Wanda shivered a bit as she wandered deep into the UFO, her red suit keeping her protected from the cold and potential radiation from the unfamiliar environment she was venturing into. She decided to walk off alone to observe the control panels at the front, while the other two Oddity Investigation Operators went about the other direction.
Her eyes scanned the eerie ship as she wandered about. The control panels looked broken and occasionally sparked from the damage that the crash had caused. All of the technology was unfamiliar to Wanda, which was surprising considering she was one of the main technology operators in the organization.
Her steps took a sudden halt as she heard a quiet, foreign chirp within the same area. It wasn’t a loud noise, but it was enough to but her on higher guard. Wanda flashed her light around the surrounding area in an attempt to find the source of the mysterious noise, her other hand holding a taser. She slowed her search as she managed to find what was likely the most world-shattering thing she’s ever laid her eyes upon.
A dark entity curled up under the control panel. It almost appeared as a glitch, randomly twitching and leaving a multi-colored aura where it last twitched before the color quickly dissipated. The entity itself had a face that mimicked the expression of fear as it cowered in the corner, low chirps and static noises emanated from the mysterious being.
Wendy remained calm while she stared at the creature. Once she finished her staring, she brought her voice to the quietest whisper. “Hey, little uh, thing. What are you doing here?” She queried.
The entity remained as still as it could appear, remaining in under the control panel. “You know, I’m not with the government, right? I won’t hurt ya, sweetie,” Wanda reassured. She was unsure if the creature spoke English or any human language, but it was worth a try.
After a few minutes of no movement between the two of them, a sudden noise from the other side of the ship caused the dark creature to latch onto Wendy as it let out a sort of whimper in fear, though it sounded more like an old radio crackling.
Wendy was well aware that this creature was bound to be forced into horrible conditions once it was shown to be a live creature. The organization wasn’t the kindest to the out-of-ordinary species that managed to get found by them. All of the potential abuse and pain that could be directed at this poor entity whirled in her mind as she held the creature and stroked its back(?) in an attempt to calm it down. She knew that she wasn’t going to allow that to happen, she didn’t want the death of another living being on her hands.
The creature soon hushed its cries as and hid its head in Wendy’s shoulder. Wendy continued ti hold the creature as she dialed her husband on the phone.
“Wendy? What’s up, my love? Staying out late again for work?” Wendy’s husband, Edward spoke on the other line.
“I’m coming home early tonight.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really. I need you to do me a favor.”
“What do you need, my love?”
Wendy paused for a moment and took a deep breath to keep her voice from cracking.
“I need you to get out Robin’s mattress and put it back in his old room.”
The silence that followed was deafening between the couple’s call.
“…Wendy. I thought we wouldn’t go back to th-“
“Please, Ed. This isn’t about…what happened.”
“Then why do you need me to take out our dead son’s mattress? Love, I don’t want you to go back to how you were when he first passed, we can go back to-“
“Edward! Listen, I can’t explain right now, but please, trust me.”
“…okay.”
“Okay. I love yo-“
The dial tone rang out as Edward hang up on Wendy. She knew it would be a bit hard for both of them to have to even be in that room again, but Wendy needed a place to take this creature, a place to protect this creature. Maybe she had gotten herself attached too quickly, may be she was being impulsive. However, she couldn’t care less, at least not now.
Wendy pulled a bit away from the entity and continued to speak in a low and gentle voice. “Sweetie, I know you don’t know me, but I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m going to take you home with me, so I can help you. Is that okay?” The unfamiliar being blinked at Wendy before clinging back onto her, as if she were a lifeline. In this situation, it wasn’t far off from the truth.
Wendy took the clinging as a “yes” as she unzipped her red coat and tried to get the creature to hide in it. After a few seconds of struggling, the entity sort of melted and shifted until it fit inside of her coat, feeling a bit cold and “staticky”. Luckily, the coat was puffy enough to appear ordinary as she walked out of the crashed ship and addressed the crew outside, who were observing the crash itself as well as the outward mechanisms.
“There is an abundance of unknown buttons within the control center, and none I recognized. If any of you would rather observe that for me, that would be wonderful. I’d do it myself, but I’m feeling quite under the weather and would hate to possibly infect the area. Goodbye.” Before anyone could respond, Wendy had already walked out to her work vehicle, and took off home. The entity had crawled out of her coat and was now napping in the passengers seat, occasionally glitching as it rested. Wendy glanced at it and smiled to herself, knowing that she wasn’t going to let this creature get hurt. Now, how to explain this to her husband was a challenge.
