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Apr 2, 2014 04:00
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:56 |
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In the Wind (1184 words) At some point in the night, an owl crashed through the kitchen bay windows. None of us heard it. The next morning, after discovering the mess, Anna and I cleaned up the glass and put a tarp over the window. I dug a small hole for the owl outside, next to the ivy in the back yard. Cameron gave a six-year-old's eulogy. "I wish he had seen our window, and I hope before that he ate a lot of mice." Anna took Cameron back inside to get ready, and I filled the grave. We took him to school together that morning. As we pulled away, she said, “So what the hell?” “Um.” “We slept through a window breaking.” I looked out the window. "Owls are pretty silent, I guess.” “Doesn’t this worry you? What if that had been a burglar? What if someone actually came in after the owl, while we were asleep?” I considered that for a moment. “We didn’t wake up when a creature came crashing through glass, so yeah, we probably won’t wake up if a brick goes through it.” “Thanks for that.” Just before we turned into our neighborhood, we passed a house with a tarp weighted on the roof, shimmering in the wind. “poo poo,” said Anna. "We've got to fix that window.” --- I called out for the morning and stayed home to wait for the repairmen. There were a few feathers still scattered around the kitchen, cast in blue from the sunlight filtering through the covered window. I cleaned up the feathers in a hurry, not wanting to be in there any longer than I had to, and sat on the porch where I couldn’t see the tarp. I sat and listened to music to drown out the sound of it in the breeze. Flap flap flap. The window guys were late. “Hey man, I’m sorry about the time, got a lot of calls today.” the driver said as he walked up. He nodded at the tarp. “So, busted window, huh? Kid playing in the house?” “An owl crashed through it last night,” I said. “Well. I say crashed, but. I guess we only found it this morning.” “Hell of a thing to sleep through. Well! We’ll have that fixed up in an hour.” They finished early, leaving in a confused rush. They left the stickers on the glass, but I just made a note to take them off later. I threw myself in the car and drove off, forgetting my lunch on the kitchen counter. --- I picked Cameron up from after-school that evening. "Hey bud!" "Hey." "How was school?" "Okay." He didn't say anything else until after we passed the house with the tarp on its roof. "Dad?" "Yeah?" "Was, um, have you ever seen an angel?" he asked "No, bud, I haven't." I looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Why?" "Well, Shanna said an angel visited her last night." "Oh yeah?" "Yeah. She said that it told her that her mom wants to see her again." "Is her mom gone?" "Uh huh. Shanna says that her grandma told her that her mom left." "Um, how did she go away?" "Her grandma told her that she went to Georgia with her boyfriend. But the angel told her that she didn't want to leave!" I was thinking about how to respond when Cameron continued. "Dad?" "Yeah?" "Shanna says the angel was owls." "Do, uh, do you mean an owl? Just one?" "No, owls! It was three owls outside her window, and it talked to her." "How did they talk to her, bud?" "I don't know!" he said. "It's an angel!" --- “Did Cameron say anything to you about angels?” Anna asked me later that night, after we had put him to bed. “Yeah. He told me something about a girl in his class, and talking to owls. Who were angels, I think.” I cocked my head. “Why?” “I think he told me the same story. But you know what he asked first?” “No.” “‘If an angel dies, does that mean that something good won’t happen?’” --- That night I awoke to crashing glass. I tore myself out of bed and ran down the hallway. As I crossed the living room, bare-handed and naked to my underwear, I saw broken glass twinkling on the kitchen floor. I stopped on the carpet just before the threshold, looked around, and reached over to turn on the light. The window was unbroken. The floor was clean. Just outside the window, brought to life by the kitchen lights flooding outside, two black eyes stared at me from a heart-shaped white face. I stared back. A year or ten seconds later, the face turned away, and silent wings carried it beyond the glass. I gazed into the empty window for much longer before finally turning to go back to bed. Anna hadn’t stirred. --- It was my turn to take Cameron to school