Halloween One Shots

AN ILLEGITIMATE ESTATE

Contest Profile: GothicLit

The gas station attendant looked at the address for a while. "Nope. That estate's address doesn't exist."

"That can't be right," I replied.

"If you followed that road all the way there, you'd just end up in the middle of the woods," she said. "And there's nothing there but trees and swamps."

"Thanks."

I walked back to my car confused, goosebumps erupting all over my skin. The email that brought me here had been extremely detailed. I'd even visited the lawyer's office in town and had more than half a million in my bank account as part of my inheritance from mysterious Aunt Cheryl, whom I hadn't spoken to in decades. I'd been invited to come look at the estate she left behind and decide if I wanted to keep it.

The attendant must have been lying. I shook off the creepy feeling. The forty-thousand-dollar car I was driving was proof enough that this was real. I drove on to the place where the estate would be.

I found nothing but woods. I drove down a few logging roads, just in case, but there was nothing. It was getting dark and I was frustrated. Driving back to civilisation, I saw a dirt road. It was hidden by brush, but I was positive it hadn't been there before. I considered whether I should take it. My thoughts went back to my bank account. I had seven hundred thousand reasons to follow that road. So, I did.

The next thing I know, I was waking up in the foyer of a large decrepit mansion. Vines grew everywhere, along the floor, up walls and the staircase. Aunt Cheryl's mansion! I shot to my feet and ran out to the driveway. The woods surrounded the estate. Outside were creatures that looked like spindly plants, some walking around and others in groups, talking. Their voices sounded like whispering wind. They all stopped and directed their attention at me! I took a defensive position, arms out, ready to fight them all.

"Stay back!"

"Hello, human," said one of the maize stalks. "You must be very confused."

"What are you?"

"Two hundred thousand years ago, aliens landed on this planet," said another talking plant. "We are the inhabitants they displaced by killing almost all of us."

I looked around. My car was at the edge of the woods. A half-moon was shining bright. The constellations above just as I knew them from childhood.

"What do you want from me?"

"We have infected you with a disease that you will spread and help erase the alien human race," came the reply.

I took a few minutes to register what they had just said, then stood up straight and brushed dirt from my pants.

"So, I'm a Typhoid Mary, huh?" I said, looking at the menacing creatures. I shrugged. "You know what? Humans suck. Let's get this over with so you can have your planet back."

I walked over to my car and drove home.