Wheels crunched against gravel as the car rolled to an abrupt stop. Brett and I exchanged glances but neither of us said a word. He slammed the car into park and leaned back in the seat.
“Now what?” I whispered.
What was there to say? I concentrated on the wisps of fog curling in the light of the high beams. In the darkness surrounding us, I couldn’t see anything else. An almost eerie silence fell over us.
Brett cursed under his breath. “I left my phone at Kara’s house.”
My heart thundered in my chest and I fought to control the rise and fall of my breathing. I didn’t want to think about what happened at Kara’s house and I’m pretty sure Brett didn’t want to either. We had no way to call for help and now the car had stalled.
“We should walk,” I said.
“Are you crazy? With that… thing out there?”
“Well, we can’t stay here.”
Brett sat forward and started playing with the key in the ignition while I said a silent prayer the car would roar back to life. Maybe this once luck would be on our side?
“It’s no use,” he said. He punched the steering wheel and muttered a string of expletives under his breath. In the eerie glow of light, I could see the perspiration bead along his forehead even though it was so cold I could see my own breath.
“We can’t stay here.”
He looked at me. The raspy sound of his breathing filled my ears while I waited for his response and wondered if the bleeding had stopped.
“Fine,” he said at last, “We’ll walk.”
He didn’t wait for me before killing the headlights and opening the door and stepping out. For a moment, I couldn’t move. I was frozen between knowing we had no other choice and wishing I could stay hidden in the darkness. As I stepped out of the car, I glanced behind me, trying to get some sense of what lay beyond. Our surroundings were beginning to take the forms as my eyes adjusted to the night. The fog hung in the trees and reflected the shimmering moonlight. Any other night I might have thought it was pretty, romantic even.
Tonight, I couldn’t think of anything at all except those eyes staring back at me and the way Kara had screamed.
“I think there is a house not too far from here,” I said, hoping we were on the road I thought we were. Brett grunted in response and began moving forward. I followed, not wanting to be left behind, but my legs felt as though I trudged through molasses.
“What was that thing?” I asked. I didn’t expect him to have any answers but I could hardly stand the silence that had fallen between us either. When I’d agreed to go on a date with Brett Parker, this wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. I didn’t know him well enough to guess the thoughts that occupied his mind but I was pretty sure he felt as scared as I did.
“I don’t know,” he muttered.
I tried to take his hand but he quickly pulled away.
“What happened to Kara wasn’t my fault,” I said.
“How could it be?”
I kicked at the stones as we walked and tried to think of something to say. If we got out of this alive, there wouldn’t be a second date. Of that much, I was certain. Just then I caught sight of a glimmer of light in the distance. I squinted, trying to determine if it was the old farm house I’d remembered. I didn’t think anyone lived there. I could tell Brett saw it too because his pace picked up. He was moving so fast now I had to sprint to keep up with him.
“Brett, wait, what if it something is there?”
This thought slowed him down a little, but not enough. By the time we’d reached the bend in the road, we could tell the light hadn’t come from a house. I put my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming. Brett tried to grab my arm but seemed to think better of it. Instead, he put distance between him and that thing while I stood there with wide eyes trying to take in the small spacecraft partly buried in the corn field.
I rubbed my eyes slowly, trying to clear my vision. It couldn’t be real. I heard Brett urging me to get away from it but my feet were already carrying me forward. When I was close enough, I put out my hand to touch the smooth surface and ran my fingers gently along the side. To my surprise, the craft rumbled to life and where I hadn’t anticipated a door, the sides gave way and parted like the automatic doors at Walmart. Goosebumps traveled up the length of my arm and for a moment I couldn’t catch my breath. I stepped inside.
There was no doubt in my mind I’d just boarded an alien spacecraft. After all, I’d seen one of the creatures with my own eyes not more than hour ago at Kara’s party. That alone should have been enough to stop me from doing entering the ship, but somehow my curiosity overtook my better senses. I needed to see it, even if it was likely the last thing I would ever do.
A sound ahead made me halt and rethink my crazy decision. I wasn’t alone. I almost turned to run but I couldn’t. I’d come this far and I was pretty sure I’d heard the sound of the doors closing behind me as I moved along the quiet tunnel toward the belly of the ship. It was too late for second thoughts.
The alien rounded the bend and stopped. I wasn’t sure which of us was more afraid but I could tell he hadn’t been expecting to see me. I braced myself for his attack but it didn’t come. Slowly, he lowered a clipboard he was holding and I realized in that moment he could have almost been mistaken for any human aside from an elongated forehead, larger eyes, and a greenish tint to his skin. I cleared my throat, trying to form words, to make excuses for my trespassing. It felt like forever that we stood there awkwardly staring at one another.