the next morning. As we walked to the car, I looked up into the trees. Cameron saw me looking around, and said “What?” His face lit up. “Did you hear an angel?” I turned back and said, “No. Just some birds.” The air in the car was stifling, so I rolled the windows down as I pulled away from the school. The radio was off and I lost myself in thought. They weren’t coherent thoughts. Just the memory, or the dream, of the owl flying off into the night. The glass disappearing from the tile floor as soon as the lights came on. Flap flap flap. I snapped to, and found myself speeding past the house with the tarp on its roof. I was going too fast to make the turn into our neighborhood. I braked and pulled onto the shoulder, rocks pinging off the undercarriage. Sitting in the car, I listened. Flap flap flap. In the mirror, I saw that one of the corners of the tarp had come unweighted and was pounding the roof of the house. That tarp had been there for weeks. I didn’t know the owner. The driveway was empty, and the windows on the near side of the house, under the tarp, were boarded. I got out of the car, paused, and walked with unknown purpose toward the house through the empty lot next door. The wind picked up, and the tarp was fighting now, about to fly off. Thud! Thud! Thud! The wind died and the tarp settled back onto the roof, nothing left for the struggle. The thudding kept going, steady and urgent. That wasn’t a tarp. There was another sound underneath it, something muffled. I ran up to one of the boarded windows. The thudding was just on the other side. I pulled at a board, felt it release and found myself on the ground. I pulled myself back up and peered into the space I had made. Two brown eyes stared at me, wide and trembling. Her mouth was covered with tape, and her hair was wild. The wind picked back up. Flap flap flap.
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Apr 7, 2014 00:51
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Alright then. In.
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Apr 19, 2014 00:16
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4+ BR, Gorgeous View (1194 words) Belinda rearranged the flowers on the foyer table and deactivated the robotic attack wasps from the home security panel. She checked herself in the mirror by the door: her red jacket was immaculate, her pearl brooch set perfectly on her lapel. The beat of a helicopter rose out of the quiet. Here were the first guests. --- She was talking to a group of prospective buyers in the kitchen when the emergency lights on the walls started flashing red. “Intruder. Front door,” a computerized voice announced. “Oh! Another guest!” She flashed a smile at the group. “Please excuse me.” In the foyer, she pressed a button on the security panel. The bolts securing the front door withdrew with a whump, and the door swung open. A handsome man with dark hair and a salt-and-pepper goatee entered, and the door closed behind him. “Welcome, and thank you so much for coming!” she extended a hand. “My name is Belinda. I’m the realtor.” The man shook her hand. He spoke with an accent she couldn’t place. “I am Sirius, of Aldebaran. I am pleased to arrive.” “It is an exciting property, isn’t it?” she asked. She picked up a clipboard from the table. “This is our fact sheet about the house -- square footage, features, history.” She flipped the page over. “I’ve also included a short form beneath where you can provide information about yourself, if you’d like to stay in contact. No pressure!” Sirius took the clipboard, then handed it back a few seconds later, the form filled with strange glyphs. Belinda felt a faraway pull as she examined them. Sirius cleared his throat. “I do not suggest reading that. Is the owner present?” “I’m afraid not, no. He’s on an extended leave for business. That’s why he’s selling, actually.” “A pity.” “Yes, it really is,” she nodded. “But it’s also your gain! There aren’t many homes with an exterior climate system!” She gestured at the window next to the door. The lawn was spotless, blades of grass glinting in the sunlight. Beyond it, stormclouds partially obscured the crags of the Alaskan Rockies. “Weather’s great all year round!” Sirius peered out the window. “And what of the settlements nearby?” “Your nearest neighbors would be a small resort about fifty miles away. It’s perfect for someone who needs time to himself!” Sirius stroked his goatee. “I will need much time to myself. I have many plans.” “Boy, you’re telling me!” she laughed, and touched his arm. It