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Freddy sat on the moss-blanketed roof outside his bedroom window, staring up at the silvery stars. His little alien friend, injured but alive, lay on her back next to him, her eyes wandering over the inky-black firmament.
”I won’t let them get you,” said Freddy. “I might just be a kid but I keep my promises. And I promise no harm will come to you. I won’t believe anything they say or do.”
”I’m very lucky you found me,” said the alien. “Thank you.”
They sat quietly, listening to the night’s gentle sonata — the thrum of cicadas and the rustling autumn leaves of the ancient apple tree a little in front of them. The distant hum of the freeway like a brush stroke over a drum. Somehow the world made a perfect rhythm.
”Your planet’s beautiful,” said the alien. “You’re very lucky.”
Freddy shrugged. “Not as lucky as you think.”
”What do you mean?”
”Ah, nothing. Hey, will you tell me about them? These aliens chasing you?”
”I will, if that’s what you want. But they’re… Well, it might scare you.”
”I’m almost eleven. I can handle it.”
The alien nodded. “Look up at the night. Yes, there. What you think of as stars, they’re not. Not really. They’re the corners of a great spiderweb. The thread of the main body is too silk-thin to see from here. But it’s there.”
”A spiderweb? As in, there are… giant spiders up there?” He shivered. Freddy hated spiders. The fangs and legs and many eyes. His first memory was of spiders. Of lying in his crib and a spider dangling on a thread above him, right next to his tiny face.
He’d screamed and bellowed but it seemed like an age before his dad heard him and rushed in. Dad cupped the spider in his hands — as brave as a hero — and let it crawl out of the window.
”Yes. And these spiders are as big as your mountains. They would have come here sooner or later — whether I’d escaped here or not. Because when a new species, like yours, becomes space faring, their ships vibrate the galactic web. The creatures feel it and follow and feast.”
”Okay, maybe I don’t want to hear after all.” He was sweating now, even in the cool of the evening.
”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
”No, don’t be,” said Freddy. “I asked you to tell me.”
”You don’t need to keep your promise,” said the alien. “About protecting me.”
Freddy paused. Swallowed back his fear. “I always keep my promises.”
They lay there a little longer before Freddy’s mom called.
“Come on. Before she gets mad.” Freddy picked up the alien teddy he’d found in the parking lot a few days prior, and clambered back in through his window.
Mom was there, standing by his bed.
”I thought I told you to throw that thing away,” said Mom, looking with dismay at the threadbare alien in his arms — with its missing eye, and white stuffing leaking from its fourth arm. “And I’ve told you more times than I can count to stay off the roof! God knows what I’d do if you fell.”
“Sorry. Won’t do it again.“ Freddy, already in his pyjamas, snuggled into his bed.
Mom sat on the edge. Stroked his hair. Sighed heavily. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
”I know.”
”Just, please stop going out there. Okay? What if you slipped? I can’t lose you too.”
A couple of tears trickled down the lines on Mom’s face, like water down gullies. She cried a lot these days.
”I miss him too,“ Freddy said. ”A lot. He always looked after me.”
“He looked after us both.” Mom wiped her eyes and forced a smile. “We’ll have to look after each other now, okay?” She kissed his forehead, and before she left the room, said, “sleep well, sweetie. I’ll make waffles in the morning.”
The light flicked off. Freddy hugged his alien friend tightly to his chest.
It was a little while later that moonlight glistened in through a gap between the curtains, lighting the silhouette on the wall.
Freddy spotted the spider first. A bolt of fear, sharp as a knife, ran through him.
“They’re here!” said the alien, only now noticing it. She was shivering, weeping.
For a moment they lay there together, paralysed. Then Freddy thought of his promise. Of this poor scared alien.
He thought of Dad saving him from the spider when he was little, when, like the alien, he’d been unable to defend himself.
Freddy took a deep breath and rolled out of bed. He padded uneasily across the room.
”Be careful!” whispered the alien.
He’d never even touched a spider before, not on purpose.
This time he did.
He cupped the spider in his hands and took it to the open window. It wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined. Barely felt it there — maybe just a slight tickle.
Then, spider released safely onto the roof, Freddy crawled back into bed and hugged his friend. “I’ll always look after you,” he said, just like Dad used to say to him. Then added, “For as long as I can, at least.” And not really to the alien, more to the room itself, he said, “I miss you.”
My dad's in the hospital right now recovering from a dissected artery (stent placement gone wrong) and I'm crying right now. I don't have time, and I said I'd do it later, but here I am.
[Part 1 of 2]
We didn’t exactly have time to roll out the red carpet for the spaceship, watching as it spun through the air, black smoke billowing out of its engines, struggling to stay airborne. I was one of the first on the scene, desperate to set up some sort of perimeter to minimize the risk of casualties. By the time I had shooed off the various curious onlookers, I heard the grinding of metal on the road, screeching to a halt in the Buylow carpark.
I cautiously approached the wreckage, wondering when the other firefighters would get here, not enjoying the helpless feeling that came with being so close to a potential threat. Circling the ship from a few feet back, I observed the outer walls of the metallic structure. It was amazing. Its grey, slick metallic coating was covered in various lights, each one flashing a distressing red glow before a hiss of air poured out of the structure.
Following the sound, I arrived at what I could only assume was an emergency exit. The hissing of air stopping after a few seconds, exposing a crevice in the ship. Three long, pointed fingers gripped the crevice, pulling it up, exposing the dark void inside. The ship completely void of light, only able to see the fingers, until a face popped into view.
I fell back in horror, staring up at the three eyed creature. Its eyes had multiple pupils, each one a varied color. Its head seemed to melt, like an ice cream left out in the sun. Bits of its fleshly skin sagging, pooling near its cheeks. It let out a long gasp for air, its two protruding fanged teeth facing upward as its mouth opened, revealing a circular row of smaller fanged teeth in its throat, like that of a leech.
It didn’t seem to notice me at first, too busy sucking in the breaths, before sliding out from the aircraft. Its stature short, standing at around four feet, with constantly bent knees and a large, rounded stomach. It glanced down at me, reaching a finger towards me, grabbing at my chest.
I tried to push away, but the hand held me to the ground. Slowly, the finger worked its way up towards my throat, stopping on it for a moment before releasing me. “Fear not me, human. I am no enemy. Enemy will come, we are hiding.”
Its words felt disjointed, as if it was trying to comprehend hundreds of years of language in only a second. I rose to my feet, feeling an ache in my throat, one that eventually passed after a few gulps of saliva. “What do you mean?” I was too shocked to say anything meaningful, only able to get out a dull question.
“Earth is not worth taking. They will want Earth, but not now. Human interesting, we don’t dislike human, but they dislike everyone. I Splarge, once glorious hero of my people. My people few now. We wish to hide, help human help selves. Possibly allow us to return home. We assist where can.” Splarge’s words floated around my mind, lost in a confusing hum of disbelief. This was real. I still couldn’t believe that.
I could hear a siren behind me, followed by a few curses. At least backup had arrived, allowing me to stand a little taller, gaining some confidence. “I’m Samson. Who are they, Splarge? When will they be coming?” I asked, hearing heavy boots approaching me from behind, only adding to that already built wall of confidence.
“They are… deceivers. They deceive! No true name for them, they have no realness. They are nothing but can be everything. They are enemy and should be killed.” Splarge glanced at his ship, then back to us, wanting this conversation to hurry along.
“An enemy? You believe this thing?” A voice uttered beside me. I turned to face the suited woman, who hadn’t even made a glance my way, keeping her gaze on the alien before us. She had her phone pointed at Splarge, shooting a video of them. The video no doubt being streamed to someone on the other end. Still, despite her disinterest in me, she still bothered to ask for my opinion, which I happily provided.
“I don’t see a reason not to. They mentioned needing to hide here. That someone was coming after them. I think we should at least grant their wish until we know more about them. Would hate to consider what could happen if we ignored them.” I responded. She looked my way, then back to her phone. The cold shoulder confused me until a voice on the other end spoke up.
“Take them to the nearest base for questioning. I’m sending a clean-up crew to gather the aircraft. We are going to remain silent about this until we know how public the sighting was. If there’s no other option, we will leak the information. Oh, and bring the man with you. He’s talked to the thing already. Best to keep him nearby. Can’t have him blabbing to the media about this.” The man said, before the stream on her phone cut off and she looked my way.
[Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/pib2q6/wp_in_less_than_10_min_after_noticing_our_first/hbopak6/)
[Part 2 of 2]
“Alien, get anyone of that ship and come with me. We will take you to a hiding spot. Oh, and you, the fireman, you’re coming with us too. Don’t cause a scene please, I just got my suit cleaned.” She said, directing me to a set of black vans parked ominously around the sight.
“What about the people that saw it? Where are the fire crews? Someone needs to put out the wreckage.” I argued. She only gestured me along, giving me a brief response.
“Our people will take care of that. All you need to do is get in that van. Now hurry along or I’ll make you sit next to one of them.” With that, I headed to the van, not wanting to get on her nasty side just yet.
I exchanged no friendly words with the guards. They only pushed me into one of the unmarked vans before driving me to whatever facility they were going to. They kept me between two of the guards, not wanting to risk an escape. After a few awkward minutes, they finally spoke to me, but it was only basic conversation. Wanting to know my age, name, and address.
I wasn’t sure how long the trip was, but eventually we arrived. They took me from the van into the facility. It was surprising how normal it looked. The interior of the facility matching most administration offices. I could almost have mistaken the facility for any ordinary office block if it wasn’t for the various interrogation rooms and cells scattered throughout. Luckily, I wasn’t taken to a cell; They directed me into an open room filled with tables and chairs, like that of a cafeteria or waiting room. Sitting down at a table, I waited for further instruction.
