The Old House

 

The Old House

In the woods, amongst the fallen autumn leaves, it was possible to hear the rustling sound of moving feet, if one were actually there. For it was a normal October day just like any other as Brooke and Michael were walking back home from the school bus stop. A thing they had done many times before. Yet now the two were presently twelve years of age. Thus Michael was a black haired, blue-eyed boy with an impish grin. And Brooke was a little shorter with green eyes and blond hair. What is more, Brooke had a sweetness about her that made her endearing to most people. As friends, Brooke and Michael had never really been apart for very long, except during trips or holidays with their parents.

Indeed it was a new school year full of promise at Westmoreland High School, and Michael was already ahead of his class. Nonetheless Brooke felt a certain affection for Michael for as long as she could remember, which manifested itself in a type of admiration and respect.

"Would you like to go to that old empty house on McKinley's Point?" suggested Brooke to Michael, in a casual yet enticing way.

"Sure!" said Michael, with a hint of excitement and glee.

So as they walked through the woods, the glinting of the sunlight behind the leaves and branches of the trees brought an intense radiance to the gradual and long climb towards the road which led to McKinley's Point.

"And how long has it been since you last saw your real father?" said Michael in a concerned and friendly tone.

"Oh! it will be three years in December," replied Brooke, as the climb towards the road became steeper with every step. Then when finally they reached the main road after their uphill climb, they proceeded to walk along it towards McKinley's Point and the sea.

Meanwhile on the road could be seen a dead cat, which they looked at with some curiosity, as well as a feeling of how sudden the bends in the road were, seeing as how the cat had not noticed the car come around the bend which had killed it.

Yet whilst they walked, Michael was already thinking about all the strange things that had been occurring in the local area, and was fascinated by the amount of dead fish that were being found. There had also been strange lights during the night that could be seen in the sky even from far away.

Brooke was by now feeling a sudden chill from the sea wind as she wrapped her jacket around herself more tightly. The old house could be seen in the distance set against the sky like a dark block. As they approached the house, they could feel the excitement building up within them.

"I love the sound of the seagulls and the smell of the sea," said Brooke in a contented and carefree tone.

"Yes, it's bliss," added Michael.

Now the path that led to the back of the old house was speckled with mold of a light green color, and the trees in the area looked bent by the sea wind.                                                                    

"I race you to the back door!" shouted Brooke to Michael as they started to run, though by the time they reached the back door they were now laughing and had the giggles. Next Michael paused for a second, then slowly turned the doorknob, and surprisingly the back door gave no resistance. So they entered quickly into the kitchen. The dust filled room reeked of sour air, for all manner of pots, pans and other utensils were lying around on the floor and on the cupboards.

Then all of a sudden Michael picked up a broom and pretended that it was a microphone stand, and then started singing the words of the song, A Hard Day's Night.

Meanwhile, with a sudden motion, and in the midst of Michael's singing, Brooke put her right hand on his shoulder, and said, "Okay rockstar! let's look around." As they walked into the next room, which resembled a dining area, they could see an old dining table and chairs, as well as a cupboard with plates and mats.

The flutter of a moth could be heard whilst they walked around in the dining room, though the smell inside there was not as bad as the smell in the kitchen, and also the contents of the dining room were cleaner.

"I wonder how many people lived here?" said Michael.

"Maybe if we found some pictures we could tell how many people lived here from the pictures," said Brooke, when she was walking towards the next room.

Thus the room they now entered was the main living area, which could be discerned because of its size and position facing the sea. Then all of a sudden Michael began to search the room, and his restless hands moved around in the hope of finding photos or any other evidence of the previous occupants. So when frustrated that he could not find any objects that satisfied his curiosity Michael slowly walked towards the window. Meanwhile, Brooke had made her way to the staircase in the corridor.

"Let's go up stairs!" shouted Brooke.

"Fine!" said Michael, whilst he began to make his way towards the corridor staircase.

