Tuesday Tales - Slow

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “slow”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

“This is the reason why I appeared like I did before to you. I thought it would be less scary. Besides, it makes it more difficult for the Grarkiel to find me.”

“You are hardly terrifying when you look like this.”

His frown curved into a small smile. “Thank you. I certainly do not look like a cat. I have no clue what that human thought she was seeing.”

“Hold that thought for a sec.” Dani slapped the couch cushions frantically. She hoped desperately that her phone was lost in the furniture and not at the restaurant. She sighed in relief as her fingers wrapped around the slender piece of hard plastic and rubber. As she looked at the display, her heart slammed in her chest. 

The gigantic numbers glaring at her from in front of a picture of her favorite anime cat told her she was about to be late to work. She glanced around her minute living space. While the knick knacks and doodads she brought with her made her space feel homey in her standards, she was lacking some vital things. At the top of the list was a clock. Her cell phone was her only source of time.

Granted, with the hangover she had, she was surprised that she didn’t oversleep. “I have to go.”

“But the thought I was supposed to hold?” Bobo objected. 

Dani sprang from the couch to race to her room. She stopped for a moment. The residual alcohol and her pounding migraine left her swaying instead of hurrying. She rubbed her forehead as she took slow, steady steps down the hallway. 

She rummaged through her dresser for a clean change of clothes. She was going to have to take the fastest shower of her life to catch the bus and speed was not in her wheelhouse this morning. She turned her attention back to the living room. “Your species is far more intelligent than humans, right? Use our internet to look up a Sphynx cat.”

Dani stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She stared at the knob for a long, hard moment before locking it. Bobo seemed completely harmless. That didn’t mean she wanted him in the bathroom with her to ask more questions. 

Tuesday Tales - Child

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “child”. We are back with Dani and Bobo in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

“Explain this to me. Why do I hear you over there chattering away like an angry chipmunk who has lost its nuts. But in my head, I comprehend you perfectly, Bob…Bob…”

“Boboneth.”

“Boboneth. Is it alright if I call you Bobo? Boboneth is a lot to remember, especially when my head is pounding like this.”

“Of course. Bobo will be fine.”

“Why can I hear you in my mind?”

“I am able to translate my words then send them telepathically to your mind. It’s one of the many skills I possess.”

“What are others?”

“I can change my shape.”

“This isn’t how you normally look?”

“No.” 

Boboneth hopped off the coffee table to the floor, out of sight of Dani’s gaze. There were flickers of bright light. A moment later, a tall, slender being grew from where he had been. It had almost metallic, emerald green leathery skin. It had the face like one of the hairless cats Dani’s least favorite aunt called her children. At the tip of what should have been a cat's ear was something akin to a ram’s horn. It was dressed in a deep purple robe trimmed in gold and heart shaped, iridescent stones. It had to dip its head and shoulders to avoid colliding with Dani’s ceiling. 

Boboneth turned to her and grinned a feline smile. “This is my normal appearance.”

Dani’s eyes widened. “Wow. I didn’t expect that. Do you change into this often?”

Boboneth gave her a pout. “The only time before this was the last opportunity I tried to escape. An elderly lady saw me like this. She hit me with her shoe and shouted ‘bad kitty’ at me.”

Dani bit back a laugh. The image in her head of Bobo being shooed away with a shoe was hilarious. However, the mournful look in his big, yellow eyes said he didn’t feel the same way. “I’m sorry that happened to you. That woman was just awful.”

Tuesday Tales - Child

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “child”. We are back with Dani and Bobo in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani scowled at it then turned towards her end table. A glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen waited for her. She spun back to the little child-like creature. She cringed. That was a bad idea. 

“What are you? Who are you?” she pried as she pressed her fingers to her temple. 

“My name is Boboneth and I am from the planet of Inqet.”

“Wait. Were you the thing I felt in my head?”

“Yes. I apologize for that. I found the first moment I could escape and took it.”

“It’s alright.” She rubbed the flesh beneath her fingertips hoping it would help get rid of the pain just a tiny bit. It did not. “What were you escaping from?”

“Grarkiel.”

“You’re going to have to give me more than that.”

“Grarkiel is a general for the Vigvuth. They kidnapped me from my home light years ago. I have been attempting to get out ever since.”

“Grarkiel? Is that the smoke thing that was coming out of Ezra?”

“One in the same.”

“You were inside him, and he was inside Ezra.”