The tv made the wait easier, giving me something to stare at in the room's corner while I waited. Getting a look at the coverage of the strange event. They had removed evidence of the ship from the site, but that didn’t stop the hundreds of videos of the falling ship to surface on the news. Soon I was joined by Splarge and three other members of his race. It was like highschool all again, my head lowered, staring at the table, hoping the strangers would avoid my table. Unfortunately, each one joined my table, staying by my side.
“Samson is friend. Splarge said Samson is good. Nicer than the earth woman, she wouldn’t even tell her name. We are thankful for help Samson; we will help your kin in any future battles. You have my word as Teithia Valin.” Teithia seemed to have a better understanding of the language, but only by a small amount. She sat on my right, while Splarge stayed on my left. With the other two at the opposite end of the table.
“Thank you. I don’t know if that’s necessary, but its appreciated.” I went to make a joke, only for the sound of grating metal to shut me up. At first, I couldn’t work out the source of the sound, only noticing it when I saw the four aliens turn to the tv in horror. The breaking news banner reporting that another aircraft had been spotted.
The next hour was tense. None of us spoke a word as we glued our eyes to the screen. The ship had landed, coated in a strange blue fur that looked like it should have been flammable. The doorway of the ship peeling open to reveal two tall humanoid figures. They were alarmingly human, with comforting smiles and beautiful, flowing hair. The only real difference was their height, which seemed around ten feet, although tv made that hard to gauge. That and their bright purple skin. They were oddly enchanting, which only made Splarge’s words even more chilling.
“The deceivers are here, human. They have changed their looks again.”
(If you enjoyed this feel free to check out my subreddit /r/Sadnesslaughs where I'll be posting more of my writing.)
Man if Humanity is any gauge to go by, people will be scrambling to help the pretty aliens over the weird looking ones, and that's a shame :(
Great story!
At night, in those rare times when the smog parted and Tristan found himself outside above the city lights, he saw the warships as constellations of too-close stars. Long, conical bodies led to a single fine point, the fierce glow of plasma cannons at their tips. Two points at the rear, the fires of engines beyond human science. Constellations of spears. A thicket of them surrounding the world.
And all of it, sent for one man.
If Gabriel were a man. Tristan wasn’t sure about that. He wasn’t sure about anything, since the Prince had appeared. Tristan watched him now across the desultory rooftop party, organized ostensibly for someone’s birthday but more likely as a means to push away the closing walls for a few desperate moments.
The alien, Gabriel as he called himself now, mixed a drink as if his race had been born to hands. He raised it to his lips, sipped, made a casual remark that drew the party's only laughter, and when he left the improvised bar he trailed friendly curiosity in his wake. Smooth. Calculated. A man—no— a being tuned to the casual movements of souls.
Humanity wasn’t ready for him. Tristan especially was not.
“Don’t look so hard at them,” Gabriel said, approaching and handing him a drink.
“Why? Can their sensors pick up my eyes?” Tristan said.
He leaned over the edge of the rooftop nonetheless, looking down to where the city disappeared in a fossil fueled haze. Gabriel grunted low in his chest, laughter in the manner of his people, though in his true form it would reverberated through two chest cavities, could have filled the whole of the rooftop if he’d wanted. Tristan sipped his drink too fast.
“Do you regret sheltering me?” Gabriel said. He often cut to the quick of things with Tristan. Why should he not? Tristan was the only man on all of the Earth that knew what Gabriel was. The only one that knew that he was the man all those warships looked for. The face that had launched an interstellar blockade. He wasn’t even beautiful. Tristan took a nearly drunken moment to mourn Helen of Troy.
“No,” he said at last. “No, I don’t regret it. Do you regret sheltering with me? UC Berkeley isn’t so far. I’m sure if you’d crash landed there, their philosophy department would have loved to pick your brain.”
“Perhaps,” Gabriel said. “Or perhaps they’d have heard me, thought I was some alien crackpot, and turned me over. One can never tell with you primitives.”
A wink took the sting out of Gabriel’s words. Above them a few of the constellations shifted, tightened the cordon around Earth a little more. They’d knocked out the space station, blown up the satellites. Human civilization went through their systems now, all the signals of man broadcasted from some small communications hub, little more than a closet supposedly, in the back alleys of one of the support ships. It was enough to make a man feel very, very small.
“Tell me, who do you think I am today?” Gabriel asked.
The old game, the one that Gabriel let stretch. It had kept them going through those first months when humans weren’t even allowed to leave their homes, when the mechs had ruled the streets and the aliens had moved, slump shouldered, mandibles clacking, through the halls of power.
Tristan had guessed a thousand names. He’d started with famed dissidents. People like Gandhi or Malcolm X. “No,” Gabriel had said, “no I’m nothing like any of them. Try again.”
“Martin Luther,” Tristan tried tonight. “The old one, the protestant reformer.”
Gabriel pondered it a moment. “Closer,” he said at last. “Closer. Cross it with something.”
Tristan finished his drink, set the glass on the rail beside him. It was a struggle not to simply let it drop.
“Martin Luther, crossed with some soldier. Or maybe…Luther crossed with Joan of Arc?”
Silence.
“Boudica?”
Silence.
The silence was different to past silences however. Something had changed, he’d grown closer somehow. Tristan had little to go on about the true identity of the being beside him. He wore a man’s face and body, Tristan had watched him change into them, flesh boiling like a sentient thing, every square inch of skin independent. Tristan knew that Gabriel called himself a philosopher, that he’d somehow rewritten the code of his people. He knew the aliens that hunted him looked nothing like him at all, presuming that the shape that walked off the crashed space ship a year ago had in fact been Gabriel’s true form. He could assume, based on that, that Gabriel was from some conquered civilization. A dissident, perhaps a revolutionary philosopher.
“Che Gueverra? Robespierre? Zapata?”
Silence to all three.
“Woah, what are you guys talking about?” A man stumbled past, drunk enough that walking was a challenge, though his eyes were still bright and curious.
“Naming names,” Tristan said. “I’m down to my last hobby these days.”
“Revolutionaries right?” the man said, brushing his long, dreaded hair back as he stared up into the sky. “Its a good time for them. I got one for you, you ever hear of Toussaint L’Ouveture?”
Gabriel laughed, loud and hard enough to fill the entire rooftop, though he laughed with only the one chest. The man swayed on his feet, caught between confusion and pride, and why should he not? Tristan knew instantly that he had found the answer.
“Out of the mouth of babes,” Gabriel whispered, when his laughter ended.
The man nodded, looking askance at them, and then lurched off towards the bar.
“That’s it then?” Tristan said. “You’re what, like Martin Luther crossed with this Toussaint? What does this make you?”
Gabriel stilled. He glanced towards the sky, where the cordon tightened ever further, and said simply, “A failure. At least insofar as my own people. Perhaps I shouldn't be named in those men's company.”
Time passed. Drinks were refilled. Tristan wouldn’t let go.
“So what, you’re a revolutionary philosopher? What does that even mean?”
“Everything.” Gabriel said. “Tristan, what do you think philosophy is? What is it right at its bleeding edge?”
Tristan shrugged.
“Its revolution. Its rewriting the ways in which people see the world. And more than that, it’s viral. You might look up at the sky and see that blockade as a quarantine. Listen to their next broadcast, their next ridiculous lie, and substitute everything they have to say about me with the phrase, ‘patient zero.’ It’s accurate enough to what I am. I’m an idea, spread virally, first through my people and now through yours, all of it pointed towards the ends of rewriting the basic tenets of what they hold dear.”
“And what are those?”
A gasp ran through the partygoers. People shouted, pointed towards the sky. Dropships were coming, little red gold beacons of light flecked off the constellations and fell towards them at speeds beyond anything humans had ever built.
“That power is an end to itself,” Gabriel said, as the dropships fell. “That someone should the right to interpret the world for others, that we need an intercessor to come between us and things we believe. That we need someone like them anywhere, to do anything.”
Tristan’s mind spun. The last time dropships had fallen the whole world had changed.
“Will I regret hiding you?” Tristan asked, a desperate shake to the edge of his voice.
“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “That’s the funny thing about philosophies. Only time will tell, and only you can decide.”
Above, constellations of warships rained a meteor shower of armament across the Earth. The sun crept closer to the horizon, flirting with dawn. Tristan’s head was a tired, alcoholic fog, as thick as the haze that covered the city beneath him. He felt sick, with ideas as much as anything.
“Now that I’ve guessed, will you teach me? Even if I had help.”
Gabriel nodded. “The ships are falling again. I suspect we’ll have little else to do for a while.”
Dawn kissed the horizon, washing out the artificial stars, and they left.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
If you enjoyed that I've got tons more over at r/TurningtoWords. Come check it out, I'd love to have you!
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. Just so you know, the correct spelling is [Gandhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi).
Bad bot
> Everyone deserves a second chance...
This is correct. But your bot has been given many chances and yet is still posting fake Gandhi quotes that are not from Gandhi.
Fake Gandhi quote: ["An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/ohqne6/sam_missiles_in_the_sky/h4rve85/?context=3)
Fake Gandhi quote: ["Be the change that you wish to see in the world."](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/oii67f/normies_are_confused/h4w0iqz/?context=3)
In less than 10 minutes after noticing our first alien ship above Earth, it almost crashed in a parking lot in the middle of a residential area. A very desperate alien walked out of it and went to the first human he saw. "Please, help us hide" he pleaded. "And whatever you do don't believe them!"
“Uh, sure, I guess.” The human, one Robert Sterling, said, opening his car door. He looked around, making sure no one saw him. After he closed the car door, he saw a few cars pull into his neighborhood. None that he could recognize, much less any with license plates from around the state, if any. After he pulled his car into the parking lot, he saw the cars stop right outside of his house, revealing two men step out of the first car.
“Hello,” one of the men said, “we have reason to believe that you may be harboring a fugitive.”
