Day 1
Because of the new virus putting most of earth on lock down, it gave me plenty of time to find the heirloom that held the key to another part of what I saw as my family.
At 1am the next morning I stealthily snuck out of my apartment to not wake anybody...
I biked around the corner of black lake road, it led me to the bizarre empty car parks of some of the former busiest shopping centre's.
After I finished staring I slipped my bare hands into the pockets of my winter coat and continued to bike to my secret place.
The place I claimed as my own at the age of seven (when my family and I were here for a holiday). This is the place I came to relax, to ease my mind and to try to connect with the ones who dad always talked about. To most people it was just an empty park but to me it was so much more... while everyone else had been sleeping in their bed during quarantine I had been coming here every night.
See I'm not your average dude, I am a creator, an innovator.
I didn't understand why this park was so important to me but it held a special place in my heart, which is why I used it to contact the people who were so important to my family.
I grabbed my phone and checked the time... I startled myself, a long night's work felt like 5 minutes. it was already 6:30am (my roommate wake’s up at 7) I had to go.
I dashed to grab my bike and got home in record time. I stumbled up the creaking stairs, unlocked the door and tipped toed in, while walking down the corridor I glanced at my reflection in the mirror next to it the old radio my dad gave me. While I was distracted I kicked an umbrella that knocked a painting down off of the wall, the crash echoed around the small New York apartment.
I raced to my mediocre room just off the hallway and threw on a robe to hide that I was out all night. As I was about to leave my room I saw fish fingers and toilet paper flying towards the front door,
I pretended to be startled by the sudden outburst of the country girl,
"Callie!" I screamed trying to act like I was unaware of what was going on, though I saw it coming.
"Callie" I said once more.
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Callie screeched. Callie's insane eyes darted towards me pure fire pulsing through her veins. I thought for a moment that the grease stains on her apron were going to catch fire.
"Dude, calm down I was just... uh putting the bins out."
"Oh ok!" Callie's expression and mood changed instantly, immediately after she went skipping into the kitchen to make herself breakfast. I sighed with relief this is why she's my best friend super funny, gullible and great home protection, see Callie did 3 years of jujitsu 2 years of taekwondo and 2 years of muay thai, still her best defence mechanism is to throw anything she has at them, it's a blessing and a curse really.
"YO JACK, GET OUT HERE! JACK HURRY UP, YOU'RE SO SLOW!"
"SHUT UP I'M COMING! Jeez…"
I sat down at the small second hand dining table looking up at Callie.
"Sleep well?" I asked Callie, but had no interest.
"Yeah, how was the park?" Callie said as she sat down with our goreme breakfast.
"Good-" I nearly choked on the mouthful of bacon I had just stuffed in my mouth. I glanced up at Callie's evil smirk.
"What- how-...how did you know I was at the park?"
"Wow giving up so easily?" She said, mockingly rolling her eyes.
"I'm just confused… how did you know?"
"Its Sunday bins go out on Thursday, I was going to scare you to wake you up but you weren't home and you've always loved that park... I just connected the dots… long story short you're terrible at keeping secrets from me"
"... True…" I said with a sigh of defeat, "You know me too well…"
I had finished my breakfast when Callie said
"You need a partner…"
"Huh? What do you mean a partner?"
"Ya know, like Batman and Robin?" Callie started making gestures as if she was fighting someone.
"Uhm… i'm not-"
I was saved from the question when there was a knock on the door, Callie jumped up and opened it.
It was Grayson, Liam and Cameron. We had all been friends since the beginning of college.
Grayson is the self obsessed one who thinks all his problems would be solved with a wink.
Then there's Liam the smart and quiet one he keeps to himself a lot but once you get to know him he's super nice and then Cameron, Callie's little brother he's the youngest out of all of us yet the tallest he is kind but can be dumb and can make rash decisions.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE!? We are meant to be in lock down!"
Callie continued to bark at Cameron about how he was ‘breaking the law’, As the group pushed her out of the way. (Though she wasn’t a great example… she's a hypocrite.)
I leaned back on my chair to see down the hall, and saw what looked like a stampede charging towards me.
Cameron and Grayson were sprinting at me while Liam was just calmly walking up to me still beating the other two.
I looked at the confused boys, Laim shook me while I was still sitting in my chair, his facial expression not changing in the slightest. It was relatively scary.
"Why are you here." I said just before Liam let the words fall out of his mouth, I tried to stand my ground and sound confronting.
"Turn on your radio, where is it!" Remembering that it was back by the door, Cameron ran back to where his sister was standing and shoved her out of the way with no regard for her.
