SPECIAL For the Skeptics

John was a simple man of relatively little imagination, so for him to be startled out of his dream in this manner was quite uncommon for him. He rarely even recalled dreaming and was quite down to earth with a regular job and normal family. He could not see himself as someone given to daydreams or flights of fancy and was practical in his view of the world. On this night however, he grasped for meaning, anything that would help him understand what he had seen in this dream. He closed his eyes to replay the dream an attempt to see if there was something more to it. This was more to convince him there was nothing to this other then an uncommon vivid dream.

John watched as a checkered black and white serpent exited from an abyss in space wrapped itself around the world and squeezed until world exploded into brilliant shards of energy. Then just as quickly the serpent dove back into the abyss taking with it the souls of the world it had just destroyed. Transfixed he sat in bed convincing himself it was just strange dream. He knew that realistic as it was, he just needed to let this go. As he slowly regained his composure a realization that he was still dreaming swept over him. Strange voices started discussing his reaction; he could not make out what they were saying even though the voices were clearly in his head. A sound like whales signing, no much shorter bursts, more metallic in nature. The dialogue was foreign, but somehow he could understand the underlying meaning of the conversation. John tried looking around to see where it was coming from; he could sense them in the room, standing off to the side watching. Panic gripped him as he tried to free himself, noticing he could not move. "What do they want?" he asked himself "I'm dreaming, calm down" he repeated this to himself as anger and fear intermingled in his mind. He tried to focus on their presence to regain control, certain that if he could see them then at least he could deal with this uneasy feeling of being watched. He had an overwhelming desire to shake himself awake to prove this was just a nightmare. Slowly a mass of thin spindly arms in what looked like rapidly stammered motion came into focus. He tried screaming but no noise came out, just a high pitch internal cry, as his mind raced to comprehend what he was seeing. The faces came in closer as if to confront him with a curiosity of why he was even able to see them. His psyche overwhelmed him with a sensation of static fear. Black eyes emotionless were staring back hypnotically altering his perception of reality around him.

Immobilized, horrified he watched the creatures worked on various parts of his body, always in that swift erratic motion but with an almost robotic precision. Unadulterated hatred emanated from him as his thoughts moved into wanting to crush these creatures. Paralyzed he could do nothing; his mind struggled fighting hard to move his muscles. He knew had he been able to move he would have fought them with a violence that could only come from uncontrolled rage. He would not have been responsible for what he did to them; they would have deserved every bit of it. In response to his emotional escapade he felt a voice trying to soothe him, to calm him down, as if to say his behavior was unnecessary. He black out at this point, and the following morning he hardly remembered the events of the night before. He felt tired as though he had fought all night, and his memory felt groggy. He did need to get to work, so he let it go as a nightmare he could barely remember anyway. As he stepped into the shower he did notice some bruise marks, and figured he had tossed and turned in his sleep, which would explain why he felt tired after a long night of sleep.

[Continued]

[contined]

John's story in itself was unremarkable and would have easily have been forgotten had it not been for his three year old daughter one day about six months later claiming a monster had come into her room the night before. John noticed the fear in his daughter and knew she had approached him with a trust and hope he would be able to help her. She wanted him to make them go away. He was concerned because of her young age and had to find some way to reassure her. He contemplated the situation, his thoughts telling him these were most likely just nightmares and to empower her was probably the best course of action. He could not tell a three year old that her perceptions were invalid but he could give her tools to defeat these nightmares. She was a cute child with brownish blonde hair all in ringlets framing her rounded features and her silvery brown eyes expressing wisdom beyond her years. John slightly over dramatizing the situation began to play to into solving this perplexing problem.

"We are going to get this monster, turn him into a mini-frog"

Sandra's eyes lit up, encouraged John continued.

"Yep, then you get to put him in a jar and keep him as a pet"

She giggled a little, not knowing what to make of it. Would she really want to keep a monster in a jar?

"Can't we just throw him away?"

"hmmmm... I suppose, but I think a monster screaming in a little squeaky voice "let me out of here" will be so much fun. We get to make funny face at him too. booyah booyah booyah"

With a big grin on his face letting her know he was playing he watched her reaction as she thought it over.

"How are you going to catch him?"

"Now we are talking! We are going to trap him, then we are going to shrink him, and then we are going to turn him into a frog"

"But how?"

"You are right that is a tough one uh, well let me think about it for a while"

Her eyes looking at John were expressing an 'I know' like she had been trying to figure this out for a while too.

Later that day John called Sandra down to show her the trap he had built, and how to work it, it was an odd looking device, with wire mesh and lights all pointing into the trap.

"So when the monster pops out we wrap him up like this and you flip the switch so he is trapped in the light."

Sandra's eyes were wide watching the demonstration. "Can't he get away”?

"Oh no monsters are afraid of light, so he's going to be frozen in here with nowhere to go."

She still looked unsure so John decided to show her the one way he knew she would remember.

"I'll be the monster and you trap me in here ok."

After a few false starts and a couple of trial runs, John found himself successfully in the trap.

"Help me, help me," he feigned being the monster helplessly trapped in the contraption.