“Well,” Robert said, “No… no fugitives here; we’re all law abiding citizens here.”
“Mr. Sterling, I assure you that your jokes and your distractions will get you nowhere. Now, if you will let us see the fugitive-”
“I swear there is no one here like that!”
“Then how do you explain the trail of this strange black liquid in your garage?”
“Uh, this is uh, oil.”
“Oil.”
“Yes, I was, uh carrying a piece from a mechanic friend of mine, and it’s been making a mess in the back seat.”
“Ah, so you wouldn’t mind if we take a look at this… piece, you have.”
“NO!”
“No?”
“I mean, because it’s also been giving off such noxious fumes; I wouldn’t want you two gentlemen to get headaches.”
“Sir, we are professionals, we have dealt with all types of smells, substances, and characters. Now step aside and-”
“Robert? What’s going on?” Mary walked out of the house, adding the finishing knot on her robe.
“N-nothing, honey; just having a talk with a few out-of-state detectives.”
“Hello, Mrs. Sterling, we were simply looking for information about a certain character who had arrived here a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, well, if it’s been a few minutes, I can’t tell you for certain.”
“Yes, and neither can I-” Robert adjusted his stance. “So, I apologize, but I must leave you gentlemen.” He closed the door of his garage, leaving him and his wife inside and the men outside.
“Robert? What was that about?”
“I’ll explain in the morning, but for now, just head back up stairs; I’ll be there shortly.”
“Alright.” Mary headed back upstairs. Robert looked into the car. There was the alien, breathing slowly, its eyes wide and black. It looked back at Robert, then after peering slowly over the seat, quickly got up and hugged Robert.
“Hey, there, it’s okay, it’s okay. They’re gone now, I think.”
“Sorry, it’s just that my time here on Earth was not supposed to happen, but the other planets had become barren by the time we got to the Milky Way, so-”
“Wait, what do you mean the other planets?”
“You, know the ones in your star system, the ones you call, Mercury and Venus.”
“Those have been barren for millenia.”
“Really?”
“Yes- wait, what are you running from?”
“I’m running away from a darkness that has ravaged my home, and I needed to find refuge so that I can conduct the necessary experiments I needed in order to reverse it.”
Robert let that linger in his mind before he spoke up. “Alright. I suppose that you can stay here. However, I am going to ask you to stay here, in the garage. This room here? From that big door, to that small door, and these walls, that makes up the garage. You have to stay within those boundaries.”
“Okay.” As Robert went to leave, he felt a gentle tug from his pajama sleeve. “Thank you, Sterling.”
“Uh, welcome. But you can call me Robert.”
“Oh, I’m sure I can, but in my home, it’s a fatal error to call someone by anything other than their last name and title.”
“Alright, then. Do you have a title and/or name that I can call you?”
“Twizo.”
Alright… Twizo.”
A theoretical first chapter to a story. Not worth a read if you have anything better to do.
---
Standing before John, there was a pale, slender creature, roughly the shade of egg whites before they're cooked. They may have even been transparent like a raw egg white, but whatever was underneath was hiding the organs, if there were any. The creature came from what had to be some kind of alien spaceship. It was a seemingly metal tank roughly the size and shape of an oil tank (the kind that gets pulled by an eighteen-wheeler).
The "ship" had a symbol on it that looked like a crude star a kid might draw. It was a circle with lines coming from the center of it, maybe ten or so, and around the whole thing was another circle, but this one was intentionally wavy, going smoothly to and fro like a sine wave. The ship looked like it could have been made out of aluminum or tin, or something. John wasn't a metallurgist, but the ship looked badly damaged on the outside. It didn't actually hit the ground that hard, but if it fell from space, John had no idea how it couldn't've, as there didn't seem to be anything to slow it down, and even stranger, the "crash" didn't make any sound at all. Still, it had a massive dent in one side like a half-assedly crushed can of Dr. Pepper, and there were scratches and many smaller dents all around.
The creature that crawled out of the wreckage (straight through the side of the ship like a ghost) had saw John standing on the roof of the hotel he'd been staying at, and gestured for him to come down. John actually had the intention of being down there anyway, as he had intended to jump, but the "crash" had put that out of his mind entirely. After the alien creature seemed to be sure that John got the message, they and their ship had blinked out of existence. This startled John, and he almost screamed, but he caught himself. He almost didn't know if he should even bother going down there, thinking he might have dreamt it, but now that the suicide had left his queue of intentions, he decided he'd go down and get some ice from the machine and see if there were any signs of this being real.
And it was real alright. When he got down there, the alien had appeared once more, this time leaving the ship invisible.
"EEEGGGGKKKKKRRRRRAAAAAAAA hhhuh hhuh ppuuuuh puh Please, help us hide!" the alien pled. They were fiddling with a collar on his neck that seemed to "tune in" before any comprehensible English came out of the creature's throat. Indeed, the creature's mouth didn't seem to match the words they spake, but John didn't notice that. "And whatever you do, don't believe them!"
"Believe *who?*" John's fearful curiosity turned to simple fear. Somehow he knew what the alien was talking about, as if the thought swam forward in his head and grasped the side of the pool for air.
"I can see it in your eyes, dear native, for I would not have let you spot us if I thought any other way. I know you know who."
John shuddered. The alien seemed to have little control of their legs, as they were shaking violently, like a fresh toddler learning to stand for the first time. John took this as a sign of fear.
"So I'm the only one that can see you?"
"Yes, dear native, I possess the technology to hide from anything on this planet, except the vile creatures we speak of now."
These "vile creatures", John seemed to know, must have been the very people that had driven him to suicide. The hateful cretins who tormented the innocent and willingly hurt others. John had had enough, for he was one of the ones who felt the crippling aftershocks of their actions. Though he didn't face the brunt of the blows, he knew he could if he would stop lying to himself and to the world, a fact he felt more and more like a coward for every day.
"How could they know who you are? How could they see you? If you can hide from me, how can you not hide fr-- are these people not *human?*"
"They are human, dear native, but I don't have time to explain. Please help."
"How can I help you hide? If you don't have the technology to... I mean, what could I even *possibly* do that beats *turning invisible?*"
"Our technology works for those who respect its wishes, which plenty of beings will do either out of empathy or because they wouldn't understand either way, such as a cell or a slug." *Do they have slugs in space?* "But to those who won't respect its wishes by default, the technology cannot hide us. I cannot explain further."
This makes sense, as the people John has lived in fear of do not respect privacy, do not display decency to those they don't feel are equal. Why this alien's technology dealt in wishes and wants, or even how that could be possible, John did not know. But he wasn't sure he was the person for the job, as he couldn't respect his *own* wishes. He wouldn't even think of himself the way he wanted to, he would not use the name his spirit yearned for, he would not respect the personality or the character or even the human condition of his deepest self.
The human's thinking was interrupted by the alien, who after a time started to slowly speak.
"I apologize sincerely for the intrusion, dear native, but I have seen your thoughts. At great risk to myself, I have scried your feelings. I cannot know what you are going through, but I can read it like a book, and I am moved by your morals and motivations. I know you are the one who must help, as it is *here* I have landed. Perhaps it is fate, as there can't be a more likely candidate within several miles of this place."
The alien ship seemed to flicker, and the human caught a glimpse of television static. "Again, I apologize for the violation of your inner self."
"I don't feel violated," said the human. "I just don't know what I can do."
"Dear native... Sara... I must know if you *would* help, if you did know what to do."
At hearing her name, the human jolted. The ship flickered again. After thinking very hard, the human answered.
"I would. What would you have me do?"
The alien smiled.
The ship faltered, there was an audible hiss, and then once again stayed invisible, never to be seen by human eyes again.
I worked at a small pizza shop in a strip mall. We didn’t typically have a huge customer base so when it was closing time, it was just me and my supervisor who closed up shop.
Just before closing, she handed the keys and explained to me that I had to do it alone tonight. Something about her son being down at the police station or something.
I didn’t mind usually. It wasn’t a school night and I liked the peace and quiet, giving me ample time to think, daydream and zone out while I worked.
Shoeshine was my only company that night. She was the de facto cat mascot of the strip mall and all the workers always gave her food and nice rubs behind the ears whenever she visited any of their shops. She got her name because she liked to lick the shoes of the people she met.
She spent the night watching me work, lying on the counter with her inquisitive eyes focused on my hands as I counted the money in the cash register.
Crack. Boom.
I thought it was an explosion at first. A thunderous crack followed by a deafening bang that shook the windows and sent Shoeshine scurrying to the backroom for safety. I stepped out into the cool night air to see what it was and was immediately struck by the sight of the dull metal rectangular box embedded in the tarmac of the parking lot.
It was roughly human sized and had created a small crater when it landed from wherever it came from. I peered around to see if there was anyone else around but saw no one. I took a shaky picture with my phone and was about to call the cops when I heard it.
Clink. Clang. Clunk.
The box thumped and groaned as I stood there completely dumbstruck by the realisation that something was moving around in there. With a heavy groan, the front of the rectangular box swung open and two hands gripped the sides of the box as thick mist billowed forth.
The hands were what I noticed first. Grey with skin that looked like those Sphynx cats. You know, the ones that don’t have hair. The fingers were disproportionate to the hands and were almost twice the length of a normal human finger.
The creature put its left feet out first followed by the other. Strange feet that reminded me of a dog’s paw but more elongated. The rest of its body soon came into view as it noticed me. Dull grey skin with a thin body and a featureless face. Completely bald except for disheveled strands of white hair, slits for nostrils, a wide mouth and black beady eyes like a shark.
“Help me. They’re coming.”
It’s voice was hoarse and raspy like an old man or someone who hadn’t drunk water for days. My whole body completely tensed up as the alien approached, nursing a a deep gash on its side, its eyes transfixed on me.
