The Abyss

Calypso broke the water, feeling the silkiness of it quickly envelope her as she sank downward. Then she turned her body around and resurfaced. She floated on the surface of the pool for a minute, and then headed toward the edge of it. Pulling herself up, she soaked up the silence of the pool. She reached the high dive ladder and clambered up. This was her true home- on a high point, about to spring into the void. As she stood on the board, a thought occurred to her. She looked around furtively, making absolute sure no one was around. If someone caught her… She dove through the board, then reverted her body back to solid and executed a perfect flip sequence before once more dropping into the water.

She made sure her eyes were the only thing showing above the water and peered around again. When no one appeared, she gratefully popped her nose and mouth above. Suddenly feeling tired she got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel. She took a quick shower and dried off, but her hair was still soaked. Looking around again she made the change and when she was back to ‘normal’ again, her hair was dry. Just another odd quirk of being ‘special’. Thanking no one in particular as she gathered up her bag she treasured the emptiness of the pool. It opened early enough that no one was around when she was. Swiftly she finished changing and left the Y, impervious to the fact that she was being watched.

His eyes followed her as she got into the car. For the past six months he had tailed her with an obsession that bordered insanity. No one else could or would be able to understand and keep up with why he did it- no; this was his burden to bear. He had been at the hospital that night, seen her, had witnessed what she could do. But now he had gathered all the information, obtained from hours, days of carefully spying. The job would be finished soon, he thought as he watched her car speed away, and that would finally be the end of Calypso Levise.

*****

Calypso slammed the door shut. She had little time to prepare. Inside she was greeted by her cat Ops who jumped down from the top of the staircase. Calypso smiled. They both liked heights. She dumped her bag by the door and made her way up the staircase to her room. Maybe she could take a nap before all the last minute checking and planning. She closed the door, but not before Ops sashayed in. She looked around the room and went over to her full length mirror. Examining herself critically, she turned a few times and then transformed. She looked at herself calmly. The initial panic was long gone. Now that she had been like this for six months, one week, and four days, she could stare at herself without revulsion. Normally she had light brown hair, ice-blue eyes, and a muscular body. Now she was almost colorless, her body flickering slightly as if she wasn’t quite right, wasn’t quite there in the proper sense. Glancing again down at herself, her eye caught a picture tucked into the top of her mirror. It was of three people: two women and a man. The two women looked very much alike with the exception of their ages- one looked about twenty, the other, forty-five. The man was the same age as the older woman with blond hair. All three of the people were laughing and smiling at the camera. Calypso looked away quickly and closed her eyes. Unwillingly she was thrown back in time, her mind reliving what had happened that awful night…

Smoke. Smoke everywhere. Pushing at her face, choking her. Giving up, struggle useless. She would die here, she knew it. In her final moments, she forced her brain to work. How did this smoke get here? This couldn’t be happening. Normal people’s houses didn’t just go up in flames. And then her mind gave out from lack of oxygen and all was black.

She opened her eyes. White. She flinched away from the brightness and immediately regretted it. Pain everywhere, shooting up her body. She froze. If she stayed still, it was held at bay. How long could she hold? She gave out. Maybe she could escape through unconsciousness. Then footsteps neared her door. No, the pain would have to go on a little longer. She relaxed into an easier position to stay in but even that brought it up. She couldn’t do it. A cheery doctor bustled in, smiling as he checked the charts by her bed. “Hello Miss Levise,” he practically sang. “You’ve been out awhile. We were wondering when you were going to pull through.” Seeing her perplexed expression he added, “It’s the 8th of January.”

January 8! She had been comatose for almost four days. She tuned to look at the doctor, pain splintering up her as she did, but he was busy injecting some clear liquid into her IV. “There you go! That will hold the pain off for a little bit. You sustained quite a few burns. You’re lucky to be alive…”

At this she started. “Where are my parents?” she asked urgently.

His smile wavered. “Well, they had injuries much worse than yours. There’s no need to worry about it now. They’re quite stable.” At this he grimaced. Calypso wanted to ask him more, but the morphine he had injected into her IV had taken a full hold on her system. She was once again fighting unconsciousness, safe this time, but the consequences of slipping away just as dire as before. She fought the morphine in vain and once more plunged into darkness.