He ran back chuckling, holding my 1960´s radio and slammed it onto the table, the bang would've alarmed any neighbours if we had any.
The four houses surrounding ours have been abandoned for almost 2 years now, but knowing that the rent here is cheap…
"Hey why are you here anyway we're meant to be self isolating?!" I said.
They looked at me glaringly then quickly turned on the radio, to my surprise it still worked. Static felt as if it was wiping around and throughout my room. The sounds of scared and confused people danced around the kitchen and into my living room, the TV flashed with multiple different colors. Pink, blue, yellow, green, black and white. In that exact order again and again. Then the electricity cut out, a scream from behind made my ears ring.
The lights turned on again and I knew exactly who it was.
"Gray?"
"Yeah?" Grayson said, making his voice as deep and 'manly' as possible.
I rolled my eyes knowing that I didn't need to ask any more questions.
Really I didn't need to even ask Gray anything after being friends with him for so long, I know that he's the human embodiment of a siren.
"Guys... shh" Liam whispered at a volume almost invisible to our ears.
"Why!..." Callie´s stubborn attitude made a new entrance.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" She continued to interrogate the four of us, when I saw Laim slowly crawling into a corner and stood up. Trying not to make it noticeable I followed him, then he just stopped… I glanced over his shoulder and was shocked and fell back.
That's when Callie noticed me, she saw how pale I had gotten and how afraid I looked. The other 3 rushed over in confusion, quickly confusion turned into concern and concern turned into panic then… excitement. After I realised I hadn't imagined what I had just seen, one sentence replayed in my head.
"That wasn't supposed to happen…"
I looked at the crowd all huddled into the corner of my kitchen.
In a dazed voice I interrupted their conversation,
"That wasn't supposed to happen was it?"
Everyone's eyes darted between each other, me and the thing in the corner.
The silence was almost defining knowing that if it was supposed to happen I would have gotten a reply, so instead I tried to rephrase the question.
“Was that supposed to happen…?” I asked my voice now, timid and afraid. Still no one bothered to say anything or even look at me, a wave of anxiety washed over me.
“Well what was meant to h-happen…?” I muttered while sitting down in another room.
I covered my face with my hands and curled up into a ball on my couch, I took a few deep breaths and relaxed. When I sat up and uncovered my face, I saw all of my friends standing over me, curious I looked beside me. This was the first time I got a good look at the creature.
They were a giant alien-like thing. They were a cold grey, with 2 misplaced eyes and jagad lips and teeth, they had weird patches of pitch black all over its face, neck and arms with random flecks of pink, yellow and blue as if someone had flicked paint on this little thing, their eyes were two different colours and when they sat down they were limp like a 10ft teddy bear!
But now I wasn't afraid their presence was almost...calming. I felt my breathing slow down and it felt as if I had had a therapy session and I enjoyed it, my friends all could see how calm I had gotten.
“Can we keep them…?” Cameron's muffled voice said.
“Liam?” I said slowly tilting my head up to face him,
“Would it be safe?” Laim looked at the creature, at me and back to the creature.
“Im...Im not sure…”
After a lot of convincing Liam allowed us to keep our new roommate.
“Hey guys shouldn't you try talking to them…?” That was Grayson's first good idea that didn't involve a mirror of some description.
“...hello!...”
Its eyes shifted to face me with a glare that was calming and frightening at the same time, it took a second but it quickly flashed us a small smile.
“..hi...” a quiet croaky voice said.
Its voice was soft but powerful.
Laim chirped up
“Hello,... uhm…” I could see that Laim was debating in his head whether to say ma’am or sir.
“What's your name?” Laim said with little to no emotion,
their eyes darted around.
Suddenly a bright, white light filled the living room, we all scrunched up our eyes and used our arms to block the light but it didn't do anything. We ended up all being consumed by the light. When the light reduced I was still in my living room everyone was still there but the creature there were now 3 6ft dudes all dazed in the middle of my rug. I felt a sudden force hit my back and wrap its arms around me, in fear I slowly turned my head
“JACKIE!...”
the whiny voice of Grayson screeched,
“SAVE MEEE!”
I could hear a snickering from behind, I saw Laim almost crying of laughter along with Cameron and Callie wheezing and gasping for air. I couldn't help but laugh myself. A wave of absolute hysteria drowned the entire room, even the strange people on my living room floor had to break into an awkward smile.