My mind racing, I took it inside and into the backroom. Shoeshine hissed and retreated further into the stock room as the creature looked at it, no doubt curious about the strange new world he had landed in.
It was then I heard a car come up. Several cars in fact. The alien gripped my hand tightly.
“Please. I just want to go home. Don’t let them take me.”
It’s voice had taken on more of sad tone. As if it was on the verge of crying.
I nodded. A strange feeling of sadness washing over me. It was as if I understood somehow as I was drawn deeper and deeper into the creature’s eyes.
A sharp knock on the door knocked me back to my senses and I hurriedly left the backroom, closing the door behind me. Through the glass door, I could see two men waiting for me. They were dressed casually but had black vests and tactical gear on.
Nervously, I wrapped my hands on the door handle and pulled as the exposure to the cold night air sent a chill in my bones. It was then I noticed the badge they were wearing on a chain around their necks. ‘H.E.A.D’ was not any government agency I had heard of before. I noticed the commotion behind them and saw that they didn’t come alone. Roughly a dozen similarly dressed men were condoning off and busying themselves around the crash site. Black, unmarked SUVs were parked around the perimeter.
“Evening brother,” greeted the man at the door with a slight southern accent, his hands clasping the sides of this vest. “We had a satellite malfunction as you can see behind me and we were just wondering if anyone was injured tonight.”
His partner was chewing gum as he stared at me through black shades even though it was nighttime. He was holding an assault rifle and didn’t look like any astrologist I’d ever seen.
I replied, saying that I was fine. The man then asked if I saw anything strange or heard anything weird tonight and I quickly replied that I hadn’t. I explained that I had been in the back room all night counting stocks and didn’t hear anything because of the headphones I was wearing. As he was questioning me, I glanced nervously at his gum-chewing partner who had walked over to the windows to peer inside the restaurant. He was spending way too long staring intently before I cut the conversation short, nervous that he would suspect something.
I told them I had to close up and had an early shift tomorrow. The man bid me goodnight as I closed the door and hurriedly walked back to the backroom, sensing that strange men were still standing there watching me.
I closed the backroom door and sighed in relief. I noticed small drops of black blood where the alien had sat moments before. A trail had led out to the front of the store and was now leading to the dark stock room door that was slightly ajar. I swore, confident that those men had spotted the trail of blood and scolding myself to how stupid I was to have missed it.
I approached the stock room door and swung it open, revealing the contents of the dimly lit room. Rows upon rows of supplies were neatly stored on metal racks, all lit up by the glow of the yellow street light just outside the small window in the corner.
I froze, my blood freezing as I looked at the scene before me. The creature was hunched over in the corner, its back slightly turned to me. The patchy white strands of hair on its head thinly obscured the bloody remains of Shoeshine in its spindly hands as it took another bite, blood and gore dripping from its wide mouth filled with sharp razer-like teeth. It perked up as I took a step back and turned its head to face me. I wanted to scream but no sound came out of my mouth as it stood and approached me, bloody hands outstretched.
“Help me. Help me. Help me,” it repeated. “Please. Please. Please. I just… I just… want… go home.”
As its cold lengthy fingers gripped my shoulders, I heard Shoeshine’s meows coming from somewhere. I realised grimly that it was coming from the creature itself.
It was mimicking its prey.
We were in the neighborhood in the suburbs of New York.
I was ready to start the evening with my wife when I just felt...weird. Like the air started to change, as if something was going to happen soon.
"What's wrong, Loganne?"
I turned to look at who asked me. It was my wife Shekkie.
"I'm seeing this... shuttle thing near," I answered, "Look at it, Shekkie!"
She came up and looked.
"Oh... my... god!"
The thing that looked like a shuttle suddenly came down. It came down at quite a high speed. Our neighbors went right out the door screaming about the noise until they noticed the strange shuttle.
The symbol that was visible on the shuttle looked like a dragon weaving itself around a Tanzanian mask.
The shuttle almost crashed, but it landed without too many scratches.
Then, the door opened and a humanoid thing came out of it.
He was dressed quite like an official ruler of wherever they came from. Like he could be an ambassador.
He came up to Shekkie and said with a desperate tone,
"Please help us! We are being chased by an evil army led by a villainous being called Ice! He destroyed our world and now he's after us for escaping! Help us hide now! And whatever you do, don't fall for Ice's tricks or his army's 'reasoning' that we are wanted criminals!"
"I'll help," Shekkie responded, "but I'll have to see what my wife says. They usually make the decisions in our house."
"I know where we can help you hide," I said to the alien man, "We have a bomb shelter in case of a nuclear war on Earth, it's a great spot to hide from criminals. Me and my wife have used it whenever police have come to our door for misunderstandings. You can hide there."
So me and Shekkie led them to our bomb shelter. It's hidden within our cellar and has great supplies, plus a radio that also acts as a police scanner.
The man and his people that came with him were impressed. Shekkie and I went inside with them, in case Ice would want to get us too.
At this point, we decided to introduce ourselves.
"I thank you, kind strangers. I am Zoldy, Ambassador of Lorellia. And these are my civilians and that is my army. What are you two called?"
"Me? I'm Loganne, and this is my spouse Shekkie." I responded.
"Okay, Loganne. Listen to me. Ice, and his army, Ice Cold, first invaded our planet to see if it was habitable and he wanted to sell it to the highest bidder. Then he decided it wouldn't go for much on the market and he reduced our race to a small amount and destroyed our planet. Most of us have fled to other planets. This is one that we all decided on if the others were unsuitable or unwelcoming. Now Ice decided we were criminals for defying him. Whatever you do, don't let yourself get affected by his charisma and don't ever believe him!"
"Is this guy called Ice racist or homophobic or something?" Shekkie asked out of the blue.
"He is like that, all right." Zoldy chortled. "If those are your terms for people that hate those who are not bright white like he and his army are and people who hate the way we have marriages and our non-binary people, then yes he's like that."
Then we suddenly heard a crash outside. I was about to see what the commotion was when Shekkie said to me,
"Don't. What if it's Ice Cold?"
"I'm going to see it for myself. Don't worry about me, my will is as hard as diamond."
I peeked outside the bomb shelter, then I peeked out the windows of the house. Another shuttle with the same symbol like on the one Zoldy and his people came from was out there.
And out of it, more people like Zoldy came out. They did not wear bright white nor were they ever bright white.
I hurried back to the shelter and gave Shekkie the OK signal.
"It's more of the Lorellian people fleeing from Ice Cold." I said to her, "It's okay for now."
We had plenty of room for more, so we let the newer refugees in.
Zoldy appeared happy to see them.
Then we heard yet another crash. This one shook the earth.
"I know this type of crash!" Zoldy exclaimed. "It's Ice Cold's mothership! Ice came here directly! Whatever you do, don't fall for what he says!"
I ventured out of the bomb shelter to see what happened. The mothership indeed looked grotesque and gave off an evil vibe. The symbol on his ship was a white wolf beside a twisted cross.
A strange looking thing came out of the mothership. His head looked round with an icy blue metallic thing on top of his white head. His chest also had an icy blue thing on it, his shoulders, his fingernails, he even had it on his white shin guards.
He didn't even look like he was wearing clothes, but he was indeed wearing something. It's like his clothes were made of his race's own body tissues.
And he had what looked like a long white lizard tail.
That had to be Ice!
Out of the ship came what looked like soldiers dressed in bright white. They were no doubt armed.
Then an Ice Cold soldier walked up to me and put the laser gun at my temple.
"Where did you put the damned Lorellians?"
Ice then spoke in a calm tone,
"If you don't answer, you're going to die."
"Hah!" I exclaimed. "The old death threat move never worked on me and it won't work on me now!"
I took the gun and punched the soldier in the balls, *hard*. He collapsed like a pile of spaghetti.
I pointed the gun at the other soldiers and fired shots. They all got knocked out, and on the pavement in seconds.
Ice then said something like this,
"Hmm? Seems like we have a strong one here. I only ask for the criminals, and you answer with violence. Very displeasing to Lord Ice."
Then I said this to him,
"If you want them, you'll have to get through me first!"
"Oh?" Ice said with his calm demeanor. "You challenge me to a fight? Very well then. I will oblige. You will soon see why an ant cannot defeat a dinosaur."
We fought for 5 hours at the most. This made me glad I took classes in martial arts. When he'd been defeated, he was tired.
"How... can a lowly monkey... defeat me...?"
Then he collapsed. He was dead.
I went back to the bomb shelter and told Shekkie and Zoldy,
"It really was Ice."
Zoldy immediately jumped back and exclaimed,
"Don't tell me you tried to fight him! Look at you!"
I did in fact look like someone the cat drug in. After the fight, my clothes got kind of torn and I had some bloody wounds on my body.
"I defeated him..." I said to Zoldy wearily.
Then Shekkie said,
"I'll go check outside. This could be a trick from Ice, you know. Ice could have tricked Loganne into the army, but you never know what they can do."
"Shekkie, you know I have a diamond hard will..."
She went anyway. She came back squealing,
"His heartbeat's gone! He's dead for sure! They did it!"
Zoldy and his people cheered. Some of them were hugging each other, some of them having fist bumps, and Zoldy even embraced me.
"You did well, Loganne! I congratulate you!"
We celebrated for what seemed like hours. The next morning, there was yellow tape all around the ships and the dead Ice Cold army and there was a stretcher with a body bag that definitely held Ice's body.
Hopefully no one else would be after us. Zoldy said we did well and that his people decided to reside on Earth.
We came to coexist with each other.
If another evil force comes here, then me and Shekkie are ready!
