A WORD OF ADVICE…
Time and time again, things that you don’t expect happen randomly. A day at the park turns into a day that the supernatural happens. A ride on a train makes you the richest person alive. Or, history repeats itself. You can’t escape. It’s closing in on you, you are running out of time. What do you do? Then, you are safe. You continue living your happy, normal life, unaware of what’s really out there. What makes our reality limited, or how come everything you’ve only seen in dreams, once unsolicited, now makes you scream. Makes you wonder, How did I ever think this was a good thing?
But I am getting ahead of myself. The point is, in a world like ours, it is hard to know what can or can’t happen to you. And that relies on choices. And believe me, if I had a choice to avoid any of this, I would. But, sometimes you get roped into things. And if you are anything like me, or have a family like mine… watch out. You’re doomed.
AUGUST 8TH, MADISON, GEORGIA
Now, it all started on a regular Saturday morning. This Saturday morning was no-
“MOM! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!” My twin sister Flora yelled to mom, who, just by a glance, you could tell was really occupied with my two younger siblings, Jared and Michelle.
“I am so going to get revenge on mom if she doesn’t help me with my bags,” Flora whispered. Well, at least tried to. She isn’t the best at whispering or keeping secrets. I still haven’t forgave her for sharing that I… Well, it isn’t relevant, so, moving on.
“I HEARD THAT YOUNG LADY! And you are already 14, you should be able to know what to pack in there already!” Mom pointed out from two rooms away. See my point?
Anyways, everyone was running around and about to get ready to leave on our yearly summer vacation. I, on the other hand, was all packed and ready to go. I’ve actually been ready since we arrived from last year’s trip. After another two hours went by, I was starting to get worried that we weren’t going to be able to leave anytime soon. Luckily, by noon Flora solved her bag problem, dad found his wallet, and mom managed to deal with the fact that Jared and Michelle didn’t want to take a bath.
Little did I know what awaited me 860 miles northeast.
AUGUST 9TH, NEW YORK CITY
This year, my family chose to go to the city that never sleeps. I personally didn’t want to come here. I liked it better in Ocean City, or Disneyland. But, it was a five against one vote, and I just agreed because it would be something to brag about to my friends when school begins.
Let me note that even though we arrived around midnight, we could not find a parking space near our hotel. I actually wasn’t surprised. Why am I mentioning this?
Well, maybe if we found a parking space on time, we wouldn’t have been so tired, and we wouldn’t have overslept. And maybe, just maybe, we might have left Central Park before things started getting… weird.
“Daddy! I need to go to the bathroom!” Jared complained.
“Well, maybe if you hadn’t drunk all of those slushies, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” dad stated. “But, we should go. We wouldn’t want to relive the Escape Room Incident.” Everyone shuddered at the thought.
We started getting up and ready to leave when a huge object flew by the Empire State building. It wasn’t a plane that was for sure, but the object looked… almost round.
“Jack!” Michelle yelled my name out to the world. “I thought you said that UFOs aren’t real! You liar!” She kicked me in the shins so hard that I stumbled back to the exit. However, I didn’t exactly fall. I stayed up in the air, like I was leaning on a wall. I stood up and turned around. Nothing there.
“Ha ha. How long did it take you to master that trick Jack?” Flora asked.
“What do you mean? I didn’t do any-”
Suddenly, the round spacecraft was back again, with some creatures floating out of it. Huh. I guess UFOs are real.
The bigger one of the three started mumbling “Ugh, these stupid translators… never work.” Then, in a much louder voice, “Can you hear me?” Everyone was too amazed by the fact that there was a UFO above NYC to answer.
“Well, if you can, hello puny Thories.” The smallest one whispered something to him. “Oh, sorry. I meant earthlings. We are the glorbads, or, as you may call us, aliens. A weird name, but it will do. You see, our planet is being threatened. Our sensors have picked up some… unusual items that are heading for our planet from yours. About 100 glorbads came to do some research, but only three of us made it. So, we have been spying on you–uh, I mean guessing, and thought that we could use some help. Babies are, well, babies. Adults are too old to go to extreme measures, and pets can’t communicate, and they get distracted easily by food. So we have chosen children. They will have one week to figure out what Earth has to do with the destruction of our home, and how to stop it, or else your planet will be destroyed as well… by us. The names are: Thomas Wilson, Arianna Smith, Daria Fry, Zad Horen, and…”
I gulped and thought Please not me, not me.
“Nyla Clayton.”
Phew. At least I am not in this mess. Wait, I shouldn’t think that! From what I’ve read in stories, if I say that, then most likely…
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Jack Hare”
Oh no. This must all be a prank, and some TV show hosts are going to pop out any minute. I looked around and saw that there was no one else in the park. Well, except five other kids who looked my age.
“Wait, what?” I started talking to myself. The other kids were just as confused as me as in what just happened.
“Good luck,” the glorbad said. “Your time begins… now”
And here we are, with no where to start, our planet on the line, and no way to opt out of this. Oh yeah, and we only have one week to do it.
ONE WEEK REMAINING…
With the fact that the fate of the glorbad’s and MY planet depended on six kids, I didn’t even notice when the glorbad’s spacecraft disappeared, or when everyone in Central Park miraculously appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t even notice that the five kids happened to be going in the same direction as I was for almost two hours in a row.
To be Continued…