Terror in the Woods. J C Lephew
be in the shape of a wide heart. But Charlotte’s most prominent feature was her eyes. Charlotte had cat-shaped eyes that were the color of a sunny blue sky that were surrounded by thick, black, super long eyelashes like Elizabeth Taylor. Tony’s mother always called Charlotte “her young beauty” and was very protective over her, which was why she insisted on Tony being with her a lot.
Tony held the door open for her, and she sauntered in. Charlotte was not too much of a morning person, and she was not happy about having her Saturday morning slumber interrupted to go spend time with her brother and his friends.
“Charlotte, good morning to you too,” Tony said sarcastically.
Charlotte looked around. “Doesn’t Grog have parents?” she asked as Grog and Mike started coming down the steps themselves.
“My parents are considering going into business with some guy, so they went to observe his business and talk to the guy today, so they won’t be back until dinnertime at the earliest. And if they’re not back by dinnertime, I have more than enough money to order delivery,” Grog said.
They sat around and tried to think of something to entertain Charlotte and fill up their Saturday. Abbie was lying on the floor at the feet of Grog and Tony. “How about we take Charlotte upstairs and show her what we found yesterday?” Mike suggested.
“What?” said Charlotte.
“Yeah. What?” said Tony with a hard edge to his voice.
“Let’s show her. Let’s show her what we found yesterday,” Mike said. “Come on.” Mike stood up and began walking toward the stairs.
Grog shrugged and stood to follow. “Why not? She’s probably going to find out anyway,” he said.
Tony stood and waved his hand at Charlotte in a follow-me gesture. Charlotte stood and followed them up the stairs.
“Look,” Mike said, gesturing to the two meteorites that they had found.
Charlotte looked at them nonchalantly. “What are they?” she asked.
“They’re meteorites,” Grog told her with a tone of disbelief. “We’re going to sell them to a museum and become rich,” Grog continued.
Charlotte nodded and appeared to be mildly impressed. “Oh, that’s cool,” she said.
Mike picked up the dark red meteorite and held it out to her. “Hold it,” Mike said, his eyes gleaming. “It’s surprisingly light.”
Charlotte was reaching out to it when Abbie started barking viciously. They didn’t know that Abbie had also followed them up the stairs. They had all jumped. Mike gently put the meteorite down and then walked aggressively toward Abbie.
“Get out of here!” Mike said and stomped toward her.
Abbie barked at him with even more aggression. Grog stepped in between them, and the anger was obvious on his face. “You get out of here, man. You don’t talk to my dog like that! What is the problem with the both of you today?” Grog was yelling at them and pushing Mike and Abbie out of the room.
Tony was trying to push Mike and Grog apart and trying to speak to deescalate the situation between Mike, Grog, and Abbie. It was a noisy jumble of talking, yelling, and barking as they backed out of the room. Charlotte shook her head and wondered if they were always like that. Then Charlotte saw something out the corner of her eye. It was bright red and round. Charlotte realized that it was a second meteorite, and she was almost mesmerized by the bright light-red color of it.
She remembered Mike’s words that the meteorites were light, and she actually wanted to touch and pick up this meteorite. Charlotte picked it up, held it up, and looked at it all around. It was surprisingly light in weight but felt like it was solid. Then she heard Tony yell out, “Charlotte!” Charlotte put down the meteorite, and she saw a very tiny, wiggling, bright red worm. She opened her mouth in a silent scream of disgust and violently shook her hands trying to get the worm off without having to touch it. The worm was flung into her mouth and went to the back of her throat, and she instinctively swallowed it.
As soon as she swallowed it, she felt the change and welcomed it. She knew. She knew everything, including what she needed to do and how to go about it, but for now she needed to appear normal. She went downstairs. Tony had managed to get Mike and Grog to stop fighting, and even Abbie had calmed down.
“Man, where is Charlotte?” Grog asked.
They walked into the living room. Abbie was lying at the bottom of the stairs, and Charlotte was crouched down in front of her looking Abbie straight into her eyes, and Abbie was looking back at her.
“What are you doing?” Grog asked Charlotte.
Charlotte appeared startled as if she had been interrupted. “Oh, I was just making sure that she wasn’t going to attack me,” Charlotte said.
Grog and Tony shook their heads.
“I don’t know what is with her,” Grog said.
Charlotte looked at the clock. “It’s almost lunchtime. Why don’t you, guys, take her for a walk and I’ll make us some tuna fish sandwiches,” Charlotte offered.
Tony, Grog, and Mike all nodded and agreed that it sounded good. Just as they were turning to head out the front door with Abbie, Grog turned back to Charlotte. “How did you know that we had tuna fish?” Grog asked her.
“Oh…” Charlotte glanced at Abbie. “Doesn’t everybody have tuna fish?” Charlotte asked him and gave an exaggerated shrug.
Grog thought about it for a moment and then nodded, seeming to be satisfied with her answer. Then they walked out the door.
Charlotte immediately got started on making their sandwiches. When Charlotte laid out the bread, she looked up. She had a plan, and it was time to put her plan into action. Charlotte ran upstairs to Grog’s room. She went to the bright red meteorite and found three, very small, bright red worms. She gently picked them up, placed them in her hand, and ran back downstairs. She put a worm into each of the sandwiches that she would serve the boys. They would soon find out what she had done. They would want answers, and everything would be explained to them. Charlotte had just finished completing their sandwiches as they walked back into the house. Charlotte had put each of their sandwiches on Dixie disposable plates.
They were so hungry and eager to eat that they didn’t notice that Charlotte had not made a sandwich for herself, and she had begun to watch them. She watched as Tony took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. Then Grog took his bite, chewed, and swallowed. And she watched as Mike took a bite, Abbie was watching them too while she sat next to Charlotte’s feet. Nothing yet. Charlotte was not surprised. She had placed the worms near the middle of their sandwiches.
Tony was enjoying his sandwich when all of the sudden he tasted something a bit off in his sandwich, and he swallowed. Tony put his sandwich down and put both of his hands flat on the table; he saw it, and he felt it, the change came over him. Tony saw the many battles between them as they flew around outer space. He saw that they were constant battles between good and evil. He saw the crash landing to Earth and lying dormant in the ground for over 350 years until Tony and his friends dug them up. Tony’s vision had ended, and he knew it was the truth.
Tony, can you hear me? he heard Charlotte say to him. But she hadn’t spoken a word. He looked at her. We can hear each other’s thoughts. It’s a gift that the meteorite gave to us, Charlotte told him.
How do you know all of this? Tony asked her. Abbie told me. She told me a lot more too but… Charlotte trailed off as Grog suddenly put down his sandwich and placed both of his hands flat on the table.
Grog briefly looked like he was about to experience a panic attack. He started to breathe heavy and fast but then his breathing slowed, and he visibly relaxed. Tony knew that he felt it too.
Grog. Tony and Grog both heard a smooth adult female voice say. Tony knew that it was Abbie speaking to him.
Who is this? Grog asked.