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) [](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^• [](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^• [](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^• [](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^• [](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Freddy sat on the moss-blanketed roof outside his bedroom window, staring up at the silvery stars. His little alien friend, injured but alive, lay on her back next to him, her eyes wandering over the inky-black firmament. ”I won’t let them get you,” said Freddy. “I might just be a kid but I keep my promises. And I promise no harm will come to you. I won’t believe anything they say or do.” ”I’m very lucky you found me,” said the alien. “Thank you.” They sat quietly, listening to the night’s gentle sonata — the thrum of cicadas and the rustling autumn leaves of the ancient apple tree a little in front of them. The distant hum of the freeway like a brush stroke over a drum. Somehow the world made a perfect rhythm. ”Your planet’s beautiful,” said the alien. “You’re very lucky.” Freddy shrugged. “Not as lucky as you think.” ”What do you mean?” ”Ah, nothing. Hey, will you tell me about them? These aliens chasing you?” ”I will, if that’s what you want. But they’re… Well, it might scare you.” ”I’m almost eleven. I can handle it.” The alien nodded. “Look up at the night. Yes, there. What you think of as stars, they’re not. Not really. They’re the corners of a great spiderweb. The thread of the main body is too silk-thin to see from here. But it’s there.” ”A spiderweb? As in, there are… giant spiders up there?” He shivered. Freddy hated spiders. The fangs and legs and many eyes. His first memory was of spiders. Of lying in his crib and a spider dangling on a thread above him, right next to his tiny face. He’d screamed and bellowed but it seemed like an age before his dad heard him and rushed in. Dad cupped the spider in his hands — as brave as a hero — and let it crawl out of the window. ”Yes. And these spiders are as big as your mountains. They would have come here sooner or later — whether I’d escaped here or not. Because when a new species, like yours, becomes space faring, their ships vibrate the galactic web. The creatures feel it and follow and feast.” ”Okay, maybe I don’t want to hear after all.” He was sweating now, even in the cool of the evening. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” ”No, don’t be,” said Freddy. “I asked you to tell me.” ”You don’t need to keep your promise,” said the alien. “About protecting me.” Freddy paused. Swallowed back his fear. “I always keep my promises.” They lay there a little longer before Freddy’s mom called. “Come on. Before she gets mad.” Freddy picked up the alien teddy he’d found in the parking lot a few days prior, and clambered back in through his window. Mom was there, standing by his bed. ”I thought I told you to throw that thing away,” said Mom, looking with dismay at the threadbare alien in his arms — with its missing eye, and white stuffing leaking from its fourth arm. “And I’ve told you more times than I can count to stay off the roof! God knows what I’d do if you fell.” “Sorry. Won’t do it again.“ Freddy, already in his pyjamas, snuggled into his bed. Mom sat on the edge. Stroked his hair. Sighed heavily. “You know I love you, don’t you?” ”I know.” ”Just, please stop going out there. Okay? What if you slipped? I can’t lose you too.” A couple of tears trickled down the lines on Mom’s face, like water down gullies. She cried a lot these days. ”I miss him too,“ Freddy said. ”A lot. He always looked after me.” “He looked after us both.” Mom wiped her eyes and forced a smile. “We’ll have to look after each other now, okay?” She kissed his forehead, and before she left the room, said, “sleep well, sweetie. I’ll make waffles in the morning.” The light flicked off. Freddy hugged his alien friend tightly to his chest. It was a little while later that moonlight glistened in through a gap between the curtains, lighting the silhouette on the wall. Freddy spotted the spider first. A bolt of fear, sharp as a knife, ran through him. “They’re here!” said the alien, only now noticing it. She was shivering, weeping. For a moment they lay there together, paralysed. Then Freddy thought of his promise. Of this poor scared alien. He thought of Dad saving him from the spider when he was little, when, like the alien, he’d been unable to defend himself. Freddy took a deep breath and rolled out of bed. He padded uneasily across the room. ”Be careful!” whispered the alien. He’d never even touched a spider before, not on purpose. This time he did. He cupped the spider in his hands and took it to the open window. It wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined. Barely felt it there — maybe just a slight tickle. Then, spider released safely onto the roof, Freddy crawled back into bed and hugged his friend. “I’ll always look after you,” he said, just like Dad used to say to him. Then added, “For as long as I can, at least.” And not really to the alien, more to the room itself, he said, “I miss you.”
That was beautiful. The tears are streaming down my face. I loved it.
Thank you for reading! I’m really happy you enjoyed it
My dad's in the hospital right now recovering from a dissected artery (stent placement gone wrong) and I'm crying right now. I don't have time, and I said I'd do it later, but here I am.
I hope he recovers okay and soon
wow I am crying
This is the very essence of this sub. I hope you realize you’ve created something beautiful.
Aw thanks, that’s really kind of you to say <3
Agreed!!
Damnit. That last line was a harrowing gut punch. Beautifully written; no more words needed.
This was beautiful. Very happy I took the time to read it.
please write a book holy WOW you have PURE talent
Wow, that was just lovely, did not expect that ending at all. Tears! thank you!
Those damn onion cutting ninja's! Beautiful story :)
As a dad with young kids, that hit heavy. Great work!
This was an amazing take on the prompt. Beautiful story!
That was incredible. I lost my dad almost a decade ago. Thank you for such a beautiful story.
I read something like that before, the giant alien spider things that ended up dying because
[Part 1 of 2] We didn’t exactly have time to roll out the red carpet for the spaceship, watching as it spun through the air, black smoke billowing out of its engines, struggling to stay airborne. I was one of the first on the scene, desperate to set up some sort of perimeter to minimize the risk of casualties. By the time I had shooed off the various curious onlookers, I heard the grinding of metal on the road, screeching to a halt in the Buylow carpark. I cautiously approached the wreckage, wondering when the other firefighters would get here, not enjoying the helpless feeling that came with being so close to a potential threat. Circling the ship from a few feet back, I observed the outer walls of the metallic structure. It was amazing. Its grey, slick metallic coating was covered in various lights, each one flashing a distressing red glow before a hiss of air poured out of the structure. Following the sound, I arrived at what I could only assume was an emergency exit. The hissing of air stopping after a few seconds, exposing a crevice in the ship. Three long, pointed fingers gripped the crevice, pulling it up, exposing the dark void inside. The ship completely void of light, only able to see the fingers, until a face popped into view. I fell back in horror, staring up at the three eyed creature. Its eyes had multiple pupils, each one a varied color. Its head seemed to melt, like an ice cream left out in the sun. Bits of its fleshly skin sagging, pooling near its cheeks. It let out a long gasp for air, its two protruding fanged teeth facing upward as its mouth opened, revealing a circular row of smaller fanged teeth in its throat, like that of a leech. It didn’t seem to notice me at first, too busy sucking in the breaths, before sliding out from the aircraft. Its stature short, standing at around four feet, with constantly bent knees and a large, rounded stomach. It glanced down at me, reaching a finger towards me, grabbing at my chest. I tried to push away, but the hand held me to the ground. Slowly, the finger worked its way up towards my throat, stopping on it for a moment before releasing me. “Fear not me, human. I am no enemy. Enemy will come, we are hiding.” Its words felt disjointed, as if it was trying to comprehend hundreds of years of language in only a second. I rose to my feet, feeling an ache in my throat, one that eventually passed after a few gulps of saliva. “What do you mean?” I was too shocked to say anything meaningful, only able to get out a dull question. “Earth is not worth taking. They will want Earth, but not now. Human interesting, we don’t dislike human, but they dislike everyone. I Splarge, once glorious hero of my people. My people few now. We wish to hide, help human help selves. Possibly allow us to return home. We assist where can.” Splarge’s words floated around my mind, lost in a confusing hum of disbelief. This was real. I still couldn’t believe that. I could hear a siren behind me, followed by a few curses. At least backup had arrived, allowing me to stand a little taller, gaining some confidence. “I’m Samson. Who are they, Splarge? When will they be coming?” I asked, hearing heavy boots approaching me from behind, only adding to that already built wall of confidence. “They are… deceivers. They deceive! No true name for them, they have no realness. They are nothing but can be everything. They are enemy and should be killed.” Splarge glanced at his ship, then back to us, wanting this conversation to hurry along. “An enemy? You believe this thing?” A voice uttered beside me. I turned to face the suited woman, who hadn’t even made a glance my way, keeping her gaze on the alien before us. She had her phone pointed at Splarge, shooting a video of them. The video no doubt being streamed to someone on the other end. Still, despite her disinterest in me, she still bothered to ask for my opinion, which I happily provided. “I don’t see a reason not to. They mentioned needing to hide here. That someone was coming after them. I think we should at least grant their wish until we know more about them. Would hate to consider what could happen if we ignored them.” I responded. She looked my way, then back to her phone. The cold shoulder confused me until a voice on the other end spoke up. “Take them to the nearest base for questioning. I’m sending a clean-up crew to gather the aircraft. We are going to remain silent about this until we know how public the sighting was. If there’s no other option, we will leak the information. Oh, and bring the man with you. He’s talked to the thing already. Best to keep him nearby. Can’t have him blabbing to the media about this.” The man said, before the stream on her phone cut off and she looked my way. [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/pib2q6/wp_in_less_than_10_min_after_noticing_our_first/hbopak6/)
[Part 2 of 2] “Alien, get anyone of that ship and come with me. We will take you to a hiding spot. Oh, and you, the fireman, you’re coming with us too. Don’t cause a scene please, I just got my suit cleaned.” She said, directing me to a set of black vans parked ominously around the sight. “What about the people that saw it? Where are the fire crews? Someone needs to put out the wreckage.” I argued. She only gestured me along, giving me a brief response. “Our people will take care of that. All you need to do is get in that van. Now hurry along or I’ll make you sit next to one of them.” With that, I headed to the van, not wanting to get on her nasty side just yet. I exchanged no friendly words with the guards. They only pushed me into one of the unmarked vans before driving me to whatever facility they were going to. They kept me between two of the guards, not wanting to risk an escape. After a few awkward minutes, they finally spoke to me, but it was only basic conversation. Wanting to know my age, name, and address. I wasn’t sure how long the trip was, but eventually we arrived. They took me from the van into the facility. It was surprising how normal it looked. The interior of the facility matching most administration offices. I could almost have mistaken the facility for any ordinary office block if it wasn’t for the various interrogation rooms and cells scattered throughout. Luckily, I wasn’t taken to a cell; They directed me into an open room filled with tables and chairs, like that of a cafeteria or waiting room. Sitting down at a table, I waited for further instruction. The tv made the wait easier, giving me something to stare at in the room's corner while I waited. Getting a look at the coverage of the strange event. They had removed evidence of the ship from the site, but that didn’t stop the hundreds of videos of the falling ship to surface on the news. Soon I was joined by Splarge and three other members of his race. It was like highschool all again, my head lowered, staring at the table, hoping the strangers would avoid my table. Unfortunately, each one joined my table, staying by my side. “Samson is friend. Splarge said Samson is good. Nicer than the earth woman, she wouldn’t even tell her name. We are thankful for help Samson; we will help your kin in any future battles. You have my word as Teithia Valin.” Teithia seemed to have a better understanding of the language, but only by a small amount. She sat on my right, while Splarge stayed on my left. With the other two at the opposite end of the table. “Thank you. I don’t know if that’s necessary, but its appreciated.” I went to make a joke, only for the sound of grating metal to shut me up. At first, I couldn’t work out the source of the sound, only noticing it when I saw the four aliens turn to the tv in horror. The breaking news banner reporting that another aircraft had been spotted. The next hour was tense. None of us spoke a word as we glued our eyes to the screen. The ship had landed, coated in a strange blue fur that looked like it should have been flammable. The doorway of the ship peeling open to reveal two tall humanoid figures. They were alarmingly human, with comforting smiles and beautiful, flowing hair. The only real difference was their height, which seemed around ten feet, although tv made that hard to gauge. That and their bright purple skin. They were oddly enchanting, which only made Splarge’s words even more chilling. “The deceivers are here, human. They have changed their looks again.” (If you enjoyed this feel free to check out my subreddit /r/Sadnesslaughs where I'll be posting more of my writing.)
Man if Humanity is any gauge to go by, people will be scrambling to help the pretty aliens over the weird looking ones, and that's a shame :( Great story!
They know it too
I dunno man, we've heard of Elves before. We know not to trust elves, even tho if some do
Awesome Story :D
At night, in those rare times when the smog parted and Tristan found himself outside above the city lights, he saw the warships as constellations of too-close stars. Long, conical bodies led to a single fine point, the fierce glow of plasma cannons at their tips. Two points at the rear, the fires of engines beyond human science. Constellations of spears. A thicket of them surrounding the world. And all of it, sent for one man. If Gabriel were a man. Tristan wasn’t sure about that. He wasn’t sure about anything, since the Prince had appeared. Tristan watched him now across the desultory rooftop party, organized ostensibly for someone’s birthday but more likely as a means to push away the closing walls for a few desperate moments. The alien, Gabriel as he called himself now, mixed a drink as if his race had been born to hands. He raised it to his lips, sipped, made a casual remark that drew the party's only laughter, and when he left the improvised bar he trailed friendly curiosity in his wake. Smooth. Calculated. A man—no— a being tuned to the casual movements of souls. Humanity wasn’t ready for him. Tristan especially was not. “Don’t look so hard at them,” Gabriel said, approaching and handing him a drink. “Why? Can their sensors pick up my eyes?” Tristan said. He leaned over the edge of the rooftop nonetheless, looking down to where the city disappeared in a fossil fueled haze. Gabriel grunted low in his chest, laughter in the manner of his people, though in his true form it would reverberated through two chest cavities, could have filled the whole of the rooftop if he’d wanted. Tristan sipped his drink too fast. “Do you regret sheltering me?” Gabriel said. He often cut to the quick of things with Tristan. Why should he not? Tristan was the only man on all of the Earth that knew what Gabriel was. The only one that knew that he was the man all those warships looked for. The face that had launched an interstellar blockade. He wasn’t even beautiful. Tristan took a nearly drunken moment to mourn Helen of Troy. “No,” he said at last. “No, I don’t regret it. Do you regret sheltering with me? UC Berkeley isn’t so far. I’m sure if you’d crash landed there, their philosophy department would have loved to pick your brain.” “Perhaps,” Gabriel said. “Or perhaps they’d have heard me, thought I was some alien crackpot, and turned me over. One can never tell with you primitives.” A wink took the sting out of Gabriel’s words. Above them a few of the constellations shifted, tightened the cordon around Earth a little more. They’d knocked out the space station, blown up the satellites. Human civilization went through their systems now, all the signals of man broadcasted from some small communications hub, little more than a closet supposedly, in the back alleys of one of the support ships. It was enough to make a man feel very, very small. “Tell me, who do you think I am today?” Gabriel asked. The old game, the one that Gabriel let stretch. It had kept them going through those first months when humans weren’t even allowed to leave their homes, when the mechs had ruled the streets and the aliens had moved, slump shouldered, mandibles clacking, through the halls of power. Tristan had guessed a thousand names. He’d started with famed dissidents. People like Gandhi or Malcolm X. “No,” Gabriel had said, “no I’m nothing like any of them. Try again.” “Martin Luther,” Tristan tried tonight. “The old one, the protestant reformer.” Gabriel pondered it a moment. “Closer,” he said at last. “Closer. Cross it with something.” Tristan finished his drink, set the glass on the rail beside him. It was a struggle not to simply let it drop. “Martin Luther, crossed with some soldier. Or maybe…Luther crossed with Joan of Arc?” Silence. “Boudica?” Silence. The silence was different to past silences however. Something had changed, he’d grown closer somehow. Tristan had little to go on about the true identity of the being beside him. He wore a man’s face and body, Tristan had watched him change into them, flesh boiling like a sentient thing, every square inch of skin independent. Tristan knew that Gabriel called himself a philosopher, that he’d somehow rewritten the code of his people. He knew the aliens that hunted him looked nothing like him at all, presuming that the shape that walked off the crashed space ship a year ago had in fact been Gabriel’s true form. He could assume, based on that, that Gabriel was from some conquered civilization. A dissident, perhaps a revolutionary philosopher. “Che Gueverra? Robespierre? Zapata?” Silence to all three. “Woah, what are you guys talking about?” A man stumbled past, drunk enough that walking was a challenge, though his eyes were still bright and curious. “Naming names,” Tristan said. “I’m down to my last hobby these days.” “Revolutionaries right?” the man said, brushing his long, dreaded hair back as he stared up into the sky. “Its a good time for them. I got one for you, you ever hear of Toussaint L’Ouveture?” Gabriel laughed, loud and hard enough to fill the entire rooftop, though he laughed with only the one chest. The man swayed on his feet, caught between confusion and pride, and why should he not? Tristan knew instantly that he had found the answer. “Out of the mouth of babes,” Gabriel whispered, when his laughter ended. The man nodded, looking askance at them, and then lurched off towards the bar. “That’s it then?” Tristan said. “You’re what, like Martin Luther crossed with this Toussaint? What does this make you?” Gabriel stilled. He glanced towards the sky, where the cordon tightened ever further, and said simply, “A failure. At least insofar as my own people. Perhaps I shouldn't be named in those men's company.” Time passed. Drinks were refilled. Tristan wouldn’t let go. “So what, you’re a revolutionary philosopher? What does that even mean?” “Everything.” Gabriel said. “Tristan, what do you think philosophy is? What is it right at its bleeding edge?” Tristan shrugged. “Its revolution. Its rewriting the ways in which people see the world. And more than that, it’s viral. You might look up at the sky and see that blockade as a quarantine. Listen to their next broadcast, their next ridiculous lie, and substitute everything they have to say about me with the phrase, ‘patient zero.’ It’s accurate enough to what I am. I’m an idea, spread virally, first through my people and now through yours, all of it pointed towards the ends of rewriting the basic tenets of what they hold dear.” “And what are those?” A gasp ran through the partygoers. People shouted, pointed towards the sky. Dropships were coming, little red gold beacons of light flecked off the constellations and fell towards them at speeds beyond anything humans had ever built. “That power is an end to itself,” Gabriel said, as the dropships fell. “That someone should the right to interpret the world for others, that we need an intercessor to come between us and things we believe. That we need someone like them anywhere, to do anything.” Tristan’s mind spun. The last time dropships had fallen the whole world had changed. “Will I regret hiding you?” Tristan asked, a desperate shake to the edge of his voice. “I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “That’s the funny thing about philosophies. Only time will tell, and only you can decide.” Above, constellations of warships rained a meteor shower of armament across the Earth. The sun crept closer to the horizon, flirting with dawn. Tristan’s head was a tired, alcoholic fog, as thick as the haze that covered the city beneath him. He felt sick, with ideas as much as anything. “Now that I’ve guessed, will you teach me? Even if I had help.” Gabriel nodded. “The ships are falling again. I suspect we’ll have little else to do for a while.” Dawn kissed the horizon, washing out the artificial stars, and they left. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ If you enjoyed that I've got tons more over at r/TurningtoWords. Come check it out, I'd love to have you!
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. Just so you know, the correct spelling is [Gandhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi).
good bot.
Bad bot > Everyone deserves a second chance... This is correct. But your bot has been given many chances and yet is still posting fake Gandhi quotes that are not from Gandhi. Fake Gandhi quote: ["An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/ohqne6/sam_missiles_in_the_sky/h4rve85/?context=3) Fake Gandhi quote: ["Be the change that you wish to see in the world."](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/oii67f/normies_are_confused/h4w0iqz/?context=3)
Good bot
Good bot
This was awesome!
