by Shelly Crane
These things, these dark beings had begun to arrive, per the so called sightings that no one could actually produce evidence for. A prank? Aliens? A cult? Gothic Angels? The questions were endless and the answers few. People disappeared, dying and then being seen again later. They looked human but, with black eyes and hair and acting strange, as the stories that poured in kept saying.
Wild and domestic dogs and animals were running off and killing themselves, running into traffic, jumping through electric fences and off cliffs and drowning in the rivers and pools. It was like they could sense something was wrong and couldn’t face it alive.
The moon hadn’t shone in a year and it apparently had something to do with them. It took a while to see the connection. No one realized that something was even happening until people started disappearing.
The weather was awfully strange too. Cold when it shouldn’t be, among other things, hale, freezing rain, snow in the summer. The government tried to assure us to continue to live our lives normally while they conjured up a response and course of action to the happenings.
No one knew or had said whether or not to fear the beings. No one wanted to be the one to have started a panic. There were mixed reactions as to what the beings might want since in a year, there had been no contact or message to indicate anything what they were doing here.
The paper I worked for was an alien gossip mill since then. The she-beast had me out photographing every fool in the street claiming to have seen one of the visitors or phantoms but, for the most part, people were living their lives...normally.
I glanced up into my bathroom mirror to see a pitiful sight really. The only feature I would’ve labeled as nice was my long brown curly hair but the rest of me left something to be desired. Boring brown eyes, five foot zero inches. Yeah, that’s right, I was a toddler. I was healthy and petite, curvy yet slim.
As I looked in the mirror at my naked, wet, pale bathed body through the steam from my shower I was somewhat overwhelmed. If I saw me on the street I would think ‘fragile’ or ‘too much coffee as a teen stunted her growth’. That was not really what I was going for. I was nineteen but to me I didn’t look a day over sixteen.
I dragged my clothes on, slicking on a smidge of makeup. I wasn’t sure what I’d classify my style as. I’m wasn’t really trendy, not preppy, not grunge. Cute I guess. That’s what you get for having to shop in the juniors department most of the time.
Most of my clothes were jeans or skirts with comfy plain v neck t-shirts and layered tanks. My staples were silver hoop earrings, the necklace I wore every single day and coral toe nail polish. Probably pretty boring to others but, to me it was my comfort zone.
I swept my curls into a loose and low hanging shoulder ponytail and mentally prepared myself for yet another day in the life of me.
“Got anything to eat, sis?” Danny was already in the kitchen behind me when he asked me, startling me with his ninja quietness.
“Yeah, lunchmeat and sandwich bread. That’s about it until I get back to the store.”
He had been staying with me since our parents went off the deep end.
A whole clan of individuals had begun a club of sorts where they got together every day to meet at the ridge with signs pointed to the sky that said ‘Welcome To Our Planet’ and ‘Make Yourself At Home’ or ‘Take Me With You’, convinced that the beings were aliens trying to make contact with us but were too scared of us beastly humans with our guns and Mohawks and pop stars and Republicans.
It was happening everywhere, every big city in the world had stories of invaders pouring out daily and every big city had a clan of idiots ready to welcome them with uneducated naïve open arms. Acting like ambassadors for the welcome wagon.
Actually, I wish I had a gun at this point. Feeling helpless made me feel, well, helpless, and now with Danny here, I felt even worse.
“Could you make me one too? I have got to go into the office in a few minutes. Are you gonna be ok here?” I asked, frantically looking for my keys.
“Yes and yes. I’m eighteen years old now, sis.”
“I know that but I’m still scared. Things are getting worse, more people are claiming to have seen them and I know it’s probably a farce but I can’t help it. This has been going on for months that we know about, who knows how long before that. Something is happening and despite was the Lefters say, it’s not global warming. Something. Is. Happening. I don’t think the world will ever be the same again. It’s just going to keep getting worse, not better.”
“You don’t know that. We have no idea what’s going on. I’ve never even seen one. Have you? No. Only hearsay. No one even has any pictures of them. I think it’s just some kinda phenomenon blown way outta proportion.”
“The moon missing is a phenomenon?” I countered, turning to face him akimbo.
“Yes. If the moon was really gone wouldn’t it affect us? The tides? Why hasn’t the earth skipped off into orbit because we were pulled off our rotational spin? Why hasn’t anything they predicted would happen happened yet? It’s freaky, I’ll grant you that but aliens? Come on college graduate, you can do better than that.”
“I never said that’s what I thought it was. I don’t know. I’m trying hard not to have an opinion.”
“Whatever. I’m hitching a ride with Jamie to work today. She’s gonna wear that button up shirt, not quite buttoned up all the way. I can feel it.”
Danny’s eyes glazed over like some idiot ogling cheerleaders at halftime as he spoke. I’d seen Jamie and, yes, that was exactly what she’d be wearing.
“Swine! I’m outta here. Be careful and please come straight home after work unless you call me and leave a message at home, ok?”
