This is the first chapter of a story I started writing. I haven't written any more since my writing has improved and I may end up re-writing the story from scratch. Anyways, here is the first chapter.
Chapter 1-
I sat atop the roof of our house admiring the fireworks before they vanished into the deep blue mass. My brother, Eli, who was sitting beside me, examined the bursts of colors in deep contemplation. His short and spiky dark brown hair didn't match my girly layered cut that curled up at the ends. Other than me being a girl and him being a boy, he looks like me and is the same age as I. We are identical twins.
We were born twelve years ago in a small town off the coast of Northern California. When we were ready to be taken home from the hospital, Mom cradled us, one in each arm and Dad pushed her in a wheelchair to the car on the hot summer day. The dry heat made us both shriek in misery. I only knew this because Mom tells the story about the day she brought home her two bundled babies. She was happy and so was Dad. I don't remember anything because I was just a baby and our parents don't talk much more about our birth even though they care for us. I think they avoid talking about it since my brother likes to argue he was born first even though it really doesn't matter since everyone is born into this world naked.
The bright hues of colors continued to spread throughout the sky. We had been watching them for half-an-hour or so. And like I remember from last year when we were eleven-years-old, they didn't go on forever. All good things eventually come to an end.
Below us on the porch, I could hear Mom's chuckle as Dad told one of his dry jokes. I didn't catch what he was saying but it was probably just a dumb Dad joke anyway.
Eli yawned, spreading out his arms like an eagle in flight. I yawned too.
"Geeze, all that noise, and no finale." He said looking down at his white sneakers with red stripes.
Just then, the city in the distance of our acre home let out the last bunch of fireworks, sending out several large bursts of colorful light and cracks of noise. Eli covered his ears. I laughed.
"It's not funny." He frowned.
I stuck my tongue out at him in refusal to play along with his misery tune. There was no way I was letting his moodiness tear me down. Not on a night like this. Not when we are all together watching the celebration of independence day unfold before our eyes.
"You are stubborn just like Mom," He said staring out into the dark sky. The fireworks were over.
"And you refuse to listen to Mom just like Dad," I teased.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance."Ugh, I am going to bed." It was getting late anyway.
Positioning himself over the ridge of the rooftop, he climbed down the metal ladder that we placed to watch the fireworks.
One step after another he climbed down from the roof while I continued to watch the sky.
In the distance, I noticed a bright ripple. A tide of some sort. It was probably a star twinkling brighter than ever.
"Hey, Eli!" I yelled down from the house just as my brother was about to jump off the bottom of the ladder and run into the house.
"What? I'm going inside now," He yelled back sounding annoyed.
"Is that a star?" I pointed out in the distance where the ripple twinkled. It was brighter than most stars. Maybe it was the Sirius A, also known as the brightest star in the sky. Although, its twinkling feature seemed to swirl more rapidly than most.
"I don't know. Maybe Dad knows." He said worriedly gazing at the strange twinkling outlet.
I rubbed my eyes gently focusing on the point of light. "I don't think its a star."
"Maybe it is and we just forgot about it," He sassed as he stood on the porch just below that ladder squinting at the sky.
The ripple started to oscillate as my brother and I stared at the glint in wonderment.
It continued to twinkle just like any other star, but it seemed out of place.
I couldn't remember if we ever learned about another star that bright in school, other than Sirius A. Something didn't seem right—not right at all.
"This is stupid," Eli grouched, "It's just a star we forgot was there in the first place."
I knew that stars didn't swirl so rapidly, not to mention so clear and close to earth. There was no point in arguing with my grumpy twin brother even though he continued to stare at it in curiosity, just as if he were thinking the same thing as I. Is it really just a star?
"I'm going inside now, for real this time." He said when suddenly a magnetic hum echoed throughout the sky.
Bursts of lighting spewed from the empty space above and the bright ripple had expanded into a swirling vortex. Definitely not a star.
I could see Eli's eyes fill with terror.
Dad bolted out of the house, snapping some sense into me. "Get off the roof right now, Elsa!"
I hastily climbed down the ladder, trying not to slip on my pink tennis shoes.
Dad grabbed my hand, pulling me off the ladder, and then my brother, rushing us to the safety of our home. "It must be an incoming storm," He said shutting the door behind us.
Mom walked into the living room next to the entrance of our home where we stood and checked in with her usual saying when things seemed off, "Is everything alright?"
I stood next to the door in bewilderment at what I had I just seen.
Eli slowly walked over to the couch in the living room. The fear in his eyes still stirring with deep complexity.
Dad glanced at me then to Eli his face struck with a look of concern, "What's wrong with you two?" He had no clue about what we had just witnessed.
Eli was now curled up in a ball, his hands wrapped around his knees as he sat upright on the couch shaking.
"I saw something fall out of that star. It was a blob of darkness." He squeaked.
"What's going on?" Mom looked utterly confused.
"Just some storm," Dad said sternly. He was probably thinking Eli was being a big baby.
"Dad, it's not just a storm. Eli is right. That star, it wasn't there before." I tried to get him to understand that stars don't just appear and turn into swirling vortexes.
"That's enough. You two need to stop telling stories. Both of you. I'm not letting you two play games like this anymore. Not on me and definitely not on your mother."
Dad was right. Eli and I had our fair share of tricks on Mom and him but this time it wasn't a trick.
Mom was now sitting next to Eli, rubbing his back gently and telling him everything was going to be okay. Maybe she thought he was having a panic attack. Who wouldn't after what we just saw.