"I got you, I got you" Sandra was dancing around

"Let me out or I'll eat you"

"No you won't" Sandra knew she was in control. Laughing and happy with her new toy "do it again"

John obliged her a few more times to build her confidence up, then carried the whole assembly upstairs with Sandra close behind him. She directed him on where to place it making sure that it would work. She even placed a few stuffed animals around the base to hide it in case monster could see it.

"Oh, before I forget, you are going to need the shrink converter gun" pulling out a medium sized water pistol he presented it to her, it was pink, with clear purple plastic pieces. "It's loaded,” he warned her.

She looked at the water gun a bit disappointed, fairly sure this was not going to work.

Noticing her disappointment John quickly started to explain. "It's what's inside that makes it work"

Her eyes lit up, curiosity had gotten her. She looked at him waiting for an explanation

[Continued]

[edit on 21-11-2008 by EldersCouncil]

[continued]

"If you spray the monster with water then he shrinks, then we mixed in some vinegar" he looked at her to make sure she was buying it "they are so afraid of vinegar, anyway the vinegar turns him into a frog. You have to be really careful with this stuff"

She seemed a little satisfied though not completely convinced and gave John a puzzled look.

"It works and really fast too"

"Ok" she said as she place the gun under her bed.

It would be a few more nights before, the house seemed to quiet down and everyone was finally entered their happy zone. When for lack of better words a disruption occurred that the family never really talked about as if it was best to simply let it be forgotten. A whimpering woke John up and he was running for his daughter’s room still half asleep not knowing what to expect. A light was emanating from under her bedroom door, which seemed odd because it wasn't bright enough for her overhead light and definitely stronger then the night-light. As he entered the room he noticed the trap he had built a few days earlier was lit up and in it was a creature struggling to escape. Disbelief, at what he saw, his daughter curled up in the corner of her bed clearly frightened beyond anything he had ever seen, and the trap shaking in front of the wardrobe mirrors as the creature tried to set itself free. It's a damn Alien, he had heard of description and never believed in the stories. Those people were crazy or at least did not know what reality was. His mind tried to comprehend why he was being subjected to this. He tried to tell himself he was in another strange dream but could not get the confirmation this was too real. He had to do something. He grabbed the wooden desk chair and turned on the creature beating the trap with all his might. He would kill this thing that was threatening his daughter. As he was striking the trap he watched in amazement as the creature literally evaporated in front of him. Stunned he looked around expecting this alien to still be in the room hiding possibly ready to attack back. There was nothing it had vanished as if it had never existed to begin with.

For the next few months Sandra slept with her parents, eventually making her way back to her own room. John would never forget that night, sometimes in a joking manner he would cryptically claimed he killed an alien once. He never explained it though when asked what do you mean he would just smile as if to say I know what I know.


This IS fiction

Fiction eh???


Well IT cud be TRUE .. or something

reply to post by Melyanna Tengwesta



Thanx Melyanna, but this needs to remain in the realm of fiction, besides if it were true it would loose its nice and safe appeal

reply to post by EldersCouncil


Hey there ElderCouncil,

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading that ... it really drew me in ... even though I know how it would end. Well written and entertaining, thanks for posting it.

Oh! Just before I go ... do you have a daughter ... are you John ... is it really nice and safe ???

Woody

Hi Woody beautiful avatar something about it gives me a sense of gentle peace.

yes I do have a daughter, however I am not John

On the last question, for me nice and safe when dealing with the paranormal depends on how much my perception of reality is challenged. Having my perception challenged is not necessarily a bad thing. We all have our safety net of boundaries including me. Letting go of these boundaries or allowing them to move at times can be a scary proposition. So for me safe may just be what is accepted as possible inside those boundaries. I see fiction as something we play with or allow ourselves to explore while remaining within reach of our own safety net. Every now and then we allow ourselves to explore beyond. These can be wonderful experiences, even if this only teaches us that our perception of what is can be moved.


This one is for you.

As we stepped out of this battle against darkness, it called back to us "If you do not fight this darkness then who will stop it?" I remember thinking "This is why we search for the inner light that shines in each of us."

reply to post by EldersCouncil


That was a great read. Keep up the good work

-Ign0RanT

Hey there 'EldersCouncil',

What a great reply !

>>> 'This is why we search for the inner-light that shines within each of us'

reply to post by woodwytch


Dammit !!! Not sure what happened there but half my post hs gone missing.

Woody

no problem Woody, it is just one of those things powers greater then ourselves sometimes decide to keep secret

I have a view of anomalies that accepts that there is an intelligence that protects us. Certain information sometimes does not belong where we would like it to and may not be as benign as we initially thought it would be. Even if this thread ended up in no man's land it is still in the open.

There are universal forces that few ever get to see at work, and when we do it changes our perception of what is possible forever. It also reminds us and teaches us that we shold be very careful with what we have very little understanding of.

YesI'm inclined to agree with you there.

This has happened a few times when I've replied to a post in depth ... only to find my computer goes down or the important part is missing.

Let's see if this makes it !

Woody

Great Story

Had me hooked till the end.