Now the wooden stairs made a hollow and creaking sound when they ascended. Also immense water stains could be seen on the carpet of the first floor landing, as well as other kinds of refuse. And therefore a spasm of disgust soon flooded Brooke's consciousness, traveling to her body, at the sight of it. So she averted her eyes to lessen its impact. The landing was damp and gloomy, and very quiet except for the soothing sound of sea waves nearby. Michael felt elated to be exploring this place, so he comforted Brooke with an affectionate hug. Walking slowly along the landing, farther and farther, they found themselves becoming more comfortable in their surroundings.

Then the murkiness of one of the rooms came into view. So they entered it slowly. Yet the darkness in the room was fragmentary and uneven. Bright streaks of light entered the room through the edges of the boarded up windows. It was cool and peaceful in the room. The moisture of the sea air could be felt very strongly. The room they were in looked like it was once a bedroom. Brooke decided to separate from Michael, so she left the room, leaving him alone.

Now both of them searched through the house for something interesting to amuse them. Also, Michael was by now wondering where Brooke had gone off to, as he was presently in a bathroom two rooms away from where he last saw her. And because the house was large it was easy for them to lose their way, and to not notice each other. He felt so alone in this big house, in this big universe, so very alone.

Moreover, Michael, so far, had been patient about Brooke's disappearance, so he decided to make a concerted effort to find her. Therefore, he chose to go systematically from one room to another without failing to check all the areas on the way, and after exhausting all the rooms of the first floor he decided to go up to the second floor. Thus he hurriedly rose up the stairs so as not to waste any time. Now that he was on the second floor it became clear that it was more well lit than the first. Michael had a strong intuition that Brooke was on this floor. So he proceeded to walk along the damp corridor.

Indeed it did not take him very long to find her, as she was in one of the rooms along the main corridor.

"Why did you leave me all alone?" asked Michael.

"Oh! no reason," replied Brooke with a guilty look.

"Seen anything interesting?" said Michael with a smile on his face.

"Only some old magazines, and toys. Nothing special."

Now they began to feel at home amongst the damp and darkness of the old house, for children in general are not as prone as adults to judgements concerning high standards and formalities. Of course, It was like a child's playground there, so they had a further look around on the second floor, searching for whatever took their interest while not fully knowing what awaited them, or what could be uncovered.

They both could clearly see wooden stairs going up into the attic. Brooke went up first, followed by Michael. Rising up and entering the attic, they felt elation mixed with curiosity. The attic was dark, cool, quiet and serene – not too cluttered. Brooke walked over to one of the walls of the attic and looked at an old picture that was hanging there. The picture was a framed reproduction of a painting of a beautiful harbor scene with fishermen mending their nets in the sun. Michael was by now feeling a little playful, so he began looking for something to amuse himself with. Therefore he started to empty the contents of a box onto the floor, and found all kinds of items.

Most of the objects he found in the pile were obvious in nature, such as: a corkscrew, some old pens, a little toy truck, some string, pieces of paper, old sweets, a roll of Sellotape . . .

But what really interested him was the thought of finding something he could really enjoy playing with. "Ah!" he said, "a rubber ball."

He moved over and picked it up, and started bouncing it around the room with great vigor. This went on for a short while, long enough for Brooke to explore the attic more thoroughly by curiously inspecting it for clues. Michael stopped bouncing the rubber ball around after a few minutes and turned to look at Brooke. "Hey! What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just checking out the room . . . you know!"

"Let's see if there’s a basement," said Michael.

"Alright."

They quickly left the attic in a hurry, and made their way towards the ground floor. When they finally got to the ground floor after a period of a very short time after having left the attic, they paused for a moment, then looked around for a basement entrance.

"I think the entrance is over there," said Brooke, pointing to a door underneath the stairs.

"I think you're right," added Michael.

They moved forwards in the direction of the door. Brooke turned the door knob very slowly, and the door opened and creaked. The lights inside the house were dead, there was no electricity in the building, and the basement looked like a dark, hollow abyss.

"Are you afraid?" asked Michael.

"No, of course not," replied Brooke.

"It's too dark to go down there without a torch," Brooke said, with a slight look of disappointment.

"We'll come back tomorrow with torches, and have a look," suggested Michael.

"Okay!"

