Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-36727169-20180826222755

To My Old Friend Walter,

'''I am in fear for my life. These beings will be back, it's happened before, and the time before that too, and each time has gotten stranger than the last. This will more than likely be my one and only letter you receive, so everything that is written down must be kept safe. You have to tell my story, nobody here believes me they think I'm just some kinda drunkard that's finally gone crazy. Take this to your newspaper job, get this printed, hell if that doesn't work take it to the government, someone has to know. With that in mind, this is my recollection of my encounters with unearthly beings from the sky.'''

'''The farthest back I can remember is right around the time your father passed away. 1962 I believe it was. It must have all started sometime in late July, the 22nd perhaps. It was the time in the year where the heat in the western states becomes absolutely unbearable even for myself. I can remember sitting on the toilet, sweating my ass off while reading the newspaper. "Another happy couple," I had said to myself annoyed like. Not many girls came my way as you might recall, I guess the rugged and rough look isn't in anymore, not to mention it was already established that I was a pretty bad farmer, and the only girls that stuck around here were ones that wouldn't marry just any ol' farmer, no sir, they had to be rich farmers, successful farmers, farmers that had other people to do the farmin' for 'em. Well I sat there and stewed over this for a bit, it's true I was awfully lonely out here by myself and I had longed for a woman's tender care but I suppose it just wasn't meant to be. It always got my goat though whenever I saw someone else getting married, and I would work myself up into an anger that only several stiff drinks would calm me back down. But that night would be different than the others; because that night I had hardly gotten myself into that sense impaired anger, when a very loud sound rattled the bathroom window and bright streak of light shot across the sky, like one of those hotrods you and I had seen at the salt flats.'''

'''I stared with a blank face, my mind not quite sure how to react. I pulled my pants back up and zipped them, then proceeded to hurry downstairs and exit the house. I stood on the porch for a minute looking up at the star-filled sky for anything unnatural. I’m not quite sure what I had seen, even to this day I don't fully know what it is that's hidden up there in the stars, I only have my theories. I told myself it was just a shooting star, but then I began to argue with myself saying that no shooting star could be so bright it made your eyeballs hurt by just catching a glimpse, plus this star or whatever it was was much bigger than a shooting star would be. After arguing with myself back and forth both sides eventually came to an agreement: I needed a drink. So I walked back into the house, grabbed a bottle and some glass with ice and proceeded to drink my fill. Nothing really strange happened for a couple of days after that, but I never once forgot about that strange object in the sky, and a weeks time after the strange occurrence I seen the unnatural light once more, and this time I saw something else too, something I don't think you believe.'''

'''The strange light would come every once in a while, it came enough times for me to no longer stare up in awe, but not enough times to fully peak my curiosity. Whatever the light was I wanted nothing to do with it; I told myself lies to further convince myself this, I usually would say it's just a new-fangled jet plane, one I have never seen before. This delusion I fed myself Everytime I seen it eventually work, so much so that if things had stopped at bright lights shooting across the sky; I would have continued to live my life without nary-a-care. '''

'''I first saw these unearthly creatures sometime in the month of August, about four in a half weeks after I had first seen the strange light. I had just finished putting Bessy and Hess and the other three cows into the barn for the night and locked the barn up tight, which at the time was more to keep them in rather than keeping anything out... That would soon change. As I clicked the lock pad into place I looked up and noticed the bright light up in the sky once more. The light wasn’t shooting across the sky like it had in the previous weeks, this time it was sort of just hovering there, in the air, not moving. It hovered in place for only a minute tops before zooming out of sight again, and I took noticed that based of the position in the sky, it had to have been lingering right above one of the neighbor’s farms. Just as I had thought that, not a second later, a ringing came from my house. I walked into the kitchen, picked up the telephone and said hello. A man was practically shouting into the receiver, rambling so fast I couldn’t even understand him. I half shouted back into the phone a “Calm the fuck down” and when he fell silent I asked for his name; it was the neighbor’s son Thomas Tully Jr. from just over the ridgeline, the ridgeline where I had seen the light floating above. Thomas began to rant again and practically begged me to come over to his farm, that his Pa needed my help. I told him no, that I was already half drunk, and on top of not wanting to come over I didn't think it was a good idea to be driving drunk at night, might hit an animal... Or something. But Thomas would not let me hang up, he kept begging and I thought at several times during our conversation that he would stop talking and just cry, so finally, I agreed to come out. Thomas refused to tell me what his problem was, so I assumed it was a pack of wolves that were spotted out on the ranches property and Thomas Jr. was too scared to help run them off with his father. The boy wasn’t very old only 14 and he’d always been a bit more emotional and sensitive than the other boys of his age. '''

