Two in one

A man, shaped like an egg, waddled to the podium before the crowd. He pulled a large white handkerchief out of his front pocket and began mopping up the beads of sweat that cascaded down his bald head. His wrinkled white shirt puffed out of his neatly pressed black suit jacket, the collar stained from sweat...

The crowd stared hungrily at him. News reporters clung to their notepads desperately, their knuckles white around their pens in anticipation.  The man’s eyes darted back and forth across the crowd nervously as his crusty lips began to part.

“I’ve been informed of some news,” he began, his voice quavering.  “The news is quite grim, indeed.”

The gaggle of newsmen and women pressed in further, their eyes locked onto the image of the man before them.

“It appears the wall, that we have been protected by for so many years, has been breached in the south.”

Murmurs and gasps escaped the crowd.  The sweaty man bit his lip, looking down at the podium’s microphone.

“As Mayor, I am authorized to declare a state of emergency within the city, and am doing so as of this moment.  All citizens are to immediately return to their homes until further notice, until the situation is contained.”

The reporters glanced at each other anxiously.

The mayor looked up, his eyes meeting the gaze of the camera before him.

“That is all I am at liberty to say.  Be safe, fellow citizens.”

And with that, he turned and walked away.

The journalists flew into a panic.  They called for the mayor, wanting to ask questions.  The only response they received was the solemn shake of the head by the Mayor’s assistants.

It was after the breach that people started seeing what was really going on.  It had taken the bravery of a single person to bring the world as we knew it to its knees, and she did so admirably.

I was there.  Though I was only eight years old, I was old enough to see what had happened.  The mayor would have us believe that horrifying things, terrible demons and monsters lived outside the walls.  Of course, at his command, many in the city obeyed, retreating into their homes and locking the doors for protection against whatever horrible things existed outside the walls.

Some of us didn’t.  We were curious, we were young.  We stayed outside, and do you know what?

Nothing came.

Not a single thing came through the hole in the wall.

Several of those who had not heard the mayor’s warning took the opportunity to inspect the breach.  Men climbed the rubble and looked outside for the first times in their lives.  Outside our safe city was not a world full of monsters or demons.  Instead, just outside the gate lay a lush world, filled with strange plants that no one had seen before. 

I remember leaving the city for the first time. My mother held my hand tight as we both crossed the threshold into the forest before us.  We’d hardly even stepped out of the city when my mother dropped to her knees, weeping. 

The Mayor sent men to repair the wall, and was met with an angry mob of those who hadn’t fled to the houses.  Men, women, the elderly, the young; they fought the builders from the moment they stepped out of their vans.

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Victoria is an alien.

To be more precise, she was born on the third moon of a far off planet with a name so complex that it is impossible to write in any earthen language, and the same holds true for her name.  But I just call her Victoria.

Five weeks ago, I was travelling down a road in Betsy, my big red pickup truck.  She’d been having troubles lately, you see, and it was the first time in about a month that I’d gotten her on the road again.  Things at home hadn’t been going well, so I figured that night would be the best time to go on a little road trip.  Just me and my gal.

Our favourite radio station was on, playing all the right tunes.  Her engine roared like the beast she is, and the night pulled us deeper and deeper into its embrace.

Obviously, this is where the true story begins.

I’d pulled over to give Betsy a break while I relieved myself in nearby bush, when suddenly I heard an ear-shattering “BANG.”   The noise rolled over the hills like a flood, and the next thing I saw was this bright light flying right over my head.  I could feel the heat radiating off of it, and I swear, it could have burned my hair right off my head if it’d been any closer.

The next thing I heard was the sound of metal smashing into the ground nearby.  The light flashed brightly once and then dimmed.  I nearly fell down, feeling the impact against the ground.  It was frightening.

I ran—no, sprinted.  I went to Betsy, to make sure she was alright.  Thankfully, she was.  I jumped inside her cab and turned my key.  She faithfully rumbled to life, and I floored it.

Three minutes of speeding down the pitch black stretch of road later, I slowed, and eventually came to a stop.  I wondered to myself, “What was that?” “Was there someone inside?” and, “Are they hurt?”  you know, questions of that sort. 

That’s when I turned around.

Betsy protested, but I persuaded her over the bumpy earth and toward where the crash came from.  We reached the smoking, twisted metal mess in the ditch, and I let Betsy wait  as I jumped out to investigate.

At first, all I could see was smoke and steam in Betsy’s headlights, but as I skidded down into the dent in the ground, the smoke began to clear.  My hands went out to the metal without thinking.  As I placed my fingertips on the metal, I expected a searing hot response. 

To my surprise, the metal was as cold as an ice cube.

My eyes searched for some sort of a door.  I found one, mangled, partially open.  Near the underside of the… thing.

My hands crept into one of the crevasses and with as much strength as I could muster, I pulled.  I lifted with my legs, of course.  You know that’s how you’re supposed to lift, right?

After some time I managed to open that gnarled door.  What I found inside shook me to the core...