At school the next morning, Brooke and Michael spent most of their time thinking about the dark mysterious basement. They both had torches in their school bags. Brooke decided to tell her good friend, Lydia Daniels about the old house and its basement. Lydia was a funny, clever and friendly girl, and not prone to making cruel comments, unlike many of the other children in the school. During the lunch period, Brooke approached Lydia in the toilets – a place they usually met.

"Hey!" said Brooke to Lydia.

"Hello Brooke."

"I was wondering if you would like to go see that old house on McKinley's Point with me and Michael after school?"

"Sure, I would."

"Ha! ha, look at this boy's hair," observed Lydia, pointing to the picture of a boy's hairstyle in a magazine she was holding. "Boys haircuts get funnier all the time," she also added.

"Yes, they do," said Brooke.

Then they walked out of the toilets, and conversed in their usual manner, moving along the corridor slowly. In their conversation, Brooke also told her about the basement. The rest of that school day went along as normal. Mr Harrison, the French teacher, was as animated as usual, a thing which being a French teacher can do to some eccentrics. In art class, Michael did a wonderful drawing of a beautiful unicorn in a meadow, surrounded by flowers, grass and some other creatures.

When school had ended for that day, Michael, Brooke and Lydia got together, and walked out, caught the bus, and made their way towards McKinley's Point. Feeling excited, they walked in the direction of the old house. The weather on this day was more overcast than the day before. This day had a peculiar atmosphere to it, an atmosphere that seemed to churn around slowly, and which every once in a while produced mild cracks of thunder that emanated from dark brooding clouds. Faint drops of rain sprinkled on them when they were walking. The apprehension of seeing the basement, combined with the sinister weather, brought on a fevered mood in them.

So they entered the house through the back door, making their way towards the entrance of the basement. Opening the door of the basement, Michael volunteered to be the first to enter, and descend the stairs. He flashed the ray of the torchlight back and forth into the darkness of the chamber's interior and began to descend deeper into it. Brooke and Lydia slowly followed him and went down into the basement as well. Brooke, in turn, also flashed her torchlight into the darkness from right to left, and from left to right, when all of a sudden, in the corner of the basement, she could see a shape moving. It sat there looking frightened, and resembled an insect, with rigid praying mantis type arms and legs, and was the size of a human being. Now its skin was of a light bluish-gray color. Thus the alien's skin also had a metallic-silvery look to it, which glistened as it moved. The head of this alien creature was also similar to that of a praying mantis, but was longer, and differently shaped. Its body looked humanoid in structure.

Not knowing its motives, they were for a few seconds taken aback by fright. The alien did not seem to pose any threat to them, so they attempted to communicate using speech.

Michael said to it, "Hello, my name is Michael, what's your's?"

The alien responded with a sort of mechanical clicking sound that resembled a logical or mathematical way of communicating. The alien was clearly highly advanced, so they made certain physical gestures towards it in their behavior to show that they were not a threat to it. They came to the conclusion that this alien was hiding in the basement for a good reason, yet they could not even begin to fathom the reason why the situation was this way. After a few minutes, they began to feel comfortable in the alien's presence, and vice versa. It started to stir around more as it became gradually accustomed to them.

"Hello alien!" said Lydia, with a smile. She also said, "Do you feel alright?"

Lydia was really making an effort to comfort it, and make it feel relaxed. Michael, Brooke and Lydia started discussing amongst themselves about how they felt they were going to be able to communicate with the alien. They came to the conclusion that if they brought back some knowledge and clues for it, the alien would be able to understand them by studying the information. They truly thought that this was a good way to communicate with it. After spending some time in the basement with this creature they decided it was time to leave it to itself. So they left the basement feeling pleased with themselves.

When leaving the old house, the children found that they were in high spirits. However, it seemed likely they would have to borrow some school books from the library the next day. What they needed were good instructional books, the sort of books that had pictures, together with written words. They would then verbalize the sounds of these words to the creature, and show it the pictures.

That evening, at dinner, with her stepfather, mother, and brother, Brooke was unusually cheerful and talkative – much more than usual.

"I bet you've got a new boyfriend!" her brother said, in a cheeky, and teasing way.

"Be quiet, Robert!" said the father.

"But father . . . I'm only joking," replied Robert.

