A Collection of Short Stories

Clothes

I'm going to tell you a story. I don't expect you to believe it. It's just that I like writing stories and I'm out of ideas. So one of my friends told me to write about things that happened to me. So that's what I'm doing.
It all started one morning. I got out of bed and opened my closet. I always wear a random one-color shirt and jeans. But for some reason, today I didn't want to wear a one-color shirt. So I started looking for something else, and after a while I found a green shirt with a pineapple on it that one of my friends must have left. I put it on and went to the kitchen. I made myself some toast and was sitting there eating it when Mom came in. Something was wrong. Mom usually wears sweaters with funny patterns on them and sometimes a skirt. She would never even think about wearing a suit. But that was exactly what she was doing.
"Mom, what are you wearing?" I asked her.
She looked down.
"Oh, this? I was getting bored of those lame sweaters, and I found this! Isn't it amazing?"
I stared at her. Mom loved those sweaters. Something was wrong.
At school everyone seemed a little off, too. Everyone was all dressed up. Even my best friend, Leslie, had taken care to wear a pair of jeans without holes at the knees. I was starting to get a little scared. But I convinced myself that it was just my imagination. That is, I was almost really starting to believe it when my math teacher walked in wearing a suit.
Let me explain how weird this saw. My math teacher is literally the last person on earth who would wear a suit. He's come to school in pajamas before. So this was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. Of course, later that week I was going to see much weirder, things, but I didn't know that at the time. So I leaned over to Leslie and whispered,
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"What?" she asked.
"You know what I mean," I said, annoyed.
"No, Charlotte, I really don't," she answered.
I studied her face. She looked sincerely puzzled.
"You know, everyone being dressed up."
Leslie gave me a strange look.
"No one's dressed up, Charlotte."
"Oh, come on," I said, exasperated. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Staples wear something clean?"
Leslie just shrugged.
"There's a first time for everything."
I stared at her. Something was going on. And I was the only one not affected by it.
The next day, the same thing happened. And the day after that, even the politicians on TV seemed strange. I was starting to get really scared. No one seemed to care about anything anymore except for their clothes. The teachers didn't even teach anymore- they just sat still for the whole lesson so their fancy suits wouldn't get wrinkled. But on the fourth day- that's when things started to get really weird. I was walking to school, using the same route I had been using for three years. But suddenly, I wasn't on the sidewalk anymore. All the familiar houses and streets were gone. I was somewhere completely different. I was a blue room with no windows. The light was strange, too. It was as if it didn't come from a certain point, but from everywhere. This resulted in there being no shadows. I was really scared, but I figured there wasn't muchI could do exempt sit down and wait. So that's what I did.
It felt like I was waiting for hours. I was starting to get really tired, when suddenly a door appear in the wall. And through it came- or should I say hopped- a strange green blob. It came to a stop in front of me. We stared at each other for a while, and then I stammered,
"Where am I? Who are you?"
The blob said, "Who I am is none of your business. As for where you are... come."
It hopped to the wall across from me, and I followed. The blob touched its head against the wall, and suddenly a window appeared.
"Look," the blob said.
I did, and gasped. What I saw was probably the most amazing sight I have ever and will ever see in my entire life. What I saw was the earth the way you see it in pictures from space- because that's where I was. Space. Of course, as a little kid I had always imagined being an astronaut, but I had never thought it would really happen. I turned to the blob.
"Who are you? And what do you want?"
"I have already told you that is none of your concern. As for what I want- my race's planet was destroyed. So we need a new planet. Earth is perfect. There is only one problem- the people."
A chill crept over me.
"It was you. With the clothes."
The blob nodded, well as much as a blob could nod, anyway."
These humans are so interested in what they are wearing they won't even notice when we take over. It is the best plan I have ever come up with!"