After we calmed down I started really examining the people who were all laying on my couch. 2 of the 3 dudes on the floor looked almost like twins yet opposites at the same time one was tan, with short dark brown hair and patches of pale skin on each eye, hands and his neck he sat up straight with curiosity in his wide eyes.
Another was pretty much the same just a different colour scheme he had blue tinted charcoal skin, his patches were a deep matte black and you couldn't see his right eye, his hair was different shades of black and he laid with his shoes over the back of my couch, I could tell he had more of an attitude.
The last one laying across the couch with his legs on top of his friend, his skin was a pale green with flecks of vibrant pink, blue and yellow, his eyes were the brightest turquoise I’ve ever seen, his hair was wavy and had an ombre effect fading from a dark black to a warm blue that matched a few of his patches. He seemed just as moody as the last.
The first one stood up and cleared his throat, while the other two lay blankly staring at the TV.
“Hello!” his voice was filled with pride and strength, it reminded me of the voice that a motivational speaker would have.
“I am Griffin!” He bowed in front of me, just by hearing his voice I could tell that his personality was imprinted into the creature.
“...Hi!” Cameron eagerly said, there was the similarity between Cameron and Griffin.
I looked closer at Griffin and the other two and there was a weird feeling of familiarity, it felt as if I already knew them in some sense.
Griffin spun around then pointed towards the charcoal grey one,
“He’s Phoenix my little brother!”
Phoenix slowly raised his hand giving a small wave then quickly flopped it back down and continued staring at the somehow still working tv.
Griffin then switched his gaze onto the last remaining nameless character.
“And he's Jay”
Jay looked at us and gave a monotone
“Hey…” with a smile. His voice was scratchy but kind.
When looking at Phoenix, Jay and Griffin I could start to see the attributes that were portrayed into the small creature.
I looked at Callie for once she had stopped talking. It was an odd realisation, I thought that had gotten so good at filtering her blabbering out, but now I know I had just gotten used to hearing her voice constantly in the background. The sound of pure silence was bliss, but that bliss came to an end when Phoenix asked…
“So... uh not to ruin the moment you're having but… where are we?” he said clearly uncomfortable. He sat up and swivelled around, sitting with slouched shoulders, not making eye contact and allowing his hair to fall back onto his face messily.
In my head I had just assumed that they all knew where they were. Hearing Phoenix’s voice for the first time knowing that he wasn't completely comfortable made me feel a slight bit of guilt, clearly he was more comfortable with Jay and Griffin being there.
Then I noticed the teddy bear aspect of the creature from the beginning came from Phoenix. He tried to be edgy and calm but I could tell he was scared and afraid of what was happening, I could tell because I had had that same feeling of being afraid of vulnerability. “New York.” Grayson replied, raising one eyebrow, I guess he had thought that they knew where they were like me.
“So you guys are alien-!”
“HOW old are you guys…!” I said interrupting Callie and putting my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
Phoenix looked away and Jay smiled at Phoenix to calm him down.
Griffin looked at us,
“Im 25” He relaxed his voice
“Jay’s 20 and Phoenix is 17”
“I'm Callie and I'm 23, that's Cameron, he's 20.” Cameron waved
“I’m Gray and uh I’m 22…!”
“I'm Liam, Jack and I are both 21” Laim saved me from answering. I think he could tell I was in shock from hearing that someone who is 6 years younger than me was feeling the same sort of things.
I quickly gained a lot of respect for Phoenix, Jay and Griffin, they were doing so well at looking after this… kid. He was really struggling with his anxieties and could trust them so easily, I knew it was a very difficult thing to do.
“Great, I'm still the youngest one!” Phoenix said, folding his arms and relaxing his posture.
We all snickered a little.
Later that day I walked back into the living room and saw Jay and Phoenix asleep on the couch and Griffin asleep on the floor with his head leaning back onto the armchair. I crept out of the living room trying not to stand on the many creaky floorboards. When I managed to get to my bedroom I sat on my bed and thought about the familiar feeling I had earlier that day. Trying not to analyse it too much I picked up dad's old journal.
Dad was an author. He loved researching the paranormal and the mysterious happenings of the towns nearby the one we grew up in. I grew up in Bromley London with my dad, my older brother and my sister. When we were all little dad would take us on trips to different places that were filled with story ideas and character plots for his best-selling books. My older brother Brodey, loved dad's books the most; he had always been old enough to read them, while my sister Veronica was too afraid of them and I was too young to understand them. There's a 5 year age difference between Brodey and me and a 3 year age gap between Veronica and I but we always got along great together. I never knew our mum or at least I don´t remember her, Roni and Brodey would tell me she was on a business trip all the time but there was always something that told me that they were just protecting me. But dad was great. I couldn't ask for a better dad. He's who I got my love of horror from.
