Hello, blog readers, i have been working on a super secret project. Which has got me all busy, and so. but i still found time for my blog readers. how sweet. so i found some time to write this short story for you. ( copyright and all) i hope you enjoy reading it!
“John, you will be working with Paige”. His teacher announced in a harsh tone. John cringed; those were the words he had never wanted to hear, ever... But what made it worse by 99% was the fact that it was for the science fair. He turned his head and there she was cheerful, smiley, way too happy and just so odd. She didn’t know a thing about New Zealand and something about her was just so unsettling. In fact, come to think of it not something, everything.
That, was eight weeks ago John still hated the memory of it. The beginning of eight weeks of pure torture, and for what? The project was an absolute disaster and Paige couldn’t do anything right. He didn’t want to be associated with what the project turned out to be, but of course Paige was still ecstatic. How someone could be so happy, John could never know. Every weekend she had come over to his house and had poked, broken and ruined everything. She was a walking disaster! He purely loathed her.
“Hey John!” there she was…again. He stopped daydreaming about hating her and reality set in. He was in a noisy their school playground with kids running around, screaming and yelling. Normally he would feel at home in these surroundings, but today he felt disconnected.
“Yes Paige, what’s up?” he inquired, with no interest in her answer.
“Well, I was like thinking maybe you could come with me after their school tomorrow to look at the science fair projects?” she answered, untouched by his tone of voice. “Sure, okay” replied John, as he had learnt that it was better to just agree with Paige than argue with her. “Great” she said, even more joyful than usual, “tomorrow, six thirty, their school hall” she called as she ran off leaving John to ponder the colossal mistake he’d just made.
“Bye darling!” John’s mother yelled from the car. He forced a smile and waved goodbye, but she was already driving down the long road that connected THEIR SCHOOL to the rest of the city. Not that John cared though, he was already angry at his mum for making Paige give him a ride back home. John sighed and looked around; he was in the dark empty THEIR SCHOOL car park. But it was the fact that the car park was empty puzzled John; it’s the science fair project open night, so where are all the people? John asked himself as he raced through the gloomy, eerie version of THEIR SCHOOL the cold winter’s night exposed, all the way to into the their school hall.
John stared in bewilderment as he peered into the their school hall. He didn’t dare to go in. The burning curiosity regarding where all the people were, once again hounded him. The dazzling luminescent light fixtures flooded the hall and the science projects in intense brightness, but there were no people inside. That single observation puzzled and frustrated John, to such an extent he was about to break down in tears of frustration. He continued to ponder this fact in utter anguish until a single bitter tear rolled down his cheek and landed with an almost noiseless splash on the cold hard ground. John wiped his eyes and looked around. This just made him more distressed and upset. He was partially freezing to death in the dark and eerie their school court. He sighed, where was Paige? Another silent tear rolled down his cheek. It wasn’t that he was scared no, not scared. John wasn’t scared, he was petrified.
As Paige raced towards John with a silly grin plastered on her face, a flood of relief hurried through John. He couldn’t actually believe he was glad to see her, but he was, and at this point of time he couldn’t have cared less, because he finally had a comp their school on on this cold and frightening night. He was no longer alone and thank god for that, John mused.
“Hey John!” John grimaced as Paige called out interrupting his thoughts, “let’s go in” she said enthusiastically.
“It, its empty” John retorted, stating the obvious.
“I figured that, you big dummy” replied Paige in an impatient tone of voice that John had never heard her use before. John was speechless, shocked by this new demanding, impatient version of Paige.
“I, I, I,” stammered John.
“Now follow me into the hall and we are going to look at the projects together” commanded Paige as she grabbed his hand and, roughly dragged him into the bright empty hall, John looked around the otherwise empty hall, apart from the hundreds of science projects neatly placed on an island of tables. But the thing John really noticed was the smell; the room stunk of spray paint, rotten food and vinegar. John wrinkled his nose in disgust. He sighed deeply and surveyed his surroundings; he was standing in the doorway of a putrid hall that stank of experimental smells, his hand was knuckle white as Paige was still holding it forcefully. He sighed and swore under his breath. This was going to be a long night.
