for her brother.
He looked over in the direction of his son and wife laughing and socializing with the guests. He watched as a man came up to the stage and whispered something to his son. A look of dread came over his son and Chris noted the way his grip on his wife’s hand tightened. The man stepped back and mouthed the words “I’m sorry”. Mattim turned to leave and Leena tried to stop him but he brushed her aside. That’s when Christilone knew that Kirita was no more.
Tears welled up in his eyes. He looked down at the precious grandson in his arms and the tears began to flow down his cheeks uncontrollably. He pulled the child closer and wept into his blanket. “May you never have to feel this kind of pain Wilhelm.” He whispered into the cloth. “The pain of losing someone close to you.” But Christilone knew that would be impossible. No one could escape pain and most definitely not Wilhelm who would receive more than his fair share of pain in the years to come.
The next morning Shanti led Brittney outside to a courtyard filled with beautiful, fake flowers. “I have something for you” Shanti said after she had shown her all the different kinds of flowers. “But you have to follow me to a special place” she led Brittney all the way to the Utavi lake there she gave her a small box. Brittney opened it inside was a small blue bug
“What’s this” she asked scrunching up her nose in disgust
“It’s a pill bug all you do is choose an animal you want, get it wet, shout it, and it becomes that animal. Blue ones turn into water animals”
“Cool” said Brittney smiling now “I’ve always wanted a dolphin”
“Great now all you have to do is say dolphin and then throw it into the lake”
Brittney did. And a couple seconds later a beautiful dolphin surfaced whistled and then dived back in “I have something else too” she pulled a suit covered in tubes and things of all sorts “It’s a water suit I made it so you can go underwater and play with your dolphin I have one too want to give it a try”
“Yeah” Brittney was really at this news she’d always dreamed of scuba diving and had liked pretending she was a mermaid when he parents took her to the beach.
She took the suit noticing that her hands were shaking slightly as she did. “Are you all right?” Asked Shanti
“I’m fine.” Brittney replied taking the suit from her friend. She tried stepping into the wetsuit but as she lifted her right leg to step into her vision blurred and she put her foot down to steady herself.
Darkness had enveloped her vision and her ears were ringing. “Shanti” She said although her voice sounded funny and a tingling had filled her entire head and was rushing down her hands and toward her feet. She heard her friend’s voice but it sounded distant and surreal. The tingling had reached her feet and had made them numb she tried to take a step forward but lost her footing. She felt herself falling. But never felt herself hit the ground
When Brittney finally came to nearly 3 hours later she awoke to about six faces peering over her. There was Mernas and Grampa Chris and Shanti and three others she didn’t know. One was a familiar Imaginese alien that she around before. Shanti had said he was a doctor. The other two were strangers: one was completely white with no color in his eyes or hair; the other had a long nose with two mouths on either side of it and no teeth in either one.
“Thank goodness you’re all right.” Grampa Chris said grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. “This has never happened before.” Mernas, “Usually when a Neptunee heals someone they stay healed but as far as I can tell this thing isn’t really hurting her. She’s not in any danger.”
“Well that’s good to know.” Chris said letting go of Brittney’s hand and turning to the long-nosed alien. “What’s your take on it Jatar.”
The alien studied her for a moment before saying, “Well I can’t tell what’s going on in that little brain of hers.” Stated Jatar, “This girl of yours has a very tough brain I can’t seem to get inside it to find out what’s happening. Chris this little girl of yours is very special.”
“The Quaple must have been worse than my mist thought.” Put in Mernas.
“What do you mean?” asked the white man “what Quaple?” “She had Quaple when we found her. A fairly mild case that my mist were able to take care of before it got deadly. But it’s quite possible that she’s now receiving a side effect. How long did you say she’s been with you Christilone?”
“A year.”
Mernas’s skin turned white. Brittney had begun to learn by watching the Neptunee aliens that they’re skin changed color in order to show emotion. From what Brittney could guess White meant fear or worry. “What’s wrong with me Mernas? Am I gonna live.”
The color of the alien went back to blue. “Of course you’ll live dear. It seems you picked up an alien disease. We’re not quite sure what the outcome will be but Mist healed you so you shouldn’t die.”
“She should rest.” Said the white-eyed man.
Jatar nodded and the rest followed them out of the room leaving Brittney and Chris all alone.
Grampa Chris turned to her as the door closed. “So how are you feeling sweetheart?”
“Confused!” Brittney stated as she pulled herself into a sitting position. “What happened?”
“You passed out at the lake. Shanti ran back to get help. You don’t seem to be in all that bad of shape which is saying a lot considering the circumstances. Not many people can say that they’ve survived Quaple.”
“Isn’t that the disease that’s killing Gramma Kira?”
“Yes dear, but it’s a different. Quaple is any disease that you pick up from an alien species.”
“So why am I ok and Gramma’s dying?”
“Gramma got a much worse case then you.” Christilone sighed and stood up trying to figure out the best way to describe this too such a young girl. She was smarter than most her age but even still this was a hard concept for someone so young to grasp. “Most aliens when they leave their planet and go to a new planet will pick up some kind of a disease. It’s pretty much guaranteed. Most aliens get minor sicknesses like colds that are barely noticed and go away with in a couple days. Some of the weaker aliens get hit hard with diseases that, if not treated quickly and correctly will kill them in a matter of days.” He paused then and came to sit back beside Brittney on the bed. “And there are some very rare cases, like your grandma, who get secret diseases. They get a cold that goes away and they think they’re fine and then you find out years later that the cold had only gone into remission and has now become a ravaging, deadly, disease.”
Brittney was quiet for several minutes then changed the subject. “So who were those other people who were in here earlier I didn’t recognize a few of them?”
Chris shrugged relieved that she didn’t question him anymore on the Quaple subject being that he didn’t know any better way to explain it. “There all just people who work here. There was Doctor Utopia and the guy with the long nose was Jatar. He’s a Juptan who’s been living here for little over a year. He can read and control minds. But he’s very polite and would never invade other people’s privacy or freewill without permission. He lives in the palaces basement in hiding only the people who live and work here know of his existence.”
“What about the other guy?”
“What other guy?” “The guy with the white eyes.”
Chris paused for a moment staring at her and for a moment Brittney wondered if that was a question she shouldn’t have asked but then Chris spoke. “I forgot! I never told you that me and Kira had a son did I?”
Brittney was shocked. They had a son? Brittney shook her head still too shocked to speak.
“Well the Man-with-white-eyes is our son Mattim. He’s an albino Imaginese and one of the most powerful aliens on the planet. He’s married to the Zotac, Leena, who I do believe is your dear Shanti’s cousin and the most powerful Imaginese on the planet maybe even the entire universe.” Chris paused and looked at Brittney’s still shocked face that only got more shocked the more he said. “Perhaps you’d like to meet them?”
Brittney nodded mutely her mouth hanging open slightly. Chris laughed. “Brittney’s throwing a party tonight which I’m sure you’d enjoy. Shanti usually attends so I’m sure she can help you. I’ll send her up.” With that he left the room.
The party was amazing and Brittney found herself immediately swept away by the wonder of it all. Brittney and Shanti entered the big Northern Hall which was lit up by about a million lights. The room reminded Brittney of something out of the Cinderella cartoon that she had watched so many times as a kid. The middle of the room was cleared for dancing and hundreds of couple were moving across the floor in colorful costumes that matched their hair. Each person spun around the room clinging to their partner with three sets of arms and dancing dances that Brittney would never be able to dance for her lack of arms.
Shanti – who was wearing a long yellow green dress that had teeny little green flowers all over it and had her hair pilled on top of her head with more of the same flowers – had done a wonderful job of preparing Brittney in much the same way and had done a marvelous job in adding extra ruffles where the extra sleeves should have been to make the dress the most beautiful thing Brittney had ever seen.
As Brittney was still taking it all in Shanti grabbed her new friends hand and ran in the direction of the stage where a group of people stood. As they got closer Brittney discovered that Christilone was among them. “Ah there she is!” Chris exclaimed when he saw her “Brittney I want you to meet the Zotac” Brittney neared them hesitantly until Chris grabbed her and pulled her in front of him. The young woman standing before her was quite beautiful she had to admit. She had long reddish-orange hair with white streaks that was cut fairly short and spiked. She wore a bright red dress that was cut off right below the knee with slits on each side. She didn’t wear the heel-like shoes she had seen on the other woman but instead wore flat shoes that looked much like the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz. She had a scar across the right side of her face but even still she was beautiful and Brittney noticed that she was almost as tall as her husband who, she noted, was quite tall.
Mattim, whom she now realized was Chris and Kira’s son, also had his hair spiked and had dyed the tips black. He had put in some creepy looking contacts that was supposed to put swirls in your pupils but being that he was pupiless it looked kind of creepy but after she got used to them Brittney had to admit that they were very cool.