“My name is Alice,” I said at last.
There wasn’t something about him that didn’t seem nearly as threatening as it had when his friend crashed our party. I moved closer and put out my hand to touch his outstretched fingertips and a spark of electricity shot through me.
“Welcome home, Alice. We have missed you.”
**
Thank you for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts. Each day I am posting a ‘snippet’ based on a paranormal creature that begins with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. I am using this as a fun writing exercise which I am hoping will also be enjoyable to read, but keep in mind that due to the fact that I must post a new snippet each day in April except Sundays, the posts may be a bit rough. I’ll do my best, however, in the limited time I have available to me. 🙂 Let me know your favorites or the posts you find most intriguing because I plan to develop those into a full story later in the year!
Check out the other participants in the A to Z Challenge by clicking HERE.
Stephanie Ingram 
That ‘s some real classic alien there. Ow, cliffhangers from the outset, you are a tease. I guess you already imagine how the next scene starts, though. 😉
Hee hee That I am. 🙂 Although honestly, I got to about 1,000 words and started to panic because I’d promised myself my posts would only be about 500 words each. Admittedly, the “ending” could have been better. lol
LOL! Well, it could have been shorter because of the sheer lack of time we all are going to have. I know what it is like to NOT be able to stop writing. But I liked the ending, actually 😉 I’m one of those weird ppl who like open endings. C u tomorrow!
A month of paranormal creatures? That’s a great theme! I’m loving the A to Z. On my second cup of tea and finding so many interesting people and interesting posts.
I’m #1628 – Thesaurus Tyrannosaurus. Next time, I’m going to choose a theme that’s easier to spell.
http://www.julievalerie.com/thesaurus-tyrannosaurus/
That’s the best part of the challenge – discovering so many interesting blogs to read! It’s great fun. Thanks for reading. 🙂
This was a great snippet, Stephanie. Certainly not the way you want a first date to go. Love the intrigue at the end there.
Rosa
@RosaT_Author
Rosa Temple writes…
Thank you, Rosa. 🙂 So true! As far as first dates go, this one certainly does not rank too high on my got to try it scale. lol
I love it! I might not leave comments on each of your post this month, but I will come back and read everything!
I love the tension, I love the open ending (so many questions!!!), I want to know more, and also what happened at the party and why she felt the urge to say it wasn’t her fault. Basically, if you were to write a full story based on this snippet, I would totally go and buy it! (I love aliens!)
I’ll be back!
Such high praise! Thank you so much, Catherine. 🙂 I’m so happy someone enjoyed reading it. So far, this one is in my piles of ideas to develop into a novel. There are a lot of possible directions it could go. Thanks for reading!
What can you do, you tapped into one of my favorite subject!
Well, I am glad she was welcomed. I know it would be dangerous and rude to just walk into a spaceship like that, but I bet I would do it. I doubt they’d say welcome home though.
What would you do if they did say welcome home? 😉 She definitely took a gamble, no doubt. Maybe it will turn out worse to be welcomed than it would have turned out to be an intruder? Thanks for reading. 🙂
I would definitely be second guessing everything I thought I knew about myself. 🙂
You are to a great start on this challenge Stephanie. As usual an original story, with well thought out characters and the situations they are placed in. You have a knack for ratcheting up the tension. The ending was a clever surprise! Looking forward to more of your posts.
Thank you for reading, Don. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 It will be something completely different each day.
I really enjoyed this, I loved the twist at the end and it’s definitely left me wanting more
Debbie
Thank you, Debbie. 🙂
I am also a short story writer, nice little story
Thank you 🙂 Nice to meet you!
I’m here as one of Stormy’s Sidekicks! Thanks for sharing such a great story! I enjoyed it, and I loved the ending!
I’m glad you stopped by! Thanks for reading and I’m so happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
Hmm, maybe that’s why she felt drawn to the spacecraft. “Home” is calling her. 😉 This is a great start! Can’t wait to read more.
Yes, that is a good point! Thanks for reading, Nortina. 🙂
Sounds like you have an interesting A to Z theme! I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s post!
Daleenc from Thoughts from a Christian Cowgirl
Thank you 😊
That was fun to read! I was definitely ready to keep reading.
Thank you and I am happy you enjoyed reading it. 😊
Hi Stephanie! What an awesome start to the challenge! The story flowed easily and the end – amazing! Can’t wait for your next post in the challenge 😀
Aww thanks 😊 I am really happy you enjoyed it and I hope I can continue to entertain.
You are off with flying colours! Will keep an eye on your blog from now on, such wonderful writing!
Thank you for your visit to my blog, have a great a to z!
Sylvia van Bruggen
Yeah, I’d totally walk toward the ship too. Great story!