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Fiction Short Story

by Joanna E. Lopez

World's End

The battered truck sputtered clouds of black smoke from its tailpipe as it chugged down the road. The paint was peeling, the body dented, and parts of the frame exposed. It was the depression so Henry and Elizabeth Price couldn't afford non-essential luxury repairs. They barely had enough to keep their farm in Grover's Mill.

"Great night." Elizabeth Price smiled; the wrinkles around her thin-lipped wide mouth were prominent.

"Uh, huh," Henry Price declared, sitting next to her in the car. His eyes were fixed on the long, straight road ahead.

"I can't wait to get home and open my prize and see what else is inside," Lizzy giggled. She looked through the orange cellophane wrapped around a black basket filled with several different kinds of imported fruits buried underneath imported cheese and cracker delicacies. The cellophane crinkled against her chest as she hugged her prize. She won grand prize at Bingo, the only thing Lizzy Price had ever won in her life.

"Uh, huh."

"Did you have a good time?" she asked, turning to her husband.

"Won twenty dollars. We can use it to fix the roof."

"And these seats," Lizzy answered. She wiggled her body against the ripped black leather upholstery seats and looked out the side window. She reached behind her head to tuck some loose stray gray hairs back into her bun and smiled. She'd had a great time tonight. It was the first time in a long while she and Henry had gone out together.

Lizzy leaned forward and snapped the knob on the radio. Loud applause and laughter filled the truck. Lizzy sat back to listen.

"Edger Bergen and Charlie will be back in a minute, but in the meantime let's hear Chuck Hayden and his orchestra."

Lizzy frowned at the radio. She leaned forward and the truck filled with murmured possessed voices as she ran the small bar down the dial.

"We are coming to you in the middle of beautiful downtown Manhattan to bring you the sultry sounds of Spain," the radio said.

"Is this ok?" she asked, turning her head to her husband.

"It's fine," he nodded. Lizzy sat back again and let the sultry, sensual sounds of the Latin music sweep over her. She looked out the car window at the full moon illuminating the inky blackness. It threw shadows on the large dark trees, making them an eerie blue/purple color. The gnarled branches reached out at them as if wanting to grab them off the road. There was a strange feeling of expectancy in the air tonight as if something big was going to happen.

Lizzy felt a cold chill go up her spine. It felt creepy driving out on the quiet road alone, especially on Halloween night.

"Ladies and gentleman, we interrupt our program of non-stop Latin music to bring you a bulletin. From the intercontinental news—a professor Wilcox at the observatory in Princeton, New Jersey has reported spurts of red streaks in space. Professor Wilcox confirms that the red spurts streaks are coming from the planet Mars. We now return you to the Meridian room at the Plaza hotel situated in downtown Manhattan."

Lizzy and Henry Price stared at the radio as "Stardust" began to play.

"What do you think it means, Henry?"

"Probably nothing," he answered, his voice low. His eyes returned to the road but Lizzy could tell by how his gripped the steering wheel that he was worried.

"Ladies and gentlemen following the news a minute ago, we have just learned that something just crash-landed on a farm at Grover's Mill. We are going to take you there as soon as we arrive. Now back to the music."

"Grover's Mill? That's just two miles from here."

"I know," Henry answered.

"But, why didn't we hear anything?"

"I don't know," Henry replied, his voice shaky.

Lizzy looked up and searched the sky. It was clear with stars that shined like diamonds in the dark sky. No unusual red streaks to be seen. Lizzy frowned and sat back. They had to pass by Grover's Mill to get home. She pulled her prize tighter against her chest and began to chew on the skin around her thumb. She closed her eyes and wished for Henry to drive faster. She wanted to go home.

Lizzy turned her head to see the V-shaped line that formed between his eyebrows. It was a telltale sign that he also felt as frightened as she did.

"We are here in a farm at Grover's Mill and have just had word that the object that crashed seems not to be a meteor. It looks more like a yellowish white cylinder, with a diameter of 30 yards. Mr. Wilson, the owner of the farm, is set to speak about this unusual event."

"Which farm do you thi..."

