Hello All:
Happy Monday!I apologize for my lack of presence last week. Sometimes things get too busy to allow any writing. This could happen from time to time.
***
If you've been a reader of this blog for a number of years, you might have recalled numerous short stories that had been written. But many of these have been unpublished, simply because in the present, I don't like the sort of material that these short stories delved into. But here's an introductory story that had been written around 2015. It was an alien abduction series centered on the main character, Dana. The subsequent stories need to be cleaned up. Maybe I can use AI to help with avoiding certain directions that these stories from the past go in. As for today's story, it's the original. There wasn't anything bad about it. In fact, I like the story because it reminds me of those alien abduction books I used to read back in the 1980s.
She looks like an ordinary suburban housewife. To the onlooker, Dana lives the typical life of seeing the husband and kids off to work and school on weekday mornings, followed by her various duties throughout the day. In the early afternoon she welcomes her children home, and then greets her husband a couple hours later with dinner on the table. On weekends she shops at the grocery store. Sometimes she enjoys special outings with her husband and kids, or even family gatherings. Then Monday returns to offer Dana the same schedule as last week.
On the surface, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly out-of-the-ordinary with Dana's life. And that's how she wants it. You see; Dana has been hiding a dark secret for most of her life. She's never told a soul out of fear that people would label her as crazy, or one of those pathetic people who make up bizarre stories for attention. It's a terrible secret that began as a girl, shortly after Dana graduated eighth grade.
***
It was the summer break before beginning high school. Mother and Father took Dana and her two siblings on vacation to an isolated cottage in north Michigan. There the family enjoyed plenty of swimming in the pristine lake, boating and fishing, and various recreational activities in neighboring towns. At nightfall, Dana and her siblings usually watched the stars in the sky and marveled at how many there were. The night sky did not look like that back home!
They did this one early evening, after spending the entire day swimming in the lake. Just like for most people who spend their lives with light pollution, the sight of the Milky Way was spectacular and breathtaking.
Suddenly, Dana's little brother, Joey, saw something interesting in a different area of the sky. "What's that?" he asked while pointing towards it.
"What?" asked Dana.
"Over there." continued to point little Joey. "See that blinking light in the sky?"
"Oh yeah! I see it!" chimed in Dana's younger sister, Lisa. "It's weird. It's like a space ship or some kind of UFO."
That's when Dana finally saw it: a tiny, green light in the sky that flashed a specific pattern. It disturbed Dana because she recognized the flashes—made sense. It was as-if the object in the sky generated a secret code just for her!
Initially, Dana wasn't sure what to think. She had heard of strange lights in the sky that were actually space ships from other planets with inhuman beings that flew them. These spaceships often landed in remote locations where people were alone—places like the woods of north Michigan. Unable to run for help, isolated people were abducted and subjected to all sorts of horrific tests. Dana did not want to fall victim to this.
"Guys I'm getting cold." she announced. "Let's go inside." Dana didn't want to suggest to her younger siblings that the light in the sky might have been extra terrestrial beings. But the more she thought of it, the more she realized that whoever maneuvered that flashing light in the sky was aiming to abduct her that moment.
"No!" cried out little Joey. "Can’t we stay outside a bit longer?"
"Yeah!" chimed in Lisa. "How often do we get to see this back at home?”
“No, come-on!” answered Dana. “I'm getting cold, and want to go in."
"Awe..." complained little Joey.
Lisa slowly trailed behind.
Dana attempted to coax her younger siblings with the suggestion of treats back in the cottage. "We still have those ice cream bars in the freezer. I sure have a taste for one, don't you?" As Dana turned around, she quickly glanced up at the sky and could see the blinking green light. They were watching her from thousands of feet up in the air!
As Lisa and Joey trailed behind their older sister, they continued to argue and insist that there was no reason to go inside. "But if you're so cold, why do you want an ice cream bar?" challenged little Joey.
"Dana, are you afraid of that blinking light in the sky?" suggested Lisa.
"No!" answered Dana. "Guys I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just cold and want to go in for a snack. I'm hungry." Dana demonstrated that she was not fearful of the blinking light in the sky by looking up and waving her arms towards it. "See, I'm not afraid." She called out to the object, "Here I am! Come get me!"
Suddenly; the tiny, green light grew in diameter which suggested that it was coming closer. As it did this, it blinked faster. It was as-if the blinking, green light in the sky had answered Dana’s signal.
All three children noticed this. The response from whatever object that blinked in the sky was a too ironic. It was then that Dana, Lisa and Joey were hit with a wave of terror and ran back to the cottage, crying.
Once finally making it inside, Father nearly leapt up from the sofa."What happened?" he shouted. It was difficult not to assume something wrong upon observing three children rush into the house while sniffling with tears.
"There's something in the sky!"
"There's a light in the sky that's blinking!"
"It's blinking and coming closer after I waved at it!"
Father sat back down. "Alright, calm down kids. It sounds like maybe your mind was playing tricks on you. Now there are a lot of satellites out in space, and that's probably what you saw. The sky is different, here, in Michigan. You don't see stuff like that back in home."
Curious, Mother stepped outside while encouraging her children to join them. She stood on the porch and asked, "Where's the light?"
Unfortunately; the green, blinking light was gone.
***
Late that night as the family slept soundly in their beds, Dana had been awakened by a series of strange dreams. She and Lisa slept in one of the cottage bedrooms that had twin beds on opposite sides of the room. Little Joey slept in an inflatable mattress on the floor in Mother and Father's bedroom.
The bedroom where Dana slept was now submerged in total darkness. Not even the nightlight from the bathroom out in the hallway could be seen. It was so dark in that moment that Dana couldn't even see her hand out in front of her face.