“Brittney there’s someone else I want you to meet.” Christilone said grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the side of the stage where a woman stood holding something in her arms. “Brittney I’d like you to meet my grandson Wilhelm the future ruler of Imaginess.” Brittney looked at the woman in confusion and then dawning lit her face as she realized that the woman was holding a baby.
“Oh can I hold him?” Chris gave a reassuring nod to the nurse and she handed the infant to Brittney.
“He’s only a couple weeks old.” Chris gushed, “He was born right in time!” A shadow crossed over his face then and understanding filled Brittney as she remembers about Gramma Kira’s sickness. She looked down once more at the small baby with dark red skin and platinum white hair and then handed him over to Chris.
Chris realized that he was depressing Brittney and so tried to smile. “Don’t let me get you down, Sweetheart. Why don’t you go find Shanti and go have some fun.”
He watched as the little girl raced off and his shoulders slumped again as soon as she was out of sight. His life was falling apart at the seams and it was all he could do not to have a meltdown in front of the sweet little girl. He had to be strong for her and for her brother.
He looked over in the direction of his son and wife laughing and socializing with the guests. He watched as a man came up to the stage and whispered something to his son. A look of dread came over his son and Chris noted the way his grip on his wife’s hand tightened. The man stepped back and mouthed the words “I’m sorry”. Mattim turned to leave and Leena tried to stop him but he brushed her aside. That’s when Christilone knew that Kirita was no more.
Tears welled up in his eyes. He looked down at the precious grandson in his arms and the tears began to flow down his cheeks uncontrollably. He pulled the child closer and wept into his blanket. “May you never have to feel this kind of pain Wilhelm.” He whispered into the cloth. “The pain of losing someone close to you.” But Christilone knew that would be impossible. No one could escape pain and most definitely not Wilhelm who would receive more than his fair share of pain in the years to come.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Brittney's Story (Chapter 5)
The Stranger
Brittney was only slightly aware of her surroundings. A dull pain coursed through her bones and she felt as if her skin was on fire allowing her to think of little else. Voices slipped in and out of her consciousness and she struggled to make out what they were saying.
“es ga ka luun?”
“…nun fa…Quaple…Prua…ha gens.”
“…Kat Quaple?” The voices were disjointed and didn’t make much sense to her. The voices began to fade as the pain became worse. The voices around her became more panicked and she could sense as much as hear someone yelling for help. Then all was quiet as she lost herself to her pain.
She felt someone put their hands on her head and felt a small surge of energy go through her and then all was quiet the pain was gone and the darkness left her.
She opened her eyes and blinked at the bright light of the room she was laying on some kind of a medical bed in a type of hospital. She blinked again trying to clear her head and remember what had happened. She looked around taking in the medical instruments and other lab tools as well as about a million jars of leaves and flowers, bugs and even water the whole room gave her a sort of eerie feeling.
A movement to her left caught her attention and she looked to see a monster of sorts resting in a corner watching her and…glowing. Panic filled Brittney once again as she recalled the moments before her passing out. A monster much like this one had appeared out of the bushes and had now captured her.
Realizing that it had been discovered the creature hovered to her side. Brittney’s heart began to pump faster as the creature came nearer. It stopped beside the table that Brittney still lay on and spoke for the first time. Its voice had a strange sound that Brittney imagined sounded the way water might if it could talk to it and she had a hard time deciding whether it was a girl or boy. “How do you feel?” It asked
Brittney was speechless and wasn’t sure what to say.
“Is there pain?”
Brittney barely managed to shake her head her mouth hanging open slightly now. The creatures’ skin seemed to move as if light was trapped just below the surface. As the creature spoke the glow of its skin began to fade and slowly changed from yellow to green and finally to blue so that it now looked as if water instead of light was trapped beneath the surface. “What are you?” She whispered never for a moment taking her eyes off the creature’s skin.
The creature smiled at least Brittney thought it was a smile she wasn’t even quite sure where the creatures mouth or eyes even were. “I am a Neptunee. An alien from the planet Neptune. You fell and hit your head. I healed you.”
It took Brittney a moment or two to comprehend what the creature was saying not only because of what it said but because of how it spoke. Its sentences were short and to the point but every other sentence its voice seemed to change one minute she thought it might be a male the next a female. “What’s your name?” She asked innocently.
The creature chuckled deeply sounding much like a male at the moment but when it spoke it sounded once again like a girl. “My name is too complicated. You can not comprehend it. You may call me Mist. If you wish.”
“Mist. Is that a male or female name?” Brittney asked trying her best to be polite.
Mist giggled this time sounding very much like a girl but once again when it spoke the voice was the opposite. “It’s neither.”
“Well what are you then?” Brittney was beginning to get very irritated by the fact that this creature was getting such a kick out of her naivety.
“We are both. We are neither.”
“That makes no sense. You have to be one or the other you can’t be both or neither. So which is it?”
“You don’t understand. Because you are human. If it doesn’t seem possible. It isn’t. Learn to believe. In the impossible.”
Brittney frowned but didn’t say anything.
“I see you don’t understand. It’s alright. We are hard to comprehend. Rest easy now. We will be at our destination soon.”
“Destination? Where are we going?”
“We are going. To see Kirita. Come. We will show you. To your room.”
Meanwhile Chris and Kira sat in the Courtyard of the palace discussing Brittney with their son and daughter-in-law.
“Chris we can’t keep it a secret forever she has to know eventually.” Chris had been very worried about Brittany’s discovering the truth. But Kirita had been very optimistic and had done her best to convince her son and Leena that this was for the best. “We truly can’t don’t anything without your approval Leena you are after all the Zotac.
“And you know Mist dear.” Matthew had quickly taken his mother’s side. “Their research comes before anything else if they don’t bring Brittney back with her I’ll be surprised.”
Linda nodded but turned to her husband a slightly worried look across her face “Matt you know the whole planet looks up to me. If I break my promise even for your sister then who knows what would happen. The people might turn it against me and make it bigger than it is.” She turned to Christilone now. “You of all people should know you work at the news station.
Matthew covered her hand with his. “I think you worry too much everything will be just fine.”
Leena nodded and turned back to her in-laws “We will be glad to have Brittney here with us.”
Brittney was awake but she wasn’t quit ready to open her eyes yet. She had gone to sleep thinking nearly hoping that maybe she had never really awakened. Now although she was awake she couldn’t bear to open her eyes and see that it wasn’t a dream that she really was with some alien creature on what she supposed was their space-ship going to who knew where.
There was a light tap on the door and her eyes flashed open confirming her fears were true. It hadn’t been a dream. “Come in” she said timidly fearing what other creatures might enter through that door.
The door opened and another creature much like Mist but somehow different entered the room. “I brought you something to eat.” The creature said in a clearly feminine voice that reminded her of a bubbling brook. “I’m not exactly sure what humans eat but I think you might find this to your liking.” She placed a tray of something on the bedside table. “I hope you like it…but if not we’ll be at Imaginess soon enough and I’m sure you’ll find something you like there.”
Brittney wasn’t quite sure what to say to all this.
“Is there something wrong?”
Brittney shook her head and answered. “It’s just that I’m kind of surprised that you’re an actual she not an it.”
The Neptunee laughed lightly. “Oh you mean The Mist. Those are my…what you call them…pay-ants I think.”
“Parents?”
“Yes that’s it…Parents. On Neptune we call them mists.”
Brittney nodded but she couldn’t really get her little 10 your-old mind around the idea. “So what do I call you?”
The creature glowed slightly brighter and Brittney could imagine the creature smiling as she said. “I’m Mernas.”
Brittney was so amazed as she walked off the ship and stepped foot onto the planet of Imaginess this was where Gramma Kira had been staying here she was riding in an alien ship going to finally see her. As soon as they landed another Neptunee ran up "there you are Mist we need that stuff so we can do those experiments.”
“Of course. Take Brittney. To the palace. To see her father.”
The creature seemed to nod although he had no neck or visible head. The alien turned to Brittney. “I’m San. I’ll take you to a place where you can wait.” Then San turned and led her to a hover car while The Mist hurried off in the opposite direction. Soon they arrived at the biggest house Brittney had ever seen. And it obviously belonged to a very important person.
“Who lives in this house?” she asked San
“Leena the Zotac of our planet.”
“Leena?” Brittney looked at the place in wonder thinking of what kind of person this Zotac was “I’ll be staying here?”
“Yes this is where Christilone is supposed to meet you
San directed her through a mess of halls until Brittney was soon very lost until they arrived at a small den with a blazing fire going on the fire place and that was where San left her.
The room was on the second floor and had a small balcony that looked out over a great courtyard with thousands of trees. She stood pacing back and forth, she wished her father would come soon and explain to her what was going on. Why was everyone being so secretive? She decided to write a letter to Amanda that she would send to her when she got home to distract her from her thoughts. She went over to the large desk and found some paper and ink and began to write.
