The Holiday

The Arrival

That thought will not leave me to be peaceful. I keep thinking of my dad.

He can't be gone. No. That had to have been a hoax. A fake. A lie told by a gifted actress.

I get up out of my bed and look out my window, remembering the orange glow of the smoke-littered clouds. It's a bit cloudy now, but there is no glow. Then again, my window faces away from the city.

I decide to run towards the front door, the sofa, through the hallway, but nearing the cream colored entrance, I get stopped by my little sister.

"Where are you going?" she asks with a worried tone.

I don't answer.

"Hello? Anyone there?" She smirks.

"C'mon." I state blankly, trying not to give any hints.

The porch in front of me is covered in snow. It's edges have the most while it decreases as you move to the middle.

The moment the entrance is open I realized something is off.

It's warm.

Well fifty to sixty degrees may seem chilly but it's winter... In Chicago. I pick up a handful of the white frost.

"Oh no!" I say as tears well up.

What I'm holding is not snow. It's the farthest thing from it.

Ash.

It's ash and soot.

From the burning of buildings. From the burning of houses. Of people.

Tears drip from my face as I look up.

Th sky is that orange-red from the glow of fire.

This is real.

I fall to my knees realizing in terror that dads gone. Those ferocious creatures are actually here. I finally realized.

"Alex, what's wrong? And whats up with this snow?" my little sister asks, oblivious to the truth.

I stand up, turn to face her, and bring her to the front brick step of the porch.

"Ash, remember the news story?" I ask.

"Yeah. why?" she looks at me.

How am I going to tell her? I mean she's Only 8. She can't handle this kind of information.

The more I think about, I realize something. I can't either.

"Well.." I start.

"Stop." She interrupts, "I know."

I punch the ground in anger. What is happening? Its five o'clockin the morning and our dad's dead and the city is destroyed and there's creatures running around killing people for fun. I'm only fifteen. What could I do?

BOOM!

An explosion just down the street lights up the neighborhood in an orange glow. Ashley screams. "Ash, go inside now!" i yell to her as Mr. Rogers across the street run out of his plush home in the opposite direction of the now dark smokey mushroom cloud.

She runs in an unbalanced stagger in her attempt to sprint up the stairs. The door slammed shut.

I look back to the direction of the explosion. Why are people just riunning away? Are they not going to help the injured?

Screw it.

I'm going to be the one person who won't run.

And before I know it, I'm half way there. Then it hits me.

What if those things are there? I decide to run back to my house to get something I can use to defend my self.

I fun to the main entrance. Swing open the door. "Ash? Mom?"

Running into the living room, I notice the house is torn up. The sofa is torn with stuffing everywhere, the "Holiday" tree is knock over. There's a gaping hole in the living room wall like something barreled through it. The television is punched through. I watched for a split second as the sparks from the screen jumped and pondered on the thought.

Did those things come here?

I almost tremble to my knees. Realizing that somethings obviously bad, I run to my moms room busting down the door. The handled wall falls and hits the floor with an audible thud.

And there hold my sister and my mother at the throat is a creature. It's gruesome features could make a small child pee his pants. It's covered in brownish to black reptilian looking skin. It has razor sharp claws on tip of each of its five fingered baseball mitts for hands. Its legs are thick and powerful, ready to kick Down a building. It's body is rippling with muscle, and its mouth is filled with sharp teeth. I notice another thing too. It has no eyes. Just a big smooth surface. Almost as if its armor.

"Let them go!" I shout, grabbing the first thing I see, a picture frame, and chucking it at the man-lizard.

The thin frame impacts the monsters side with a crunch, but it only just barely winces.

At the exact same time, I pounded a mirror hanging from the green patterned wall, bloodying my hand. It's excruciating, but the adrenaline rush dulls it.

As the shards rain down, I catch a large one that looks almost like a a claw and chuck it a the monster.

At the same time it throws my mom and she smacks the wall, slaming into it. The force it made her cry out.

The thing holds up its hand to block the shard but it is to late. The glass slips by and acts like a dagger, sinking into the creatures mid-section. Bellowing in pain, it drops my sister and she runs to where moms motionless body is lying.

"Ashley, stay right there!" I say with a stern face.

The creature breaks the shard and starts to charge at me. It uses its clawed hands to slash at me. I step back to dodge.

Whabam!

I failed to dodge and get slammed by a bus that sends my barreling to the right wall. I slide down to the floor in agony.

Boom!

Someone else must getting attacked. I open my eyes and struggle to get up.

The nightmarish creature on its knees holding its chest. It lookup towards the door, stands up and stomps towards the passage, breathing very heavily.

Boom!

The next thing I know the monster falls to the ground.

What just happened?