The Encounter || SHORT STORY [ COMPLETE ]

1st Person - Human

     

     The blanket that lay against my body felt sweltering against the bare of my skin. I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was tomorrow. I needed to sleep. My window let in the warm summer night air. Usually the wind would comfort me, lull me to sleep and ease my worries. Not tonight. Tonight it aided in keeping my mind wide awake, causing me to think about nothing but my worries for tomorrow. Or I guess today, it has to at least be past 1 am by now. 

     The bed creaked and groaned under my weight as I shifted my way off of the old posts. I lazily throw on sweat pants and a Pink Floyd tee. Have to work with what I got. The moonlight carried me through the old Victorian style home. It never really felt like home, my home. Then again, I didn't actually own this house, I was just renting the room from my aunt. It wasn't always like that, I didn't always have to fight daily for my spot in this house.

     I grabbed a light jacket from the front rack. It wasn't cold, but I felt safer with something to cover me. The front door creaked open and I paused. I listened to the silence that pierced through the air. It was loud against my ears, I could hear every small shaky breathe from my slightly ajar mouth. My finger twitched every time there was any creak or shuffle, nervous that I woke somebody up. It was just the cat. I waited longer than necessary when I finally made the plunge. I hastily, and clumsily closed the front door as quietly as I possibly could. 

     My eagerness showed as I didn't look back when leaving down the driveway, down the sidewalk, and out into the street. I knew where I was going, I've been there many times before. It was a long walk but, across the street and down past the main road of our little rinky dink town was an old cemetery. Some Ways behind the cemetery was a nice floral clearing that bloomed the most beautiful blossoms in the spring, that was where I was heading.

     The clearing stood as it always had, ethereal and untouched by human hands, well, besides mine. The flowers weren't in full bloom, but it never seemed any less beautiful in the summer days than it did in the spring. I take my usual spot next to the stump of a once fallen tree near the furthest edges of the clearing. The stump was large and hollow, and inside was a small cooler I packed to the brim each month with new snacks for when I come out here. 

     My stomach growled at the thought of the chocolate covered banana chips I had stashed away in there now. I start to eagerly pull at the box inside of the oversized stump. I tugged on the tub hard with the expectation that it was still filled to the top. I flew back onto my back, the tub hitting the ground uncomfortably close to my head. It landed almost perfectly to where the lid laid open for me to see the contents that resided inside, which was none. It was all gone.

     Getting up, I was exasperated at the thought of not being able to fill my stomach with the tasty snacks. Someone, or something, had eaten my perfectly hidden stash of food. My frustration at the thought of an animal somehow getting into the chocolatey treats almost distracted me from the gaze of something just beyond the stump. This is not happening. I was tired, I was warm, I was cold, I was hungry, I was feeling uncomfortable and out of place in the moment, I do not trust myself to fend off a possible assaulter or murderer. I didn't have time to think any coherent thoughts that could have possibly helped me before a lanky limb came jutting out into the moonlight.

     My throat was begging to scream, to let out the most guttural sound my vocal chords could muster, but my body was begging to faint, to stay still and shut down. And that's what I did. I stayed still, on the verge of passing out from stress and fear. I was forced to stare ahead at whatever was occupying the space in front of me, the large and thin limb stayed reached out and still. It took me a moment to realize why. 

     The limb looked like a sort of deformed, human arm, like it was a dead person weeks into decomposing and trying its best to pass as still living. (I guess we were near a cemetery). The hand, or what I guess should be considered a hand, was pointing. I glance briefly in the general direction it was pointing, not letting my eyes leave the thing for more than mere seconds. It was pointing at the empty cooler. Is it?-

     "Are you... asking for more?" My voice was croaky for not having spoken all day. I scrunch my face in embarrassment. The arm drops and retreats back into the darkness of the woods. For a moment I felt relieved, I knew the thing wasn't gone but It felt better not being able to see it anymore, as weird as that sounds. In a sudden movement the arm tosses over a half empty wrapper. The contents spill out, leaving at least two seemingly untouched banana chips. It  looked like it was chewed open.

       Oh, it was asking if that was mine. "Uh, thanks." I nod as I lower my guard to pick up the chips. I pocket the chips. From the corner of my eye the creature slipped further out into the clearing, letting its figure be seen far better than before. My heart raced at its size, but beyond that it didn't have a scary physique. The unknown is typically scary, but weirdly enough I wasn't scared, not anymore.

     Seeing it better now, I was able to confirm that it was, in fact, something not human. Not a corpse either. Whatever it was, it was already rummaging through the stump looking for, assumingly, more chips. Its long limbs caused it to tower at least 7 feet, If it stood straight up maybe even 10 feet.

      It was thin, and very large, its head barely fitting its body. I wondered how it managed to eat without having an apparent mouth on its face. Its eyes, all 4 of them, had no pupils, but strangely enough I was able to tell exactly where it was looking. So when it turned to look at me I froze. It lifted its crumb filled hands towards me. Pulling the two chips from my jacket pocket I hand them back to it for now. "You can have these, I'll... I'll go get more."

     Swiftly I turn on my heel, not wanting to see how the thing eats, and speed walk my way back towards the roads. I just offered to feed an.. What? An Alien? "Holy f- Oh my god I just offered to feed an alien!"