'''I grabbed my Winchester 30/30 and hopped into my old beat up ‘56 Ford. The Tully’s residency was over the ridge that was behind my house, while not a very large ridge compared to most, it still was quicker to just drive around the ridge than to attempted to climb it, besides if there were wolves out and about I didn't really feel like meeting them alone face to face. The drive there was normal enough, it wasn’t a long drive to Tully's house but it was enough time for me to make quick work of the remaining half of my corn whiskey. I drove up the dirt driveway and parked off to the side of the house under the low hanging tree they had right next to the house. I found it strange that all the lights in their house were off, but I walked up to the door and went to go knock anyways. As I opened the green screen door it made a loud squeak, and before I could rapt my bony knuckles on the actual door it was flung open, and the double barrel of a shotgun was pushed right up into my face. Thomas Tully Sr. was on the trigger side of the shotgun, spewing spit and obscenities in my face.'''

'''“Stop! It’s George!” I cried out before the man pulled the trigger. Thomas stopped his yelling and, for what seemed like the first time, took notice of who he had almost killed. I began to ridicule Thomas for his carelessness.'''

'''“Goddammit Tom, you near ‘bout blew my head off! Don’t you know a neighbor’s face when you see him?”'''

'''Tom looked at me nervously, as if he was thinking about shooting my head off again. Finally, he gave a half-apologetic look to me,'''

'''“Gee, sorry about that George, Me and the family have been.. Cautious about knocks on the door, and about everything else around here, ever since the lights showed up.”'''

'''“Lights? You’ve seen ‘em too? How long have you been seeing them?”, I questioned. Tom scratched his head full of short, uncombed, graying hair.'''

“I’d say about a few months ago, July possibly” 

“That’s when I first saw the lights too!” I exclaimed in a tone that made me sound half excited, on the account that this meant I wasn’t crazy, and half alarmed; scared by the unknown of what these lights were, and what they could do.

Tom’s face seemed to lighten up and relax a little, then in a split second, his expression grew dark and grim.

“Then you’ve seen them too?” He questioned me in a low solemn voice.

'''“Them? Who’s them?” I asked puzzled'''

'''Thomas’s face grew even grimmer as I asked him what he was talking about. The light lines in his face from squinting in the hot sun as he worked and grew older became more prominent. '''

'''“The little green men”, he said in a flat serious tone. I stared at him quizzically, waiting for him to laugh at me or add something to what he had just told me. When it became clear that he wasn't going to do so I responded by repeating his last words, skepticism was laced thick in my words.'''

'''“Little. Green. Men…”, I waited yet another minute before continuing, still convinced he was playing a tasteless joke on me. Again, Thomas said nothing else, only gave me a short stiff nod to confirm I had heard him right. I could feel my anger rising again, the whiskey I had drank before, and on the way, there wasn’t enough to subdue it, and only my respect and appreciation for Tom kept me from completely losing it. I took in a big deep breath and huffed it out hastily.'''

'''“Tom, did your boy call me here because you actually needed help with something, or is this just a joke you’re playing on me because you knew I’d fall for the ‘Its an emergency’? I don’t have time to be playing games with simple minded people.” '''

'''I could tell Tom wanted to fire back with his own response but decided not to for some reason. From behind Tom came Thomas Jr. running out the door directly towards us, his mother trying to grab his collar to pull him back, but failing.'''

“My ‘Pa ain’t lyin', I seen ‘em too, and so has Mama and my sister!”

'''“Thomas Wyatt Tully, you watch your mouth! They’ll hear you!” Cried Mrs. Tully in a hushed whisper. I clapped my hands together and pointed at Tom’s boy and then his wife;'''

'''“Well this is great, the whole family is joining in, just wonderful! Tom, I’d love to stay, but I have a bed and bottle back at home that are more important than playing pretend with you loons, so I think I’ll just excuse myself and go.”'''

'''Before he could say anything I turned and stomped off the porch stairs. I was half-way through bringing my foot off the last step, and slamming it down onto the dirt drive when I saw a shadow disappear from the side of the main barn. I froze right up when I saw it, it was a short shadow, and the only distinguishing feature I could make out in the short amount of time it was in sight, was that it had pointed ears. I muttered out a “what the” with a curse at the end of it. Tom, who had been ushering his son back into the house, heard my muttering and turned around to look back towards me. I’m not sure if he, or anyone else, had seen what I saw, but my body language must have given off something to him, saying that I was as spooked as a young colt was spooked by a barking dog at its feet.'''