Calypso opened her eyes. The flashback had been upsetting. She hadn’t wanted to go back to that day. But removing it from her memory was not something that could easily happen. After she had woken up again, a nurse had informed her of her parents’ deaths. She had been so wretched. It had felt like something had died in her, and strangely enough, she had felt like something had been born inside her also. Then she had wished to disappear. And bizarrely enough, she did. She was so shocked by her colorless state that she went through the bed. When she was released from the hospital she experimented with her newfound ability. She found out that what she was doing was actually turning her body into the body of a ghost. Something like that anyway. When she wanted to or let her guard down, she went through objects. It took a lot of concentration to not do it all the time.

It was because of her ability that she was conducting this test. Because of what had happened, she needed to be sure she could take care of herself in a life or death situation. She was going to jump off one of the cliffs surrounding the huge and completely dried up lake on the outskirts of her town. She had guessed that her form would hold and that she could reassemble herself after she dived through the lake bed. She had been working on the experiment for several months now, just after she moved to this insignificant settlement in Arizona. But now in less than 24 hours she would be plunging off of a cliff surrounding the lake. Finally she would find out if her endowment was worth anything. Finally she could start to move on from her parents’ deaths. She was ready to begin living again.

The Next Day…

Calypso stood on the edge of a cliff, feeling the early morning wind whip at her, trying to dislodge her before she was ready. She held her ground, waiting for the moment. As the sun rose, she would jump. If she actually knew anyone, they would accuse her of being dramatic. But that wasn’t the case now. No friends, barely any acquaintances. It was better that way. She shook those thoughts from her mind. Only a few minutes till sun rise. She could feel herself shiver with anticipation and adrenaline began to course through her veins. Only a minute now. Forty seconds. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. As she relaxed into her familiar diving position something caught her eye. A man was coming toward her, trying to keep out of her sight. There was a bulge in the pocket of his jacket. She immediately prepared to jump but with almost inhuman speed the man caught her arm in a viselike hold. He pointed a gun at her head. She panicked and forgot everything, especially her power to get out of this situation.

“Stop!” she frantically cried out.

“No way Miss Levise,” he snarled.” You’ve avoided me enough. The time has finally come.”

“Enough? I’ve never seen you in my life.”

“Yes you have. Think back to the hospital. I was there.”

She racked her brain. Yes, there had been someone there with the same hair and face but his jacket then had been covered with ashes…

“My parents,” she whispered. “My life. Why?”

He stared at her. “The very reason you’re jumping off a cliff. Your mutation.”

“But how...” she asked bewildered.

“There have been a lot more tabs on you than you think,” he responded. “You have to be watched and monitored. Otherwise you could-“

“What are you talking about? And what does this have to do with my parents?”

“Your parents died for their own good. And it was unlucky that you survived. But not long enough to keep me away from you.”

But only one sentence had registered with Calypso. She was furious. This man had set fire to her house, killed her parents and almost killed her. Fury unlike she had ever felt before surged through her veins. She was livid. As she looked up at him, he could see the change in her. He backed away, bur didn’t drop the gun.

“It was your ancestor Borack Uriel,” he stammered.

“Really,” she spat.

He looked nervous. “On your mother’s side. He was like you. Creepy. Unnatural.” He seemed to grow braver. “He had powers like yours. Only many more. I’m guessing that all of your family was a little gifted. Only trauma brings it out. Which is what happened to you when you didn’t die. Now I’m ridding the world of your family. We can’t have abnormalities taking over the world. You could if you tried, but now you will have no chance. You’re the last of your family. No way out, no way to carry on the gene.”

“Really Daren,” she whispered.

He froze. “How do you know-?“ He broke off. “It doesn’t matter.”

He aimed the gun at her but she quickly knocked it out of his hand. With a cry of rage he lunged at her- an act of stupidity on his part. She was standing at the edge of the cliff. She watched him come at her and at the last second she changed. He went through her and fell off the crag. He plummeted down, fifty meters from the edge of the precipice. She watched Daren Tearce as he dropped to his death. Then without another glance at him, she threw herself from the cliff.


This has been a "FunkyZebras19" production...

No Redemption

A Cake1313 production ...

Michael tossed around the green vegetables sizzling in the cast-iron pan. Sweat trickled down his face, his breath was hard and unsteady, and his grace as a chef was quite off. He placed the pan back onto the fiery stove and threw down his hat, annoyed with what he created.

“What is the matter, señor?” Manny, Michael’s best friend and executive chef of the Beasty Feast Yacht, asked.

