Alton One: Chapter 8

"So now what do we do?" Sarah said. She was sitting on the couch.

"I have no idea." Mike said. He was slouched in the love seat, staring at his Kindle Fire. By moving his fingers he created the word "SILENCE" to start a Words With Friends game. "Ah, beat that move!"

"How can you do that at a time like this?"

"I needed a brain break, Sarah. My head is fried." He closed the Kindle case and set it on the sidetable alonside the empty Coke can.

"We may both be fried soon," she said, and burst out laughing. 

He joined her.  He laughed so long and so hard his stomach cramped.  He tried to force himself to stop laughing, even went as far as to pinch his cheek, and it was no use.  He hopped out of his seat, laughing all the way to the kitchen.  He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a Coke.

"Here, you need this," he said, talking with difficulty.  He was still trying to fight off the laughter.  "Boy, I needed that.  We needed that."

"Yes."  She said.  She sighed. 

"Here!" he proffered her the can again.  "Take this, would you."

"No, I'm trying to be good."

"Not today you're not.  You deserve a day off.  You deserve a treat.  In fact, I think I'm gonna go to Northside and get you an ice cream sandwich.  I know that's your favorite."

"I'd love that, but what if the aliens are out there?" She took the Coke, clicked it open. Drank. It seemed to bring some color back to her face, for a moment any way. "Mike, I don't want you to get hurt?"

What are you worried about me for?  I'm worried about you.  I'm worried about you, Sarah.  "You have a point."  He sat next to her. 

She said, "We need to do something, though. We can't just stay cooped up in here forever.  There's a dead body staring at us for Christ sake, and aliens out and about that are killers." 

"Well, how 'bout if I call 911 and tell officer Joe Bean I saw an alien, and the alien scared the crap out of me..."

"You were there when I Disappeared," Lance wrote.  What did he mean by that? What are these coffins?  If Tsatso had a coffin, and this evil, alien that killed the cop and tried to kidnap Sarah are two different aliens, then why do they both have coffins, or whatever those things are?  Are they from the same place?  Are they from two different places?  What's the connection here?  And does this other alien have anything to do with the urgency of Tsatso needing Lance?  Man, it almost looks like there's some kind of connection here. 

"...and then I'll tell them about everything that's happened.  I'll tell them about the body.  Hell, I'll just show them the body.  Hell, they'll see the body on their own..."

There's also the U.F.O. sightings reported in the papers.  There was more than one sighting, so does that mean there's more than one U.F.O.?  Is there some kind of intergalactic war going on in the space over Skitville?  Are we in the middle of some kind of Star Wars battle?  And if so, where are the aliens from anyway?  And why in the world did they choose Skitville?

"...I just wish we weren't trapped in the middle of this, you know what I mean.  You know how all your life you kind of want to believe in the extraterrestrial and you kind of believe in it but it's a belief that's on the surface.  But you..."

The aliens who kidnapped me were not from Alton?  I know they weren't.  But the alien Sarah described wasn't like Tsatso. Sarah, you're wrong there.  It wasn't like Tsatso at all.  The question that has me about Tsatso...

"...know what I mean.  I always supported Lance, but, as he said, it was a hobby to him.  It wasn't something you expected to really happen.  You never...

...is whether or not he is a prisoner like he was with me on that ship.  No!  If he was a prisoner now, he wouldn't give Lance a choice?  No, that would't make sense.  If Tsatso was a prisoner, and he was being forced to take Lance, he would just, you know...

"...expect to actually see or meet an alien.  Well, I suppose Lance did.  Lance I think believed a lot more than the rest of us stories like...

...Kidnap Lance...

"...you know, he would... Mike?  Mike, are you with me?  Am I talking to a wall?

"I'm sorry, I just can't stop thinking about Lance's blog.  It just reminds me so much of..."

"Of what, Mike?  What does it remind you of?"

His fingers dug deep into the couch fabric. He took in a deep, slow breath.  "You do have a point, Sarah.  And, yes, I'm listening, Sarah. I really am."

"You were not.  You were staring at the blank TV." She smiled.  She was so sweet.  Mike studied her face. Her features matched her innocence.

"The coffin, you know, whatever it was, it just appeared in front of me.  It was in the back of Mr. Foster's house.  It just appeared, as though it knew where I was gonna be.  I don't think it was Tsatso.  I don't think if he's the way you described him, that he would do such a thing.  This was a bad, an evil, alien.  He, she, it, tried to kill me.  There was no doubt about that.  It tried to kill me.  There was no choice.  If I didn't run, it would have killed me right there. 

"Sarah, can I ask a question?"

"Ask away."

"How did you get the blood on your hands?"

She looked at the ground.  Her hands were shaking.

"Never mind, he said.  I shouldn't have asked."

"No.  No."  She looked in his eyes.  "THE ALIEN HELD A BALL, AND IT WAS COVERED IN BLOOD!  She squeezed him.  "It tried to touch it to my shoulder.  And that's when I started to run.

She cried.  Mike put his arm around her, and she wrapped her arms around him, and cried.