Bye Bye

NIGHT LIGHTS      

 

The moon is full. It is tinged with blue. It turns the twinkling stars into an exciting Fourth of July. I sit on a hill behind my house, careful not to bother the fireflies that dance around me as they blink back to the stars. This must be what my fifth grade teacher meant so long ago when she used the word ' panorama' to explain vastness, a big picture. This one is peaceful yet frightening in a way. My thoughts travel upwards, outwards, above, beyond the stars. Are there spaceships trying to reach earth? Are there six headed hydras manning the controls? Will they be here before we can be there?

 

I don't muffle my scream as something slides across my foot. Just a little louder and a mutant on Mars could have heard me. Was it a slimy snake? 'Don't look,' I mumble to myself. 'Move, go home. It's late.' As I rise, pick up the beach towel I was sitting on, my eyes come to attention. Red and white lights inch across the busy sky. An almost silent jet lifts its nose, dips a wing and goes to meet the stars. A soft breeze speaks, 'Go home, young lady.'

 

Guided by the beam of my Every Ready flash light, it too, blinks at me, weakens, dims, blackens. Mom has left all the lights on in the house and garden. I can just about see her as she paces across the kitchen floor. The soft wind surely carries 'I'm coming,' away from her. Behind me there is a loud, strange, metallic rumbling noise. It scares me. I see nothing but the noise is getting louder, closer. The ground vibrates. My knees shake. I hold my breath as a burning smell swirls around me. I am not amused and hurry down hill. Twice I trip and twice a warmth lifts me to my feet.

 

The warmth holds on to me, does not let me go further down the hill. It pulls me up, up, to the top where there is enough moonlight for me to see a huge lidded red and brass colored saucer. I pinch my own arm, kick myself on the ankle and what I thought was a dream, becomes reality. There is, really is, a saucer almost close enough for me to touch it. Squeaky, scratching sounds give me goose bumps. I try to keep my eyes directly on the top of the red thing, hoping it will open, yet hoping it won't. What I had not yet seen were the windows that now begin to open. Strange things with small wings fly out, surround me, brush against me, increase their strength and guide me inside. No sense fighting them, I am captured and will probably die soon.

 

I am stretched out on a soft colorless table. Nothing binds me yet I cannot get off. The heavy, loud noises begin again. Dreadful squeaking and clanking, a jolt and I begin to believe there are Flying Saucers.
My eyes close and I have no choice but to wait for whatever is going to happen.

 

By turning my head to the edge of the table, I can see the blue moon, I can see twinkling stars. We keep going. The weight is off of me and I can move, see the back of twinkling stars that are not twinkling. There is a darkness out there that astounds me. Time is meaningless. I lie on the table and try to breathe. A clash, a crack, a bang and we must be landing. The force that held me before lifts me, lets me float out a window. Beyond the stars there are lights, lights so high, so powerful, I try to cover my eyes.

 

My earlier question has been answered. Their space shops reached earth before ours reached them. My parents will call the police, search for me forever, but will not find me. I am home.