Michael sighed and plopped down on the marble counter directly behind him. “It’s just that nothing I cook seems to look edible!”

Manny glanced at the pan of what was once a seemingly-heavenly dish. “Well…now it does.”

“Exactly! Not edible!”

Manny removed his gloves and threw them to the shining floor next to Michael’s hat. “I think you are overreacting a bit much, señor. So what if this ONE critic you have been dying to impress doesn’t like it? He’s still one man! Not one thousand!”

“But I wanted to make everyone in this county adore my gourmet food, but if this ONE critic doesn’t like it, then clearly not everyone wants to come here!”

Manny shook his head. “I’m sorry, señor, but you’re not making much sense. One person of the thousands who live in Del Mar, one man doesn’t simply adore it? A lot of people come to this city just to eat on this fine yacht!”

“Michael bowed his head and sighed. “I’ve lost the support of my family… ever since that awful day…when…,” Michael stopped.

Manny walked around the messy kitchen, stepping in rotten tomatoes and bits of flour. Well…at least the other half of the kitchen is shining. “You’ve got to stop living in the past, señor. That’s why you’re constantly acting up! You’ve never been this stressed out about this critic!”

“But Donna, my own daughter, won’t even come out of her room! Not since…,” he stopped, yet again, and wiped his eyes.

Manny sighed and untied his apron. He walked back to Michael and sat next to him. He didn’t take the slightest glimpse of his face. He was too afraid to see the expression there. “I told Donna of your drug and gambling habit.”

“Now she hates me?” Michael demanded. His mood didn’t change at all.

“Well remember when we went to the bar on my twenty-fifth birthday party? “Yes.”

“And I stripped and challenged a fifteen-year-old boy to a karate match?” he smirked. “And it turned out to be my nephew who hated me already?”

“Yes. You didn’t even know karate.”

“Well…Thankfully, it’s not like that. She’s just disappointed in you. She doesn’t care if you own a five-star restaurant on a yacht that’s docked to the finest part of Del Mar shore. She just wanted to spend some quality time with you, but the truth ruined her respect. Not her love.” Manny wrapped his arms around his friend’s shoulders. “It was time she knew the truth anyway.”

Michael shook him off. “Don’t embrace me. There’s no one to support me now…except you who killed my daughter’s respect for me by telling her my darkest secret!”

“Señor!”

“Shut up, Manny.” Michael removed his apron and walked over to the swinging kitchen doors. He held one open. “I’m going to the club.” At that, he was gone and the door swung back and forth.

“Poor amigo.”

This is the life of Michael Riveras. Ever since the death of his wife, he hasn’t been the same. He went through many sleepless nights wondering how his loss would affect his cooking. He took two doses of heroine every other day and his daughter was a wreck. All because of the fatal car accident that happened six weeks ago. And the worst part was…it was his fault. He knew it.

Michael careened down the bridge from his yacht. He thought he would phone his drug dealer and ask for two doses by the alley at the club. He reached for his cell phone…

****

“How was dinner, Brianna?” Michael stuttered, trying to keep his eyes on the road. What a horrible time for an impulse! He thought.

“It was the best anniversary dinner ever!” she replied with a beautiful, heart-warming smile.

“Well it was our first one!” he stuttered yet again trying to regain focus. Stay with me here, Michael! His conscience ordered. Suddenly, his hand turned the wheel rapidly causing the car to swerve out of control.

“What are you doing?” Brianna screamed. These were her last words…not counting the blood-curdling screams.

When Michael regained consciousness, he noticed Manny sitting right by his side, firmly grasping his hand.

Michael murmured, “Where am I?”

Manny answered, “The hospital. You were in a horrible crash that involved a drunk driver…Well most likely. Several vehicles were totaled, and you were the only survivor.”

Michael’s eyes widened and swelled with tears. “So Brianna’s?”

“Dear amigo…I am deeply sorry.”

****

“See you there in five,” Michael stated, hanging up his phone. Walking down the sidewalk, he looked at buildings towering above him. The setting sun created a beautiful purple tint to the glass windows. Any shade of purple was Brianna’s favorite color…. Too many things seemed to remind him of his dead partner…like the sizzling of his fajitas, the sight of the blue, blue Pacific, and even the way the morning crowd came in for breakfast. It was saddening. Has nature been trying to tell me something these past few weeks?