“Correct.”

“It sounds like the nesting dolls from hell.”

“I don’t understand what you are saying.”

“Nevermind.” Dani pushed herself up until she was sitting upright. Reaching for the bottle of pills, she popped the top off and shook a couple free. Once she swallowed them with a healthy gulp of water, she cleared her throat and continued.  “Why is Grarkiel here?”

“There are more Vigvuth here than Grarkiel. I can guess that, just like him, they feed on innovent humans. But past that, I do not know his plans on this planet.”

“You were inside him. You never heard his thoughts or what he said to others?”

“I had no access to his thoughts. I am unable to interpret his dialect. I am versed only in the ancient Vigvuthian writings and speech.”

“But you understand me.”

“English is a far simpler language. It is much easier to decipher.”

“Should I be offended?”

“Probably.”

Tuesday Tales - Silly

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “silly”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

In this excerpt, I'm introducing a new character, Boboneth - or Bobo for short. The photo below gives you an idea of what he looks like but in a humanoid form. (Please disregard the Lokis pruning each other in the background.)

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Someone needed to shut off the sun. 

Dani clenched her eyes closed to try to block out the bright light. It didn’t help whatsoever. Her head pounded so hard it felt like it was a drum and someone was performing a drum solo. The pressure she felt the night before was gone. Maybe her migraine released itself and joined her hangover. 

She didn’t remember much of the walk home. Was Ezra still there? Was she actually home? She was dressed and whatever she was lying on felt like her couch.

The margarita didn’t make the horror she witnessed disappear. Ezra said that smoke thing that came from him, that wanted to eat that poor guy, was not from this world. Was he telling her the truth? Aliens weren’t real, were they?

She heard chattering and squealing from the other side of where she believed her coffee table was. Great. She had the headache of a lifetime and there was a squirrel in her living room. 

She froze as a voice filled her mind as she listened to the squawking. “Ezra left a glass of fluid and brown tablets near your head for you.”

Her eyes popped open. The sunshine made her wince. A stab of pain filled her skull. It didn’t stop her from gaping at the creature she found standing on the coffee table.

It was a magenta balloon sculpture of a stick person with a head way too large, including knots at the end of its arms and legs. There were two black dots and a half moon grin embedded in its face. Dani guessed it had to be a foot and a half tall. 

Of course, that was if the silly little thing was real. Her hangover must have made her delusional. 

“You are just a figment of my imagination. Once I get up and take some pain medication and get some water, you’ll disappear.”

The balloon figure stomped an inflated foot and clenched its knots to its hips. “I am not an illusion.” It gestured towards her head. “And what you wish for is right there.”

Tuesday Tales - Fruit

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “fruit”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

His gaze dropped back to the bottle in front of him. He reached out as if to take a drink. Maybe a little liquid courage would make this easier for him. Instead, he picked at the label. “I wandered a little too far into the woods. I saw a bright flash of light. I thought it was Grandpop and his flashlight looking for me. The next thing I knew it was daylight. I was sitting on the forest floor and my parents, aunts, uncles and Grandpop were surrounding me. The back of my neck hurt a lot. It was difficult to register everything they were saying over me but one phrase stuck out to me. I remember it now. Three days. I was missing for three days.”

“My goodness. Where were you?” Dani let out an audible gasp. Her hand may have even flown to her breast like a damsel in distress. When did something this terrifying turn her into the heroine in her favorite historical novel? She grabbed her margarita to take another burning swallow. Wincing, she suddenly wished she asked for the frozen fruit one.

“At first I had no idea. The only evidence of where I had been was the four dots at the base of my skull.” He turned his back to her and lifted his long, black hair to show the four dots on the back of his neck. They formed a box much like what a die looked like when a gambler rolled a four. He spun back towards her in his chair and continued. “I could hear voices in my head. I saw constellations in my mind that I still haven’t heard of. I told my parents about everything and they took me to all sorts of specialists. No one knew what was wrong with me. It wasn’t long before the fevers started.”

“You had an infection.”

“Not quite. When I say fever, it isn’t like the high temperature that comes with a virus. It was an intense desire I didn’t instigate and couldn’t control. At first, I wanted to make friends in the worst way. I would ask someone to play, lure them someplace private and vacant…”

“And then?”

“Everything would go black. When I woke up, my new friend would be lying dead, drained of every drop of blood in their body. Either the intense pain and pressure in my head or the lifeless body of someone who trusted me made me sick. It still does. However, the voice in my head was sated.”