Dear Amanda
You will never guess what happened to me today. It all startd when I got in my dads truk to go see my mom only he did not go to the doktor he went to the woods. I got lost and hit my head. When I woke up I was with a lot of strang pepol. They told me that my dad was kepin somthin from me. And then they brought me to another planet.
A bang from outside on the balcony broke into her thoughts.
She got up and went to the balcony window when she opened it a monkey sprang into the room and began jumping around like a maniac. Brittney began to scream. Just then the door opened and Chris entered the room came in.
“Bandit” he shouted and the monkey stopped and ran to him “what am I going to do with you, you little brat” then he turned to Brittney “So I hear you decided to follow me, it’s a good thing The Mist and her clan was looking for herbs for some experiments or you might be in the woods somewhere dead. I told you it was dangerous. Do you know the kinds of diseases you could get just from being on this planet?” Chris sighed when he noticed the silent tears streaming down Brittney’s face. “Come here Brittney.” Brittney wiped the tears from her eyes, walked over to where Chris was sitting and climbed onto his lap. “Listen Brittney, Grandma Kira and I are aliens. We’ve lived on earth for over 20 years now. We haven’t been here in years but when Kira began to get sick she came back here to see a doctor. The doctor told her she was dying from a disease called Quaple.”
“What’s Quaple?”
“Quaple is any sickness that you get from an alien planet. It’s usually deadly because our bodies don’t have the same mechanisms as other aliens. It seems as if Grandma Kira has extracted some kind of lung disease from the air on earth. The air on Imaginess is a lot clearer than on earth and Imaginese only have one lung so the change in climate didn’t go well and it seems she’s been slowly wasting away just about 10 years now.”
“Isn’t there anything they can do?” Brittney asked
“I’m afraid not Brittney dear they’ve done everything they could but there’s nothing left to do. She’s going to die.”
“Can I see her?”
Chris nodded. “I’ll take you to her.”
Brittney followed Chris down a hall to another bedroom where he knocked on the door and entered after a thin voice told him to come in. The room was well lit and Brittney saw that the far wall was completely windows and the sun was shining in brightly. As Brittney walked farther into the room she saw Kira sitting in a chair near the window looking outside a light blanket draped over her legs. As soon as she saw her Brittney ran to her side. “Gramma Kira.”
“Brittney.” Kira hugged the girl tightly
“Oh it’s been so long how do you feel?”
Kira smiled “I’m fine Brittney dear much better now that I get to see you again.” Kira motioned for a chair near the bed “Sit down and tell me what you’ve been up to. How’s school, and what’s Joseph been up too.” Brittney pulled the chair Kira had indicated over to her grandmothers side and began to tell her everything that had happened in the last 9 months she told about how boring school was and what a horrible babysitter Tara was and how she basically took care of Joseph while Chris was gone and she talked about how big Joseph was getting and how he could say certain words now and could almost feed himself and all too soon Kira was getting tired and Chris was leading her to her room.
“You’ll have to stay here. I can’t have you running the place by yourself and getting in people’s way. I made sure that you have plenty of books, paper and ink since I know you like to read and write. I’ll be back to get you in time for dinner all right?”
“Ok.”
“Will you be alright till then?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine.”
About an hour later there was a knock on the door and a young girl about her age entered “So you’re Leena’s sister-in-law? She asked “I can’t believe it. It seems like only yesterday that she realized that she was an alien that was the best birthday ever and now she’s married and has a sister-in-law”
“Um” Brittney said “who are you?”
“Oh how silly of me I’m Shanti. And I’ve known you’re Leena since I was 3.”
“Who’s Leena?”
Shanti laughed at this. “Who’s Leena? Only the leader of this entire planet.”
“Oh but I’m not her sister-in-law.”
“Sure you are she’s married to your – well kind of sort of – brother.”
“My brother’s only one and definitely not married.”
“No I’m talking about Mattim. Christilone and Kirita’s older son.”
“Christilone and Kirita?”
“Ya! You know the people who adopted you?”
“Chris and Kira?”
“Ya, them.”
“They have an older son.”
“Ya! Mattim, he’s married to Leena the Zotac.”
Well the two of them talked for a long time and eventually they went out into the den to make paper dolls by the fire Shanti was simply fascinated she had never heard of paper dolls before and thought it was really cool. Of course Brittney found it a lot harder to make the dolls out of the thick Wiper leaves that the Voy used for paper. Soon they ran out of paper and Shanti ran to get more. But when she came back she had a large frown on her face and was staring at something in her hand. “What is it Shanti?”
“Who’s Amanda?”
“A friend of mine from Earth.”
“You can’t expect to send this. We can’t let the people of earth know about us. You and your family are the only ones who know about us. Your parents will never let you send this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Your right I don’t know for sure but I do know that there will be a lot of people who will get mad if you do send it.” Brittney frowned at this. “But don’t worry I’ll help you figure it all out.” And before they knew it the conversation turned to Voy culture and what had to change and the letter was forgotten. Soon Shanti’s sister Sari came and told her it was time to go home. “Ok I’ll be there in a minute” then she turned to Brittney “I’ll see you tomorrow and then we can go to the courtyard and play.”
“OK see you later then”
“Bye
That night after dinner, Chris came to say good night and Brittney asked him if she could tell Amanda about Imaginess. He thought about it for a minute then said.
“You know I think it wouldn’t hurt for you to have someone to talk about it with. I think you’ll make the right choice. If you want to tell her go right ahead. But you should be aware that Kira and I have told none of our friends at all the only person who knows about it is us and Leena’s family.”
Brittney nodded then she kissed him goodnight once he closed the door she pulled out the letter and decided to finish it.
I made a new frend today her name is Shanti. She’s really nice and we talked for 3 hours and I taught her how to make paper dolls. Can you believe she didn’t even know how to make them? I finally got to see Gramma Kira today. She’s very sick and won’t live much longer but at least now I no I can say good bye.
Love your friend
Brittney
Brittney finished the letter then put it under her pillow and went to bed.
Brittney was only slightly aware of her surroundings. A dull pain coursed through her bones and she felt as if her skin was on fire allowing her to think of little else. Voices slipped in and out of her consciousness and she struggled to make out what they were saying.
“es ga ka luun?”
“…nun fa…Quaple…Prua…ha gens.”
“…Kat Quaple?” The voices were disjointed and didn’t make much sense to her. The voices began to fade as the pain became worse. The voices around her became more panicked and she could sense as much as hear someone yelling for help. Then all was quiet as she lost herself to her pain.
She felt someone put their hands on her head and felt a small surge of energy go through her and then all was quiet the pain was gone and the darkness left her.
She opened her eyes and blinked at the bright light of the room she was laying on some kind of a medical bed in a type of hospital. She blinked again trying to clear her head and remember what had happened. She looked around taking in the medical instruments and other lab tools as well as about a million jars of leaves and flowers, bugs and even water the whole room gave her a sort of eerie feeling.
A movement to her left caught her attention and she looked to see a monster of sorts resting in a corner watching her and…glowing. Panic filled Brittney once again as she recalled the moments before her passing out. A monster much like this one had appeared out of the bushes and had now captured her.
Realizing that it had been discovered the creature hovered to her side. Brittney’s heart began to pump faster as the creature came nearer. It stopped beside the table that Brittney still lay on and spoke for the first time. Its voice had a strange sound that Brittney imagined sounded the way water might if it could talk to it and she had a hard time deciding whether it was a girl or boy. “How do you feel?” It asked
Brittney was speechless and wasn’t sure what to say.
“Is there pain?”
Brittney barely managed to shake her head her mouth hanging open slightly now. The creatures’ skin seemed to move as if light was trapped just below the surface. As the creature spoke the glow of its skin began to fade and slowly changed from yellow to green and finally to blue so that it now looked as if water instead of light was trapped beneath the surface. “What are you?” She whispered never for a moment taking her eyes off the creature’s skin.
The creature smiled at least Brittney thought it was a smile she wasn’t even quite sure where the creatures mouth or eyes even were. “I am a Neptunee. An alien from the planet Neptune. You fell and hit your head. I healed you.”
It took Brittney a moment or two to comprehend what the creature was saying not only because of what it said but because of how it spoke. Its sentences were short and to the point but every other sentence its voice seemed to change one minute she thought it might be a male the next a female. “What’s your name?” She asked innocently.
The creature chuckled deeply sounding much like a male at the moment but when it spoke it sounded once again like a girl. “My name is too complicated. You can not comprehend it. You may call me Mist. If you wish.”
“Mist. Is that a male or female name?” Brittney asked trying her best to be polite.
Mist giggled this time sounding very much like a girl but once again when it spoke the voice was the opposite. “It’s neither.”