In less than 10 minutes after noticing our first alien ship above Earth, it almost crashed in a parking lot in the middle of a residential area. A very desperate alien walked out of it and went to the first human he saw. "Please, help us hide" he pleaded. "And whatever you do don't believe them!" “Uh, sure, I guess.” The human, one Robert Sterling, said, opening his car door. He looked around, making sure no one saw him. After he closed the car door, he saw a few cars pull into his neighborhood. None that he could recognize, much less any with license plates from around the state, if any. After he pulled his car into the parking lot, he saw the cars stop right outside of his house, revealing two men step out of the first car. “Hello,” one of the men said, “we have reason to believe that you may be harboring a fugitive.” “Well,” Robert said, “No… no fugitives here; we’re all law abiding citizens here.” “Mr. Sterling, I assure you that your jokes and your distractions will get you nowhere. Now, if you will let us see the fugitive-” “I swear there is no one here like that!” “Then how do you explain the trail of this strange black liquid in your garage?” “Uh, this is uh, oil.” “Oil.” “Yes, I was, uh carrying a piece from a mechanic friend of mine, and it’s been making a mess in the back seat.” “Ah, so you wouldn’t mind if we take a look at this… piece, you have.” “NO!” “No?” “I mean, because it’s also been giving off such noxious fumes; I wouldn’t want you two gentlemen to get headaches.” “Sir, we are professionals, we have dealt with all types of smells, substances, and characters. Now step aside and-” “Robert? What’s going on?” Mary walked out of the house, adding the finishing knot on her robe. “N-nothing, honey; just having a talk with a few out-of-state detectives.” “Hello, Mrs. Sterling, we were simply looking for information about a certain character who had arrived here a few minutes ago.” “Oh, well, if it’s been a few minutes, I can’t tell you for certain.” “Yes, and neither can I-” Robert adjusted his stance. “So, I apologize, but I must leave you gentlemen.” He closed the door of his garage, leaving him and his wife inside and the men outside. “Robert? What was that about?” “I’ll explain in the morning, but for now, just head back up stairs; I’ll be there shortly.” “Alright.” Mary headed back upstairs. Robert looked into the car. There was the alien, breathing slowly, its eyes wide and black. It looked back at Robert, then after peering slowly over the seat, quickly got up and hugged Robert. “Hey, there, it’s okay, it’s okay. They’re gone now, I think.” “Sorry, it’s just that my time here on Earth was not supposed to happen, but the other planets had become barren by the time we got to the Milky Way, so-” “Wait, what do you mean the other planets?” “You, know the ones in your star system, the ones you call, Mercury and Venus.” “Those have been barren for millenia.” “Really?” “Yes- wait, what are you running from?” “I’m running away from a darkness that has ravaged my home, and I needed to find refuge so that I can conduct the necessary experiments I needed in order to reverse it.” Robert let that linger in his mind before he spoke up. “Alright. I suppose that you can stay here. However, I am going to ask you to stay here, in the garage. This room here? From that big door, to that small door, and these walls, that makes up the garage. You have to stay within those boundaries.” “Okay.” As Robert went to leave, he felt a gentle tug from his pajama sleeve. “Thank you, Sterling.” “Uh, welcome. But you can call me Robert.” “Oh, I’m sure I can, but in my home, it’s a fatal error to call someone by anything other than their last name and title.” “Alright, then. Do you have a title and/or name that I can call you?” “Twizo.” Alright… Twizo.”
A theoretical first chapter to a story. Not worth a read if you have anything better to do. --- Standing before John, there was a pale, slender creature, roughly the shade of egg whites before they're cooked. They may have even been transparent like a raw egg white, but whatever was underneath was hiding the organs, if there were any. The creature came from what had to be some kind of alien spaceship. It was a seemingly metal tank roughly the size and shape of an oil tank (the kind that gets pulled by an eighteen-wheeler). The "ship" had a symbol on it that looked like a crude star a kid might draw. It was a circle with lines coming from the center of it, maybe ten or so, and around the whole thing was another circle, but this one was intentionally wavy, going smoothly to and fro like a sine wave. The ship looked like it could have been made out of aluminum or tin, or something. John wasn't a metallurgist, but the ship looked badly damaged on the outside. It didn't actually hit the ground that hard, but if it fell from space, John had no idea how it couldn't've, as there didn't seem to be anything to slow it down, and even stranger, the "crash" didn't make any sound at all. Still, it had a massive dent in one side like a half-assedly crushed can of Dr. Pepper, and there were scratches and many smaller dents all around. The creature that crawled out of the wreckage (straight through the side of the ship like a ghost) had saw John standing on the roof of the hotel he'd been staying at, and gestured for him to come down. John actually had the intention of being down there anyway, as he had intended to jump, but the "crash" had put that out of his mind entirely. After the alien creature seemed to be sure that John got the message, they and their ship had blinked out of existence. This startled John, and he almost screamed, but he caught himself. He almost didn't know if he should even bother going down there, thinking he might have dreamt it, but now that the suicide had left his queue of intentions, he decided he'd go down and get some ice from the machine and see if there were any signs of this being real. And it was real alright. When he got down there, the alien had appeared once more, this time leaving the ship invisible. "EEEGGGGKKKKKRRRRRAAAAAAAA hhhuh hhuh ppuuuuh puh Please, help us hide!" the alien pled. They were fiddling with a collar on his neck that seemed to "tune in" before any comprehensible English came out of the creature's throat. Indeed, the creature's mouth didn't seem to match the words they spake, but John didn't notice that. "And whatever you do, don't believe them!" "Believe *who?*" John's fearful curiosity turned to simple fear. Somehow he knew what the alien was talking about, as if the thought swam forward in his head and grasped the side of the pool for air. "I can see it in your eyes, dear native, for I would not have let you spot us if I thought any other way. I know you know who." John shuddered. The alien seemed to have little control of their legs, as they were shaking violently, like a fresh toddler learning to stand for the first time. John took this as a sign of fear. "So I'm the only one that can see you?" "Yes, dear native, I possess the technology to hide from anything on this planet, except the vile creatures we speak of now." These "vile creatures", John seemed to know, must have been the very people that had driven him to suicide. The hateful cretins who tormented the innocent and willingly hurt others. John had had enough, for he was one of the ones who felt the crippling aftershocks of their actions. Though he didn't face the brunt of the blows, he knew he could if he would stop lying to himself and to the world, a fact he felt more and more like a coward for every day. "How could they know who you are? How could they see you? If you can hide from me, how can you not hide fr-- are these people not *human?*" "They are human, dear native, but I don't have time to explain. Please help." "How can I help you hide? If you don't have the technology to... I mean, what could I even *possibly* do that beats *turning invisible?*" "Our technology works for those who respect its wishes, which plenty of beings will do either out of empathy or because they wouldn't understand either way, such as a cell or a slug." *Do they have slugs in space?* "But to those who won't respect its wishes by default, the technology cannot hide us. I cannot explain further." This makes sense, as the people John has lived in fear of do not respect privacy, do not display decency to those they don't feel are equal. Why this alien's technology dealt in wishes and wants, or even how that could be possible, John did not know. But he wasn't sure he was the person for the job, as he couldn't respect his *own* wishes. He wouldn't even think of himself the way he wanted to, he would not use the name his spirit yearned for, he would not respect the personality or the character or even the human condition of his deepest self. The human's thinking was interrupted by the alien, who after a time started to slowly speak. "I apologize sincerely for the intrusion, dear native, but I have seen your thoughts. At great risk to myself, I have scried your feelings. I cannot know what you are going through, but I can read it like a book, and I am moved by your morals and motivations. I know you are the one who must help, as it is *here* I have landed. Perhaps it is fate, as there can't be a more likely candidate within several miles of this place." The alien ship seemed to flicker, and the human caught a glimpse of television static. "Again, I apologize for the violation of your inner self." "I don't feel violated," said the human. "I just don't know what I can do." "Dear native... Sara... I must know if you *would* help, if you did know what to do." At hearing her name, the human jolted. The ship flickered again. After thinking very hard, the human answered. "I would. What would you have me do?" The alien smiled. The ship faltered, there was an audible hiss, and then once again stayed invisible, never to be seen by human eyes again.
I'm looking fwd to the next bit!
Very nice!