Three minutes later, he arrived at the club. But instead of going in, he walked right past it and turned into the alley. He looked at his watch. Twenty-eight more seconds… That was Brianna’s exact age when she died. Nature wasn’t being very comforting. Five…four…three…two…one… Michael pulled a wad of money from his pocket and tossed it into the shadow’s ahead of him.
“Hold your end of the deal, Tyke,” Michael grumbled. Suddenly a drug needle was tossed right in front of him…then another.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Tyke’s sinister voice hissed. Suddenly a loud siren made Michael jump. He saw a policeman get out with a gun in hand. He approached them with caution, both hands around the gun.

“You’re in trouble now, buddies,” the gun clicked. “Hands up, and come out of there!” Tyke emerged from the shadows and both men did what they were told.

“Señor Michael!” Manny cried as a door squeaked.

“Over here!” Michael shouted.

“You also have the right to remain silent!” the police officer said. Manny appeared right next to the officer, who took a good look at him.

“I see you’ve finally been caught,” Manny said and his mood fell a bit.

The officer pulled out a sheet of paper. “And your legal fee for your work was supposed to be in three years ago!”

“What?” Manny and Michael said simultaneously.

“Remember your incident at the bar?” the officer demanded.

“Oh,” Manny and Michael said together again.

“Line up against the wall, you three. Prison awaits!”

Manny’s jaw twitched and clenched. “Yessir.” The three men were cuffed and shoved into the back of the police car, and they were taken to county prison. There was no trial. Tyke was sentenced to twenty years, Manny seven, and Michael three. They were the worst three years of his life.

After Michael was released from County Prison, he took his daughter out of Child Services. She had definitely changed. She was now fourteen years old and she wasn’t pleasant to be around…If you were Michael at least.

He never succeeded in making the critic happy with his food, his best friend was still in prison, he was overwhelmed from the constant crowds of tourists and locals, and he never had time for himself. I finally know what to do… And I know what’s been going on…I’m being punished for my actions… On that day, he gave up his daughter to his mother and father in-laws and turned himself in. The police kindly let him choose how long he would stay… It was kind of strange, but Michael said, “Eternity.”

Five years later, on Michael’s birthday, Donna and Manny came to visit him and wish him luck on his special day. Michael had sat down and stared at his daughter through the sound-proof glass that separated them. Manny was right beside her. Simultaneously, Donna and Michael picked up the phone.

“Happy birthday, daddy!” Donna greeted with the same heart-warming smile that Brianna always made.

“Thank you. I love you both dearly,” Michael said. Donna shifted the phone from her ear to her shoulder and she spoke to Manny. Moments later she brought the phone back to her ear.
“How much longer? That’s what Manny wants to know,” Donna said.

“Until I rot.”

“What?” Donna exclaimed. “Why are you doing this?”

Michael gazed into Donna’s beautiful hazel eyes. They were filled with annoyance… You can tell anyone’s emotions from looking at their eyes… “I want to. Here there is nothing that reminds me of your mom. I’m not really treated well, but I’m surviving and that’s all that matters to me right now.”

“You can at least get out after twenty years! Right? Then you can redeem yourself for what you did!”

Michael shook his head. “Even if you redeem your reputation, you still feel guilty for what you did,” he began. “That means there is no redemption. There is nothing you can do to make the pain go away, or get the horrible memories out of your mind…No redemption…”

And he was right… Nothing could ever remove the pain, the suffering, and memories…Only reputation can be restored. But to you there is no such thing as redemption. Anyone will figure that out if you’ve done something wrong. It’s worse than karma, a death penalty, and even getting beaten because the pain doesn’t go away. There really is no redemption…None…

The Storm of the Century

Gumby productions proudly presents...

The Storm of the Century

“Bye, have a good day,” Al said quietly to his sleeping family as he walked out the door and got in his car. He had to be at broadcast studio at five in the morning because he broadcasted at seven.
About half way to work, he noticed the sky was darkening over the small city on the out skirts of Huston, Texas. It’s just another rainstorm. We get a lot of these this time of year, he thought to himself and kept driving toward it, but little did he know it was the biggest storm if the century.
Wow! It’s raining like mad out here! He thought when he got under the big, dark cloud, only one or two miles away from work. The wind grew more violet every second and it nearly pushed him off the road. He could barely see with all the rain in the air and on his windshield. By now, the rain was coming down so hard he could only see off the hood of the car, five to ten feet, and he is only going 5 m.p.h.