“Well what are you then?” Brittney was beginning to get very irritated by the fact that this creature was getting such a kick out of her naivety.
“We are both. We are neither.”
“That makes no sense. You have to be one or the other you can’t be both or neither. So which is it?”
“You don’t understand. Because you are human. If it doesn’t seem possible. It isn’t. Learn to believe. In the impossible.”
Brittney frowned but didn’t say anything.
“I see you don’t understand. It’s alright. We are hard to comprehend. Rest easy now. We will be at our destination soon.”
“Destination? Where are we going?”
“We are going. To see Kirita. Come. We will show you. To your room.”
Meanwhile Chris and Kira sat in the Courtyard of the palace discussing Brittney with their son and daughter-in-law.
“Chris we can’t keep it a secret forever she has to know eventually.” Chris had been very worried about Brittany’s discovering the truth. But Kirita had been very optimistic and had done her best to convince her son and Leena that this was for the best. “We truly can’t don’t anything without your approval Leena you are after all the Zotac.
“And you know Mist dear.” Matthew had quickly taken his mother’s side. “Their research comes before anything else if they don’t bring Brittney back with her I’ll be surprised.”
Linda nodded but turned to her husband a slightly worried look across her face “Matt you know the whole planet looks up to me. If I break my promise even for your sister then who knows what would happen. The people might turn it against me and make it bigger than it is.” She turned to Christilone now. “You of all people should know you work at the news station.
Matthew covered her hand with his. “I think you worry too much everything will be just fine.”
Leena nodded and turned back to her in-laws “We will be glad to have Brittney here with us.”
Brittney was awake but she wasn’t quit ready to open her eyes yet. She had gone to sleep thinking nearly hoping that maybe she had never really awakened. Now although she was awake she couldn’t bear to open her eyes and see that it wasn’t a dream that she really was with some alien creature on what she supposed was their space-ship going to who knew where.
There was a light tap on the door and her eyes flashed open confirming her fears were true. It hadn’t been a dream. “Come in” she said timidly fearing what other creatures might enter through that door.
The door opened and another creature much like Mist but somehow different entered the room. “I brought you something to eat.” The creature said in a clearly feminine voice that reminded her of a bubbling brook. “I’m not exactly sure what humans eat but I think you might find this to your liking.” She placed a tray of something on the bedside table. “I hope you like it…but if not we’ll be at Imaginess soon enough and I’m sure you’ll find something you like there.”
Brittney wasn’t quite sure what to say to all this.
“Is there something wrong?”
Brittney shook her head and answered. “It’s just that I’m kind of surprised that you’re an actual she not an it.”
The Neptunee laughed lightly. “Oh you mean The Mist. Those are my…what you call them…pay-ants I think.”
“Parents?”
“Yes that’s it…Parents. On Neptune we call them mists.”
Brittney nodded but she couldn’t really get her little 10 your-old mind around the idea. “So what do I call you?”
The creature glowed slightly brighter and Brittney could imagine the creature smiling as she said. “I’m Mernas.”
Brittney was so amazed as she walked off the ship and stepped foot onto the planet of Imaginess this was where Gramma Kira had been staying here she was riding in an alien ship going to finally see her. As soon as they landed another Neptunee ran up "there you are Mist we need that stuff so we can do those experiments.”
“Of course. Take Brittney. To the palace. To see her father.”
The creature seemed to nod although he had no neck or visible head. The alien turned to Brittney. “I’m San. I’ll take you to a place where you can wait.” Then San turned and led her to a hover car while The Mist hurried off in the opposite direction. Soon they arrived at the biggest house Brittney had ever seen. And it obviously belonged to a very important person.
“Who lives in this house?” she asked San
“Leena the Zotac of our planet.”
“Leena?” Brittney looked at the place in wonder thinking of what kind of person this Zotac was “I’ll be staying here?”
“Yes this is where Christilone is supposed to meet you
San directed her through a mess of halls until Brittney was soon very lost until they arrived at a small den with a blazing fire going on the fire place and that was where San left her.
The room was on the second floor and had a small balcony that looked out over a great courtyard with thousands of trees. She stood pacing back and forth, she wished her father would come soon and explain to her what was going on. Why was everyone being so secretive? She decided to write a letter to Amanda that she would send to her when she got home to distract her from her thoughts. She went over to the large desk and found some paper and ink and began to write.
Dear Amanda
You will never guess what happened to me today. It all startd when I got in my dads truk to go see my mom only he did not go to the doktor he went to the woods. I got lost and hit my head. When I woke up I was with a lot of strang pepol. They told me that my dad was kepin somthin from me. And then they brought me to another planet.
A bang from outside on the balcony broke into her thoughts.
She got up and went to the balcony window when she opened it a monkey sprang into the room and began jumping around like a maniac. Brittney began to scream. Just then the door opened and Chris entered the room came in.
“Bandit” he shouted and the monkey stopped and ran to him “what am I going to do with you, you little brat” then he turned to Brittney “So I hear you decided to follow me, it’s a good thing The Mist and her clan was looking for herbs for some experiments or you might be in the woods somewhere dead. I told you it was dangerous. Do you know the kinds of diseases you could get just from being on this planet?” Chris sighed when he noticed the silent tears streaming down Brittney’s face. “Come here Brittney.” Brittney wiped the tears from her eyes, walked over to where Chris was sitting and climbed onto his lap. “Listen Brittney, Grandma Kira and I are aliens. We’ve lived on earth for over 20 years now. We haven’t been here in years but when Kira began to get sick she came back here to see a doctor. The doctor told her she was dying from a disease called Quaple.”
“What’s Quaple?”
“Quaple is any sickness that you get from an alien planet. It’s usually deadly because our bodies don’t have the same mechanisms as other aliens. It seems as if Grandma Kira has extracted some kind of lung disease from the air on earth. The air on Imaginess is a lot clearer than on earth and Imaginese only have one lung so the change in climate didn’t go well and it seems she’s been slowly wasting away just about 10 years now.”
“Isn’t there anything they can do?” Brittney asked
“I’m afraid not Brittney dear they’ve done everything they could but there’s nothing left to do. She’s going to die.”
“Can I see her?”
Chris nodded. “I’ll take you to her.”
Brittney followed Chris down a hall to another bedroom where he knocked on the door and entered after a thin voice told him to come in. The room was well lit and Brittney saw that the far wall was completely windows and the sun was shining in brightly. As Brittney walked farther into the room she saw Kira sitting in a chair near the window looking outside a light blanket draped over her legs. As soon as she saw her Brittney ran to her side. “Gramma Kira.”
“Brittney.” Kira hugged the girl tightly
“Oh it’s been so long how do you feel?”
Kira smiled “I’m fine Brittney dear much better now that I get to see you again.” Kira motioned for a chair near the bed “Sit down and tell me what you’ve been up to. How’s school, and what’s Joseph been up too.” Brittney pulled the chair Kira had indicated over to her grandmothers side and began to tell her everything that had happened in the last 9 months she told about how boring school was and what a horrible babysitter Tara was and how she basically took care of Joseph while Chris was gone and she talked about how big Joseph was getting and how he could say certain words now and could almost feed himself and all too soon Kira was getting tired and Chris was leading her to her room.
“You’ll have to stay here. I can’t have you running the place by yourself and getting in people’s way. I made sure that you have plenty of books, paper and ink since I know you like to read and write. I’ll be back to get you in time for dinner all right?”
“Ok.”
“Will you be alright till then?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine.”
About an hour later there was a knock on the door and a young girl about her age entered “So you’re Leena’s sister-in-law? She asked “I can’t believe it. It seems like only yesterday that she realized that she was an alien that was the best birthday ever and now she’s married and has a sister-in-law”
“Um” Brittney said “who are you?”
“Oh how silly of me I’m Shanti. And I’ve known you’re Leena since I was 3.”
“Who’s Leena?”
Shanti laughed at this. “Who’s Leena? Only the leader of this entire planet.”
“Oh but I’m not her sister-in-law.”
“Sure you are she’s married to your – well kind of sort of – brother.”
“My brother’s only one and definitely not married.”
“No I’m talking about Mattim. Christilone and Kirita’s older son.”
“Christilone and Kirita?”
“Ya! You know the people who adopted you?”
“Chris and Kira?”
“Ya, them.”
“They have an older son.”
“Ya! Mattim, he’s married to Leena the Zotac.”
Well the two of them talked for a long time and eventually they went out into the den to make paper dolls by the fire Shanti was simply fascinated she had never heard of paper dolls before and thought it was really cool. Of course Brittney found it a lot harder to make the dolls out of the thick Wiper leaves that the Voy used for paper. Soon they ran out of paper and Shanti ran to get more. But when she came back she had a large frown on her face and was staring at something in her hand. “What is it Shanti?”
“Who’s Amanda?”
“A friend of mine from Earth.”
