Here's another work in progress, which may end up having another chapter. This story contains some profanity.
Written in the Stars (Stories) - Return to the Garden Gate (Return to Homepage)
One Morning in the Universe
© 2000 C-Music
"Blake Powers hangin' with ya' on this fine Monday morning, with the best mix of the eighties, nineties, and today, on Denver's new mix one hundred point three!," Shellie rolled over, her clock radio now blaring out some awful, non-descript, N-Sync tripe "Oh god, make it stop," she said to no one, reaching for the snooze button. she lay there, yawned, thought, and yawned again, then decided to get up.
The day was bright and warm, and the birds were singing happily, and she, was most definitely not. rubbing her eyes, she sleepily headed for the bathroom. she thought about the day ahead. It was odd, "even for someone who loves their job, why are Monday mornings always such a bitch?" she wondered, splashing water on her face. it didn't work, the morning was still a bitch, and the water didn't wake her up. "Well, so be it," she thought and laughed a little to herself, "breakfast it is then."
the kitchen had an annoyingly faraway look to it, from the bathroom end of the hallway, but it would have to do. "Baby steps," Shellie's mind whispered, "you can do it girl." She snorted out loud, as a chorus of "put one foot in front of the other" from that old claymation Christmas special, played in her head. Things were a little less "swimming" around her now, and she thought, with some hesitation, that this day might just work after all, when Sisi bulleted past, fur on end, nearly completely upsetting her rather precarious sense of morning equilibrium "Jeez cat, you al right?," Shellie said, surprised Sisi didn't answer. -Just a hiss from the other room, as if to say, Shell, are you high?! yeah, I'm just ducky, that's why I tore down the hallway, looking like Satan was on my ass!, -talk to me when yer' awake and thinking straight, K?"
she dismissed the cat antics, it was probably just a kitty phantom as usual. She went through the kitchen, into the living room to open the sliding glass doors, and simply stopped. There was a crop circle. -or, more of a carpet circle really, -a circle, right there in the rug on her living room floor. The carpet fibers were neatly bent down and outward, creating a nice, neat, absolutely perfect, distinct, circle, about four feet across, bold, conspicuous, and blatantly unmistakable, whose full impact and implications utterly failed to register with Shellie, her eyes serenely surveying the room's layout. "Hmm," was all she said, opening the sliders, "maybe I can call the maintenance man later, and he can come and fix it," her mind suggested gingerly.
She went back to the kitchen, and poured herself a glass of orange juice. There was something she needed to do, but she couldn't quite place it. she'd been meaning to do something just a minute ago, what was it. Her mind sifted through some of it's morning habits, no, not that one, hmm, maybe this one, no not that either... She wandered back toward the living room.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!!!," she nearly screamed, her eyes finally taking in the circle in it's entirety. There, her mind, in addition to an absolutely extreme mix of terror, confusion, and complete amazement, was filled with the wonderful sense of satisfaction that that was exactly the thing she'd needed to do just a minute ago when she'd gotten distracted by going to get her usual morning glass of OJ, which, incidentally, was rapidly on it's way to a rather nasty encounter with the living room floor. Fortunately, it didn't land on the circle, and she looked down just in time to witness the orange explosion of citrus, and glass fragments. "shit!," she hissed, and just stood there for a minute, utterly stunned.
she couldn't help having the feeling that somebody must have screwed up, "weren't these things supposed to be in some corn field in England somewhere, or the midwest, or some other damn fool place?< but not here, in her living room carpet in her apartment. She had a vision of little grey aliens fumbling with a roadmap, looking at each other, puzzled expressions on their faces. She laughed out loud. After all, it was as good a thing to do as any other at this point, save of course, cleaning up the mess she'd inadvertently just made, which she then proceeded to do, after the laughter subsided
The circle didn't laugh at all, it actually just sort of sat there, in a "looming" sort of way, looking, well, circular, in addition, of course, to it's usual look of universal inexplicability.
she noticed the clock on the microwave as she went between the kitchen and living room dealing with the spill. It was late, and this was definitely weird, but work was fast becoming a bit more of a pressing priority than strange space messages for earth kind "Besides," her mind snuck in, "maybe it'll be gone later..." she turned back down the hall toward the bathroom, and in doing so, completely missed seeing the tiny bright white glowing sphere which slowly descended into the circle's center. "A shower, that would make it all better," she thought happily, turning it on.
A while later, after spending twenty minutes deciding what outfit to wear, yes, it was one of THOSE days, she found herself finally ready for work. She walked down the hallway, noticing poor Sisi crouched in a corner. "It's OK Hon," she comforted, her mind merely snorted at her, sarcastically. Though she felt she ought to avoid looking into the living room, she simply didn't. The "circle" now looked something like a molecular diagram of a polymer. "Interesting," she thought and simply avoided it, opening the front door and leaving for work.
© 2000 C-Music All Rights Reserved
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