“Yep. You too. Wait, here’s your sandwich! You owe me a load of laundry for it.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed it, hugged him swiftly, thankful for his good sense lately. Not in girls of course but the street smarts anyway. We always called if we were late, we always looked out for each other and always hugged before leaving. We’d already been abandoned by our parents, literally. They called one year ago and told me they were sending Danny to live with me and we’d hear from them soon. Just like that.
Pain in the butt, yes. Brother I love and would kill for, yes.
The office was buzzing, the fifth floor was a hopping place these past few months, loaded down with your plethora of different opinions of the happenings. We had them all and so far, aliens were winning out in the office pool. I refused to participate and was labeled along with the other Debbie Downers as uncooperative and would be the first to die if an alien invasion were to come.
“Comforting,” I would spout. “Who wants to live in a world that no longer belongs to you anyway?” Which in turn received rolled eyes and walk-a-ways. Mission accomplished.
The story for that day was a Goth teenage boy who had been mistakenly identified as a visitor and wanted to sue the city for discrimination, as he was embarrassingly hauled into a cop car outside of a pool hall and carted in for questioning. His argument, quote, ‘I should be able to walk around the city with my black clothes, spiked hair and guy liner and not have to worry about getting arrested.’
That was a valid point but still a ridiculous lawsuit. He was one of those looters that raid department stores after a natural catastrophe. He wasn’t actually stealing anything but, still trying to cash in on fame and wealth at a time of world crisis was the same thing in my book. He wasn’t special. In times of crisis not one should be counted special. Everyone was human therefore equal to the same misery and misfortune and good luck as everyone else. What happened to the whole ‘we gotta stick together’ motto? When hard times came-a-knocking, people baled on good sense and decency. If nothing else, I had learned that this past year.
With the story done, I headed back to my crumby hole in the wall apartment. I hadn’t heard from Danny at the office so I was assuming he was home already. I hadn’t heard from anyone lately. Matt hadn’t even called me in a whil
e, meaning two days, a record for him.
When the news first started reporting on the visitors he had called or came by everyday, sometimes more than once, whining and crying about how he couldn’t die knowing how he’d hurt me, he needed me, wanted me, I needed him.
As soon as the door was shut in his face though, the fist banging and cursing followed.
Danny had manned up once and went out there to defend my honor against some of the obscenities coming out of the foul mouth attached to the violent man who claimed he loved me. The only deterrent for Matt was the baseball bat in Danny’s hands and the fact that he practically fell backwards down the stairs in his drunken stupor, leaving him embarrassed and disoriented. Any other time, Matt wouldn’t have backed down and I was afraid of what would have happened to Danny.
Matt wasn’t exactly little. He wasn’t overweight but he worked out incessantly. His eyes were deep brown and his hair black, short and a little wavy. He was tan and pretty gorgeous by anyone’s standards which, as shallow as it sounded, was one reason I agreed to go out with a guy I didn’t know anything about in the first place.
Sadly enough for a greeting story, we met at the grocery store. Officially. He was way ahead of me in school, like five years ahead but, he never knew me and I never spoke to him. So for our first real meeting, Matt asked me out on our first date over the fresh vegetables. His pick up line was ‘So you come here often?’ and then he smiled crookedly letting me know it was lame and he was partially joking.
Back then, I thought it had been adorable. That night he took me to see the new Rocky movie, then to the local all night diner for an omelet. We talked about school and work. He was a personal trainer and he bragged about his clientele, though I’d never really heard of any of them. Some were the Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors, bouncers from Chicago’s Vision night club and such. He was nice and talkative and well mannered. He didn’t even try to kiss me at my door that night.
The next date though, it changed. He was a little bit more open with his opinions and even commented on how I shouldn’t wear ‘that skirt’ anymore, because he thought it was a little too pleated and did nothing for my figure. Yeah...
When he dropped me off that night, there was a very demanding kiss. One where you’re pressed against the door and just kind of hang on and wait for breath. It wasn’t my first kiss, but my first kiss like that. I was so wrapped up in the novelty of some big handsome guy vying for my affection that I couldn’t do anything but let it all happen.
He called me ‘girly’, like every other word was ‘girly’. What grown woman wanted to be called that by a grown man? Maybe it only upset me because it was coming from him and it wasn’t really a term of endearment but more of a derogatory nickname.
Every since he hit me, I had been avoiding him like the plague but he was resilient and had lots of tricks.
It should boost my ego I guess, especially since he started stalking me. Nothing like a stalker to tell people that your desirable, however, it had the adverse affect. I felt worthless of someone who could actually feel anything for me. Only buffoons wanted me as a mate, primal instinct to possess and control and scare, beating their chest and sometimes beating on me.
Also, the virgin thing had been a little much for him. That was the first time he laughed at me, really laughed at me. He told me I was ‘the silliest girl he’d ever met’ and that he’d wait for me to warm up to the idea but he wouldn’t wait forever and he meant it.
The night he hit me was the night he’d tried to force himself on me and I had to bite his ear to stop him and then run for it.
Arriving home tonight, there was no indication if Danny was home or not as he still had no car to be in the driveway. With the assumption that he was inside asleep I stepped out of the car and checked the mail. The B on my apartment mailbox was broken, making it look like an R. How I still got my mail was beyond comprehension and my laughable landlord could care less.