“You can’t expect to send this. We can’t let the people of earth know about us. You and your family are the only ones who know about us. Your parents will never let you send this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Your right I don’t know for sure but I do know that there will be a lot of people who will get mad if you do send it.” Brittney frowned at this. “But don’t worry I’ll help you figure it all out.” And before they knew it the conversation turned to Voy culture and what had to change and the letter was forgotten. Soon Shanti’s sister Sari came and told her it was time to go home. “Ok I’ll be there in a minute” then she turned to Brittney “I’ll see you tomorrow and then we can go to the courtyard and play.”
“OK see you later then”
“Bye
That night after dinner, Chris came to say good night and Brittney asked him if she could tell Amanda about Imaginess. He thought about it for a minute then said.
“You know I think it wouldn’t hurt for you to have someone to talk about it with. I think you’ll make the right choice. If you want to tell her go right ahead. But you should be aware that Kira and I have told none of our friends at all the only person who knows about it is us and Leena’s family.”
Brittney nodded then she kissed him goodnight once he closed the door she pulled out the letter and decided to finish it.
I made a new frend today her name is Shanti. She’s really nice and we talked for 3 hours and I taught her how to make paper dolls. Can you believe she didn’t even know how to make them? I finally got to see Gramma Kira today. She’s very sick and won’t live much longer but at least now I no I can say good bye.
Love your friend
Brittney
Brittney finished the letter then put it under her pillow and went to bed.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Brittney's Story (Chapter 4)
Follow the Leader
The week passed with little interaction between Brittney and Chris. She had holed up in her room and refused to talk to him on the rare occasion that she actually came out. When the day finally came Brittney barely slept. She kept waking up every few minutes to be sure it wasn’t too late about 6:00 Chris stuck his head in to check on her as was his habit. Her heart began to pump in her chest but she didn’t move.
She listened as he showered and dressed and got a crying Joseph and brought him downstairs, then he went to the kitchen to get breakfast. She tip-toed to the top of the stairs and could hear water running in the kitchen The door-bell rang and she dashed around the corner as Chris let Tara in. “Brittney’s still asleep and Joseph’s eating breakfast” he said as he let her in. They disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and she could hear Chris giving Tara instructions.
As soon as she was sure they were far enough away she dashed down the stairs and ran out the door. She jumped into the back of Chris’s blue pickup and pulled the tarp over her. Only after she was completely covered did she allow herself to breathe.
A few moments later she heard the door open and footsteps heading toward the car. She held her breath expecting any second for Chris to pull the tarp off and reveal her hiding place but he didn’t. She heard the door slam and the engine start and the next thing she knew the car was moving and she was home-free.
After what seemed like a life time Chris stopped the car and got out, she waited for a little bit until she was sure he was inside the hospital then sat up. But she wasn’t at a hospital she was in a forest and Chris was nowhere to be found she stood up and jumped out the back of the pickup looking around a little nervously as she did but there wasn’t a sign of him. She began to walk and called his name over and over but there was no answer.
Suddenly she heard a noise a rustling and a crunch like leaves. She began to run toward the noise “Grampa Chris” she called as she looked behind a tree, another rustle. She ran on faster and faster rustle after rustle she ran smack dab into an old man who was shaking slightly and holding onto a little old cane. “What are you doing out here little girl?”
“I’m looking for my Grampa Chris.”
The man was shaking so badly that she wondered what he was even doing way out here in the middle of the woods when he could hardly walk or talk. “Well I doubt your Grandpa’s gone too far.”
There was another rustle to Brittney’s left and she would’ve sworn she heard whispering. The old man had placed a shaking hand on Brittney’s shoulder and shout out in a wavering voice. “Now who ever you are come on out this is no time to play games.” There was another rustle and the most hideous creature Brittney had ever seen stepped out from the bush. Fear gripped her and she felt the old man’s hand tighten on her shoulder. The creatures head was down but when it looked at Brittney she began to shake horribly then when she thought she couldn’t take any more her world went black.
It was nearly noon and Tara was watching MTV and talking to Lizzy. Joseph was playing on the floor with a small pile of blocks. “Na Na” he repeated for like the hundredth time since she’d gotten here. She didn’t understand this baby’s language usually Brittney was the one who got him what he wanted. Where is that girl anyway? She wondered glancing at her watch and realizing how late it was it had been nearly 5 hours since Mr. Baker had left and she hadn’t heard a sound from Brittney.
She got up to go and cheek on her knocking gently on the door as she neared “Brittney” she called softly “Brittney” the girl didn’t stir. There was something odd about the way the girl was laying and she went over to the bed and pulled back the covers. A large stuffed dog lay in the bed but Brittney was no where to be seen She couldn’t help it she screamed
Tara ran down stairs ignoring Joseph’s cries coming from the living room, she grabbed the phone off the counter and dialed the number as fast as her shaking fingers would allow her too all the while scolding herself for not paying more attention. The phone rang 5 times before going to voice mail she hung up and tried again with the same result.
She turned too the fridge and scanned through the emergency numbers and found the name she was looking for. She pounded in the numbers, the phone rang. If this didn’t work her next call would be the police.
Ring… Ring Mary jumped and nearly fell off the couch where she had been standing while she dusted the cobwebs off the ceiling. The phone rang again and she climbed down and grabbed it up off the coffee table “hello” she answered.
“Hello,” A panicked voice filled the ear piece. “This is Tara, Brittney’s babysitter.” The girl began talking so fast Mary could barely keep up with what she was saying but she had been able to pick up two words: Brittney’s missing.
“Now Tara just calm down please I can’t help you if you don’t listen.” Tara stopped talking and she could hear her taking deep breaths over the phone. “Now just listen to me, I know how to handle this ok. Now I’m going to call Chris and tell him what happened and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. OK?”
“But I already tried calling Chris, twice, he didn’t answer his phone.”
“I’ll figure something out ok. Now I don’t want to hear from you again for at least an hour unless she comes home ok?
“Ok!” with that the line went dead.
Mary hung up the phone her hands shaking slightly and ran up stairs to her room she went to the closet and pulled out the small wooden box lock-box she kept her universal-cell-phone in. She brought the box to her bed and unlocked it. She held down the number 5 and Chris’s name popped up.
“Hello”
“Chris its Mary. I just got a call from Tara.”
“What happened?” he asked fear suddenly overtaking his voice.
“Brittney’s missing.”
Silence filled the line
“Chris?”
“I heard you. She probably climbed into the truck before I left. She’s probably freaking out thinking I was going to the hospital.”
“Oh no! Do you want me to see if I can go find her?”
“No Mary that’s ok. Why don’t you call Tara and tell her Brittney just called and your on your way to pick her up.”
“What about you?”
“I have a call to make. There’s a small group of scientists that are studying at the woods that might be able to find her for me.”
“OK. Call me if there are any changes.”
“I will, thanks Mary.”
Tara sat down on the couch she had filled a sippy cup with juice and for now it was keeping Joseph quiet enough to think. She couldn’t believe what was happening. How did could this have happened to her? Sure she probably watched TV a lot and talked and hung with her friends but she had always kept an ear out for what Brittney was doing. How did the little girl manage to get past her? And what would happen to Brittney now? She was probably so alone and frightened. Oh why oh why had she not paid more attention to her? Why did she always watch TV when she came over?
The phone rang and Tara dived for it picking it up before the second ring. Joseph stopped drinking his juice and stared at her curiously for a moment before continuing “Hello?” She nearly yelled into the phone
“Hi Tara this is Mary. Brittney just called and I’m on my way to pick her up - .”
“You found her?” relief flooded Tara and she slumped into the couch. “Where is she?”
Mary hesitated for just a moment. “the hospital.”
“Oh why doesn’t her dad keep her?”
Mary hated lying but she knew that it was the only way as she said. “her dad’s with her now but Kara is in such bad shape they won’t let Brittney into see her.”
“Oh! What do you want me to do now?”
“I’m going to pick Brittney up then take her back to my place for a couple days I think she really needs to be with family for awhile and I live closer to the hospital.”
“Ok, Bye.” Tara waited for the other click before hanging up. She was really confused something about the conversation didn’t sit well with her and she couldn’t help but feel that maybe Brittney hadn’t really been found at all but they were just trying to make her feel better.
Joseph was digging through a toy box in the corner and Tara decided to go see if there was anything in the fridge that she could eat preferably something sweet. As she reached the fridge her eyes caught sight of the emergency numbers and her hand stopped on the door as she read Mary’s number again. The number was a Chicago number. So they hadn’t found Brittney after all Chicago was at least 2 hours away. Tara had had enough of this she was calling the police.
“What did she say?” Kirita sat up in her bed although her body was getting weaker and weaker everyday her mind was still as sharp as ever and her husband had to fight with her tooth and nail to get her to rest.
