Rebecca Moon and The Boy in the Bottle

Chapter 1: The Boy in the Bottle

Rebecca Moon loved being inside, simply because it had all the amenities of not being outside. Also, she loved to be alone, which she attested to the lack of intrusive questions which would pull her away from very important video games and cartoons. The dark shadows of the room were constantly flickering, fighting with the television lights, trying hard to reach out and grab Rebecca, but she had her force field of LED photons. She focused not on the world around her, but the small window of light and sound that stood only a few feet from her face, as she sat cuddled on the couch of her home, wrapped in a cozy fur blanket and sipping from a straw that led down to a secret place where she kept her cup of soda.

Her parents were out of town for the weekend, visiting an older sibling that had moved to another state for college, and her other siblings were off seeking employment and enjoying social lives. Rebecca, being the stoic monolithic character that she was, took full advantage of her status for the evening and stayed home. She was always one for an adventure, while maintaining that it was better to explore an imaginary world, than to venture forth into the real one.

The sun was setting deeply into the mountains that surrounded the tiny town Rebecca lived in. It was more a village than a town, but villages were not what people liked to live in anymore, so Rebecca had been taught to say town. She would have much rather lived in a small village, but the hamlet in the forest was still more fantastical than the city which was several miles north.

While the darkness began to overtake the sky, and stars shone their sleepy faces, Rebecca continued to live in a fake world, where her greatest of fantasies and wonders would come to life. Eyes glued to the screen, it took her a moment to realize something was bothering her, when a shiver and tickle ran up her back. Her attention was torn from the video game and she was rushed back to the reality of the couch.

Something was moving around her blanket, which happened to not be her. An independent source of life wiggled and squirmed about in the dark underworld of the coverlet. Rebecca jumped up and squealed in fear of the sudden surprise. She stopped in the cold dark air of the living room and tried to use the light from the television to see what was in the blanket. Waiting, she watched as the squirming lump moved closer to the edge, and finally came out.

Sitting in her spot, now half covered in the purple fuzzy blanket, was her tabby cat. Darcy, the silly multicolored feline stood with eyes reflecting the light back at her, licking its lips.

"Oh my goodness, Darcy. You scared me to death," Rebecca said as she moved back toward the couch. Of course if she had been able to hear the thoughts of a cat she would have realized that Darcy, sweet and cuddly as he was, had done his wiggle scare tactic to get her warm spot. While he loved Rebecca very much, he also loved warm comfy blankets and soft cushy couches.

Rebecca shivered as she realized that the air was quite colder than she had thought it would be. "The fire must have gone out," she said, then started off toward the fireplace.

Suddenly there was a rap on the side of the house. It sounded like bone scraping on wood, and it ran along the house moving slowly and ominously in the dark. Thronging along the entirety of the building, it made Rebecca's hair twist and stand.

Electricity filled the air, and Rebecca could feel the strange sound sinking into her spine. She was frozen, fear-gripped, and she could see the darkness covering the world around her. When had it become so dark? When did the light pass away and leave only the cold?

Suddenly, and quickly after the guttural sound of thumping had finished, there were three quick flashes of light. Rebecca watched as the windows lit up and beamed rapidly, then dimmed, as if three tiny motorcycles drove past the side of the window and happened to be floating five or six feet off the ground.