A mother and loving wife passes away and wakes up in a tunnel. Many people quickly run into the tunnel and eventually she is there alone. She knows what’s beyond it, but doesn’t go in. Not yet. After 7 years, a man appears. They take a moment of silence before sharing a warm embrace. Afterwards, they glance at the light, and then at each other, before sitting down on the ground. The man knows what’s beyond it, but doesn’t go in. Not yet. It only took a month before a young child appeared before the couple. They look at the child and hold them in their arms. Once they all felt ready, the mother, the father, and the child all walk to the light, to the afterlife.
(THIS ONE IS SO LONG YALL I CANT)
Quinton’s hands trembled as he wrote and revised a text to his closest friend, River. It was a simple 7 letter text, and yet it was taking all of his energy to not have a panic attack mid-text. After a few moments of hesitation, he clicked the blue send button.
“Hey, I have something to tell you.”
Quinton shut off his phone before rushing to turn it back on to see if River had responded yet. He was still on delivered. ‘Maybe I have time to unsend it’ Quinton thought to himself. Before he could, a ding noise rang from his phone, causing him to nearly drop it to the wooden floor.
“Oh me to lol” “Want me to go first or u?”
Quinton’s heart must’ve assumed he was running a marathon because it was beating as if he was. What the hell could River be thinking about? He was 87% sure that he was the only one…but…
Maybe he was wrong.
Quinton quickly gathered his bearings and typed out a response.
“I want to go first, if you don’t mind. Can we call? It’s okay if we can’t or you’re too busy.”
“Nono we can call”
Quinton hurried to press the call button and brought the phone to his ear. God, he was shaking like a wet dog. Was he really that nervous? Was he excited? He couldn’t tell. The phone rang once.
He had been wanting to tell the truth to River for so long, but the risks involved seemed too big. However, after 2 long years, he caved in. The floodgates were opening and the waters were quick to escape captivity. The phone rang out twice.
There were bees rushing in Quinton’s head, all shouting about their own concerns. However, they all came to the consensus of wondering what River meant by them also having something to say? If it was anything similar to his situation, he might actually pass out in his own apartment. He rubbed his fingers against the textured couch while almost in a daze. The phone rang out trice.
“Yellow?”
Quinton’s throat almost closed in on itself when he heard his friends voice on the other side of the call.
“Oh, hi.”
Silence.
“…Sooo, you gonna say what you wanna say or can I start?” River laughed a bit on the other end.
“Oh, um, okay okay. So. This is a lot and I understand if you don’t want to be around me anymore because of what I’m about to say and I just want you to know that if this does mess with our friendship I’m sorry and um, I don’t know really-“
“Quinny. Breathe.”
Right, he forgot how to do that for a second. He took a few deep breaths (shaky, but deep) and spoke again.
“Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be. Now, what’s up? At this point, I might as well straight up-“
“I want to be with you.”
‘Oh dear god. Was that too quick? No, no. No no no nononono. No.’ Quinton’s face was turning red and tears fell from his eyes.
“I’M SO SO SORRY FOR-FOR TELLING-ING YOU THAT LIKE THIS!” Quinton’s voice hiccuped and rasped as he started yelling apologies into his phone.
“Quinny. Did you mean that? Just answer with yes or no.”
Quinton rubbed his face and eyes as hard as he could while he spoke.
“…yea.”
“That’s nice to know, and I agree.”
Quinton shot up to his feet and quickly sat back down due to how dizzy he got from both getting up too fast and the rush of adrenaline spinning him silly.
“You do?”
“Yeah, have been for the past, what, 3 years? I was too much of a wimp to admit it, so thanks for the reassurance.”
A stupid grin crawled onto Quinton’s face as he laughed to himself.
“You’re welcome, I guess. Is that what you wanted to tell me?”
“Ohh, right. No, it’s not but I’m glad we got that out of the way. But no, it’s something else.”
“Well what is it?” Quinton’s voice was 10 times brighter as well as his face. He felt overpowered, in a sense and nothing could drag him down.
“I’m Silver Eagle.” River’s voice was their usual nonchalant tone as they basically said that they were the same person who saved the word at least 5 times within the last few months.
Quinton was now a bit confused. Before he could ask for clarification, a calm knock came from his window on the 3rd floor of the apartment complex. He whipped his head to the noise and saw River, who was flying, wearing Silver Eagle’s uniform and clicking end call on their phone.
As River opened the window with ease, Quinton remained on his couch appearing stunned with his eyes wide and face turning white. River closed the window behind them and sat next to the pale-faced boy while having a hand on his shoulder, both for comfort and to make sure Quinton wasn’t about to fall onto his face.