Her husband set the phone down on the bedside table and sat on the bed beside his wife. Worry lined his forehead but he smiled at his wife. “She found her.”
“What is it Christilone?” She knew her husband well enough to know that there was something more that he wasn’t telling her.
Christilone sighed “She’s coming to Imaginess!”
“What do you mean you can’t help me?” Tara nearly shouted into the phone.”
“Its standard procedure Ma’am we can’t go chasing after every kid who disappears.”
“Please sir isn’t there anything you can do?”
“Look I’ll put out a missing persons alert to the team and if anyone sees a little 11 year old blonde running around we’ll let you know ok?”
“Ok thank you very much.”
“I do my best have a nice day.”
Tara hung up the phone still not content with how things were looking. It was getting dark and a nervous shudder ran down her spine suddenly she didn’t much like the idea of staying in the house alone. She picked up the phone again maybe her mom wouldn’t mind keeping Joseph at the house for a few days.
The week passed with little interaction between Brittney and Chris. She had holed up in her room and refused to talk to him on the rare occasion that she actually came out. When the day finally came Brittney barely slept. She kept waking up every few minutes to be sure it wasn’t too late about 6:00 Chris stuck his head in to check on her as was his habit. Her heart began to pump in her chest but she didn’t move.
She listened as he showered and dressed and got a crying Joseph and brought him downstairs, then he went to the kitchen to get breakfast. She tip-toed to the top of the stairs and could hear water running in the kitchen The door-bell rang and she dashed around the corner as Chris let Tara in. “Brittney’s still asleep and Joseph’s eating breakfast” he said as he let her in. They disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and she could hear Chris giving Tara instructions.
As soon as she was sure they were far enough away she dashed down the stairs and ran out the door. She jumped into the back of Chris’s blue pickup and pulled the tarp over her. Only after she was completely covered did she allow herself to breathe.
A few moments later she heard the door open and footsteps heading toward the car. She held her breath expecting any second for Chris to pull the tarp off and reveal her hiding place but he didn’t. She heard the door slam and the engine start and the next thing she knew the car was moving and she was home-free.
After what seemed like a life time Chris stopped the car and got out, she waited for a little bit until she was sure he was inside the hospital then sat up. But she wasn’t at a hospital she was in a forest and Chris was nowhere to be found she stood up and jumped out the back of the pickup looking around a little nervously as she did but there wasn’t a sign of him. She began to walk and called his name over and over but there was no answer.
Suddenly she heard a noise a rustling and a crunch like leaves. She began to run toward the noise “Grampa Chris” she called as she looked behind a tree, another rustle. She ran on faster and faster rustle after rustle she ran smack dab into an old man who was shaking slightly and holding onto a little old cane. “What are you doing out here little girl?”
“I’m looking for my Grampa Chris.”
The man was shaking so badly that she wondered what he was even doing way out here in the middle of the woods when he could hardly walk or talk. “Well I doubt your Grandpa’s gone too far.”
There was another rustle to Brittney’s left and she would’ve sworn she heard whispering. The old man had placed a shaking hand on Brittney’s shoulder and shout out in a wavering voice. “Now who ever you are come on out this is no time to play games.” There was another rustle and the most hideous creature Brittney had ever seen stepped out from the bush. Fear gripped her and she felt the old man’s hand tighten on her shoulder. The creatures head was down but when it looked at Brittney she began to shake horribly then when she thought she couldn’t take any more her world went black.
It was nearly noon and Tara was watching MTV and talking to Lizzy. Joseph was playing on the floor with a small pile of blocks. “Na Na” he repeated for like the hundredth time since she’d gotten here. She didn’t understand this baby’s language usually Brittney was the one who got him what he wanted. Where is that girl anyway? She wondered glancing at her watch and realizing how late it was it had been nearly 5 hours since Mr. Baker had left and she hadn’t heard a sound from Brittney.
She got up to go and cheek on her knocking gently on the door as she neared “Brittney” she called softly “Brittney” the girl didn’t stir. There was something odd about the way the girl was laying and she went over to the bed and pulled back the covers. A large stuffed dog lay in the bed but Brittney was no where to be seen She couldn’t help it she screamed
Tara ran down stairs ignoring Joseph’s cries coming from the living room, she grabbed the phone off the counter and dialed the number as fast as her shaking fingers would allow her too all the while scolding herself for not paying more attention. The phone rang 5 times before going to voice mail she hung up and tried again with the same result.
She turned too the fridge and scanned through the emergency numbers and found the name she was looking for. She pounded in the numbers, the phone rang. If this didn’t work her next call would be the police.
Ring… Ring Mary jumped and nearly fell off the couch where she had been standing while she dusted the cobwebs off the ceiling. The phone rang again and she climbed down and grabbed it up off the coffee table “hello” she answered.
“Hello,” A panicked voice filled the ear piece. “This is Tara, Brittney’s babysitter.” The girl began talking so fast Mary could barely keep up with what she was saying but she had been able to pick up two words: Brittney’s missing.
“Now Tara just calm down please I can’t help you if you don’t listen.” Tara stopped talking and she could hear her taking deep breaths over the phone. “Now just listen to me, I know how to handle this ok. Now I’m going to call Chris and tell him what happened and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. OK?”
“But I already tried calling Chris, twice, he didn’t answer his phone.”
“I’ll figure something out ok. Now I don’t want to hear from you again for at least an hour unless she comes home ok?
“Ok!” with that the line went dead.
Mary hung up the phone her hands shaking slightly and ran up stairs to her room she went to the closet and pulled out the small wooden box lock-box she kept her universal-cell-phone in. She brought the box to her bed and unlocked it. She held down the number 5 and Chris’s name popped up.
“Hello”
“Chris its Mary. I just got a call from Tara.”
“What happened?” he asked fear suddenly overtaking his voice.
“Brittney’s missing.”
Silence filled the line
“Chris?”
“I heard you. She probably climbed into the truck before I left. She’s probably freaking out thinking I was going to the hospital.”
“Oh no! Do you want me to see if I can go find her?”
“No Mary that’s ok. Why don’t you call Tara and tell her Brittney just called and your on your way to pick her up.”
“What about you?”
“I have a call to make. There’s a small group of scientists that are studying at the woods that might be able to find her for me.”
“OK. Call me if there are any changes.”
“I will, thanks Mary.”
Tara sat down on the couch she had filled a sippy cup with juice and for now it was keeping Joseph quiet enough to think. She couldn’t believe what was happening. How did could this have happened to her? Sure she probably watched TV a lot and talked and hung with her friends but she had always kept an ear out for what Brittney was doing. How did the little girl manage to get past her? And what would happen to Brittney now? She was probably so alone and frightened. Oh why oh why had she not paid more attention to her? Why did she always watch TV when she came over?
The phone rang and Tara dived for it picking it up before the second ring. Joseph stopped drinking his juice and stared at her curiously for a moment before continuing “Hello?” She nearly yelled into the phone
“Hi Tara this is Mary. Brittney just called and I’m on my way to pick her up - .”
“You found her?” relief flooded Tara and she slumped into the couch. “Where is she?”
Mary hesitated for just a moment. “the hospital.”
“Oh why doesn’t her dad keep her?”
Mary hated lying but she knew that it was the only way as she said. “her dad’s with her now but Kara is in such bad shape they won’t let Brittney into see her.”
“Oh! What do you want me to do now?”
“I’m going to pick Brittney up then take her back to my place for a couple days I think she really needs to be with family for awhile and I live closer to the hospital.”
“Ok, Bye.” Tara waited for the other click before hanging up. She was really confused something about the conversation didn’t sit well with her and she couldn’t help but feel that maybe Brittney hadn’t really been found at all but they were just trying to make her feel better.
Joseph was digging through a toy box in the corner and Tara decided to go see if there was anything in the fridge that she could eat preferably something sweet. As she reached the fridge her eyes caught sight of the emergency numbers and her hand stopped on the door as she read Mary’s number again. The number was a Chicago number. So they hadn’t found Brittney after all Chicago was at least 2 hours away. Tara had had enough of this she was calling the police.
“What did she say?” Kirita sat up in her bed although her body was getting weaker and weaker everyday her mind was still as sharp as ever and her husband had to fight with her tooth and nail to get her to rest.
Her husband set the phone down on the bedside table and sat on the bed beside his wife. Worry lined his forehead but he smiled at his wife. “She found her.”
“What is it Christilone?” She knew her husband well enough to know that there was something more that he wasn’t telling her.
Christilone sighed “She’s coming to Imaginess!”
“What do you mean you can’t help me?” Tara nearly shouted into the phone.”
“Its standard procedure Ma’am we can’t go chasing after every kid who disappears.”
“Please sir isn’t there anything you can do?”
“Look I’ll put out a missing persons alert to the team and if anyone sees a little 11 year old blonde running around we’ll let you know ok?”
“Ok thank you very much.”