Earlier that year for her birthday, Dana had received a wristwatch as a gift. It was a simple analog style watch with second hand that ticked. It wasn't the wind-up sort of watch. Rather, it operated on battery. What's more; it had a background light which glowed upon pressing a button. Curious of the time, Dana pressed the light button with the watch out in front of her. The hands on the watch read just a dot passed quarter-to-midnight. But then she noticed something peculiar. Originally moving once the watch had been illuminated, the second hand suddenly stopped!
Dana tapped the watch in hopes that the second hand would come back to life. But it remained motionless at the eleven seconds position.
Was it the blinking, green light that had been seen the sky earlier that evening. Dana heard of the phenomenon in which UFOs have an ability to affect technology—render automobiles, radios or even wristwatches inoperable. Were they outside the cottage and preventing the second hand on Dana's wristwatch from ticking?
Dana took a deep breath while releasing the light button on her watch. The room was, once again, in total darkness. Fighting the thoughts of something possibly being outside, Dana tried to believe Father's explanation from earlier that night of a satellite in the sky.
It was terribly silent in the room. Dana raised the wristwatch to her ear and listened for the tick of the second hand. But the watch was dead. She wished so badly to at least hear her sister breathing in her sleep. But there wasn't a sound. Only the deafening ring of blood rushing through Dana's ears could be heard in that moment. Any louder, she feared being unable to hear what was outside.
It was as-if Dana had suddenly been transported into another reality framework in which time had been suspended, and her family was now frozen in a deep sleep. Something was happening to Dana. The world was not behaving normally. And then came the eerie sensation of feeling infinitesimally small.
Dana began to cry. She broke the silence by allowing her voice to softly cry out with the tears. Then, suddenly, the entire bedroom had been flooded with a green light that came from outside and through the window. Instinctively, Dana began to sob out of terror. But her voice had been squelched by some mysterious force. Was it the terror that robbed her of air which made it impossible to scream, or did the beings outside her bedroom window have the ability to paralyze Dana's vocal cords?
Throughout her entire life, the only item which Dana had seen of the beings was a silver-gloved hand. She never dared to look at them out of sheer terror. And it was the silver-gloved hand which reached through the cottage’s bedroom window that night that caused Dana to close her eyes and silently cry. She knew they were coming in by the dozen. In less than five seconds they somehow materialized and flew through the green light which beamed through the bedroom window. In less than five seconds, a dozen beings from out of this world all stood around Dana's bed.
Eyes tightly shut; Dana silently screamed with her voice squelched by the mysterious force. Her blankets and bed sheet had been levitated off. Soon, Dana floated upwards and through the green light; through the bedroom window with a dozen beings from out of this world. They guided Dana onto the ship.
From that point, a sense of normal reality had been restored. Dana and the beings no longer floated as feet touched the floor, and the effects of gravity could be felt. But just to ensure that Dana remained where they wanted her, a group of hands held her in place.
A low humming sound increased in pitch as Dana felt as-if she were riding an elevator. She concluded that whatever spaceship had landed near the cottage had now lifted off the ground and into the sky. It was then that Dana realized that she had been abducted in the dead of night from the safety of her bed; brought on board an extra terrestrial spaceship which now flew off—perhaps—thousands of feet above ground where no one could help her.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Dana kept her eyes tightly closed. She did not want to see what the beings looked like. They were probably hideous with aggressive facial expressions. But she was quite aware of what occurred throughout the entire abduction. Dana was escorted over to some sort metallic wall that stood at the center of what she imagined to be the examination room. From there, a half dozen pair of hands cooperated in stripping Dana of all her sleepwear. Everything was taken off; pajama bottoms, t-shirt and undergarments.
For a girl that age, nudity in front of anyone—Earth people or extra terrestrial beings—was uncomfortable; almost psychologically traumatic. But the beings didn't care. They needed to inspect the Earth person. Hands and fingers touched various regions of Dana's body. They beings seemed most interested in Dana's private area. What could they have possibly wanted with that?
Throughout the investigation, Dana could somehow sense the telepathic communication from the creatures. They didn't speak directly to her. But she was aware of their discussions. Through "telepathic listening" Dana learned that she had a special feature on her body that the beings required. Not all Earth people had this anomalous condition. Dana was a special case. But she was still too young to activate. Perhaps in five to ten years she would be ready. The beings were disappointed, but kept reminding themselves to be patient.
The sensation of riding an elevator downwards was soon felt. Dana assumed that the ship was returning to Earth. While this happened, the beings cooperated in re-dressing their abductee. They seemed to be experts at stripping and re-dressing Earth people. How many other victims had they done this to?
The ship touched down—assumingly near the cottage where Mother, Father, and siblings slept. The eerie sensation of feeling infinitesimally small returned, followed by no longer being under the influence of gravity. The crew which escorted Dana onto the ship now floated and guided her back through the bedroom window and into her bed. Once the covers were laid over Dana, the presence of the beings was suddenly gone. Did they leave?
Dana was too frightened to open her eyes. She left them shut for nearly five minutes while gauging the surroundings of the bedroom. All that could be heard was the sound of blood rushing her ears.
As a test, Dana raised the wrist watch to her ears and could hear the second hand ticking. This was reassurance that the ordeal had ended. She opened her eyes and pressed the light button. The hands on the clock read 12:15 am as the second hand now ticked its way towards the 57 second mark. Dana concluded that whatever happened to her had only occurred in thirty minutes.
***
An alarming thing noticed for the weeks that followed; Dana had missed her period for that month. Of course she attributed it to the alien abduction, and feared that she had been impregnated. But there was nothing invasive throughout the ordeal.
By the following month her menstrual cycle returned to normal.
To be continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment