There's a Monster at the End of this Book (anyone remember it?)
Ok, so I'm finally back after a week and a half hiatus. A wedding and four straight days of work kind of filled that up. I'm probably too far behind now to make it to Jano's total, but at least I'm back and writing again. Here's what I got done last night. Hopefully I'll get some more done tonight because work got cancelled.
"You should have seen it, mom!" Mara said excitedly. "A real meteor and it hit just over there in the woods!”
“So close?” Her mom gave her a protective hug as she looked off to where Mara had pointed. “It could have hit the house.” Mara shook off the hug and the concern in her mom’s voice. She preferred to be excited by this event instead of scared of it. Something like this just didn’t happen every day. “It wasn’t that far away, we could go see it,” she said, looking over at her dad. Laura Tate was looking at her husband too, but more with a look of concern over such a decision. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he relinquished the flashlight from her. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll go with her and make sure she doesn’t burn herself on anything.”
“Alright!” Mara jumped off the porch steps excitedly, her dad following close behind, aiming the flashlight at their path. Laura watched the two of them go off into the woods and hugged her housecoat around herself a bit tighter. “Be careful,” her words echoed after them.
The beam of light cut through the dark woods and lit up the small path through it. It was an old deer path but it was the quickest way to the neighbors house about a half of a mile away. Mara and her dad slowed to a walk as they kept their eyes and ears open. There was only the sound of their footsteps so far. Her dad broke the silence first. “Any idea what we’re looking for?”
“I dunno,” Mara admitted. “They haven’t covered looking for meteorites in my astronomy class yet.” They trudged along for another few feet, the flashlight sweeping back and forth on each side of the path. “I thought it would be easy, it looked so bright coming down.”
“Well,” her dad said, lifting a branch out of the way. “If we don’t find something in 15 minutes, we’ll have to head back. I don’t want your mother worrying too much about us.”
The beam of light flickered in his hands. “Oh rats,” he said, tapping the flashlight on his palm. It’s beam flickered again but it was still dimmer by the second. “Maybe we’ll have to head back sooner than that to get more batteries.”
Mara had walked ahead even though her dad had stopped to work with the dying flashlight. She made a small frustrated sound. “We might not get another chance like this...” she began, when her night eyes picked out something in the darkness. “There! I think I see it.” She shoved a small pine sprout of a tree aside as she stepped off the path and moved quickly towards the small orange glow in the distance. “Mara wait!” her dad said just as the flashlight went dead. It plunged him into complete darkness except for the few dots of stars over his head and the tree tops above. “Mara, don’t go far!” he called after her, trying to see what she had seen and follow behind her.
Mara had more of a head start on him than she realized but she was so excited. She was actually going to find a real meteorite. Something from outerspace and it was right there in her backyard to see. The small orangish glow was growing steadily as she was coming closer to it. Mara was pushing aside branches and leaves, trying to get closer to where it had fallen. But just before she thought she could make out where it was, the light flickered...faded...and went out completely.
Mara stopped mid-run, blinking her eyes to see if it was just an optical illusion and she really hadn’t lost it’s position. But it was gone, nowhere to be seen. Rats, Mara thought to herself with a sigh. She had been so close.
It was then that she realized...
...she couldn’t hear her dad behind her anymore. He had been calling to her not to go too far. Now all she could see were black outlines of trees all around her. Mara unconsciously reached out for the nearest tree, trying to get her bearings. “Dad!” she called out back the way she had come and listened for an answer. “Dad?!” Now she wasn’t really sure which way she had come. Every way looked the same since she left the path. “Dad?!” she called out again, turning in a circle. Oh, this is bad, she thought to herself. Her mom was going to give her such a talking to. She’d gone off and gotten herself lost in the woods, the one thing she had always promised she’d never do. Her annoying brother might, but not her. She was the smarter one, the more grownup kid. As Mara hugged her thin blue sweater around herself, she didn’t feel very grown up anymore.
Her eyes caught something over to her right. It was a light. A very small light, but it wasn’t orange like the previous one she had been chasing. This one was more white...possibly...a flashlight beam...
Mara started for it quickly, making sure not to take her eyes off of it for a second. “Dad! I’m coming!” she called as she moved through the trees.
She slowed down as she came nearer. It didn’t seem like a very glow of a light from the distance but it was getting closer to her. Mara slowed down to a walk, not relishing the scolding she was going to get for running off like she had done. “Dad, I’m here,” she said as she came through the bushes. “I’m sorry I...” Her sentence stopped and ended off with a small gasp of surprise.
The whitish glow wasn’t a flashlight. It wasn’t even a beam of light. It was a glow that up close was almost turning to a blue color. The small crystal it was emitting from was clear as glass and just as see through. In it’s light, Mara saw the hand that was holding it, smooth and as small as the crystal it was grasping. Above the crystal, lit in the glow, was a set of large round pearl-white eyes. They were set in a face as smooth as the hand holding the glowing crystal. It was the lack of pupils, the smooth empty eyes that made Mara gasp and cover her mouth as she took a step backward.
The eyes blinked at her. There was a low sound, almost like the click of a door lock. A light blazed down from above suddenly like a giant spotlight straight at Mara. She shielded her eyes at the sudden brightness, trying to look up to see what it was.
She couldn’t even see the forest anymore. The white light was all around her as if it meant to burn right into the ground itself. Mara was starting to feel lightheaded trying to look upwards so she tried to look away. But the feeling was spreading to her whole body. She felt strangely lighter all over, as if she was starting to fall and couldn’t stop it.
Those eyes were coming at her from out of the darkness that was outside the light beam she was caught in. Her feet were having trouble finding the ground as she tried to run away. But something was holding her, pulling her upwards. She could feel her long brown hair rising up around her head as if she was underwater. The light felt as if it was engulfing her completely and she was helpless to do anything against it.
The last thing Mara remembered was the pearl-white eyes dashing towards her and a pair of smooth blue hands with long thin fingers as they leapt towards her throat. They were so cold against her neck...
Mark jumped as his cell phone went off on his nightstand table. He hadn’t realized he was reading that intently. Putting the book down, he grabbed the phone and looked at the caller ID. “Mom!” he called so that his mom downstairs could hear him. “It’s James and I’ve finished my outline.” There was no immediate answer. “It’s Friday night, please Mom?” he said with a note of pleading in his voice this time. He could almost imagine his mother sighing downstairs, he didn’t have to hear it to know it was happening. “Ok,” she called back up to him. “But don’t stay up too late!”
Mark flipped open the phone. “Hi James.”
“Hey. Can you talk yet?”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing it’s Friday. Mom’s a bit more lenient than she would be on a school night.” Mark flopped back down on his bed, picking up the flowered print book as he did. “You get a chance to look at that girl’s diary yet?” James asked in a low whisper.
“What are you whispering for?” Mark asked.
“My wall between my room and Kate’s are a bit thinner than you think. I once told Ben I’d meet him in the park after dark to set off firecrackers on the night before the fourth of July...”
“Yeah?”
“Kate busted me and I ended up spending a whole week of being grounded, plus I was the only kid who couldn’t leave his family for the school picnic.” He made a frustrated sound. “Sisters are a pain. So did you read it?”
Mark glanced at the book in his other hand. “Yeah, I started to read it...”
“And?” James was hungry for details.
“...I hate to tell you this but it ain’t a real diary.”
“Aw, man, are you sure? It was written in pencil and everything.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s some sort of alien abduction story. I dunno, maybe someone was trying to write a book and never got it made into a real book.”
James sighed. “That sucks, I was hoping we’d found something really cool.”
Mark glanced over at the red numbers on his alarm clock. “Well, it’s not that bad. I haven’t been able to put it down for a full half hour now.”
“How far are you in it?”
“Just reached the part where the aliens take the girl.” Mark stopped as he heard his mom’s footsteps coming up the stairs. He quickly flipped the book shut and stuffed it under the pillow behind him before she could make it to the top. “I would like to see that outline, mister,” she said with a lawyer’s smile.
“Now?” Mark pointed at his cellphone over his ear with a gesture that said I’m on the phone right now,can’t it wait?
“Yes, now. Say goodbye to James, you’ll see him tomorrow.”
Mark sighed with a short growl of frustration at the end of it. “James, I gotta go. The drill sergeant is here to check my work.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow.”
Before Mark could click it shut, James’ voice came through the cellphone a bit louder. “Bye, Mrs. Garrick!” Mark’s mom smiled at that. “You two are quite the team.” She picked up Mark’s notebook where his notes and outline were at and scanned it briefly. “Aliens, huh?” she looked over at Mark. He nodded. “Well, that should be interesting to read about. Sounds like it’s right up your alley.” She handed it back to Mark, “Looking good, let me know if you need any help.”
“I will, thanks Mom.”
His mom walked over to the top of the stairs, but stopped and turned as if to say something. “I know,” Mark cut her off before she could say it. “Don’t stay up too late, I got it.”
She smiled instead. “Love you, dear. Goodnight.”
“Night.” Mark waited till he was sure she had made it all the way down the stairs before he pulled out the book again. There wasn’t any reason that he shouldn’t keep reading it so he scanned through to find where he had left off. Besides, he had about an hour before his mom would remind him again to go to bed. The story was just starting to get good...
"You should have seen it, mom!" Mara said excitedly. "A real meteor and it hit just over there in the woods!”
“So close?” Her mom gave her a protective hug as she looked off to where Mara had pointed. “It could have hit the house.” Mara shook off the hug and the concern in her mom’s voice. She preferred to be excited by this event instead of scared of it. Something like this just didn’t happen every day. “It wasn’t that far away, we could go see it,” she said, looking over at her dad. Laura Tate was looking at her husband too, but more with a look of concern over such a decision. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he relinquished the flashlight from her. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll go with her and make sure she doesn’t burn herself on anything.”
“Alright!” Mara jumped off the porch steps excitedly, her dad following close behind, aiming the flashlight at their path. Laura watched the two of them go off into the woods and hugged her housecoat around herself a bit tighter. “Be careful,” her words echoed after them.
The beam of light cut through the dark woods and lit up the small path through it. It was an old deer path but it was the quickest way to the neighbors house about a half of a mile away. Mara and her dad slowed to a walk as they kept their eyes and ears open. There was only the sound of their footsteps so far. Her dad broke the silence first. “Any idea what we’re looking for?”
“I dunno,” Mara admitted. “They haven’t covered looking for meteorites in my astronomy class yet.” They trudged along for another few feet, the flashlight sweeping back and forth on each side of the path. “I thought it would be easy, it looked so bright coming down.”
“Well,” her dad said, lifting a branch out of the way. “If we don’t find something in 15 minutes, we’ll have to head back. I don’t want your mother worrying too much about us.”
The beam of light flickered in his hands. “Oh rats,” he said, tapping the flashlight on his palm. It’s beam flickered again but it was still dimmer by the second. “Maybe we’ll have to head back sooner than that to get more batteries.”
Mara had walked ahead even though her dad had stopped to work with the dying flashlight. She made a small frustrated sound. “We might not get another chance like this...” she began, when her night eyes picked out something in the darkness. “There! I think I see it.” She shoved a small pine sprout of a tree aside as she stepped off the path and moved quickly towards the small orange glow in the distance. “Mara wait!” her dad said just as the flashlight went dead. It plunged him into complete darkness except for the few dots of stars over his head and the tree tops above. “Mara, don’t go far!” he called after her, trying to see what she had seen and follow behind her.
Mara had more of a head start on him than she realized but she was so excited. She was actually going to find a real meteorite. Something from outerspace and it was right there in her backyard to see. The small orangish glow was growing steadily as she was coming closer to it. Mara was pushing aside branches and leaves, trying to get closer to where it had fallen. But just before she thought she could make out where it was, the light flickered...faded...and went out completely.
Mara stopped mid-run, blinking her eyes to see if it was just an optical illusion and she really hadn’t lost it’s position. But it was gone, nowhere to be seen. Rats, Mara thought to herself with a sigh. She had been so close.
It was then that she realized...
...she couldn’t hear her dad behind her anymore. He had been calling to her not to go too far. Now all she could see were black outlines of trees all around her. Mara unconsciously reached out for the nearest tree, trying to get her bearings. “Dad!” she called out back the way she had come and listened for an answer. “Dad?!” Now she wasn’t really sure which way she had come. Every way looked the same since she left the path. “Dad?!” she called out again, turning in a circle. Oh, this is bad, she thought to herself. Her mom was going to give her such a talking to. She’d gone off and gotten herself lost in the woods, the one thing she had always promised she’d never do. Her annoying brother might, but not her. She was the smarter one, the more grownup kid. As Mara hugged her thin blue sweater around herself, she didn’t feel very grown up anymore.
Her eyes caught something over to her right. It was a light. A very small light, but it wasn’t orange like the previous one she had been chasing. This one was more white...possibly...a flashlight beam...
Mara started for it quickly, making sure not to take her eyes off of it for a second. “Dad! I’m coming!” she called as she moved through the trees.
She slowed down as she came nearer. It didn’t seem like a very glow of a light from the distance but it was getting closer to her. Mara slowed down to a walk, not relishing the scolding she was going to get for running off like she had done. “Dad, I’m here,” she said as she came through the bushes. “I’m sorry I...” Her sentence stopped and ended off with a small gasp of surprise.
The whitish glow wasn’t a flashlight. It wasn’t even a beam of light. It was a glow that up close was almost turning to a blue color. The small crystal it was emitting from was clear as glass and just as see through. In it’s light, Mara saw the hand that was holding it, smooth and as small as the crystal it was grasping. Above the crystal, lit in the glow, was a set of large round pearl-white eyes. They were set in a face as smooth as the hand holding the glowing crystal. It was the lack of pupils, the smooth empty eyes that made Mara gasp and cover her mouth as she took a step backward.
The eyes blinked at her. There was a low sound, almost like the click of a door lock. A light blazed down from above suddenly like a giant spotlight straight at Mara. She shielded her eyes at the sudden brightness, trying to look up to see what it was.
She couldn’t even see the forest anymore. The white light was all around her as if it meant to burn right into the ground itself. Mara was starting to feel lightheaded trying to look upwards so she tried to look away. But the feeling was spreading to her whole body. She felt strangely lighter all over, as if she was starting to fall and couldn’t stop it.
Those eyes were coming at her from out of the darkness that was outside the light beam she was caught in. Her feet were having trouble finding the ground as she tried to run away. But something was holding her, pulling her upwards. She could feel her long brown hair rising up around her head as if she was underwater. The light felt as if it was engulfing her completely and she was helpless to do anything against it.
The last thing Mara remembered was the pearl-white eyes dashing towards her and a pair of smooth blue hands with long thin fingers as they leapt towards her throat. They were so cold against her neck...
Mark jumped as his cell phone went off on his nightstand table. He hadn’t realized he was reading that intently. Putting the book down, he grabbed the phone and looked at the caller ID. “Mom!” he called so that his mom downstairs could hear him. “It’s James and I’ve finished my outline.” There was no immediate answer. “It’s Friday night, please Mom?” he said with a note of pleading in his voice this time. He could almost imagine his mother sighing downstairs, he didn’t have to hear it to know it was happening. “Ok,” she called back up to him. “But don’t stay up too late!”
Mark flipped open the phone. “Hi James.”
“Hey. Can you talk yet?”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing it’s Friday. Mom’s a bit more lenient than she would be on a school night.” Mark flopped back down on his bed, picking up the flowered print book as he did. “You get a chance to look at that girl’s diary yet?” James asked in a low whisper.
“What are you whispering for?” Mark asked.
“My wall between my room and Kate’s are a bit thinner than you think. I once told Ben I’d meet him in the park after dark to set off firecrackers on the night before the fourth of July...”
“Yeah?”
“Kate busted me and I ended up spending a whole week of being grounded, plus I was the only kid who couldn’t leave his family for the school picnic.” He made a frustrated sound. “Sisters are a pain. So did you read it?”
Mark glanced at the book in his other hand. “Yeah, I started to read it...”
“And?” James was hungry for details.
“...I hate to tell you this but it ain’t a real diary.”
“Aw, man, are you sure? It was written in pencil and everything.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s some sort of alien abduction story. I dunno, maybe someone was trying to write a book and never got it made into a real book.”
James sighed. “That sucks, I was hoping we’d found something really cool.”
Mark glanced over at the red numbers on his alarm clock. “Well, it’s not that bad. I haven’t been able to put it down for a full half hour now.”
“How far are you in it?”
“Just reached the part where the aliens take the girl.” Mark stopped as he heard his mom’s footsteps coming up the stairs. He quickly flipped the book shut and stuffed it under the pillow behind him before she could make it to the top. “I would like to see that outline, mister,” she said with a lawyer’s smile.
“Now?” Mark pointed at his cellphone over his ear with a gesture that said I’m on the phone right now,can’t it wait?
“Yes, now. Say goodbye to James, you’ll see him tomorrow.”
Mark sighed with a short growl of frustration at the end of it. “James, I gotta go. The drill sergeant is here to check my work.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow.”
Before Mark could click it shut, James’ voice came through the cellphone a bit louder. “Bye, Mrs. Garrick!” Mark’s mom smiled at that. “You two are quite the team.” She picked up Mark’s notebook where his notes and outline were at and scanned it briefly. “Aliens, huh?” she looked over at Mark. He nodded. “Well, that should be interesting to read about. Sounds like it’s right up your alley.” She handed it back to Mark, “Looking good, let me know if you need any help.”
“I will, thanks Mom.”
His mom walked over to the top of the stairs, but stopped and turned as if to say something. “I know,” Mark cut her off before she could say it. “Don’t stay up too late, I got it.”
She smiled instead. “Love you, dear. Goodnight.”
“Night.” Mark waited till he was sure she had made it all the way down the stairs before he pulled out the book again. There wasn’t any reason that he shouldn’t keep reading it so he scanned through to find where he had left off. Besides, he had about an hour before his mom would remind him again to go to bed. The story was just starting to get good...