“I do my best have a nice day.”
Tara hung up the phone still not content with how things were looking. It was getting dark and a nervous shudder ran down her spine suddenly she didn’t much like the idea of staying in the house alone. She picked up the phone again maybe her mom wouldn’t mind keeping Joseph at the house for a few days.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Brittney's Story (Chapter 3)
Left Behind...Again
9 Months Later
Dear Amanda
Today is a very sad day. As you may no it has been 1 year sins my mom and dad died. Gramma Kara has still not come home. It has been almost a year sins I’ve seen her. Grampa Chris is very tired he’s gone a lot visiting her. I think she is dying. I have been helping take care of Joey while he is gone but it is hard. I no that Gramma Kara is old but I am not ready to lose her too.
Yor very sad frend
Brittney
Brittney put her pen down and looked over to where Tara the babysitter sat watching TV and talking to a friend over the phone. Tara was a young 15 year old who lived down the street and was looking to make some easy cash but cared nothing for the two little brats that she was responsible for. To her babysitting for the Bakers was just a way to get away from her own brothers and have access to a phone and TV, two things that she barely ever got to herself when at home. Tara enjoyed being in charge almost too much she was nothing like Marrissa. Brittney turned back to her letter and wrote one last thing on it before folding it and sticking it in the envelope.
P.S. Tell Merisa I relly, relly miss her, my new babesiter is not as fun as her. All she does is wach TV and talk on the fone she probly wood not relize it if I left the house. I cud do better by myself.
After she sealed the envelope she slipped past Tara who was talking about some fashion show with one of her many friends over the phone and went up to her room.
She checked on Joseph to be sure he was sleeping before moving in to her own room. There he lay, his thumb half in his mouth, his blond tuft of hair damp from sweat. She moved over to the side of his crib and brushed her fingers through his hair smiling as he rolled onto his back smacking his lips and opening his eyes slightly before dropping off to sleep again. “Don’t worry Joseph.” She whispered softly. “No matter what happens I’ll always be here for you.” Then she kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them gently on the baby’s cheek. “I love you little brother!” She said as she closed the door softly behind her.
Once in her own room she pulled a shoebox out from under her bed inside were all the things she treasured the most: her mom’s favorite necklace, some peppermints from her dad’s office, a pair of little tennis shoes that Joseph had grown out of, her parents wedding rings, a family photo album and all the letters she had gotten from Amanda.
She took the album out of the box and looked at the picture at the front. She loved the picture. It had been taken outside under a fall tree at the park. The leaves were beautiful shades of red and orange. Her father and Joseph were wearing green shirts with red scarves and she and her mother were wearing red shirts with green scarves.
Her mother’s hair was pulled back into a wind-whipped bun with two stray sections of hair framing her face. Her black hair had a slight curl to it that added a little character to her and her cheeks were quite rosy from the wind.
Her father’s blond hair was blown slightly and his cheeks were red but not as red as her mom’s. He had one arm around his wife and the other around Brittney who was holding onto it for dear life.
Then their was her brother just barely 1 year old and sitting in his mothers arms like the happiest boy alive with a big grin on his face that Brittney had only seen 5 or 6 times since their parents had died.
She opened the big album and looked through the pictures in the book tracing her mother’s handwriting absentmindedly as she looked at the pictures: Pictures of her parents wedding and of her and Joseph’s births and first birthdays. She skipped to the back of the book and although she had looked at each page a zillion times and had memorized each picture each facial expression and every word her mother had written tears still filled her eyes. She couldn’t help it every time she saw the picture of her standing on the stool beside her mother looking into the mirror and trying to copy her as she put on make-up, every time she saw her and her dad in snow-gear building a snow-fort in the back yard, every time she saw Officer Hugo chasing her with a squirt gun at a squad cookout or Marissa laughing at her after shoving cake in her face at her 10th birthday party she couldn’t help but cry.
A lone cry from the other room told her Joseph was awake and she put the album back in the box and pushed the box back under her bed. Then wiping the tears in her eyes she slipped into Joseph’s room and smiled when she saw him standing up in the crib holding onto the side and forcing tears out of his eyes. “Oh you pathetic little thing.” She grinned as she pulled down the side of the crib and pulled him out. Immediately he stopped crying and laughed.
“Breney!” He cooed and she smiled
“Yeah that’s right Joseph. Are you Hungry?”
The baby stuffed his pudgy hand in his mouth and nodded she laughed and worked her way to the kitchen and past the living room where Tara was sitting cross-legged on the ground painting her nails and holding the phone firmly between her head and shoulder. She glanced up when she saw Brittney pass but quickly went back to work on her nails.
Brittney slipped into the kitchen and placed Joseph awkwardly into his highchair then pulled over a chair to get down the baby food and a small bowl, spoon and sippy cup along with a banana off the counter. She brought it all to the table and started singing as she poured some of the flakes into the bowl and mixed it with water from the sink.
“The little duck
With the feather
On his back
He led the others with a…”
“QUACK, QUACK, QUACK” Joseph yelled out happily as he banged his tray in excitement. Brittney smiled as she finished mixing up the baby food and diced up half a banana in small slices and placed it on his tray then filled his sippy cup with 1/3 water and 2/3 juice and gave it to his as well then absentmindedly picked up the other half of the banana and began to eat it.
She heard the front door open and Tara talking to someone which wasn’t much of a surprise Tara frequently had friends over to “help babysit”. She finished the banana and dumped the peel in the garbage. The front door slammed again and she sighed. Joseph had given up on the spoon and was now digging out the banana chunks with his fingers and banging the spoon on the tray Brittney smiled and shook her head but she couldn’t bare to be the one to stop his fun so instead she grabbed a spoon of her own and began rapping on his tray and singing at the top of her lungs.
“What is going on in here?” Brittney stopped suddenly at the sound of Christilone’s voice. He had his hands on his hips but she could see the smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Grampa Chris, you’re back” Chris smiled as she hugged him and then a tired look crossed his face. “Grampa Chris what’s wrong is Gramma Kara alright?”
“I’m afraid not Brittney. She’s not doing well at all they don’t expect her to live much longer. I’m going back to see her again next week.”
“Are you going to take us with you this time?”
Chris sighed “You know I want to take you Brittney. But…I just can’t.”
“But Grampa Chris –“
“I said ‘no’ Brittney” tears filled Chris’s eyes as he looked down at Brittney wide eyes “I’m sorry Brittney, I know you just want to see her one last time and say good-bye but…it just doesn’t always work that way. I’m really sorry.”
Anger filled Brittney. She looked at her little brother who was playing with his food again unaware of all that was going on around him and then looked back at Chris. “I think you’re lying, you can take me you just don’t want to. You don’t think a little girl like me can handle death. That’s what everyone thinks. That’s why you talk about it in whispers when you think I’m asleep. That’s why no one talks about my parents death why they tell me that they “passed away” or “left this world” or “are no longer living” instead of just saying their DEAD, heart stopped pumping, cold to the touch, rotting in the ground DEAD.” Brittney was sobbing now but she wasn’t finished. “You all think I’m too young to understand, that I can’t handle it but what I can’t handle is that I didn’t get to say good-bye. And now your not letting me say good-bye to her either.” She was getting angry again as she looked Chris straight in the eye. “And I thought you cared about me.” Then she ran out of the room leaving Chris crushed by her words and knowing he could do nothing to change her feelings.
Brittney ran to her room and cried for a full hour. She couldn’t understand how Chris could be so mean and so inconsiderate. And that’s when she came to a decision. She wouldn’t let Chris control her like this. She would say good-bye to Kara if it was the last thing she ever did.
Tara barely ever paid attention to her anyway and probably wouldn’t even notice if she was gone. So next week when Chris left she would be in that car with him whether he liked it or not.
“I don’t know what to do Kara!” Chris complained it was nearly 8:00 and Brittney and Joseph had been asleep for nearly two hours. He hadn’t seen Brittney since her outburst in the kitchen but he had done a lot of thinking and after putting Joey to bed he had quickly called his wife. “It’s not that I don’t want to take her with me but it’s too dangerous. If she was to catch Quaple I’d never forgive myself.”
Kara’s gentle voice filled the device at his ear. “Oh Christilone you worry too much. This problem is easy to solve I’ll just come back with you this time.”
“What!” the shock in Chris’s voice was unmistakable. “What do you mean you’ll come back with me?”
“I’m coming back to Earth with you to say good-bye to the children. Now don’t try to talk me out of it cause I’ve already made-up my mind.”
“No you need to stay there where the doctors can-“
“Chris” Her soft but firm voice caused him to stop short as she continued. “I’m dying and theirs nothing you or any of the doctors can do about it and if it’s alright with you I’d like to spend my dying days in the place I was most happy among the people I love.”
Chris couldn’t speak.
“Please can you allow me this final request Christilone?”
