The Visitors

I go out walking

The night air felt cool on my face as we walked back to my house. The hospital was about fifteen-minutes from where my house. We held hands and swung them back and forth in silence. I looked around at my beautiful town. The grass was green and the flowers were blooming. We walked by a house that had a garden in front and I couldn't help but marvel at the Rhododendrons and viburnums growing as well as other flowers. I smiled to myself and rested my head, on Kit's shoulder. Then I took a deep breath.

"everything alright?" he asked while rubbing my hand with his thumb, "I mean besides the fact my dog attacked you for no reason." I laughed at this. I'm not one to hold a grudge but I don't think I'll be wanting to see Bolt anytime soon. Speaking of Bolt.

"where is he anyways?"

"He's at the vet. Don't worry not the one you work at." I sighed in relief. "yeah you banged him up pretty good. He has some internal damage but they think after a week or two he'll be up on his feet again. The Vet was surprised actually. He told me he doesn't seem like the type to attack anyone given he has never done it in the past, his age, and the fact there was nothing wrong with him." I thought about this for a while. Bolt was getting up there in age and he has never been violent with me before. I remember this one time where Bolt and I were alone in Kits room because he was taking a shower, and bolt was laying down on me letting me pet him. The only other person he let do this was Kit himself. It didn't make any sense.

I was deep in thought about this when a loud HOOT came from the right of me. Kit and I looked around trying to find the source. Just as I was about to give up I saw two cat like eyes peeking at me through a tree on my right. As I looked closer I saw that behind the eyes was a white owl with black feathers mixed in. It stared at me for a second before Hooting again and flying off. I couldn't believe it. It was a snowy owl. "babe," I hit Kit on the arm, "did you see that. It was a snowy owl. The biggest one I've ever seen."

"no way," Kit said in disbelief, "I've never seen one up close before and my one chance I missed it."

"awe I'm sorry" I said rubbing his arm, "maybe next time."

---

He sulked the rest of the way home. We stopped outside of my front door to say our final good byes. I kissed Kit on the lips but it was like kissing the wall. "what's wrong"

"nothing" he mumbled while kicking the ground.

"wait a second," I smiled poking him in the stomach, "are you still sad you didn't see the owl?"

"well yeah, I mean now I'm going to have to wait until at least next winter to see one. I mean it's weird you even saw one now, usually they're only around in the dead of winter."

"awe Kit don't cry" I cooed teasing him, "maybe one day you'll finally live your life long dream of seeing a snowy owl up close. You know like the one I saw today, that you didn't see." At that he started tickling me. I laughed trying to get out of his grip.

"Stop, I'm going to pee!!" I gasped.

"Good, maybe then you'll understand my pain." He laughed tickling me harder. I walked away from the door and into the grass to try to get away but he followed. Then I dropped down on the floor to try to roll away but this only gave him a better angle to tickle me.

"Please, I'm sorry, let me", Just then there was a loud BOOM.

We both stopped and turned our heads to the mountain where it sounded like the boom came from. All the birds flew away from the trees and it sounded like every dog in town was barking and howling. BOOM. And all the dogs stopped. Everything was silent. I'm not sure if my heart was beating in that moment or not. BOOM. And then there was a flash brighter than anything I've ever seen. It came from by the mountain and it was gone just as soon as it started. The normal animal sounds started again as well as some dogs barking and howling. For the most part it seemed like it was just before the first boom. I looked at Kit who wore the same confused look on his face as I did.

"What the f-" I started, but then all the street lights went out. I moved closer to Kit. It was so dark outside. The only light was the one that the moon and stars were giving off in their divine glory, well that light and the light from the flashlights of neighbors who were coming outside to see what happened. Kit and I stood up and dusted ourselves off. I grabbed his hand because I felt like if I didn't hold on to him I would lose him for some reason. His grip tightened on me.

"Hey, it was probably nothing don't worry."

"I know. I'm not." I said in a confident voice.

"then why are your hands shaking." I took in a deep breath trying to calm my nerves. It wasn't just my hands shaking. It was my entire body; every cell was moving a million miles a minute back and forth. I was scared. But I wasn't going to let him know that. Or anyone for that matter.

"Well that's because I'm trying so very hard to hold in my pee because you wouldn't stop tickling me." I joked trying to relieve the tension and calm my nerves at the same time. He chuckled as best he could then we walked up to the door again. I opened it, kissed him, and then turned to go inside but I felt his hand slipping through mine so I tightened my grip.

"you know you have to let go of my hand so I can leave, right?" he joked while rubbing my hand. My stomach turned and I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had. "It's okay Em. I'll see you tomorrow I promise." With that I women'd up and let go.

"night, oh and text when you get home." I added before I entered my house and closed the door.

I looked around to see candles lit everywhere. Alex was on the floor in the living room and my dad was at the table. In front of him laid the best-looking meat loaf I have ever seen along with a big bowl of mashed potatoes and another filled with brussel sprouts. You've got to eat your vegetables, right?

"Finally!" he yelled as he started serving his plate and scarfing down his meal. "so" he said with a mouth full of food, "how was your day?"

"you're kidding right" I laughed, "did you not just hear and see what happened"

"Oh, yeah you mean the three big scary booms and the light then the power outage? Yeah that was crazy. But I meant the rest of your day, how was it?" I looked at him. That's all I could do was just look at him. How can this not be more upsetting to him? My dad who freaks out about everything. I looked at him for a long time until my stomach grumbled and I gave up looking and went to eat. I took off my jacket and went to sit down beside him.

He dropped his fork and finished the food in his mouth. "what happened?" he said in a deep serious voice pointing at my arm.

"you're worried about this?"

"why would I not be worried about my daughter's well-being? Now tell me what happened." Then I told him my how Bolt attacked me. He had a lot of questions. When did it happen? Where did it happen? How did it happen? Why did it happen? Did it hurt? Did he have rabies? Do you have rabies? Did you get vaccinated for every dog disease known to man? Why did you have a doctor named creepy weirdo? Where is Bolt now? Where is my gun? Why can't I kill him? And more. After a while longer and a lot of meat loaf later, I convinced him that Bolt wasn't a threat to me anymore and that I would keep my wound clean and let him know if I start to mutate or something.

After dinner, we ate the half-melted ice cream that was in the freezer. I looked down at my phone realizing I hadn't gotten a text from Kit yet. I tried texting him but it wouldn't go through. Then from outside I heard a muffled voice yelling something. We went out to see who it was. The mayor was riding on the back of a truck with a mega phone. "Town meeting tomorrow at sunrise! Town meeting tomorrow at sunrise!" With that we went back inside to clean up or mess.

After we were done I told my dad I was feeling tired and that we should both get some sleep so we won't miss the meeting tomorrow. He understood and went off to his bedroom. Before he closed the door, I thanked him for the meat loaf. It was my favorite meal after all, and he made it perfect this time. It tasted exactly like mom used to make.

"come on Alex." I said while clapping my hands to get her to come to my room with me. She followed obediently and plopped herself down on my bed. I changed and got under the covers. As I lied there waiting for sleep to come. I couldn't help but notice the pain was starting to come back in my arm. The meds must be wearing off. I took two generic pain killers that were on my night stand and drifted off into sleep.