Go on, have a go.

Yesterday, I applied for a freelance job. Each applicant was asked to write a 500-word story on either, 1 Your Happiest Memory, or 2 You Woke Up to Find Yourself Surrounded by Aliens. You can guess which I chose. And, no I don’t know if I’ll be offered any work. Oh, and you’ve only got 1 hour to complete the task. Have a crack, here is my effort.

Three AM

“My God, it is dark, where is my watch?” I thumped the mattress under my pillow and scrabbled under the duvet. “Where has it gone?”

I was alone, not only had my old Casio disappeared but so had my girlfriend.

“Was our row that bad?”

Her clothes were on the floor. No sound from the bathroom. Her toothbrush and makeup scattered the ceramic.

“Where is she?”

Dogs were barking, upset by the moonlight?

I clicked on the bedside lamp. I could see more, but no girl, or watch. I popped my head around the bathroom door. No light, no girlfriend. I plodded downstairs to the living room, clicking light switches as I dodged the debris of last night’s meal.

“Who left the front door open?”

Suddenly, silence, no dogs, no traffic.

I ducked for no reason; it was only light but brilliant, eye scorchingly painful. So powerful nothing could be seen through it to the outside world.

I was floating. So was the hallway, behind me the sofa, the coffee table, and even the sixty-nine-inch tv appeared unattached to the floor and the wall. As if swimming in the air.

I grabbed at the wall, my hands went through the brickwork.

“I must sit,” I slumped to nothing. No floor, no walls, no house.

Covering my eyes from the glare, I tried to focus on something, anything. Nothing moved except me. It was as if floating in invisible soup, warm and soft.

The brightness dimmed, and a grey mistiness covered me. Then the noise.

A buzzing, a bleep, rising and falling in time with the darkening grey.

Then I spotted a shadow moving, then another and another. Slowly the visions became clearer. White creatures, arms and legs and a head. They were studying me. Was I was someone’s homework or a medical experiment?

“What do you want?”

A series of muffled bleeps answered me.

The nearest shadow gained form, it moved towards me; it was naked, and hairless, or was it? It was smooth, clean and white, with blinking black eyes. It had no mouth, why did I feel it was smiling?

Its outstretched hands touched me, gently probing. I didn’t flinch.

Two hands were placed on my shoulders, leaning me backwards. I could see a giant screen projected on the greyness. Dinosaurs raced past. Early man, stooped and bearded came and went. People talked and then read books. Battles raged and stormed. The history of mankind flickered on a giant Movietone screen.

“Thank you, but why?” I asked.

“Your race will soon cease to exist. You need to learn to progress.”

The words bounced around my brain.

“Why me?” I asked again.

“You have a choice: live on earth for the little time it has. Or, you can come with us.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“No, we don’t dream.”

“But where are we going.”

“That is the choice, the earth you know, or the unknown. What is it to be? Now is the time to make your decision.”

“Take me home, please.”

The END

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