“What did you see?” He asked with a squeaking, uneasy voice.

'''I blinked my eyes twice, looking at the same spot where I had just seen the mysterious shadow. Nothing, the shadows must have been playing with my mind, that or the alcohol’s effects were.'''

“It was nothing, just a hallucination, that's all, goodnight Thomas.”

I heard Tom spin slowly on his heels, pulling back the hammers on the shotgun, as he walked across the creaky wood boards of the front porch.

'''“Horse hockey George, you saw one of them, didn’t you. Short, pointed ears, unnaturally thin-shaped body.”'''

I spun around, furious;

'''“And just what do you mean by ‘them’, huh? You sure like to mention them but you keep eluding to what they are, what's the big secret? Tell me!”, I yelled out loud, causing an owl to leave its roost that was made up on the driveways telephone pole nearby. Tom met my angry stare with a blank one, then simply shrugged his shoulders and scratched his head again,'''

'''“I don't know what they are, I only know that they’ve been stalking my farm and my family for a week now. Then today, right before Junior called you, There was this bright light, as bright as the sun, hovering over the field. I watched it for five minutes before it shot up and across the sky disappearing, and after it left I watched three tiny figures runoff, from the spot where the light was to the wells pump house in the field.” He paused for a brief moment before adding.'''

'''“I’m worried George, the day before that the dogs disappeared, then this afternoon while looking for them I found intestines to an animal, out at the foot of the ridge. I… I don’t know if it was one of the dogs, but…”'''

'''I raised my hand up to stop Tom. I had heard enough and I could tell by the shakiness in his voice, he had enough too. There was an awkward silence, neither one of us knowing what to say, and then we heard it. As I pulled out a pack of camel no filters and lit one up I heard the faint sound of barking off in the distance, out by the ridgeline. I looked up from my lighter into the wide, fearful eyes of Tom and I knew that he had heard it too.'''

'''“Susan! Take the kids back inside and lock the door, you know where the pistol and rifle are if you need them. George and I will be back shortly.”'''

'''Even though it was dark I could tell by Susan’s face that she wanted to protest, but before she could Tom had bounded down the porch, gun in hand, and was in his truck. '''

Waiting for me.

'''Shit I thought in my head as I made a skip and a jog to Tom’s shiny new Dodge pickup. Before I even had the door shut gravel was being catapulted backward by the wheels of the truck as we shot onto the narrow two-track that divided the Tully’s field and ran back out to the base of the mountain. When we got to the base Tom stopped the truck, and we both got out to listen for the noise again.'''

'''The barking had stopped so we began to walk towards the eastern side of the mountain. We walked away from the truck, only the two yellow beams from the truck’s lights kept us from being submerged in utter darkness, in our haste to get out to the ridge we had forgotten to bring along any type of lantern or flashlight. After about a quarter of a mile, we stopped and listened to the sounds around us. Neither Tom or myself heard anything, not a dog’s bark, not a cricket’s chirp, or an owl's hoot, the wildlife ceased to make a noise at all; even the wind, which was a light breeze back at the farm, had stopped blowing. Feeling uneasy and not wanting to go any further from the pickup, we turned around and began to head back. As we came within fifty feet of the truck the headlights flickered quickly. Tom raised his shotgun, I my rifle as if the truck posed to us some kind of threat. We approached the truck slow and cautiously and were relieved that nothing else strange happened.'''

'''Then just as we were about to get back into the truck and drive back to the farm we heard a noise. It was quiet and low, but high in pitch, and it sounded as though something was trying urgently get our attention. Tom and I turned and looked behind us, from where the noise had come from, it was hard to see with the moon behind the clouds, but I could make out a faint silhouette of what looked like a dog. Something wasn't right about it though, the silhouette was off-putting in some way. As the creature crept closer, we raised our guns, the creature wasn't moving fast but we weren’t about to take any chances. Eventually, it came close enough so that the pickup’s tail lights lit up its face and part of its body, it was Tom’s German Shepherd, Sadie. Tom began to run towards the dog but stopped short when he saw why we could only see half of the dog…'''

There was only half a dog to see…

Sadie had been cut almost in half, not ripped, no animal had done this, the area where the dog existed and ceased to exist was clean cut and cauterized; anything past the end of her belly was missing, leaving the dog to drag herself by her front legs.

