Eight Days

Part 1

"You know Fred, life ain't all that bad. I mean it has been a rough road. I kid you not. It's been a messy one but I am thankful for it."

Taking one final sip of her milkshake, Aria wiped her hands on a napkin. Looking around, she found that the place was still deserted. Not a surprise. On this end of town, the human population was extraordinarily low. Fran, who runs this diner, had left for a smoke break about half an hour ago. No one had come in since and it was just Aria and well, Fred.

Aria had noticed Fred when she was driving down the highway. She felt sorry for him as he was out there all alone with no one in sight. Sat up straight, on the ground, in a top hat and black coat that he adorned. Aria thought he must have been far too hot in them, sitting under the scorching summer heat. When Aria had pulled up beside him and offered him a lift, Fred took no notice of her. It was only when she had stepped out of her car, that she noticed that his left eye was missing and the other was stitched with an 'x'. She realised he couldn't have possibly seen her with those eyes. So, she whispered in his ear asking if he wanted to join her for some food. A gust of summer wind had erupted around them which caused Aria's dress to lift up and Fred to fall forward. Aria took that as a yes.

"Well, I bid you, farewell friend. I hope you find where you are going. Can't be staying out on these roads anymore. Too dangerous for you." Aria pointed her finger in front of Fred just to make sure he got the message.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. You know this was our agreement. I give you a lift, some food and then I'll be on my way." When she had got to the diner, Aria had ordered several plates of food for Fred. He hadn't been to a diner before so she wanted to give him the best experience that money could buy. Money that wasn't hers but that's a whole other story. Unsure of what he might like, Aria ordered one of each of the mains on the lunch menu.

Needless to say, Fran wasn't pleased.

"Don't look at me like that Fred. A deal is a deal."

She got up and pulled out several hundred dollar bills from the inside of her bra and left them on the table.

"I have paid enough for the both of us. You just stay and eat up." She put on her black shades.

"I'll be seeing you around, Fred," and with that Aria waved Fred goodbye and sauntered out of the diner.

Stepping out into the parking lot, Aria sighed. Another unordinary day, she thought. Life had become the same boring routine which mostly consisted of eating, sleeping, mindless drinking and the odd rendezvous with the opposite sex in an alley at the back of some run-down bar.

As she was making her way over to her car, Aria heard the crack of thunder come from up above. Looking up, she still saw the clear blue, cloudless sky above her. Frowning, she continued on her decent to her car but stopped again. This time thunder clapped again and the sky slowly began to change colour. It was turning dark blue as an enormous, grey cloud had erupted from nowhere and sat right at the centre of the sky. It roared as lightning struck around it. The cloud imploded into a million blue stars as something landed smack, face down onto the ground in front of her.

Aria stood frozen.

'What the fuck just happened?', she thought, looking around to see if anyone else had seen what just happened.

Nothing.

No one.

Not even Fred or Fran.

She lowered her black shades as she noticed movement in front of her. Inching closer, she saw it stand, brushing the dirt off the clothes it was wearing. Maybe it was an alien, she thought. An alien that wore knee-high, navy coloured shorts and a white polo shirt. As it turned around, she braced herself for tentacles and a one-eyed forehead that would look right into her soul. When it turned to face her, her mouth fell open. Shockingly, she was wrong but she considered if she should run for her life or call the police. Neither really happened when the young boy had stood slowly wiping his hands on his navy coloured shorts that were just below his knees.