While looking through dad’s journal I found several pages that described different types of creatures much like Jay, Griffin and Phoenix but… what sounded like he was talking about... their families. That's when I realised that's why it felt like I already knew them, from a young age I was told about how “They were real'' and “Not many people would believe me” and I “couldn't tell anyone” so repressed the memory about them. At the bottom of the page there was dad's signature, I turned the page to see extremely messy and rushed handwriting instead of the neat and preteen handwriting I had related my dad with for as long as I could remember and no signature from that point the book ended. I tried to understand the scribbled lines but had no luck. I couldn't figure out why it was scaring me so badly, I had spoken to dad recently and he seemed fine, there was no evidence showing that he would have been in any danger.
I had been studying the writing throughout the journal for so long by the time I looked at the analog clock on my bedside table it said 3:42am in red lights illuminating the pages of the small book. Quickly I wrote in my diary like I do everyday. I signed it at the bottom and I closed my eyes reading in bad lighting for so long made them sting as I shut them, tomorrow was gonna be a long day.
Day 2
I woke up the next morning to a knock at my door and a piece of paper being slipped underneath. It read…
‘HELLO Jake,
we have all been piled up waiting for you in the kitchen. We’ve heard that you make the most AMAZING pancakes and would love to try them. Callie's getting hangry, I suggest that you get a move on or she's breaking down your door. GOOD LUCK!’
It had a small drawing of a smiley face in the bottom corner. I could tell it had been written by many different people because of the changes in the handwriting.
I could hear Callie yelling my name so I quickly threw on my favourite hoodie to hide my embarrassing pjs and opened my door, what I saw was nearly indescribable. Cameron and Griffin were trying to stop Callie (who was in midair) from kicking my door in, Liam and Jay were having a conversation about how were probably going to see more of the face of the moon than of earth and how even the smallest mundane things can have an infinite amount tasks in a finite amount of time and more smart stuff, Gray was staring into a mirror longingly and Phoenix was just looking out a window watching the birds and trees.
“Why didn't you make your own pancakes, you're the one who's studied foods and is a chef!” I said bitterly to Callie.
I ignored any answer she gave me and threw on the cleaner apron of the two, of course it had to be the white one with pink polka dots and ‘I Woke Up Like This’ written across it, and only in this situation what was written across my chest, true. I had bags under my eyes and my hair was a lot messier than normal.
I knew I didn't look my best because as I walked into the kitchen I heard a subtle,
“Ew…” from Gray.
Half an hour later I served my famous pancakes and bacon.
Callie and Phoenix had set the table with homemade jams, syrup and chocolate sauce along with sliced fruit, chocolate buttons and sprinkles, the most unhealthy breakfast we could think of to serve to our guests.
I'm sure Phoenix was feeling more confident today because midway through breakfast he sat up and asked,
“What's your biggest fear?”
Of course we were startled by his question but we obviously answered him.
There was a collective agreement between Callie, Grayson, Cameron and Griffin that Spiders are the worst. I didn't mind spiders personally, as long as they weren't on me I didn't care, But Phoenix seemed a little offended yet he had an evil look on his face, nothing good ever comes from this.
It was an hour later Everyone seemed to have forgotten about our conversion at breakfast… well not everyone.
Phoenix pulled Jay, Liam and I away from the group, he explained that late last night he had found a spider and it was really cute and abandoned so he kept it and now wants to scare everyone with it. I thought of it as a brilliant idea, Callie refused to make breakfast or even help a little by cleaning her apron so it was only fair that I get to scare her.
We spent the rest of the day watching Disney movies like Moana, Sleeping beauty, Mulan, Beauty and the beast, and frozen 1 and 2 and pointing out the inconsistencies of the films.
We decided to wait until the next day so there was no way that they could have remembered our conversation from the day before.
Day 3
I woke up with a feeling like someone was watching me, when I peeled my eyes open I saw one deep cyan eye staring back at me hunched over my bed, I could see nothing else other than the red highlights that said 3:12am glowing in its eye.
I pretended to still be asleep. Another five minutes passed, the feeling had stopped yet I was still paranoid. So I shot up in bed and turned on the light. Phoenix had been reading one of dads books
WALT Write an engaging narrative.
This is a work in progress!
I just thought this would be a fun thing to write about.
I still don´t have a title so if you have any ideas please let me know!
Who´s your favourite character so far?