Tuesday Tales - Cold

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “cold”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

The translucent ice cubes bobbed in the pale green liquid like ducks floating on a tranquil lake. Dani stared at the goblet-like glass in front of her. Alcohol was certainly not her thing. She normally indulged in a cup of tea for her nightcap before turning into bed. 

After what she witnessed tonight? No amount of camomile would settle her nerves. 

She snatched up the margarita and guzzled about half of it. The cold liquid and the bite of the alcohol sent a shiver up her spine. She didn’t want Ezra to think she was a lush but it had been a rough night. She glanced up at him, finding him staring at the imported bottle of Mexican beer sitting on the table before him. The beads of sweat drizzled past the gold label and pooled around in, reflecting the bright colors of the painted tabletop. 

There was a buzz in the little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. It was enough to drown out the questions that Dani had for Ezra. She glanced around the place at the other patrons enjoying their chips and salsa or their ordered dishes. Most of the tables had no fewer than three empty margarita glasses on them. The walls were painted yellow gold with red and green accents. Painted artwork was nailed into the plaster to give the place a homelike feel.

Dani took one last look around her, sucked a deep breath that reached her belly button, then spoke. “So. About your little friend there.”

“He isn’t my friend by any means,” Ezra growled. His gaze still didn’t reach hers. He kept it locked on his beer bottle.

Dani laid her hands in her lap and twisted them, flustered. Things around her grew a little fuzzy. She was such a lightweight. 

Before she had a chance to pry further, Ezra continued. “It all started when I was nine. I was playing Ghosts In the Graveyard with my cousins at my grandparent’s farm in Wisconsin.”

Dani didn’t think as she pointed to herself. “I’m from Indiana. I’m just on the other side of Lake Michigan.”

The glare Ezra gave her shut her up quick. She dropped her hand back to the table. “Sorry,” she apologized.

Ezra’s head dropped low again. “No, it’s not your fault. I’m the one who should say I’m sorry. It’s just - I’ve never told anyone this. Not even my parents.”

“Go on,” Dani encouraged as she leaned closer.

Tuesday Tales - Year

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “year”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani stared at him for a long moment. Instead of high tailing it out of there, she took a step towards him. Yes, whatever hovered over him terrified her.  Her vision blurred and her head swam. 

She wasn’t going to leave without him. 

She stepped over the poor… She paused for a second to refocus her gaze. The poor guy. It was definitely a man. She steadied her feet and kept going. She grew closer to Ezra and whatever skimmed the murals above them. 

She saw the blur that shot out of the creature a split second before the collision. It didn’t necessarily hit her. Instead, she felt it pop inside her brain, an intense pressure that was there then not leaving a tiny, pulsing migraine in its wake. What just happened to her? She blinked as she felt it settle inside her, leaving her with the sense that she was definitely no longer alone. 

A hiss from the circulation desk brought her attention back to the scene before her. It was accompanied by the clatter of sharp, quick clicking. It sounded like one of those ancient telegraph machines running out of control. Ezra no longer sat dormant on the desk. While he was still cross legged, his back and neck now arched in an unnatural position. His fingers flexed in an almost fist and his teeth were gritted. His face twisted in agony. 

Whatever just happened to her must have angered the swirly cloud monster. The tapping sound drifted away even though they were clearly still there. They were replaced with a soft, almost child-like voice. 

“Who is this? This little one who thinks she is so brave. Year after year you bring me these poison soaked, leathery corpses. Where have you been hiding this tasty morsel?”

Dani frowned. Did she just imagine that the thing talked and it sounded like a seven-year-old? 

Her scowl disappeared and her eyes widened when Ezra choked out a warning. “Leave her alone. Touch her and I promise I’ll destroy you.”

He whimpered as the voice responded. “You’ve tried for more than a decade to get rid of me. How has that gone for you?”

Tuesday Tales - Carry

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “carry” (or “carried” in my case). We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Except, the door was already cracked open. There shouldn’t be any light coming though except a possible security flood light. Instead, an eerie blue hue emitted from the gap between the two double doors. 

She took a deep breath and nudged the open door enough to slip inside the building. She adjusted her grip on the ring that she carried until each key protruded between the fingers of her fist, just like her mother showed her to do to keep herself safe. She set each loafer down carefully as she crept down the corridor so she wouldn’t make a sound. When she reached the main hall of the building, she froze in her place. 