“What the fuck!?!” Tom exclaimed in indescribable horror

'''Sadie looked at both of us with a painful expression shining in her eyes. As we stood there looking at the sight before us in immense trepidation, we failed to take notice of the ground glowing, growing bright and more detailed each second. We didn’t notice the tall weeds and wild grass begin to move in a pulsatile manner, making it look like waves in an ocean of grass, nor did we notice our shadows grow and stretch far out across the ground. Both Tom and I were so focused on the bizarre, disfigured animal, that we almost didn't hear the loud tremendous bass sound thumping in our ears.'''

Almost didn’t.

'''It sounded like someone had combined a helicopter with a jet, the noise screeching into our eardrums, snapping us out of our mesmerized state. We both spun around quickly, and our eyes would have widened if it weren't for the eye’s natural instinct to close shut when exposed to such an intense light. I instinctively place my hand in front of my face and tried to open my eyes once more. The light was so bright that it turned my whole hand pink, and I could almost see my bones. I shouted over the loud noise,'''

“What the hell is this thing!”

'''“It's the light! What we seen flying overhead all those times!” Cried, Tom'''

'''I wanted to ask how he could be sure, but then again what else could it be? I yelled to Tom telling him to get into the truck, and that we needed to leave, but even after I picked up Sadie and placed her into the bed of the truck, Tom hadn’t moved one inch.'''

'''“Tom!” I yelled. At this point, Tom was looking up at the unidentifiable object without his hand shielding his eyes. He squinted angrily at the light, his face folded into a thousand wrinkles. I walked towards him, fighting the wind gusts that came from the light, and that threatened to blow me away and place my hand on his shoulder. I was six-foot-three and casted a shadow over the only five-foot-ten Thomas. I gave him a worried look, but as he looked at me his angry stare didn't fade. He looked at me and then down to my hand holding my 30/30, and before I knew what had happened, Tom grabbed my rifle, cast me aside like a pair of dirty end-of-the-day socks and fired six rounds at the bright light. I looked up and squinted at the light, as I laid there on my butt in the tall grass, looking to see what would happen next. For what felt like forever Tom and I stared at the light, our retinas frying; then an odd sound came from the light, the sound resembled the hissing noise that comes from hydraulic systems. Suddenly the bright light ceased to exist. But as my eyes adjusted to the darkness again I noticed what was creating the light still loomed in front of us. '''

'''Its shape was resemblant of a boomerang, the whole machine started from one rounded point, arched in the middle and then ended at another rounded point, which aligned with the first point. On top of this shape laid a half oval, and I could see tiny little rectangular windows that spanned across the half oval, again they were rounded, at the corners.'''

'''I was struck in awe over the giant machine, awe that was quickly turned in to the most incomprehensible terror, a white spotlight focused on Thomas, who looked just as dumbfounded as me, and with another weird sound, Thomas began to float a foot above the ground! I wanted to shout out something but my mind couldn't think of what it needed to do in order for me to speak, and even if I did know what to say I’m quite certain my mouth would be incapable of any movement. My tongue had swollen up, and I nearly was choking on the large lump that had found a home in the middle of my throat. Tom feeling the sensation of being weightless looked down, and while he didn’t flap or flail about, his face was all I needed to see to register how panicked he was. He released his death grip on my rifle, which he had been gripping so tightly his knuckles had been whiter than the mountain caps resting on top of the Rockies. The rifle did not drop but rather remained right next to him floating, in air, slowly tumbling end on end, until it had slowly tumbled out of the perimeter of the spotlight were it dropped immediately into the tall grass below. At this point, Tom’s mouth was wide open attempting to scream or yell, but no noise came out of it, then faster than the flick of a light, Tom was gone. The spotlight remained in place, only for a moment, before it slowly crept it was towards me. I tried to stand up, I wanted to run or hop into the pickup and take off, but like my mouth my legs were unresponsive, and I felt my body go weightless. I looked into the spotlight, not knowing what to expect or what I thought I would see, a single tear fell from my eye as I floated above the earth. The last thing I remember was that tear exiting my tear duct and rather than running down my cheek just floated straight in front of me. I thought about my life of loneliness, and how my funeral’s only attendee would be the gravedigger, and immediately after this thought, I blacked out.'''  