I headed up the wooden creaky steps to the upstairs apartment. The door was unlocked, surprising me as we always locked it. As I entered cautiously, I saw Danny asleep on the sofa and let out of sigh of relief. Idiot! He knew to lock the door. He couldn’t been killed five times before he’d known someone was in here with him.
I turned on the television and almost sat on Danny’s feet. Breaking News was playing as always. It was beginning to be the boy who cried wolf around here.
Every day was news of the visitors or whatever was going on in the world that no one still seemed to actually see with their own eyes. This had to be the biggest hoax / exaggeration gone wild I’d ever seen. There probably wasn’t anything going on at all, some trick with the upper atmosphere that obscured the moons view or something and people just panicked and started putting pieces together than didn’t fit.
Was H.G Wells reading ‘War Of The Worlds’ aloud somewhere? Maybe people were disappearing because they wanted to. Maybe they were scared or saw an opportunity. Whatever the reason, watching the news was pointless, yet there I found myself tuning in as I did every night like some mindless follower.
“The new visitor sighting today came from downtown. A women, who’s name we won’t release for fear of her safety, claimed she was driving home when her car spun out of control and her husband’s side of the car was slammed into a telephone pole. She also claimed there was a visitor in the road and that’s why she had to swerve and lost control on the car, to miss him.
“She stated her husbands body was mangled and bleeding and that there was no way he could’ve survived. Once she was out of the car and trying to flag someone down, her husband climbed out of the window, without a scratch and walked away from the scene, not speaking a word to her.
“No one has reported seeing a man on the highway near the accident and after a look at the car from officials, they say there is no way this man could have survived that crash. The pole had come cleanly through the passenger side of the vehicle...”
They showed what appeared to be an elderly woman who’s face was blotted out as the reporter asked her the dumbest question ever.
“Ma’am. How do you feel about what’s happened here tonight?”
“Well...my husband didn’t even speak to me. He just walked away, didn’t even look at me. He didn’t ask me if I was okay, he just didn’t care...” the woman answered in barely a whisper and then let it drift off as she turned to hide her face from the camera.
Wow. Things were getting stranger and stranger.
The knock on the door startled me.
As I pushed Danny’s feet off my lap and marveled at how that kid could sleep through anything, I pulled the door open but kept the chain latched. Matt. Dang it. What I wouldn’t have given for a peep hole.
“What Matt? Do you know what time it is?”
“It’s only 8:30 Sherry. You haven’t turned into a grandma on me already have you?”
“What do you want Matt?” I said crossing my arms over my chest and looking out beyond him into the parking lot.
“I saw one of those things, a visitor. I wanted to give you the scoop. You can write a story about it.”
“No thanks. I’m not a journalist, I’m a photographer.”
I started to close the door but he wedged his foot inside.
Was that alcohol I smelled? Again.
“I know that! I just thought you might want to talk to me about it. Talk to someone who’s seen one for real.” His slurring wasn’t as bad as usual.
“Nope, I really don’t. Can you move your foot please?”
“Come on, Sherry. Don’t be like that! I just want to talk. I miss ya, girly.” He paused and gave me the pout lip for some serious dramatic effect. “Let me in. I want to talk, please?”
“You’re drunk Matt and-”
“I’m not drunk!” he yelled, pounding his fist on the door jam. “Let me in! I just want to talk, that’s all. Don’t be a-.”
“Shh! You’re going to wake my neighbors. I’m not letting you in when you�
�re like this, just leave.”
“Sherry, baby, come on. You know you miss me. Nobody treats you like I do. We were good together weren’t we, girly?” He tried to grab my arm through the crack, almost falling in the process.
Why was he using that conniving voice on me instead of brute force? He must have been more drunk than I thought.
“We are not good together. You hit.”
“You bite,” he growled.
“You tried to force yourself on me.”
“You owed me after six months of dating!” he spouted and banged the doorjamb with his fist to drive home his point. “It’s not my fault I snapped when you went all Mike Tyson on me!”
“Five months of dating,” I corrected. “I didn’t draw blood anyway and no I didn’t owe you anything, especially not that.”
“Your not religious, Sherry, ok, you’re just a tease. You just wanted to toy with me and jerk me around just like you’re doing right now with this whole hard-to-get act.”
“Matt, if that’s true then why do you want to be with me? Hmm? If I’m such an evil tease then why? Leave and be rid of me!”
Once again I tried to shut the door, in vain.
“You still owe me. You know how many dinners I shelled out for? How many movies tickets I bought? I could’ve been out with tons of other girls, but I picked you. I don’t think I’m asking too much in return here.”
“I’m not a hooker, Matt! I don’t get paid or give payment as sex and I’m not a tease. I never led you on to think that’s what was going to happen. I chose to stay a virgin and I’m sure as heck not gonna give that up to someone like you! I deserve something better than that and you do too. You deserve someone who wants to put out every chance you get so leave and start your search for such a girl.”