End of the Road (36 page)

Eric was a lawyer working in the Dept. of
Justice prior to the alien’s arrival. He no longer had a job. He
was home when the beams hit the Capital Building and White House;
the crater could now be seen from space. He always hated that long
commute in to work but it ended up saving his life. He was far
enough away to survive the shockwave. He opened the door and saw
Julie huddling in the corner holding her knees to her chest as she
rocked back and forth. “I’ve got enough to feed us for a week.”

Julie shook her head, “They’re a block
away.”

Eric jerked his head up to the television
screen on the wall and saw images of the aliens moving up the
street next to his apartment and knew they would arrive shortly.
Eric was shocked that his apartment still had power. The building
had been built with emergency generators in the basement and they
still functioned. He had tuned the television to the weather
channel which had solar powered cameras around the city showing
weather conditions. It allowed him to watch the systematic
destruction of the city. Now he saw death approaching and knew
there wasn’t enough time to even cook a can of beans.

He went over to Julie and put his arms
around her. They had married a month before the aliens arrived and
he knew he wouldn’t have enough time to show her just how much he
loved her. He hated the aliens for that more than anything else. He
lifted her from the floor and hugged her tightly. She started
crying and he felt her shaking in his embrace. He felt the huge
explosion at the end of his block before the flash strobed behind
it. The picture window looking out on the street was sucked out of
its frame into the center of the thoroughfare.

He turned and went over to the stereo
system he had purchased for ten thousand dollars and powered it.
Julie had given him so much grief for buying it… but now that was
no longer an issue. He pulled a cd out and put it in. He almost
turned the volume low but decided that if he was going to die, it
was going to be using his white elephant stereo system at high
volume. He started the music, turned the volume up halfway, and
played their favorite song. He held out his hand to Julie and she
came into his arms and they started dancing. The music blared out
at an incredible volume as he held Julie tight and listened to the
lyrics.

This is the end, feel the earth move, my
heart is now beating only for you.

There is no present, there is no past,
there’s only you to make my joy last.

Feel the love blow through my soul, your
love is all I want to know…

Eric and Julie had their eyes closed and
danced to the music that took their minds away from the coming
horror. All the blasts and white flashes disappeared in the loud
music. All they could feel was each other. The song ended and Eric
kissed Julie tenderly. The kiss lasted a long time and finally
Julie broke the kiss and looked up at Eric. He knew they should be
dead by now. He turned and looked out of the shattered picture
window and saw ten aliens looking in on them with raised blasters.
The tall brown creatures were not moving. His heart went into his
throat as the number of aliens outside his apartment was growing by
the second. The alien in front was staring at them and it said, “We
want to hear it again.”

Eric looked at Julie and didn’t know what
to say. She ran from his arms, hit replay, and turned up the volume
to full. The song began again echoing out into the buildings around
the small apartment. The aliens began swaying side to side as Eric
noticed that the one in front that had spoken lowered its blaster
and after a moment, it fell to the ground. Julie watched them and
set the song to replay automatically. After an hour they went
outside as the explosions ripping through the city had stopped.
Every alien in the city was standing in the streets frozen in
place. Julie picked up a blaster, walked away from a group of ten
aliens, and shot them. None of the others moved. Eric picked up
another blaster and they walked out into the blasted city killing
aliens. Eric used his Glock inside their aircraft that had landed.
Soon they were joined by more survivors.

Eric discovered a week later that the
aliens had inadvertently fed the music into their communications
system and every alien on the planet as well as the ones on their
ships in orbit was frozen. The music became instantly addictive to
them and stopping it even for a moment caused them to go into
hysterics until it was restarted. The surviving military scientists
managed to separate several of the aliens and use music deprivation
to get them to teach how to use their technology.

Three years later, Eric was on one of the
alien’s ships that arrived in orbit above the alien’s home world
and played music to the planet’s communication’s center. The last
alien on the planet died of starvation two months later. Sometimes,
the end of the road isn’t what it appears to be. Then again,
sometimes it is.

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Chapter 29

Stalked

By Sherrie Giddens

Dodging in and out of the crowd, I race down
the escalator. As my feet hit the lower level I turn toward the
north end of the mall. Picking up my speed and lunging into a full
run I collide with a stroller, waking the sleeping infant inside.
The obscenities screamed by his mother can be heard for several
feet as I continue toward my destination, giving a barely audible
apology over my left shoulder.

At the north end of the mall, I bound up the
staircase two steps at a time. I am out of breath but feeling
rather proud of myself as I plop down on a nearby bench. Taking a
discarded but neatly folded newspaper from the bench, I hold it in
front of my face.

I hear her voice drifting down the mall
corridor. Her voice thrills me. Then I see her, walking toward me
just as I knew she would. My run wasn't for nothing. She and her
two friends are laughing and talking as young ladies do, but it is
her that I am drawn to. Her long snow-white hair flows down her
shoulders in waves like the drifts formed in a freshly fallen snow.
Her hair frames china doll cheeks with the right touch of pink,
setting off her deep blue eyes.

April 20th. Today, in the eyes of the law,
she is legal. No longer a minor child but an adult, she can love
and be loved with no questions asked. There is no one to stop us,
no one to say she is too young. No one to tell me I should wait. I
fear she will hate me at first, not understanding. I console myself
with the hope that in time she will learn to accept me, and
eventually love me as much as I love her.

Raising my phone just above the confines of
the newspaper I snap a photo, just one of many I have taken over
the last three years. I spend my evenings going over them one by
one, remembering her every move as each photo was taken. Band
practice, soccer, shopping, there are photos from every day of her
life, since that first day. I memorize her facial features, her
smile, everything about her. She is as lovely in her photos as she
is in person. An angel sent from heaven could not be more
beautiful.