The green hooded lamps on each table had been turned off before she left that day. They now glowed icy blue. A body sprawled across the middle of the walkway. In the shadows she couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman or if they were alive or dead.

On the circulation desk sat Ezra, his legs crossed beneath him. Somewhere during the night he lost his shirt. His muscular torso was a pale sapphire like the light around him. His veins snaked an indigo path across his flesh. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping while his body shook violently. Somewhere behind him, coming from his body, was a swirl of cloudy tendrils. They looked almost like smoke, like they had no substance. When one collided with a book and sent it crashing to the floor, she knew they were definitely solid. 

A tentacle danced over the person lying on the cold marble floor. It stopped then sharpened to a lethal point. It rose up as if it were about to attack. 

Dani didn’t realize she gasped out loud. She was certain it was all in her head. Everything in the room stopped and seemed to focus on her. Ezra’s eyes popped open and looked at her. 

He seemed in agony as he pried his mouth open. His body tensed and his voice cracked as he cried. “Dani, run.”

Tuesday Tales - Shady

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “shady”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani forgot that she then showed the photo to Elise, who then encouraged her to forward it to their manager so it could be posted on social media. She must have left her cell phone on the desk when she sent the picture. It was too bad she figured it out halfway to her apartment. She had to hop off at the next stop in a neighborhood she didn’t know to wait for the next bus to take her back downtown. When she arrived, the crowd that greeted her was far different than the one she was used to during the day. This one was far more ready to party than the business folk who were deep into their daily grind. Everything around her seemed a little suspicious, a little shady. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it made her uneasy.

She should have just left her device until morning when the library reopened. She could feel something in the air, like some evil was about to escape their prison. The idea was ludicrous, she knew that. It was the fear of a small town girl in a big city. The only reason she came back for it was because her parents were supposed to call like they did every week since she had been in Boston. If she didn’t answer, they would probably send the police. She didn’t need that stress right now. 

It didn’t surprise her that she left it. She couldn’t keep her mind straight lately. Ever since their dinner together a few nights previous, it seemed Ezra was avoiding her at all costs. She found him still curled up on the floor between the bookshelves. However, he no longer stopped by the circulation desk to chat with her. When he did leave, he kept his gaze to the floor and refused to acknowledge her. 

She didn’t know what she said to him. It broke her heart to think that she might have hurt him in some way. By the way the others at the library talked about him, he might not ever give her a chance to fix whatever mistake she made. It twisted her inside, shattered her heart and made her forget all the important things she prided herself on remembering. 

She jogged up the stairs as she pulled the ring of keys free from her bag. The raucous laughter behind her put her on edge. She found the one she needed and leaned down to slip it into the lock. 

Except, the door was already cracked open. 

Tuesday Tales - Careful

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “careful”. We are back with my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

“Seems like a fitting choice, then.” Ezra sat up straight as the waitress came back for their order. Each of them took a quick glance at their menus as they made their choice. She smiled at them and retreated back to the kitchen again before they started their conversation back up. 

“It seems you like books as much as I do,” Dani commented as she carefully raised her water glass to her lips. 

“I’m not sure anyone likes books as much as you do,” Ezra teased. 

Seriously, could someone turn down the heat? Every time Ezra opened his mouth, her face got hotter. “So Egyptian history? That’s a hefty subject to dive into.”

“Actually, I am more into mystery and fantasy.”

Dani took a drink of the ice cold beverage and set it down. “Every time I see you, you have another book about architecture or mythology, all set in Egypt.”

He paused. The way his face twisted and crinkled, it seemed like he was wrestling with something painful. “I guess you could say I have a thirst for knowledge. Among other things.”

Dani nodded towards his glass. “Like beer.”

“Sure. Beer.”

She bit her lower lip as the conversation between them died off again. She was a quiet person and typically felt uncomfortable around others. 

This dinner had suddenly become the most awkward moment of her life. Hopefully they could get past the iciness and start chattering with each other again. 

By the time their plates arrived, it was pretty clear. That wouldn’t be the case. Maybe the dinner invite was a bad idea. Ezra seemed like a great guy. However, he wasn’t about to let her in. Maybe that was for the best. She came to Boston to work. And nothing changed the fact that she was the same Danielle she had always been. 

She didn’t have friends at home. She apparently wouldn’t have them here either.