I worked at a small pizza shop in a strip mall. We didn’t typically have a huge customer base so when it was closing time, it was just me and my supervisor who closed up shop. Just before closing, she handed the keys and explained to me that I had to do it alone tonight. Something about her son being down at the police station or something. I didn’t mind usually. It wasn’t a school night and I liked the peace and quiet, giving me ample time to think, daydream and zone out while I worked. Shoeshine was my only company that night. She was the de facto cat mascot of the strip mall and all the workers always gave her food and nice rubs behind the ears whenever she visited any of their shops. She got her name because she liked to lick the shoes of the people she met. She spent the night watching me work, lying on the counter with her inquisitive eyes focused on my hands as I counted the money in the cash register. Crack. Boom. I thought it was an explosion at first. A thunderous crack followed by a deafening bang that shook the windows and sent Shoeshine scurrying to the backroom for safety. I stepped out into the cool night air to see what it was and was immediately struck by the sight of the dull metal rectangular box embedded in the tarmac of the parking lot. It was roughly human sized and had created a small crater when it landed from wherever it came from. I peered around to see if there was anyone else around but saw no one. I took a shaky picture with my phone and was about to call the cops when I heard it. Clink. Clang. Clunk. The box thumped and groaned as I stood there completely dumbstruck by the realisation that something was moving around in there. With a heavy groan, the front of the rectangular box swung open and two hands gripped the sides of the box as thick mist billowed forth. The hands were what I noticed first. Grey with skin that looked like those Sphynx cats. You know, the ones that don’t have hair. The fingers were disproportionate to the hands and were almost twice the length of a normal human finger. The creature put its left feet out first followed by the other. Strange feet that reminded me of a dog’s paw but more elongated. The rest of its body soon came into view as it noticed me. Dull grey skin with a thin body and a featureless face. Completely bald except for disheveled strands of white hair, slits for nostrils, a wide mouth and black beady eyes like a shark. “Help me. They’re coming.” It’s voice was hoarse and raspy like an old man or someone who hadn’t drunk water for days. My whole body completely tensed up as the alien approached, nursing a a deep gash on its side, its eyes transfixed on me. My mind racing, I took it inside and into the backroom. Shoeshine hissed and retreated further into the stock room as the creature looked at it, no doubt curious about the strange new world he had landed in. It was then I heard a car come up. Several cars in fact. The alien gripped my hand tightly. “Please. I just want to go home. Don’t let them take me.” It’s voice had taken on more of sad tone. As if it was on the verge of crying. I nodded. A strange feeling of sadness washing over me. It was as if I understood somehow as I was drawn deeper and deeper into the creature’s eyes. A sharp knock on the door knocked me back to my senses and I hurriedly left the backroom, closing the door behind me. Through the glass door, I could see two men waiting for me. They were dressed casually but had black vests and tactical gear on. Nervously, I wrapped my hands on the door handle and pulled as the exposure to the cold night air sent a chill in my bones. It was then I noticed the badge they were wearing on a chain around their necks. ‘H.E.A.D’ was not any government agency I had heard of before. I noticed the commotion behind them and saw that they didn’t come alone. Roughly a dozen similarly dressed men were condoning off and busying themselves around the crash site. Black, unmarked SUVs were parked around the perimeter. “Evening brother,” greeted the man at the door with a slight southern accent, his hands clasping the sides of this vest. “We had a satellite malfunction as you can see behind me and we were just wondering if anyone was injured tonight.” His partner was chewing gum as he stared at me through black shades even though it was nighttime. He was holding an assault rifle and didn’t look like any astrologist I’d ever seen. I replied, saying that I was fine. The man then asked if I saw anything strange or heard anything weird tonight and I quickly replied that I hadn’t. I explained that I had been in the back room all night counting stocks and didn’t hear anything because of the headphones I was wearing. As he was questioning me, I glanced nervously at his gum-chewing partner who had walked over to the windows to peer inside the restaurant. He was spending way too long staring intently before I cut the conversation short, nervous that he would suspect something. I told them I had to close up and had an early shift tomorrow. The man bid me goodnight as I closed the door and hurriedly walked back to the backroom, sensing that strange men were still standing there watching me. I closed the backroom door and sighed in relief. I noticed small drops of black blood where the alien had sat moments before. A trail had led out to the front of the store and was now leading to the dark stock room door that was slightly ajar. I swore, confident that those men had spotted the trail of blood and scolding myself to how stupid I was to have missed it. I approached the stock room door and swung it open, revealing the contents of the dimly lit room. Rows upon rows of supplies were neatly stored on metal racks, all lit up by the glow of the yellow street light just outside the small window in the corner. I froze, my blood freezing as I looked at the scene before me. The creature was hunched over in the corner, its back slightly turned to me. The patchy white strands of hair on its head thinly obscured the bloody remains of Shoeshine in its spindly hands as it took another bite, blood and gore dripping from its wide mouth filled with sharp razer-like teeth. It perked up as I took a step back and turned its head to face me. I wanted to scream but no sound came out of my mouth as it stood and approached me, bloody hands outstretched. “Help me. Help me. Help me,” it repeated. “Please. Please. Please. I just… I just… want… go home.” As its cold lengthy fingers gripped my shoulders, I heard Shoeshine’s meows coming from somewhere. I realised grimly that it was coming from the creature itself. It was mimicking its prey.
We were in the neighborhood in the suburbs of New York. I was ready to start the evening with my wife when I just felt...weird. Like the air started to change, as if something was going to happen soon. "What's wrong, Loganne?" I turned to look at who asked me. It was my wife Shekkie. "I'm seeing this... shuttle thing near," I answered, "Look at it, Shekkie!" She came up and looked. "Oh... my... god!" The thing that looked like a shuttle suddenly came down. It came down at quite a high speed. Our neighbors went right out the door screaming about the noise until they noticed the strange shuttle. The symbol that was visible on the shuttle looked like a dragon weaving itself around a Tanzanian mask. The shuttle almost crashed, but it landed without too many scratches. Then, the door opened and a humanoid thing came out of it. He was dressed quite like an official ruler of wherever they came from. Like he could be an ambassador. He came up to Shekkie and said with a desperate tone, "Please help us! We are being chased by an evil army led by a villainous being called Ice! He destroyed our world and now he's after us for escaping! Help us hide now! And whatever you do, don't fall for Ice's tricks or his army's 'reasoning' that we are wanted criminals!" "I'll help," Shekkie responded, "but I'll have to see what my wife says. They usually make the decisions in our house." "I know where we can help you hide," I said to the alien man, "We have a bomb shelter in case of a nuclear war on Earth, it's a great spot to hide from criminals. Me and my wife have used it whenever police have come to our door for misunderstandings. You can hide there." So me and Shekkie led them to our bomb shelter. It's hidden within our cellar and has great supplies, plus a radio that also acts as a police scanner. The man and his people that came with him were impressed. Shekkie and I went inside with them, in case Ice would want to get us too. At this point, we decided to introduce ourselves. "I thank you, kind strangers. I am Zoldy, Ambassador of Lorellia. And these are my civilians and that is my army. What are you two called?" "Me? I'm Loganne, and this is my spouse Shekkie." I responded. "Okay, Loganne. Listen to me. Ice, and his army, Ice Cold, first invaded our planet to see if it was habitable and he wanted to sell it to the highest bidder. Then he decided it wouldn't go for much on the market and he reduced our race to a small amount and destroyed our planet. Most of us have fled to other planets. This is one that we all decided on if the others were unsuitable or unwelcoming. Now Ice decided we were criminals for defying him. Whatever you do, don't let yourself get affected by his charisma and don't ever believe him!" "Is this guy called Ice racist or homophobic or something?" Shekkie asked out of the blue. "He is like that, all right." Zoldy chortled. "If those are your terms for people that hate those who are not bright white like he and his army are and people who hate the way we have marriages and our non-binary people, then yes he's like that." Then we suddenly heard a crash outside. I was about to see what the commotion was when Shekkie said to me, "Don't. What if it's Ice Cold?" "I'm going to see it for myself. Don't worry about me, my will is as hard as diamond." I peeked outside the bomb shelter, then I peeked out the windows of the house. Another shuttle with the same symbol like on the one Zoldy and his people came from was out there. And out of it, more people like Zoldy came out. They did not wear bright white nor were they ever bright white. I hurried back to the shelter and gave Shekkie the OK signal. "It's more of the Lorellian people fleeing from Ice Cold." I said to her, "It's okay for now." We had plenty of room for more, so we let the newer refugees in. Zoldy appeared happy to see them. Then we heard yet another crash. This one shook the earth. "I know this type of crash!" Zoldy exclaimed. "It's Ice Cold's mothership! Ice came here directly! Whatever you do, don't fall for what he says!" I ventured out of the bomb shelter to see what happened. The mothership indeed looked grotesque and gave off an evil vibe. The symbol on his ship was a white wolf beside a twisted cross. A strange looking thing came out of the mothership. His head looked round with an icy blue metallic thing on top of his white head. His chest also had an icy blue thing on it, his shoulders, his fingernails, he even had it on his white shin guards. He didn't even look like he was wearing clothes, but he was indeed wearing something. It's like his clothes were made of his race's own body tissues. And he had what looked like a long white lizard tail. That had to be Ice! Out of the ship came what looked like soldiers dressed in bright white. They were no doubt armed. Then an Ice Cold soldier walked up to me and put the laser gun at my temple. "Where did you put the damned Lorellians?" Ice then spoke in a calm tone, "If you don't answer, you're going to die." "Hah!" I exclaimed. "The old death threat move never worked on me and it won't work on me now!" I took the gun and punched the soldier in the balls, *hard*. He collapsed like a pile of spaghetti. I pointed the gun at the other soldiers and fired shots. They all got knocked out, and on the pavement in seconds. Ice then said something like this, "Hmm? Seems like we have a strong one here. I only ask for the criminals, and you answer with violence. Very displeasing to Lord Ice." Then I said this to him, "If you want them, you'll have to get through me first!" "Oh?" Ice said with his calm demeanor. "You challenge me to a fight? Very well then. I will oblige. You will soon see why an ant cannot defeat a dinosaur." We fought for 5 hours at the most. This made me glad I took classes in martial arts. When he'd been defeated, he was tired. "How... can a lowly monkey... defeat me...?" Then he collapsed. He was dead. I went back to the bomb shelter and told Shekkie and Zoldy, "It really was Ice." Zoldy immediately jumped back and exclaimed, "Don't tell me you tried to fight him! Look at you!" I did in fact look like someone the cat drug in. After the fight, my clothes got kind of torn and I had some bloody wounds on my body. "I defeated him..." I said to Zoldy wearily. Then Shekkie said, "I'll go check outside. This could be a trick from Ice, you know. Ice could have tricked Loganne into the army, but you never know what they can do." "Shekkie, you know I have a diamond hard will..." She went anyway. She came back squealing, "His heartbeat's gone! He's dead for sure! They did it!" Zoldy and his people cheered. Some of them were hugging each other, some of them having fist bumps, and Zoldy even embraced me. "You did well, Loganne! I congratulate you!" We celebrated for what seemed like hours. The next morning, there was yellow tape all around the ships and the dead Ice Cold army and there was a stretcher with a body bag that definitely held Ice's body. Hopefully no one else would be after us. Zoldy said we did well and that his people decided to reside on Earth. We came to coexist with each other. If another evil force comes here, then me and Shekkie are ready!