Please enjoy my first chapter! Comments are welcome!!

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12:00 p.m. April 23, 2015

Two youths were lying on their backs in a large courtyard’s field of lush dark green grass. The field was dotted with green-leafed elm trees and squirrels could frequently be seen swiftly traversing up and down their rough trunks. Walkways crisscrossed through the courtyard and numerous people were walking quickly across them as they socialized with friends. On all sides of the courtyard, there were gothic styled buildings complete with spires like something out of the medieval age. The sky is mostly clear with white wisps of clouds here and there and the sun is brilliantly shining down upon the Earth in all its glory. It all culminated into what would appear to be a normal day at the University of Chicago…well, if the ominous, dark obsidian colored ships hanging from the atmosphere could be considered normal.

“It’s been nearly twenty-five years and they’re still just chilling up there doing absolutely nothing. I mean…if I were an alien, I wouldn’t just sit next to a planet with life for that long without at least having some sort of ulterior motives” spoke one of the two youths lying on the ground. He appeared to be in his late teens and had a lean, athletic build at 5’ 11” with bronze colored-skin, gray eyes, black hair, and a stubble of facial hair.

“Maybe they’re just here for the view, Alex” laughed a shorter, but more muscled black male, with his dark brown eyes lingering on a shapely girl who was lithely switching her hips as she passed by.

I turn to watch the girl for a moment before placing my hand in front of Sharad’s face and snap my fingers. “Hey, come on. Focus bro. You don’t think it’s weird? There’s obviously aliens up in those ships, but ever since they got here in 1990 they’ve literally done nothing at all! What the hell could they be here for?” I frustratingly reply to his lack of focus.

“Come on, man. You know I love it when they walk” he helplessly replied as he reluctantly turns his head away from her and towards me. “Yeah, I agree, it’s weird…but remind me again why we can’t just politely ask the aliens why they’re here? I say politely because I’m not all for attempting to survive an alien invasion at my age…I’m also not a history major so I kinda didn’t pay too much attention in high school…” he trails off while scratching his head.

I sigh exasperatedly. “Chill out. You’re nineteen! Same as me! How do you not even know…ugh! Okay, look, I’m sure you can at least remember what happened when the United Nations planned to probe around the ships, right?”

As if the words ‘United Nations’ had lit a light bulb within his head, Sharad hurriedly replied saying, “Oh, hold on, you’re talking about the manned aircrafts we sent that somehow just dissolved into nothing once they tried to break through the stratosphere…as if they had run into some sort of force field that instantly broke them down or something, right?”

“Right…well, I guess we can only just wait and see like everyone else…but it still bothers the hell out of me.” I say, turning my head back up towards those unmoving ships for one last look. “Anyways, I’ve got that lab quiz in about an hour so I’m gonna head to my room and refresh for a bit. I’ll hit you up later. Maybe we can finish Star Wars five or something?”

“Sounds good, bro. The quiz didn’t go too well for me, but I’m sure you’ll be alright. And most def on the Star Wars later” he replies with a smile.

I laugh and good-naturedly reply while walking away, “I’ll be sure to exact vengeance for you, my fallen comrade.”

………………..

11:55 p.m. April 23, 2015

“I didn’t really like that movie as much as one through four. It was kinda…boring and they all just made terrible decisions! But I suppose that that’s how you make a story more interesting or something.” I said to Sharad as the ending credits of Star Wars V scrolled up my laptop screen.

“I agree with the terrible decision making skills, but I still thought it was pretty good. We’ll have to watch the last one tomorrow and then begins the long wait for the seventh movie” Sharad said while making an awful pouting face. I ignored it and proceeded to pack my laptop into my bag and throw it on over my shoulders.

“It’s good that we could use your room, Sharad. My roommate is always blasting the speakers playing Battlefield so there’s no way we could’ve watched it in there” I said as I swept an arm out indicating his room. “I’m gonna go back to my room and read…I’ll see you in chemistry at 10:30?”

“…I haven’t been to chemistry in like a week, but we’ll see, bro” Sharad laughed with a sheepish grin on his face.

I looked at him completely astonished for a moment, then shrugged.

“Well, I’ll pray for you once finals roll around” I laughed. “Alright, imma head out. Night bro” I said as I walked out of his room and into the hallway of his dorm.

“Night brotha!” I heard as the door shut behind me.

‘Alright, let’s see…’ I think to myself. Having made a decision on how I’m going to get back to my room, I walk off down the hallway and hit a left at the end of the hall. I keep walking down the hall and even though it’s lit, there is an eerie silence throughout the floor of the dorm. I made it to the end of the hall, stopped in front of an elevator and pressed the ‘down’ button.

Once it arrived, I stepped in and pressed the button for the basement. The dorms that Sharad and I live in are connected by an underground space where three dorms share their washers, dryers, extra cleaning supplies, and a couple practice rooms for musicians.

“Oh wait! Hold the doors please!” I heard footsteps rapidly hitting the floor of the hallway outside the elevator and stuck my hand in between the doors of the elevator right before they closed.

Looking out into the hall I see a short girl who appeared to be a mix of Caucasian and Asian carrying a hamper full of laundry. Recognizing her as one of the girls in my chemistry class, I take a closer look at her and realize that she’s a very pretty girl.