Paige practically dragged John as she gave him a detailed description of what every project meant to her, and if it wasn’t bad enough she actually examined and read what the projects said- aloud! John was purely gob smacked; this was crazy, even by Paige standards. In fact it was so crazy that John couldn’t even think of a witty, but offensive comment that could stop Paige in her tracks. He searched his mind for something to say but nothing came out, for once in his life John was speechless and he hated it! So, that was how Paige managed to stroll around with John in her clutch while John based his attention on two main subjects, he was actually so focused on these that he didn’t apprehend Paige’s constant babble, it really amazed John how she could continue to talk without John ever replying, nor did John appreciate the steady grip she continued to hold around his hand. John didn’t actually mind this method; he would ponder the two things that perplexed him, where all the people were, as it was now almost halfway through the open night and how to get out of this place as soon as possible, while Paige kept up her constant babble. This was seriously getting weird. Then all of a sudden…
Crash! John turned his head in shock, even Paige stopped talking and they both turned their heads in the direction the sound came from. Neither one of them could see over the science projects stacked up on the tables, but they both knew something big had happened. They both turned their attention to the roof; there was a vast hole that spread across most of the large roof. Neither of the children dared to speak but exchanged shocked and worried glances, and at that moment John knew that tonight, until they were safe, he and Paige were in this together because it was no longer a matter of petty playground arguments. John had an unpleasant feeling that night was probably going to be a matter of life and death.
John stared at Paige and signaled that they should go under the table closest to them, which a few science projects stood on they could whisper without the sound travelling to whatever had just crashed through the roof of their their school hall. Paige nodded in agreement and crawled under the table followed by John. Once under the table Paige asked “what do you think it is?”
“No idea” replied John, “A plane crash maybe?” interrupted Paige
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhh” hissed John “listen”.
All this time, the smash of wood breaking of what used to be a roof, was noise enough-but as what sounded like the last piece of wood hit the floor, a new and terrifying noise filled the still air. John and Paige listened to what was best described as a series of inaudible squeaks and groans. Neither children dared to say anything, but curiosity got the better of John as he lifted the tablecloth just enough to peer out from under the table and see who or what was making the noise. He then silently slammed down the table cloth as he felt a hot sticky liquid trickle down his pants, it then registered with John he had peed his pants. But he couldn’t have cared less, because at this moment he wanted to be anywhere else in the world but where he was now, because their ‘mystery visitor’ was not from earth, because the ‘mystery visitor’ was a hideous alien. John had to do everything he could to stop himself from screaming.
Immediately John turned around back to Paige and whispered “there is an alien in the their school hall”.
“Really? Well was he travelling with pink fairies and two unicorns on their way to candy mountain” Paige replied in a mocking tone struggling not to bust out in a fit of laughter. John stared at her and gestured for her to look out from under the table cloth, she did and about ten seconds later she stuck her head back under the table, her mocking grin was now gone and was replaced by a very pale and scared face. “Oh my god” was all she could say. They were both frozen in fear but John had to do something “Paige, we need to get out of here quickly” said John in a careful tone of voice. She nodded, and finally began to talk, “firstly we need to get out from this table, and since there are the science projects on top of tables we wont be seen by…it” she said hastily, John nodded in agreement and silently crawled out from under the table and stood up, Paige soon did the same. John was just about to open his mouth in attempt to org their schools a plan that could get them out of there alive when Paige tripped. She was standing up one minute and the next; she had lost her footing and went hurdling into a bunch of five science projects. John stared at her numbed by the incidence that had occurred, and then John realized that the alien was staring right at them.
John finally managed to look straight at the alien; his face was half human and half alien, literally. The alien half of his face was a green bumpy texture without any facial features except for a small round eye that seemed lifeless, glassy and still. The human side just looked like an average thirty something year old man. A jagged line of what looked like stitches connected the two faces. John was frozen in fear just staring at him, and the alien hurled four tables across the hall without actually moving. Paige swiftly stood up and swore under her breath at the alien’s power. “We have got to get out of here” John cried out, grabbing Paige just in time, as twenty chairs suddenly flew across the room crashing through the windows above them sending a shower of shattering glass raining down, slicing and cutting Paige and John as they frantically raced around the room. Then they both realized there was no hope.
John raced through the dark hall running into tables and science projects, frantically searching for a way to escape, another chair flew over his head and through yet another window. Then it came to him, he had a plan that would save his life and allow him to escape, free of harm. A plan that would leave Paige, all alone fighting for her life. A plan that could possibly end Paige’s life and save John’s. A good plan, but a selfish plan. Thoughts like these bombarded John’s head as he ran to the window that he would escape from. He stood still as he stared up at the window that was so high up, so close to the roof. There were ledges that he could climb on, but it would still be hard to reach the top. But John didn’t care. He climbed and climbed, and did not look down until he could no longer hear the faint screams of Paige below him, fighting for her life. He stared up; once again at the window that was now so much closer than before, he could feel the cool night’s air rush in through the large hole surrounded by a border of jagged glass. John took a deep breath and embarked on the last part of his climb to safety. But then a chair flew past John and landed through the window just beside the one that John needed to climb though. John tensed in the realization that the alien had spotted his attempt to escape and was trying to put a stop to it. The impact of the aliens throw made the glass on John’s window quiver and tremble until it started to fall from the remains of the window and onto John. He successfully avoided the falling glass and repositioned himself; his arms were stretched out above him clinging to a petite ledge. Then all in one swift move a large chunk of glass above him gave way, toppled, and landed right in the middle of his hand. John winced at the immense pain of the incident, pulled out the glass and continued to climb upwards until he reached a point where he could climb no longer. His fingers lightly gripped the thick windowsill as his feet dangled in the air, as there were no more ledges he could stand on. His wound had been bleeding but now the blood rushed out of the deep wound, trickled down his arm and leaked into his eyes. The whole effect stung his eyes and altered his vision. So in one unthinkable act, without giving it a thought, he took his cut and wounded hands and attempted to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Before he knew it he felt the air rush past his face as he plummeted to the hard, wooden ground.
John blinked once, twice, three times and looked around. Was he dead? He didn’t know where he was or why he was there or how much time had passed, but then it came flooding back to him. He immediately looked at his arm to see Paige’s cardigan tightly tied around his cut. John immediately felt like an idiot, she had saved his life when he was so ready to play a part in ending hers. John got up and right away his head ached, but all the same he looked around and recognized his surroundings to be the science room; Paige must have fought with the alien and left him in the science room. So, thought John, where was she now? Suddenly, John heard fighting sounds up the hallway and realized that’s where Paige must have been. John got to his feet and was about to exit the room, to go help Paige as he should of last time, but realized he didn’t want a repeat of what happened last time, and raced next door into the food tech room where he grabbed two steak knifes. He then ran to where the noise was coming from but realized the noise was everywhere. But why, John thought. After as much thinking as his injured head would allow, John realized the noise must be coming over the intercom. That made sense, thought John, while fighting Paige must have pressed the button that activates the intercom. John picked up a nearby chair and chucked it at a close by window. He then climbed through the window, which was luckily close to the ground and landed which only minor ground shock on the ground. He looked around, it was still dark and John didn’t know how long he had been unconscious for, but it looked around midnight. He then raced with sharp knifes in each of his injured hands to help the girl who had saved his life even when he had endangered hers, the girl who helped him, the girl who he once hated, the girl he was finally about to save.
John stared at the empty black sky. His run slowed to a deliberate walk as he neared the office. Thoughts like, why are you doing this, why should you even care, bombarded him even though the answer was obvious. She had saved his life, when he hadn’t given a second thought about hers ending. John stood in front of the office door frozen in the knowledge his life could end tonight. Then he heard a blood curdling scream, probably Paige’s, which settled it, John was going in. He thrust out his hand, gripped the cold metal door handle, turned the handle and walked in.
As soon as John walked through the door he knew it was bad. Really bad. Furniture was strewn around, and the once painstakingly neat reception area was now a disarray of papers and furniture. Further down the corridor a chair was lodged in the wall. But John couldn’t hear any noises. The whole place was silent. But, thought John, he had heard a scream; he had heard everything that was happening via the intercom. Then, he remembered when his teacher sent him to retrieve the folders she had left in the staff room. Immediately John knew this was where Paige and the alien were, it was obvious. The single thought of going into the staffroom for a second time petrified John. Metal stairs coated in cobwebs connected the new, modern reception and office area to the old frightening, bloodcurdling staff room. Old chairs formed a frightening ring in the middle of the stained and daunting area. But the thing that really scared John was the rumor that an old teacher had committed suicide in the staff room. Normally, John didn’t listen to idiotic rumors like this one, but the fact that none of the teachers let alone students would ever step foot in that frightful room unless you really needed to. John shrugged and bought himself back to reality. He knew he would have to go up there, and he knew this was where it would end. With a knife clutched forcefully in each bruised and battered hand, John put a foot on the first of many grimy stairs and began to walk up to the room in which Paige and a alien were battling to the death, unsure if he’d ever walk back down.
As John neared the end of the stairs he began to hear crashes and thunderous screams. He sighed deeply and continued to climb each spooky, grimy, metal stair until he reached the top. For almost a minute John stared at the door, it had various stains that were hardly visible under the blackness of the night’s sky, thick cobwebs graced every centimeter of the large old fashioned wooden door. Crash! Something had hit the other side of the door and Paige’s earsplitting scream filled the still air. From that moment John felt disconnected from the terror of the night’s events and adrenaline rushed through his veins. Immediately he smashed open the door the find the alien looming over Paige. The alien’s vulgar half human, half alien face still managed to scare John. John quickly surveyed the room the neat circle of chairs were now flung around, some embedded in the wall. Paige seemed to be OK, but so did the alien. Paige stared at John in confusion with a look of ‘why would you come here’ plastered on her face. The look soon changed to understanding and relief when Paige saw the two knifes in Johns hand. She gestured for John to throw her a knife and he walked up to her, so they were now side by side and passed her a knife. They both turned their attention to the alien who now had a look of bemusement plastered on his face. He then looked at John and Paige’s knifes, chuckled and said “a knife? are you kidding me? you really think a knife will kill me?” John looked shocked as this was the first time the alien had ever really spoken. Paige shrugged and replied by throwing the knife in a dagger like style at the alien’s leg. The alien buckled over and clutched his wounded leg. Paige and John were shocked beyond belief when they saw bright neon green rush out of his deep wound. Paige recovered quickly from such a shock, snatched John’s knife and plunged in into the alien’s skull. Another flow of bright green blood came rushing out and formed a puddle around the aliens limp carcass. “Not only are you a monster you’re a liar too” Paige spat at the aliens lifeless body. John was frozen in shock because of the green blood and the fact the alien was finally dead. John was awoken from his deep relief when Paige ran up to John with tears in her eyes and wrapped him in a big bear hug. “John” she screamed “you’re okay!”
“Thanks, Paige I’m glad you’re okay as well” began John in a matter of fact tone “but I have something I have got to tell you”
“Wait” interrupted Paige “this place gives me the creep’s can we go to the library to talk instead”. John smiled and nodded
“Let’s go” he said.
So that was how Paige and John walked, hand in hand to the their school library. Once there John told Paige everything, about his plan to escape alone and Paige told John about what had happened when he was unconscious. Apparently Paige discovered John lying down in a pool of blood; she had then tied her jumper around his arm in attempt to stop the blood loss. She then dragged him to the science room where he’d be safe and she could continue to fight the alien, but the alien found out where she was and attacked her in the science room. Luckily the alien hadn’t seen John as Paige had hidden him under a table. Then the alien began to attack Paige, but fortunately the alien didn’t manage to hurt her. Subsequently for the rest of the time John was out cold, Paige tried to lead the alien to the their school office as it was far away from the science room. Then she realized John may be waking up soon, so while fighting she turned on the intercom therefore John could hear what as going on and go to the office where he would help her defeat the alien once and for all.
“I still can’t believe everything you did Paige” said John “and you still managed to defeat the alien by yourself”. Paige lifted her head from the book she was reading and smiled at John. It was about six in the morning and the sun was rising. For the past few hours John and Paige had been chatting, explaining, and apologizing about the events of the night before. A few questions were still nagging at John, but he decided not to ask. “Paige” John said “I’m sorry I was so horrible to you, about everything” Paige smiled, put her book down, and walked towards John “you know what” she began, while walking down the small flight of four stairs that connected the two levels of the library together, “I think…ouch!”. John quickly turned to see that Paige had cut herself on the sharp metal hand rail of the stairs. “Are you okay” John said while walking over to Paige who was bent over, clutching her hand. “Let’s have a look” John said in a friendly tone. “No!” screamed Paige “go away!” she said menacingly. “What?” said John in confusion? Without thinking, Paige got up and said “don’t look at it, it’s just a scratch “while by accidentallly lifting up her hand. John stared at her cut in alarm, dismay, incomprehension, and dread all before that single drop of neon green blood could hit the ground.