"Eat your food!" commanded the father.

"I just had a good school day, that's all," said Brooke, with a smile.

At school the next day, Brooke and Michael found an opportunity to look in the school library for books. Their intention was to find any useful books that could be shown to the alien creature. They went from section to section looking for any of the useful ones they could borrow. After choosing four books, and then taking them out at the desk, they left the library. So far, so good. All they needed now were some more good ideas about how to help their strange acquaintance in the basement. Of course, there were many mysteries and uncertainties concerning its appearance in their local area. Yet it found its way onto this earth, somehow. They needed answers.

In class, Michael felt very impatient, yet put up the facade that he was interested in the things being taught. He was thinking about the strange presence in the basement of that old house. When Michael was sitting in English class, he looked out of the window and saw a funny beige dog. It looked like a mongrel. It was walking and sniffing around – looking bored. And then the dog raised one of its legs and started to piss on the side of a school bench. It had some gray hairs on its rough looking snout. The dog's eyes were sad, and looked full of remembrances of an emotional, not intellectual kind, and by its genitalia, one could see that it was male.

Later on, in their usual meeting spot in the toilet, Lydia and Brooke were having a lengthy conversation.

"What else do you think we can get for the alien, apart from books?" Lydia said.

"Oh . . . perhaps some food," responded Brooke.

"What do you think it eats?"

"I have no idea!" said Brooke.

"I think some fish, and some fruit would be good," said Lydia.

"That sounds fine."

They both decided to meet up with Michael after school, and then go to Lydia's house to collect some food. After that they would go to the old house. The rest of that school day was uneventful. When school was over, they gathered together outside the front door, then proceeded to walk along the street towards Lydia's house, which was not too far away from their school.

They walked along the street with great excitement. Lydia, started to move quicker, as if in a hurry – leading the way, and talking as she moved. She was saying many humorous things. After a few more streets, they finally arrived at her home. One by one, they walked into the cool, neat, well-ordered hallway – with its black and white checkered floor tiles, and red carpeting on the stairs. She quickly instructed them to head towards the kitchen, which they were already familiar with. So they walked there, with haste. The smell in the kitchen was of a spicy, aromatic kind. Lydia started looking for the food that she had mentioned earlier, as she was looking around in the fridge, she was humming a tune, a tune of her own invention.

"Ah! there it is," she said, as she grabbed a plate of steamed salmon that was slightly hidden.

Brooke walked towards the fruit bowl, and started inspecting its contents.

"Yes! this fruit is nice and ripe," she said, with a smile. She then grabbed two apples, as well as an orange and a banana – then put them in her bag. Lydia carefully put the steamed salmon in a sealed plastic container.

"Are we ready to go now?" asked Michael, with a touch of impatience in his voice.

"Yes, let's go now," replied Lydia.

They walked out of the house, and made their way towards the bus stop. The weather was fine that day – with only a few fluffy cumulus clouds moving east. After about eight minutes, the bus arrived, and they climbed on. When they were on the bus, they all had a vigorous conversation concerning their intentions and plans. The bus ride was enjoyable, as it usually is when people are immersed in great conversation. They got off the bus on the road which led to McKinley's Point. Then the three of them started moving in the direction of the old house. And when she was walking along the road towards McKinley's Point, Brooke started wondering whether the alien was still in the basement or not.

When entering the old house again, they walked cautiously inside it without having any certainty if the creature would be there. Slowly they descended down the basement steps, with cool anticipation. They looked around, pointing their torches everywhere, scanning the darkness. There in the gloom, it lurked, they could see it. Michael slowly walked towards it, and then waved with a friendly gesture of the hand. Michael put his bag on the floor, then took the four books out. He placed them in front of the alien creature for it to look at.

"This is a book," Michael said, pointing to the book that he was holding in his left hand. "It has information . . . You can learn from it." Michael then pointed to a picture of a house, and said, "This is a house . . . house."