Dad stood with his hands on his waist when his phone let out several blares of sound—the sound you hear when a kid goes missing, or when a storm is about to hit in a local area.
Dad pulled out his phone hurriedly then glared at the screen. His eyes glazed over with intensity.
"Turn on the TV," He ordered Mom.
Dad rushed over to the couch. I followed.
Mom grabbed the remote from the coffee table, pushing the red power button. The screen of the TV lit up, showing a news reporter whose face was stiffened with unease.
We all watched the screen intensely.
The news reporter tugged at his tie."As some of you might have witnessed, there are heavy storms happening all over the world. Scientists have warned us of climate change for decades. But this time it's not us. Please stay calm. Or find the nearest bunker near you. Be safe. May God be with us all." The screen faded out leaving a haze of black and white dots. No picture. Only a static mess.
Eli who had stopped shaking was now completely frozen, his arms wrapped around his knees.
Tears falling from her face, Mom looked at Dad. "What do we do?"
"Stay here," He said then dashed out from the living room then down the hall leaving the three of us on the couch huddled together.
We sat quietly, not saying anything to each other. Then the lights went out.
"Oh, great. That's just great," I cried cuddling up next to Mom who wrapped her other arm around me.
I hadn't been this close to Mom since I was small and could fit in her arms. Her hair smelled of a flowery fragrance, just like I vaguely remember.
I peered over at the window that was perched on the wall several feet away from the couch we sat on. The moonlight reflected on the wood floor leaving a glimmer of light on the surface. It brought me comfort knowing the moonlight was still there to comfort me in the darkness.
Everything seemed okay for a while until I realized that the storms had stopped. Or so I thought.
A sudden thunderous roar filled the skies outside. A burst of lightning hit the front porch. I screamed. Eli jumped.
Storms never happened only moments later to stop. Something mustered the air, a stench of something unfamiliar. I could feel it.
Goosebumps eroded from my pale skin. I had never felt this afraid before. Not of the dark anyway. Mom always told me when I was little, there were never any monsters to be afraid when the night sky replaced the setting sun. Despite me being too old to believe in such nonsense, I was beginning to doubt her words.
Eli, who I thought might have been paralyzed peeped out from the dark, "Where's dad? He's taking too long."
"Just wait, he will be here soon," Mom said softly.
The hair on my arms stood up. I now had all the signs on my body that anyone would have if there was really a beast, a monster, or something to fear.
The front door started to rattle violently. My suspicions were lining up to be true.
Mom grabbed Eli and I as ducked near the coffee table in front of the couch that had its back faced to the door that rattled ferociously.
The door burst open. All three of us braced ourselves from whatever had broken in.
Mom and Eli stayed put, their breath heavy and fearful.
"We have to hide," I whispered.
"Dad isn't back yet." Eli's voice shook.
I looked at Eli's crouched figure in panic. "We can't just hide here."
"Stay put, Elsa," Mom whispered below her breath.
I couldn't wait for Dad with the thought of whatever had broken in finding us flocked together and defenseless. All three of us would be swallowed up and eaten.
I quickly crawled across the floor, scampering for another place to hide.
"Elsa, get back here." Mom pressed through her whisper.
A monstrous groan and static zip whisked the air. I covered my mouth as to not let my breathing be heard by whatever had arrived. I didn't want it to find me, or even worse, kill.
I continued to crawl across the floor quickly like a mouse then hid under the kitchen table. Mom and Eli were now alone in the living room.
The groan carried through the silence, this time louder. I peered under the table looking into the living room noticing the TV glowing brighter and brighter.
Another static zip was met by a massive blob. This monster, or whatever it was, it had appeared from what seemed to be thin air and was making its way to where Mom and Eli hid.
Eli screamed as the monstrous blob came into his sight. It had no face and was as dark as the midnight sky. Its arms were like tentacles and the bottom of its body was covered with tendrils as it slithered steadily against the wooden floors until it was inches away from my brother.
It reached one of its tendrils toward him. Eli was now petrified in his place. Mom couldn't do anything either. She was trembling.
Its arms made it's way closer and closer to my screaming brother's forehead. BANG. BANG. Dad to the rescue.
Its body started to twist morbidly. The bullet wounds oozed, a blackened mass of liquid seeping out from where it had been shot.
Dad ran over to Mom and Eli, grabbed them, then ran out of the house leaving me behind.
I watched it sit motionless on the floor, its tendrils lighting up with an electric current. A lightning element zipping through its body. The holes where it had been shot disappeared.
After its rapid recovery, It continued to lurk, leaving traces of its thick ichor across the floor. It was heading straight towards the TV.
It reached one of its arms out again, and then placed it on the buzzing display.
It absorbed it's meal and crackled like lightning sending electric sparks out from its body.
I didn't have any more time to question what the blob was if I wanted to live. Now or never.
I dashed out from under the table and ran so fast that my hair carried behind me like it would on a windy day. I made it outside to the front porch, then continued down the front yard down the graveled path. I didn't look back, not even once.
I made it to the tail of the red pickup truck on the path near the front of our house. Thank goodness my family did not leave me to be eaten by the monster.
Dad saw me in his rearview mirror and with a look of relief he got out of the truck and picked me up like he did when I was a baby. He threw me in next to Mom who had been crying. Her face was stained with tears and Eli, who sat beside her, was staring at the dashboard in a trance-like state.
Dad closed his door, then quickly hit the gas making the truck speed up the dirt path, then onto the main road.
All was silent as Dad drove us far away from our acre home in a small town on the coast of Northern California. I guess I was right. All good things do come to an end.