"Shh!" Henry reached out and turned the volume higher when he heard the reporter's voice again.

"We are here with Mr. Wilson who owns the farm where the cylinder landed. Can you please tell the listening audience what you remember of this rather unusual visitor that landed on your backyard?"

Lizzy held her breath.

"I was listening to the radio, and kind of drowsy and listening to the radio talking about Mars and then I heard something. A hissing sound like a Fourth of July rocket. I then turned my head to the window and saw a red streak. The earth shook so hard it smacked me to the ground when it landed."

"Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Now let me direct you to a sound that seems to becoming from the object. A strange humming, scraping noise. I am going to put my microphone up to the object so you, the audience, can hear it." A spray of pebbles and dirt spewed from underneath the truck's tires when Henry turned the steering wheel sharply to the shoulder of the road. A rustling noise came from the radio, followed by a soft humming sound.

"Ladies and gentleman! Something is happening! The top of the cylinder is opening! Two luminous disks are rising from the cylinder like a cobra. It looks like a face of some sort. I can now see its body. It's large like a bear. Ladies and gentleman, its eyes are horrible. They're black and gleam like a serpent's. Saliva is dripping from its rimless lips."

Henry and Lizzy's mouths were wide open as they listened.

"Oh my God! Ladies and gentlemen! The eyes just shot out a sort of radiation beam that incinerated most of the police force. Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrible, horrible. I'm going to try my best to tell you all what is happening around me."

Laser beam sounds and loud blood-curdling screams emanated from the radio. Lizzy and Henry looked at each other as the sounds continued. They were speechless, frozen in place.

"Oh my God! Henry look," Lizzy shouted. Henry slowly turned his head away from the radio to his wife. She was looking out the truck's front window, her mouth wide open. Henry's jaw dropped when he looked and saw bright red streaks illuminating the dark night air, making night turn into day for a fraction of a moment until it disappeared and lit the sky with another. After the next red streak dissipated, Henry heard Lizzy loudly gasp next to him. His eyes fixed on two strange beings walking up the road toward their truck. They were green slimy creatures with bug eyes and long tentacles that reached out to them from the darkness.

"Henry! We have to get out of here!" shouted Lizzy. She opened the door and quickly got out of the car only to find Henry right beside her. He grabbed Lizzy's prize and then her hand. Both ran in a panic down the dark, deserted road in the opposite direction from Grover's Mill, abandoning their truck. Lilly Parker and her little brother, Willie Jr., stopped and pulled off their masks from their faces. They stared at the strange old couple as they ran screaming down the road.

"Wasn't that Mr. and Mrs. Price?" Lilly Parker asked.

Her brother, Willie, nodded his head, the plastic mask made a scraping sound against his chest.

"Where do you suppose they were going?"

Her little brother shrugged his shoulders. "Home," he squealed, and lifted his fat little hand for his big sister to take.

"Ok, lets go home," Lilly answered. "We can see the end of daddy's fireworks show."

She grabbed Willie's hand in one hand and his huge burlap sack of candy in the other. Both turned and went back up the road. It was only after they had turned the corner when a deep booming voice returned to speak on the radio.

"This is Orson Wells, ladies and gentlemen, coming out of character to show you The War of the Worlds was only but a radio drama. It was only The Mercury Theater's version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping up from the bushes and shouting boo. We weren't able to soak your windows with soap, so we did the next best thing and annihilated the world before your very ears. We hope you know we didn't mean it and that it is a quiet beautiful night tonight with no aliens. Happy Halloween."

© Copyright 2003 Joanna E. Lopez
 

About the Author
Joanna E. Lopez has been writing since she was the age of twelve years old, filling many volumes of notebooks with her short story stories. She had only decided to be a writer eight years ago, after she finally showed her friends and family her short stories and was told she actually had talent, she enrolled in Writer's Digest writing school to finish her short story and has just completed another writer's course for writing articles to help polish her craft. She recently completed one of many writers' courses they offer. She received her Bachelor's degree last year in English and this year has won an honorable mention for a writing contest for the Writer's Digest magazine. Her piece appeared in the September issue of Writer's Digest.