There was a pause then Chris cleared his throat and said. “How could I possibly deny you, I’ll tell Brittney in the morning I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed.”
“Actually Chris I was hoping to surprise her.”
9 Months Later
Dear Amanda
Today is a very sad day. As you may no it has been 1 year sins my mom and dad died. Gramma Kara has still not come home. It has been almost a year sins I’ve seen her. Grampa Chris is very tired he’s gone a lot visiting her. I think she is dying. I have been helping take care of Joey while he is gone but it is hard. I no that Gramma Kara is old but I am not ready to lose her too.
Yor very sad frend
Brittney
Brittney put her pen down and looked over to where Tara the babysitter sat watching TV and talking to a friend over the phone. Tara was a young 15 year old who lived down the street and was looking to make some easy cash but cared nothing for the two little brats that she was responsible for. To her babysitting for the Bakers was just a way to get away from her own brothers and have access to a phone and TV, two things that she barely ever got to herself when at home. Tara enjoyed being in charge almost too much she was nothing like Marrissa. Brittney turned back to her letter and wrote one last thing on it before folding it and sticking it in the envelope.
P.S. Tell Merisa I relly, relly miss her, my new babesiter is not as fun as her. All she does is wach TV and talk on the fone she probly wood not relize it if I left the house. I cud do better by myself.
After she sealed the envelope she slipped past Tara who was talking about some fashion show with one of her many friends over the phone and went up to her room.
She checked on Joseph to be sure he was sleeping before moving in to her own room. There he lay, his thumb half in his mouth, his blond tuft of hair damp from sweat. She moved over to the side of his crib and brushed her fingers through his hair smiling as he rolled onto his back smacking his lips and opening his eyes slightly before dropping off to sleep again. “Don’t worry Joseph.” She whispered softly. “No matter what happens I’ll always be here for you.” Then she kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them gently on the baby’s cheek. “I love you little brother!” She said as she closed the door softly behind her.
Once in her own room she pulled a shoebox out from under her bed inside were all the things she treasured the most: her mom’s favorite necklace, some peppermints from her dad’s office, a pair of little tennis shoes that Joseph had grown out of, her parents wedding rings, a family photo album and all the letters she had gotten from Amanda.
She took the album out of the box and looked at the picture at the front. She loved the picture. It had been taken outside under a fall tree at the park. The leaves were beautiful shades of red and orange. Her father and Joseph were wearing green shirts with red scarves and she and her mother were wearing red shirts with green scarves.
Her mother’s hair was pulled back into a wind-whipped bun with two stray sections of hair framing her face. Her black hair had a slight curl to it that added a little character to her and her cheeks were quite rosy from the wind.
Her father’s blond hair was blown slightly and his cheeks were red but not as red as her mom’s. He had one arm around his wife and the other around Brittney who was holding onto it for dear life.
Then their was her brother just barely 1 year old and sitting in his mothers arms like the happiest boy alive with a big grin on his face that Brittney had only seen 5 or 6 times since their parents had died.
She opened the big album and looked through the pictures in the book tracing her mother’s handwriting absentmindedly as she looked at the pictures: Pictures of her parents wedding and of her and Joseph’s births and first birthdays. She skipped to the back of the book and although she had looked at each page a zillion times and had memorized each picture each facial expression and every word her mother had written tears still filled her eyes. She couldn’t help it every time she saw the picture of her standing on the stool beside her mother looking into the mirror and trying to copy her as she put on make-up, every time she saw her and her dad in snow-gear building a snow-fort in the back yard, every time she saw Officer Hugo chasing her with a squirt gun at a squad cookout or Marissa laughing at her after shoving cake in her face at her 10th birthday party she couldn’t help but cry.
A lone cry from the other room told her Joseph was awake and she put the album back in the box and pushed the box back under her bed. Then wiping the tears in her eyes she slipped into Joseph’s room and smiled when she saw him standing up in the crib holding onto the side and forcing tears out of his eyes. “Oh you pathetic little thing.” She grinned as she pulled down the side of the crib and pulled him out. Immediately he stopped crying and laughed.
“Breney!” He cooed and she smiled
“Yeah that’s right Joseph. Are you Hungry?”
The baby stuffed his pudgy hand in his mouth and nodded she laughed and worked her way to the kitchen and past the living room where Tara was sitting cross-legged on the ground painting her nails and holding the phone firmly between her head and shoulder. She glanced up when she saw Brittney pass but quickly went back to work on her nails.
Brittney slipped into the kitchen and placed Joseph awkwardly into his highchair then pulled over a chair to get down the baby food and a small bowl, spoon and sippy cup along with a banana off the counter. She brought it all to the table and started singing as she poured some of the flakes into the bowl and mixed it with water from the sink.
“The little duck
With the feather
On his back
He led the others with a…”
“QUACK, QUACK, QUACK” Joseph yelled out happily as he banged his tray in excitement. Brittney smiled as she finished mixing up the baby food and diced up half a banana in small slices and placed it on his tray then filled his sippy cup with 1/3 water and 2/3 juice and gave it to his as well then absentmindedly picked up the other half of the banana and began to eat it.
She heard the front door open and Tara talking to someone which wasn’t much of a surprise Tara frequently had friends over to “help babysit”. She finished the banana and dumped the peel in the garbage. The front door slammed again and she sighed. Joseph had given up on the spoon and was now digging out the banana chunks with his fingers and banging the spoon on the tray Brittney smiled and shook her head but she couldn’t bare to be the one to stop his fun so instead she grabbed a spoon of her own and began rapping on his tray and singing at the top of her lungs.
“What is going on in here?” Brittney stopped suddenly at the sound of Christilone’s voice. He had his hands on his hips but she could see the smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Grampa Chris, you’re back” Chris smiled as she hugged him and then a tired look crossed his face. “Grampa Chris what’s wrong is Gramma Kara alright?”
“I’m afraid not Brittney. She’s not doing well at all they don’t expect her to live much longer. I’m going back to see her again next week.”
“Are you going to take us with you this time?”
Chris sighed “You know I want to take you Brittney. But…I just can’t.”
“But Grampa Chris –“
“I said ‘no’ Brittney” tears filled Chris’s eyes as he looked down at Brittney wide eyes “I’m sorry Brittney, I know you just want to see her one last time and say good-bye but…it just doesn’t always work that way. I’m really sorry.”
Anger filled Brittney. She looked at her little brother who was playing with his food again unaware of all that was going on around him and then looked back at Chris. “I think you’re lying, you can take me you just don’t want to. You don’t think a little girl like me can handle death. That’s what everyone thinks. That’s why you talk about it in whispers when you think I’m asleep. That’s why no one talks about my parents death why they tell me that they “passed away” or “left this world” or “are no longer living” instead of just saying their DEAD, heart stopped pumping, cold to the touch, rotting in the ground DEAD.” Brittney was sobbing now but she wasn’t finished. “You all think I’m too young to understand, that I can’t handle it but what I can’t handle is that I didn’t get to say good-bye. And now your not letting me say good-bye to her either.” She was getting angry again as she looked Chris straight in the eye. “And I thought you cared about me.” Then she ran out of the room leaving Chris crushed by her words and knowing he could do nothing to change her feelings.
Brittney ran to her room and cried for a full hour. She couldn’t understand how Chris could be so mean and so inconsiderate. And that’s when she came to a decision. She wouldn’t let Chris control her like this. She would say good-bye to Kara if it was the last thing she ever did.
Tara barely ever paid attention to her anyway and probably wouldn’t even notice if she was gone. So next week when Chris left she would be in that car with him whether he liked it or not.
“I don’t know what to do Kara!” Chris complained it was nearly 8:00 and Brittney and Joseph had been asleep for nearly two hours. He hadn’t seen Brittney since her outburst in the kitchen but he had done a lot of thinking and after putting Joey to bed he had quickly called his wife. “It’s not that I don’t want to take her with me but it’s too dangerous. If she was to catch Quaple I’d never forgive myself.”
Kara’s gentle voice filled the device at his ear. “Oh Christilone you worry too much. This problem is easy to solve I’ll just come back with you this time.”
“What!” the shock in Chris’s voice was unmistakable. “What do you mean you’ll come back with me?”
“I’m coming back to Earth with you to say good-bye to the children. Now don’t try to talk me out of it cause I’ve already made-up my mind.”
“No you need to stay there where the doctors can-“
“Chris” Her soft but firm voice caused him to stop short as she continued. “I’m dying and theirs nothing you or any of the doctors can do about it and if it’s alright with you I’d like to spend my dying days in the place I was most happy among the people I love.”
Chris couldn’t speak.
“Please can you allow me this final request Christilone?”
There was a pause then Chris cleared his throat and said. “How could I possibly deny you, I’ll tell Brittney in the morning I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed.”
“Actually Chris I was hoping to surprise her.”
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