The alien immediately sprung to attention, as if understanding what was meant, for the thing that seemed to interest the creature was not so much the sound of the syllable, but rather, the structure of the word and its letters. Michael got the feeling that the alien could not pronounce human language, and that it could probably only understand the sound if it was connected to its written form. This meant that if Michael wanted to, he could teach the alien many things about human language over the course of a short period of a few weeks. The creature slowly took the book from Michael's hand, and started to look through the pages. It came to a picture of a tree, and Michael said, "tree." As they both continued looking through the book, they came across a chair, and Michael said, "chair."

Lydia said hello to the alien, and showed it the salmon in the container – then placed it in front of its feet. The creature looked genuinely pleased with the offer of the food, so Brooke gave it the fruit as well. The children spent two hours teaching their new acquaintance some of the basic rudiments of the English language. They then had to go home so that their parents did not suspect anything. Three weeks later, after many afternoons of teaching the alien creature things from books and other sources – they began to make some real constructive ground. On a certain day, when they happened to have a writing pad and a pencil the alien picked up the pencil and started to write something down on the writing pad. After it finished writing, it showed them the pad. On the pad was written the following:

Hello, my name is Nixorlix.

I am from a planet called Terrachia.

After reading this, the children felt stunned and amazed. Nixorlix understood the children’s speech if they spoke very slowly and if they indicated what they meant in certain ways. So they asked how he came to be in the situation he was in when they found him alone in the basement. Nixorlix scribbled into the pad – at times pausing, and then looking up at them. After about a minute and a half, he handed them the pad. The following is what was written on the pad:

I am stranded here,

because my ixnaluxeon

device is broken, and needs repair.

"What is an ixnaluxeon device?" Brooke asked, with a look of complete fascination and curiosity.

Nixorlix moved his hand towards the right side of his torso, and grabbed an object from the belt that was around his mid-region. Then when he flashed the object at the children, the device looked shiny and angular, with many sides, and had a long three dimensional oval-type shape. The object had many buttons, and also had a white glow to it that emanated from within it. They asked him what the function of the device was. He told them that it opened up a vortice, which is a type of wormhole connecting different parts of space. Also, the children asked Nixorlix where the planet that he is from was in relation to the planet Earth. He picked up an astronomy book that one of the children had brought there for him and he flicked through the pages, then pointed to a picture of the Pegasus Dwarf Irregular Galaxy.

"Wow!" said Lydia, in amazement. Michael and Brooke also had a similar look that Lydia had. The children really did look upon him with a sense of awe. Nixorlix felt at ease with these children, he really did. It was time for the children to go back home that afternoon, so they said goodbye to Nixorlix, then went home.

In the evening of that same day, Lydia was at home doing some research on physics and astronomy on her computer and learned many things. The next day in chemistry class, Michael was looking at an empty beaker at the same time that he was thinking about Nixorlix. All of a sudden Michael felt a sort of psychic connection with his alien friend. The more he looked at the beaker, the more it moved. Then all of a sudden the beaker levitated off the table a couple of inches and then returned to its normal position. When Michael was levitating the beaker he was spotted doing this by Damon Lattimore the school bully, who was a general all round troublemaker. And during break, when Michael was walking along the corridor, he was confronted by Damon.

"Hey, you!" Damon said, with a look of arrogance and condescension.

"Yes . . . what do you want?" replied Michael.

"I saw you!" blurted Damon.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you make the beaker float . . . Don't try to deny it," said Damon. So they both tried to stare each other down for awhile, and then Michael walked away.

"I'm not finished with you!" exclaimed Damon, as Michael moved away into the distance of the semi-crowded hallway.

Then that afternoon, when Brooke, Lydia and Michael had their usual two hours after school in the basement with Nixorlix they started teaching him more about themselves. Thus they taught Nixorlix their names since now he seemed to be more interested in them. For they wrote their names on the pad, which had the following order:

Brooke Hanson

Michael White

Lydia Daniels

They said their names out loud, so that he would have an idea of how their names sounded. All of them enjoyed a good afternoon together. They bonded and learned many things from the books in the basement. Yet at school the next day, Damon was looking for more trouble, as well as answers. Therefore he had got it into his mind to spy on Michael, and to see where this would lead to, for he sensed that Michael and the girls were hiding a secret that no one else knew apart from them. So Damon wanted to know what this secret was. The idea of having knowledge of what was going on possessed his mind immensely. Then during the first break, Damon observed Michael from a distance when Michael was talking to Brooke and some of her friends. They were making jokes, and also giggling. Yet when that school day was over, Damon followed Brooke, Michael and Lydia to see where they would go. For he saw them go into the old house on McKinley's Point, and noticed that they were there for approximately two hours without leaving. So when Michael, Brooke and Lydia left the old house between late afternoon and early evening, Damon decided to look there himself to see what he could find.