I sigh in slight admiration at her beauty and give my best smile to her and say, “I caught it for you. No worries.” I move to the side as she slows to a walk and enters the elevator and thanks me for holding the elevator. “No problem. Hey, you’re in my chemistry class, right? I have Professor Yee.” I ask as the doors close.

“Yeah, I am! I’ve seen you around a couple times…I’m actually pretty worried about our midterm next week. Things have been more or less quite confusing in the class since we started on the latest crystal structure stuff. Oh, my name is Sarah by the way.” She stretches out her hand and I shake it.

“Alex” I reply. This was the moment that I was hit with the greatest idea ever. I let go of her hand and awkwardly looked around the confines of the elevator. “Well, uh, I’m actually doing pretty alright in the class…if you’d like, erm, maybe we could have a couple study sessions in the library before the final?” I cross my fingers behind my back for good luck. We were nearing closer and closer to the basement…

“Oh…!” she exclaims and her cheeks flush into a hint of pink as she obviously realized that I’m interested in getting to know her better.

‘What the fu-…is she blushing!?’ I excitedly thought.

“Well, I have been having quite a bit of trouble so…yeah sure, why not?” she says turning her face away from me making her hair cover the faint blush. The elevator dings and the doors open moments later. We both step out and turn towards each other.

“Well, um, can I get your number and I’ll text you tomorrow so we can figure something out..?” I trail off while pulling my iPhone out of my pocket and begin opening up a new contact space.

“Sure” she responds as her face becomes even more flustered.

I’m on cloud nine as I watch her input her name and number in my phone. ‘Is she blushing even harder?? Does real life actually work like this??’ I mused. We began walking towards the end of the hallway where it split in two different directions.

“Well, I’m going to do my laundry, so I’ll see you around Alex” she says with a light smile.

I give her my best smile and gesture with my phone. “I’ll be in touch for that study session, Sarah.” I turn and walk down the hall towards another door which I pushed through and continued to walk down another lit hallway with the goofiest grin on my face.

I kept walking forward and in half a minute, I made it to the next elevator which would take me to the floor of the dorm I live in. I press the ‘up’ button and wait for it to come down since I’m way too lazy to take the stairs that I had passed about ten yards back all the way up to the third floor. I take this time to run through my mental checklist of things to do and checking my phone, I realize it’s a minute after midnight. Mentally sighing as the elevator appears, I step into it and focus my attention on my hearing just in case God decides to smile down upon me once more by gracing me with the presence of another beauty.

Oddly enough, before the elevator doors were close to closing, I heard heavy breathing that seemed animalistic in nature as well as a scraping sound of something being dragged across the ground. I blocked the elevator doors from closing for the second time that night and peered out around the edge of the wall’s corner.

Blinking twice in surprise, I feel a coldness clench around my heart and my eyes are glued to a figure moving away from me in the direction I’d just come from.

It was a hairless pale green organism standing at around four and a half feet tall. It was wearing a pair of shoddy boots and dirty trousers with holes in them. From what I could see, its skin was callous and covered in a thick, oozing layer of some oily substance making the monstrosity have a shiny look to it in the brightly lit hallway. The oily substance was dripping off of the little green man onto the floor leaving splotches which caused the ground to sizzle as whatever the substance was liquefied the ground. Despite all this, my attention was on something even more shocking. My vision zoned in on a flash of light connected to a hilt in the little green thing’s hand and I immediately recognized it as a thin sword that was about two feet long.

A spike of fear surged through my body bringing me back to my senses.

I immediately withdrew my head from around the corner and proceeded to freak the fuck out.

‘What in the absolute fuck!?’

‘Is it real? Robotic? No, definitely not robotic. It moves too smoothly to be artificial and the oily substance was highly acidic and would work through a lot of material...unless it was resistant?’

Thinking back to the way it moved and how it sounded…just so organic, I had no choice but to accept that the green monster was real.

‘So it’s real? Okay. This can’t have happened here through normal means…has to be connected to the ships…holy sh-…they’re finally making their move…but…why is there a goblin looking creature walking around here in my dorm of all places?’ I peered back around the opening of the elevator just in time to see the goblin pull open the door and move out of my line of sight. ‘This is…what the hell is going on? There might be more than just one of these things. I need to let people know about this. The desk lady could probably notify people more efficiently than I can.’

I hear a loud banging noise from above and vibrations from the higher floors begin shaking the ceiling.

Bloodcurdling screams begin to mix into the cacophony of noises and not one second later an earth-shaking roar resounds throughout the building forcing my legs to immediately soften. I grab onto the elevator door for support and look above me. My heart is painfully thumping in my chest, threatening to burst out of my body.

‘No, no, no…’

I clutch my shirt right above my chest and forcibly begin taking deep breaths to return my body to some semblance of normalcy.

Attempting to not panic, a pretty face flashes through my mind amidst the other thoughts and my heartbeat instantly raises.

‘Oh shit!’

I bolt around the corner and begin racing back from where I came—the direction the goblin had been walking in.

‘It’s only been a few minutes since I last saw Sarah, so she’s probably still in the laundry room! That monster is heading right towards her!’