Scary Stories...

Dealing Damage

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED

Personal Experience by Rex We were out driving that Friday night. What else did three high school sophomores do on a chilly beginning to a December weekend in a small Nebraska town? I huddled deeper in my old leather jacket, while Paulie complained to David that this was the fifth time he'd mentioned the heater, and that David should really get it fixed, especially when it was getting so damn cold. I just tried to tune out their bickering.

David suddenly pulled the car over and swiveled around, grinning wickedly. "I've still got my baseball bat in the trunk."

"Dude, you never took that out?" Paulie dismissed David with a snort and a wave. "I told you to -- "

"Shut up. Rex. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

I scrambled to decide which horrible plot David was considering this time, and finally settled on, "...doing a little damage?"

"Hell yeah," David said, grinning even more broadly. Now even Paulie was chuckling a bit hysterically, and I couldn't help but join in.

David threw the car back into drive and we cruised the streets for a good fifteen minutes before settling on the neighborhood we've always gone to for destructive purposes. David pulled to the end of the road and turned around, while Paulie jumped out and managed to pull the bat out of the moving car. He ran back to the passenger's seat, cackling, and David floored it, with Paulie sticking halfway out the window and taking a good whack at every mailbox we passed. I gripped the oh-shit handle and gritted my teeth.

David took a right at the end of the neighborhood and sped off into the countryside. He cranked up the volume on the radio, and "Man on the Moon" by R.E.M. started bumping into the little vehicle. We were all laughing along with Paulie's infectious chuckle, and one-upping imaginary threats from the neighborhood watch. My eyes drifted to the clock for no particular reason. 11:16. My girlfriend's birthday. I smiled to myself.

Suddenly, the car went dead silent. Somehow, the song was still playing, but it became a distant background noise, as if it were playing in another car a few streets away. David and Paulie were staring straight ahead, and when I pulled myself away from my happy thoughts, I craned forward and peered up into the sky with them.

My eyes widened as the huge, glowing light drifted in front of us, not getting any lower but definitely not moving away. It was like a massive eye, staring silent accusations straight to our souls. I couldn't even blink.

I knew it was a UFO. There was no doubt in my entire being.

David slowly eased the car to a complete stop, and we continued to stare silently upwards. Out of nowhere, the car began to move again as David threw it into a wild U-turn and sped off back into town.

We were silent for a few more minutes; not even Paulie said a word about David's reckless driving.

"Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?" Paulie finally said, in a very shaky, very un-Paulie voice.

"Wait," David said slowly. "You guys saw that too? It wasn't just me? I'm not crazy. I'm not just seeing things."

I leaned back in the seat and ran my hand through my hair. The arguments and postulations began: it was a truck, it was a farmer's spotlight, and my occasional insistence that it was a UFO. Moments later, the argument ended the way our fights always did -- dissolving into laughter. We had to be back at my house by midnight for my parents' strict curfew, so David found the right cross street and took us back.

We fell asleep, still muttering arguments, with "GoodFellas" playing on the TV in the background.

I woke up without Paulie's familiar weight near my feet to find they were both gone. My usual routine of sleeping in late on a Saturday had spared me more arguments this morning. Grateful, I shuffled upstairs, groggily poured a bowl of Apple Jacks, and was about to put my butt in a dining room seat when the phone rang.

David's breathless voice greeted me. "Dude. Turn on Channel 3."

Total babe reporter Stacey Smith greeted me with an uncertain smile as the television flickered to life, and then she stepped aside to let the camera man pan to the exact spot where we'd seen the light the night before.

"Farmers are struggling to explain the crop circles carved into both corn fields here some time in the past twelve hours," Stacey said, still wearing that totally uneasy and totally hot smile. "Local residents upset about their smashed mailboxes are blaming it on 'a crazy group of kids,' but the farmers are convinced the work was too professional to be pulled off by anyone short of an expert. And to these farmers, that means extra-terrestrials. Joe, back to you."

"Crop circles, eh?" I said into the phone, and was rewarded by a chuckle from David.

"If you're right, man, that explains SO much," he said.

I just grinned to myself.                                  Copyright © 2007-2011 Paranormal Network. All Rights Reserved.