It took a short while of breathing exercises and talking to get Quinton to calm down. Actually, it took a lot less time then River assumed to get him to fully accept the reality of them being a superhero. He was too thrilled about the reciprocated feelings.
“So, not to sound pushy or anything, but what are we now?” Quinton asked while picking at his nails.
“Wanna go ou-“
“Please.”
River couldn’t contain their hyena laugh at Quinton’s excitement and the boy soon joined in until both of their ribs ached. They figured just a simple movie night was good for today, nothing crazy. They held hands with each other and binged horrid comedies till they fell asleep on each other.
Hey.
You wanna know something? It’s okay, doll. I’m not mad. How could I ever be mad at you?
I wasn’t mad at how my filling leaked from my left foot. That wasn’t your fault, not at all. I get it, time goes on and keeping everything together for so long makes one weary. I can see it in both of us, doll. From the growth of your limbs to the bleakness in your face that comes and goes, I’ve seen you grow and I’ve seen you fall apart too. Even then, you still find time to gently hold my hand or talk to me about your days that you have, finding comfort within me and vice versa. We’ve both grown weary, and I’m not mad.
I wasn’t mad when you left me on the park’s swing. That was a simple mistake. I sat and waited for you, not moving, only watching. The sky turned from blue to pink to near black as I sat in the swing, the wind pushing me as a friend would do. You returned to the park before the Sun had set, wrapping your arms around my torso and cried into me. I stood still as you held onto me, waving goodbye to the wind. We all make mistakes, and I’m not mad, doll.
I wasn’t mad every time I dropped onto the floor. That wasn’t your choice. You were sound asleep, as you should have been. The fall was a bit high, but it never hurt me. Sometimes, I would make it a game to roll under your bed once I fell. A game of hide and seek, if you will, doll. Sometimes, I checked under your bed for monsters throughout the night under that same bed. You always worried about those monsters under the bed, remember? And every morning, you’d search for me under the bed, and I would peek out with a smile on my face. Before I could say “boo”, you’d pull me back up and apologize rather profusely for kicking me off. You weren’t in your sense of mind, and I’m not mad.
You see, doll? I could never be mad at you. I know that my voice may never reach your ears, but that’s okay, you’ve grown too old to hear my voice. I’m not mad. Not at you, ever. At the end of every day, good or bad, you always held me close. That alone made me happy, always. As long as you hold me close, I’m happy.
Sincerely, Teddy.
Water is lapping between your chin and neck, each wave colliding to the beat of your heart, the ocean pushing your chest and causing your breath to be more labored. None of this went noticed by you. You didn’t notice the trembling of your limps as they propelled you forward, or the dark clouds in the sky rolling over you, or the primal sense of adrenaline and cautiousness as you walked deeper into the ocean. Even if you were aware of all of this, you didn’t seem to care and all thoughts washed away from your mind.
The only thing that seemed you seemed to have awareness about was the haunting melody that rang in your ears. The overly enchanting song held you as would a puppet be held on strings, without hesitation to pull back and resist. No, that’s not even possible for a puppet, and that option was stolen from you the second you opened your ears to the song, and with that your sense of will.
Waves crashed against your nose and eyes, the salt taking its physical course as it usually would with its mocking and mischievous sting. Your steps didn’t falter. Water slowly filled your nose, slowly spilling into your lungs. Your steps didn’t falter. Your ears leaked with salt water as did your eyes with tears. Your steps didn’t falter.
Your feet never slowed their repeated motion due to fatigue, or pain, or the drowning sensation that you remained unaware of, but halted at the sight of the song itself.
She was beautiful. If your eyes weren’t already submerged, they would become endless streams. She swam towards you in a hypnotic fashion that mimicked her tune before restring her hand on your cheek. Her soft eyes examined your glassy ones as you stared blankly into hers. Her eyes switched to focus on you as a whole, the way your jaw was relaxed, the way you continued to inhale as if you weren’t under the crashing waves, the way you smiled at her warmly as if she was the light of your life, because she was now.
She smiled back with a toothy grin, full of malice and bad intent. This didn’t register in your vacant mind, only the fact that she smiled, causing you to sigh lovingly before your eyes found themselves as the back of your head and your heart no longer beating in your chest. Your body finally gave into the gentle blanket of death in the siren’s arms.
She finally gotten what she wanted, and it was now time to feast.
(This was my first time writing in second-person, so I hope I did well <3)