Finally, he made it to the parking lot of the broadcast studio an hour later. “This is a good day to forget the umbrella, it would be useless,” He said out loud to himself. “I can’t stay in here forever. 1, 2, 3 go!” And with that, he burst the car door open and ran as fast as he could at the front door of the building, only one hundred feet away. The wind was whipping rain into his face like little bullets out of a mouse-sized gun. It didn’t take him long to get there, but it was like running a marathon with the wind pushing him back and his water-soaked clothes weighing him down.

When he got inside, he looked like he just went for a swim he was so wet. He got to his desk, still soaking wet, and turned on his computer. The only sound was from the weather outside and the coffee pot in the next room. While he was waiting for his computer to boot up, he went to get some coffee across the hall.

Finally it booted up, he turned on the radar and gasped at the size of the cell. It spanned from the western edge of New Mexico all the way to the eastern part of Texas, where Al’s home was.
He stood up and walked down the hall to his co-worker’s room to show him what he saw. “Do you see what I see?” Al said in fright pulling up the radar on the computer.

“Whoa!” the man said in shock. “Look at all the black, there is got to be lots of tornadoes in this thing. I can’t wait till the broadcast at six.”

“How long do you think it will last?” Al said with a tremor in his voice.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Four or five days.”

“Well I guess I'll let you go on with your business since you have the morning shift now,” Al said as he left the room. Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this, ever, he thought to himself thinking of the other big storms in the past. Maybe after the broadcast, I could take the rest of the off now that they hired a new person for the night shift. He stepped into his office just a few rooms down the hall and took a sip of the hot coffee. He sat down and looked at the screen trying not to lose his train of thought.

There were many places where tornadoes could pop up at any time. Darn, if only I could get out of work sooner. He thought impatiently. At that moment his co-worker peeked his head around the corner, “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck,” Al called back. Well, I guess I should start on my broadcast. He thought to himself.

“On the air in ten,” the producer called out to him forty-five minutes later. “Will you be ready?”

“Yeah,” Al called behind him. He walked down stairs to the dressing room with his papers and presentation in hand.

“What do you got today?” the dresser asked. “What’s the deal with this storm?”

“Well, the storm will probably last for about four or five days non-stop with lots of tornado warnings along with it,” Al replied.

The dresser shrieked in surprise.

“Yeah,” he said calmly as she began combing his dark brown hair and fixing his big glasses.

“You’ll have to watch the broadcast to get the major details.”

“On the air in five!” shouted the producer across the hall.

“Well, that will do it,” the dresser said.

“Thanks, see you tomorrow,” he said as he walked out of the room and down the hall to the broadcast studio.

“One minute! Places everyone, places,” the producer called out to everyone. “And five, four, three two, one action!” And with that, everyone got out of the picture and into their places.
“It looks like we have storm warning for most of New Mexico and most of Texas. Here is the map of the cities. All of the black is a tornado on the ground and the purple means a tornado is about to form.” Al began. “For us in Alvarado, this will probably last about a week, plus or minus. My assistant will keep you posted on the storm throughout the day, back to you Jeff.”

After the shoot, Al packed up and said goodbye to everyone. He walked into the coatroom to prepare to sprint out into the rain again back across the parking lot. On the count of three, he ran into the storming rain, but this time the wind was at his back. “Whew!” He said in relief when he got there. “Now off to Big Lake only an hour away.” His happiness was short-lived when he realized that it was raining even harder than it was when he got there.

“Five more miles to go,” he said out loud his voice muffled by the pounding of the rain on the windshield and the local rock station on the radio. The rain slowly switched over to hail over the next three miles. Then it all stopped. “What the heck!” he said confused. “The radar shows hail the size of gulf balls. I guess I’ll check it out; I’m only a half-mile away from the developing storm cell.”

“Huh! According to the radar on my laptop, I’m right under it!” He said when he got there.

“Maybe I’ll sit here and look around; after all it is supposed to rain all week.” Al couldn’t sit down for long, he had to get up and walk around to check the scenery out around him. All of the sudden, he heard a big gush of wind and was lifted off his feet and into the air. He screamed as all of the sticks and stones flew by his head.

“Mooo!” shrieked a cow going by him at a much faster speed.

He yelled again when a stick hit him in the side, then silence.