Therefore coming out from his hiding place in the trees, Damon began approaching the old house. He moved slowly and carefully like a jackal, creeping through the back door entrance. He moved from room to room, scanning the area thoroughly. Scrutinizing every detail along his route through the house. Moving tentatively, with great care and precision. It did not take him very long to find the basement entrance. The basement was too dark for Damon to explore properly, so he searched the rest of the house instead. After having searched the rest of the old house, Damon decided to go home and get a torch, so that he could search the basement as well.

He quickly caught the bus home, collected his torch from his room – then made his way back to the old house. Walking down the steps with his torch, Damon now thought he was prepared for whatever he would encounter in the basement. To his surprise, he encountered more than he bargained for. There in the semi-darkness of the basement, was an alien presence – one that unnerved him deeply. He saw Nixorlix in the basement staring back at him. Damon panicked and started to raise his voice, asking it what it was. In return, Nixorlix let out a deafening, squealing sound which sent Damon into more of a panic than he already was in.

Damon quickly stormed out of the basement in a flurry of rapid steps and almost tripped over himself as this experience had really shaken him up temporarily, but he would somehow take pleasure in trying to expose this secret. Therefore it meant informing the authorities to see if they would believe in him enough to check out the basement of the old house and look if there was an alien there. He decided to go to the police station to inform them. When Damon went to the police station and told them, they didn't believe him at first – then decided to send a couple of police officers to check it out.

The two well-built police officers approached the old house with a steady, moving, constant pace one evening with torches after Brooke, Michael, and Lydia had already left. They walked to the front entrance, but found it locked, so they went to the rear of the building and found the door open there. They walked into the building, and started searching methodically for the basement, which they found pretty quickly. Down they went, descending the wooden steps. Nixorlix had intuitively sensed this intrusion coming and so was well hidden. When the police officers were standing on the floor of the basement, and there was a gap between the police officers and the base of the steps, Nixorlix quickly took the advantage and ran rapidly up the steps and out of the old house. The police officers were startled. The speed of this alien creature was so fast, that they hardly noticed anything whatsoever, and were very dazed. Scratching their heads in disbelief, they knew something had passed them though, and very rapidly.

The day after Nixorlix ran out of the old house, Brooke, Michael and Lydia went to school as normal – without being any the wiser in regard to the fact that they would not find him in the basement after school. Their school day was turning out fine until during the first break Damon approached Michael and Brooke in the school grounds, and said, "Hey! you two. I want to talk."

"Yes, hello Damon . . . what do you want?" replied Michael, with a look of subtle contempt on his face. Brooke did not even bother to acknowledge Damon's presence at all, and stood there calmly.

"Did you know that the authorities are going after an alien that was hiding in the old house at McKinley's Point?" Damon said, with a look of mischievous relish in his eyes.

"No, I didn't," said Michael, with an inner feeling of sadness and disappointment, which gradually enveloped him.

Then they found Lydia in one of the classrooms talking to some of her friends. So Brooke and Michael took her aside, and told her that they had heard that the authorities were sweeping the area searching for Nixorlix. Thus she was visibly upset, yet accepted the news nonetheless without revealing too much emotion. Now she did not want her other friends in the room to get suspicious. After school, the three children decided to go to the old house anyway, to see if the authorities would be in that area.

When they came within range of the old house, they did indeed see many vans, cars, as well as men in suits with police officers and other personnel wearing plastic outfits. They were searching and sweeping the area thoroughly with a fine-tooth comb. The children looked on with extreme fascination. Yet in their minds they hoped and wished for Nixorlix's safety, for they would imagine him somewhere else, safe and secure thinking about them, because they certainly couldn't stop thinking about him, no matter how much they tried.