felt cold. “My husband has been working on our house ever since we moved in. He thinks he’s a master architect. Now come, let me give you the tour,” she said, leading him down the hallway. “Do you have any kids?” “I have many. They are in the stars, waiting. They will join me, one day.” He let out a low chuckle. “Well, then you’ll love the guest bedrooms!” --- This house drew the most interesting buyers. Belinda had learned quite a lot from chatting with them: gene splicing, deep sea construction, volcanology. Her phone dinged. Belinda excused herself from the young, crimson-clad couple she was showing and walked down the hall past the entrance, towards the den. Her husband had texted her. “How’s it going?” “Lots of guests!!” she typed. “Offers are really high! Told you this would be good for us.” “Still not a fan. Who would live out there?” “Plenty so far!” She sent a follow up. “Don’t worry!! Once this place settles we can get our house back, pay the doctors.” “I know. It’s okay.” His next message had a photo attached. “Dasha says hi!” He had taken a selfie with their adopted daughter, sitting in her parents’ living room. Her daughter had a knit cap over her bald head. “Love you guys!” she replied. On her way back, she gave wide berth to the trap door that led to the reactor core in the second sub-basement. --- Belinda was entertaining three remaining guests in the den. This room was the centerpiece -- it was a curved overlook cut into the mountain, stainless steel floors and ceilings. Mid-century white furniture faced the panorama windows, a glacier flowing two hundred feet below. Belinda had set a pitcher of water and a few glasses on the table in the center. A squirrelly, stout man named Moses was asking questions about the recreation wing. “And - and the pool? The pool is, it works?” “It sure does!” said Belinda. “It’s saltwater, in fact, and olympic sized, although the owner didn’t use it for swimming. I believe he keeps sharks.” “Oh, grand!” said Moses, rubbing his hands together and doing a little hop. “Do they - do the sharks come with it?” “You might have to ask the owner about that,” said Belinda. “I do love creatures. And animals. They always do just what you tell them. Just that! But not people. People are so unreliable,” he spat. “I agree,” said Sirius. “I find the indigenous race to be unsavory. When my children arrive, we will cleanse them.” He turned to Belinda. “I do not mean to offend you.” “Oh no! Not at all!” She laughed nervously. “But I’m from Idaho, I’m not Inuit.” “You misunderstand me,” said Sirius. “But perhaps for the better. Tell me of the telescope.” “Well, the owner was very big into astronomy. I’m told he even worked on one of the missions to the Moon! The outbuilding has a large telescope on the--” A jet screamed overhead, drowning out her words, followed by more aircraft in the distance. A voice boomed above and around them. “Attention. This is the Council of Earth. This property has been seized for connections to crimes against humanity.” Sirius apologized, and disappeared into an impossible slash of purple light. The third guest, a woman named Safara, cursed and ran to the window. “The Council!” Moses growled. “Here to cage me again!” His teeth looked sharper. He had a beard now. “What is --” A high whine cut through Belinda’s thoughts, and she clapped her hands to her ears. The pitcher of water on the table shattered, followed by the windows as a squad of dark-uniformed men and women flew in from below on grappling hooks. Safara, blinded by the glass, cried out in rage. Flames erupted from her hands and engulfed the man who had landed next to her. Another raised his weapon at Safara, and fired. Belinda turned and ran for the entrance. Behind her, the sound of a raging animal tore through gunfire. The trap door in the hallway opened under her feet. --- She awoke in the sub-basement reactor core, her body tingling, her vision surrounded by a faint blue glow. “Ma’am! Ma’am!” Men in yellow suits walked slowly towards her. “Are you alright?” Her commission was gone, along with any hope for her daughter. These men did this to her. The tingling intensified, became electric. She was electric. And there they were. Power coursed through her body, channeling to her hands. The smell of ozone and just-baked cookies filled the room as she stood up, feeling more alive than ever before. Belinda cackled as voltage leapt from her hand.
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Apr 21, 2014 03:40
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