“Wh-Where am I?” he stuttered when he woke up and hour later. “What happened? Where’s my car?” He struggled to his feet and looked for his car. “There it is way over there.” He said. He got up very slowly so he wouldn’t hurt himself more than he already was. When he hobbled over to his car, he saw what had happened. The back window was blown out, one of the hubcaps was blown off, and there were several dents on the side of the car.

“Shoot!” he yelled and got into his car. In about forty-five minutes it began to rain really hard again and the inside of the car was starting to get wet from the window. “Well, that’s it for storm chasing.” He said with a smirk on his face.

The Journey of Death

A deadly story of survival and the end of life as we know it by: BlueberryBuddy


The deep bell rang three times echoing across the large ship. Everyone rushed to the top deck awaiting Captain B’s announcement, dreading the worst.

“Everyone listen up!” Captain B bellowed, stroking what he had for a beard.

“What’s going on? Is the ship sinking? I knew we would die!! And if the ship isn’t sinking then we will surely not make it to America! I just knew it!” Gracie was always paranoid. She never found the good in anything and always exaggerated everything that happened to her. Ever since the first day of the trip everyone thought her paranoia had gotten worse. The only time she went out of her room was to retrieve food and water and then no one ever heard from her. During the short amount of time everyone saw her, she always used her dark brown eyes as daggers, stabbing holes through everyone’s hearts leaving them in horrible agony until they backed away, wincing in pain. If you ever met her gaze, it was easy to see the paranoia and craziness build by the second.

“Gracie, calm down!” Captain B snapped. Captain B was of average height with short dark hair, and it was always well trimmed like a marine. His blue eyes always showed a blank emotion. He was a rather impatient man; this surprised everyone in Germany when they heard Captain B would be taking a group of orphans over to America by ship.

“The ship isn’t sinking.” Captain B began explaining to the group of orphans, sounding bored with the situation, “Unfortunately, we aren’t going to make it to America. I have just been alerted that a strange invasion of creatures from a different planet has begun. Their water supply is low. If they do not get a source of water their planet will burn up, along with everything and everyone on it. Our salt waters are the closest source they can find.”

“We should take our weapons and kill them all!” Taryn was always blurting out ideas even though no one listened to her. To normal human beings, whatever “normal” may be, she was considered a psychopath, but to her orphan friends she was perfectly normal. Her hair was dark and always ran long and knotted down her back. Taryn’s eyes were the kind that always looked like she was holding them open, wide in surprise.

“Taryn!” Captain B exploded; the red in his face was rising as fast as a thermometer dipped in boiling water.

“Yes?” Taryn asked, egging Captain B on. The expressions on Captain B’s face told Taryn that she better stop right where she was.

Captain B tipped his head as if he were wearing a hat and continued, “These invaders are not out for the kill. They are taking all our water. Though, that could be just as bad.”

“So we’re doomed?” The boys’ voice was squeaky and uneven, it had to be Sylvester. Sylvester was just about average for a German. Short dark hair, dark brown eyes, his voice was lifeless, his personality matched his voice, dead beat and boring. All the orphans, including Sylvester, were around ten.

“Yes, Sylvester, we’re doomed.” Captain B answered Sylvester’s question sounding irritated.

“Unless, we can make it to America before the water disappears. And that’s very unlikely.”

“What about everyone else? Won’t the creatures attack them too?” This new, strange, voice was Keeley. Keeley was never worried about herself or the others close to her, rather than the world, she wasn’t having any part in. Keeley and Taryn looked oddly alike except for their eyes. Keeley’s fit her better than Taryn’s did.

“So you’re worried about how other people are doing, even though if all the water does disappear then we will be stranded in the middle of the ocean, left to die?” Sylvester was always thinking logically.

“I say we kill Keeley, since no one likes her ideas, and then give her body to the invaders for a sacrifice!” Taryn always had a twisted way of solving solutions.

“If you’re not quiet, Taryn, I’ll make you the sacrifice!” Captain B was not going to put up with Taryn. He never did.

“Well then!” Taryn shouted in her high soprano voice and stormed back to her room. Everyone knew when she closed her door for the whole ship shook when she slammed the door with all her strength.

“Alright then, I suggest you all follow Taryn’s example and get back to your rooms.” On that note, Captain B turned and went back to the control room.