I long for her. I want to hold her close, to
smell her hair and learn of her scent. I want to love her and to be
loved by her. I need her in my life; I can barely contain my
excitement as I think about the next few hours. Today is the day; I
have rehearsed it over and over. I know exactly what I will say and
I can only hope that she will understand. I fear she will fight me.
Once she knows how much I love her, how much she needs me and how
much I need her, she will love me. She has to love me.

One more time I glance at her above the top
of my newspaper. Our eyes meet for an instant. She looks away, and
then looks back once more, gracing me with a smile. It is the kind
of smile shared by strangers caught in an awkward situation. It is
a gift, her first gift to me. Her smile encourages me. I can't
stop; I have to move forward as planned. She looks away again and
rejoins her friends as they move into the food court.

Today is the day; soon, soon she will be a
part of my life. No one will be able to stop us, she is legal
today. If she only knew how long I have waited for her, how long I
have anticipated this day. My heart is pounding with
excitement.

She enjoys a simple meal with her friends as
I move into the shadows. It won't be long. I have played this scene
in my mind many times before. Her friends will leave her, exiting
through the south entrance. She will be left alone as she makes her
way toward the north entrance.

I wait.

An hour is not too long to wait when it is
your future you are waiting on. As her friends leave the table and
walk out of sight, she takes her time gathering her packages. I
move out of the shadows and walk the 30 feet separating us. Her
back is to me. It takes all of my self control not to reach out and
touch her. The time is not right, not yet.

"Claudia?" The word escapes my mouth. It
isn't what I had planned to say. My plans have all disappeared;
nothing I wanted to say or do is within my grasp. Like a wisp of
smoke, it is all gone.

She turns, startled at hearing her name. I
can't speak; our close proximity has stolen my words and taken my
breath. My hands are sticky with a cold sweat. I feel my body
shaking with fright. I wonder if she can see my fear. I can do
nothing but stare at her, I am in awe. I have never been this
close; her beauty is even more striking than before.

"Yes?" She speaks first, her eyes piercing
into my very being. Questions written on her face leave me feeling
panicked and small.

"I am..." I try to introduce myself, to
remember the words I had planned. There is nothing.

"You are my mother."

She speaks for both of us. She knows. I try
to read her face, her eyes, her body; I see no hate, no anger.

"You know?"

"How could I not know? You have followed me
for three years, constantly snapping photos of me. The first time I
saw you it was like looking into a mirror. I just knew, and I have
waited, waited for you to tell me. By the way, you are a terrible
stalker." She smiles slightly, speaking to me through her eyes as
much as her words.

Opening my arms I hesitate, hoping she will
fill them. She does. Allowing me to envelope her for only the
second time in eighteen years. The first time I caressed her little
face, only minutes old, I held her close and told her I would find
her again. I was only fifteen. I begged her not to hate me as they
took her from my arms.

I breathe deeply, taking in her scent. I run
my hand through her long hair. I feel her close to my body; her
cheek against mine is as soft as the first day I held her. My life
is now complete, as the mother's heart within me is filled with
joy.

The End

If you enjoyed this short
story, you might also enjoy the
Valgrid
short story series by Sherrie
Giddens. You can visit her
website here
.

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Chapter 30

Home Now

By Suzie O’Connell

From the comfort of his recliner, Robert
watched out the big picture window as snowflakes drifted in a lazy,
disoriented dance from a sullen gray sky, muting the once-vibrant
colors of the autumn as they gathered in a frosty quilt. A few
leaves still clung desperately to the skeletal branches, unwilling
to fall with their comrades that now lay scattered and dead. His
old eyes had seen so many days like this, but he had never
appreciated the quiet, cold beauty of them until Edith. Days like
this had always been something to endure on the ranch, bringing
numb fingers and toes, and making hard work even harder, but she
had shown him how to find the warmth in even the darkest, most
bitter December night.

He wished she were here with him now to warm
away the sorrow in his heart.
Has it really been a year
already?
he wondered as he picked up the framed photograph
sitting on the table beside his recliner. His gaze sidetracked
briefly to the gnarled hands that gripped the weathered-wood frame.
Veins protruded like the knotty roots of an old tree pushing up the
ground, and the skin was paper thin and splotched with liver spots
and the bruises that came so easily these days. The face
half-reflected in the glass didn’t look anything like the smooth,
smiling young man staring out at him from the photograph; it was
creased with time, weathered by eighty-seven years of riding the
range, and its main reason for smiling had died.
When did I get
so old, Edie?

He tilted the picture frame so he could no
longer see the reflection, and focused instead on the man and woman
in the photograph. They were so young, so full of life and love.
There were other photographs scattered around their house—dozens
upon dozens of them—chronicling their sixty-six years together.
There were images of road trips and vacations, pictures of their
son and grandson and great-granddaughter, and photos of beloved
pets.

A knock on the door disrupted his thoughts,
and he pushed slowly out of his chair. These creaky old bones and
tired muscles certainly didn’t work like they once had, but he
didn’t mind. Truthfully, he didn’t mind the wrinkles and fragile
skin, either, because growing old was a privilege. He’d earned
every sore joint, every scar, and every one of the few gray hairs
he had left. Edith had taught him that, too. He shuffled to the
back door and knew before he opened it that he’d see his son
standing on the other side. It was time for Jim’s daily visit.

“Hiya, Pops,” his son greeted, stamping the
snow from his boots as he stepped inside. A waft of crisp, cold air
followed him in. “How are you today?”