31 Frights of October

Stitched Together

Isabel ran out into the street in a panic alongside Hariet, they stared up at a large ship nothing like the one they had previously seen.

Large eye-like headlights beamed orange lights across the plains. They stared down into people's homes causing more and more to stir out in a daze, confused and cold. The ship's large, elongated body hovered closer and closer towards the ground, practically landing atop them as if it were a much larger version of Santa's sleigh.

Isabel and Hariet scampered back, horrified by the ship docking right above them. Hariet turned to run but Isabel stood rooted in place gazing almost hypnotized by the ship which almost appeared to be breathing. Hariet called out to Isabel pure fear showing in his voice.

"Isabel we need to run!"

"I..." she trailed off, her mouth gaping open and eyes rolling back into her skull, her head fixed in the direction of the beast hovering above them.

The overwhelming screams of the neighbourhood and fog clogging up Hariet's vision made him act desperately, practically slapping Isabel's arm to grab her out of the way.

He rushed them both up their driveway, tossing her into the truck, her conscience returning increasingly quickly. With a breathless gasp, he jumped into the car's driver seat, his heart racing and his hands fumbling as he slammed the door shut behind him, panic-stricken and wide-eyed. He revved the engine and didn't even bother to look over his shoulder steering the car out as fast as he could making it onto the straight highway.

Isabel disorientedly rubbed at her eyes in the back seat confused on how they had gotten onto the road. She stared down at her hands and the cheap dollar store foundation and mascara rubbed off on them before recalling her memory of the events.

"Hariet..?" Isabel said, trying to catch his gaze in the rear view mirror. He glanced up at the mirror making connecting their lines of sight. He stared warmly at her, his dark eyes began to fill with light when he saw her coming back to her senses.

"Isabel! I'm so glad you're okay, I was worried about you." He smiled, his lips curling into a smile not completely replacing the frightened look on his face.

"Where are we headed?" she looked out the window at the congested horizon while anxiously fiddling with the buttons on her blouse, the atmosphere was thick with not only fog but now smoke from the town. Hariet's lack of an answer and tightened grip on the steering wheel indicated to her he had no plan, growing up together meant they knew each others tells.

She shot up her curls bouncing animatedly with her movements, an idea came to mind.

"The underground lab! Dad used to take us there all the time!" She held her paws out open, proud of her idea. The key to the lab was on the same chain as the car key, it was somewhere the two of them knew they would be safe.

Hariet swerved into a small road through a wheat field, the road beneath was gravely filling the car with cracking and shifting sounds of the rocks crunching beneath the truck's tires.

After a few more minutes of driving Hariet slammed on the brakes and the two of them jumped out of the car moving towards a flat metal plate with a keyhole in the middle of the field. Isabel looked over her shoulder back up into the sky squinting in an attempt to see the alien ship but the combination of fumes in the air made it just too difficult. Hariet popped the door to the lab open and grunted as he tried to lift it, the rocks and dust pouring off.

Inside the lab dust swirled in the dim light they looked to each for reassurance and shook their heads in simultaneous agreement and stepped inside. The air was stale and thick, carrying the scent of old machinery and forgotten experiments. A low hum resonated through the room, as if the lab itself was alive, holding its breath in anticipation.