All the children trudged back to their rooms, thoughts of the invasion haunting their conscience.
Later that night, the children held a secret meeting in Taryn’s room, since it was the one furthest from the captain’s room. They were discussing different plans to conquer the invaders. About 15 minutes passed and the meeting was in session when the door to Taryn’s room slowly edged open squeaking and moaning the whole way. Gracie slid through the opening and slipped like wet soap on dirty hands to the unlit corner of the room.

“Well since we’re all here now, let’s continue. We left off with you, right Taryn?” Sylvester didn’t care if Gracie was there or not. He always cut her off the face of the earth when they were planning things.

“Yes! Now as I was saying, we take all the metal from the ship.” Taryn took a long pause, hoping to add a dramatic effect to her plan. “And make these really heavy super duper sharp harpoon type things! Then, when the weird creatures come, we tell them to, ‘BRING IT ON’!!!!!”

“NO!!!!” Everyone shouted at the same time.

“Can’t you see!? There is absolutely nothing we can do to stop this invasion! We just have to tough it out!” Keeley was beginning to sound like Gracie.

“She’s right,” Sylvester began, “all we can do is wait for the days to pass and see what happens.

And with any luck, we might survive.”

“Well, I don’t know about you suckers!” Taryn began, “But I am not going to stick around and wait for the little freaks to come and kill me! If they want to get to anyone, they’ll have to go through me!” Taryn left the room, leaving all the children with questions that they were too terrified to ask.

“I’m going to go find Taryn,” Gracie declared as she left the room. After that Sylvester and Keeley were so dumbfounded, they couldn’t think of any more ideas.

The next morning Captain B rang the bell two times waking everyone up earlier than usual. Everyone came up stairs, groggy and still full of sleep. When everyone was on the top deck, they watched the strange site that was happening before them.

Taryn and Gracie were going crazy! They were lunging back and forth across the ship trying to find various ways to get out.

“Gracie, Taryn!” Captain B began shouting at them. “If you two don’t stop this foolishness right now, I will make sure you both find a way out of this ship!”

Sylvester glared at Captain B as he walked over to the edge of the ship to see what Taryn and Gracie were so anxious about.

“What is this all about?” Sylvester questioned himself.

As Sylvester peered over the edge of the boat, Captain B began explaining, “The invaders came late last night. This was their last stop as they transferred the water from our oceans to their planet. We need to be on a close look out, the radio’s say they are taking any survivors they can find.”

After Captain B finished, an ear piercing, blood curdling, deafening scream, began. Everyone turned their heads quickly to Gracie. She was standing on the edge of the boat. Captain B began thrusting himself toward Gracie stretching his legs as far as they would possibly go trying his hardest to make it to Gracie. He was too late; Gracie had already thrown herself over the side of the ship. As the scream faded ever so slightly, it eventually came to an abrupt stop.

“She’s dead!!!” Taryn choked out in between outbursts of laughter. Taryn was laughing so hard at the body on the empty ocean floor; she was doubled over clenching her stomach because of the pain from laughing while she tried to wipe the tears of laughter away at the same time. As the rest of the orphan’s peered over the edge, the horrific stench of the dead sea animals began to rise, they quickly backed away.

“TARYN!” Keeley began screaming, tears rushing down her dirt stained face, “How can you laugh? She’s DEAD!!! You are so evil and twisted! I wish you would have died!”

“Keeley, you need to calm down,” Sylvester began, trying to comfort her as much as possible with his dull voice, “there’s nothing we can for Gracie now. Everyone just needs to do what the Captain told them.”

Just then, the silver, cube, shaped, ships shot thousands, maybe even millions of bright, vibrant, lights through the air. Everyone’s color faded as they were abducted into the creatures’ ships.
Inside the ships were hallways each at least five-hundred feet long and fifty feet wide! Captain B and Sylvester were bound by their wrist and ankles with heavy metal chains that were connected from the back. If either of them moved their hand just an inch, a painful shock would throw them to their knees.

Keeley and Taryn were put behind an electric fence that looked to be used for farm animals on Earth. If they walked within ten feet of the fence the same shock would shoot through their bodies, leaving their hearts racing ten times faster than they ever should have been.
To this day, the oceans refilled with some fresh water, though most was put back by the creatures for they took too much water and had to return it to the oceans to keep their planet from drowning. The creature’s left about two-hundred survivors in each country and those few were able to repopulate the world through the coming generations. There have also been no sightings of these strange creatures coming back to invade Earth…YET!!!