Aliens on Aventine Hill

Watching Waiting [Part 2]

The nighttime air was cool against her face. Ferns tickled the exposed skin of her calves as she waded into the undergrowth. Goosebumps prickled on the skin of her arms as she heard a low growl in the distance. It wasn't an animal growl; it was too deep. It reverberated through her chest and ears with uncanny force.

She stopped and held her breath, frantically searching the darkness for the source of the sound. Jimmy chased after her, "Alice!"

Alice held a finger to her lips and lifted her Polaroid camera. The noise had been so loud. It couldn't be far away, whatever it was. It was almost a chittering sort of sound; it echoed again in her ribs, and Jimmy shrunk up against her, "What the hell was that?"

She aimed her camera; he followed it with his eyes. There had been a glint in the darkness—a flash of something (red?). Shaking her head, she moved to pursue it and waved for Jimmy to follow.

He stared at her, but she just snatched his wrist. He stumbled after her, pulling at her grip, "What the hell is wrong with—"

She jolted to a stop, shoving Jimmy back as he threatened to unknowingly tumble over the edge of the short cliff. She thought short, but when she looked again, she saw it was a good ten or fifteen feet down. Heart beating in her ears, she listened to the pebbles they'd knocked loose tumble down the rock.

"Whew, close one," Jimmy observed nervously as he peered over the edge. "Let's get back to the car. I didn't like that sound, whatever it was..."

"Look," Alice pointed over the cliff, through a gap in the trees. Jimmy followed the gesture down to the Ghost House. They were looking at it from the back: If not for the cliff, the river and grassy slope still would have separated them. From far away, the old Victorian seemed like a gargoyle squatting on the hill. The gabled rooves formed the harsh angles of its shoulders and haunches.

But Alice was focused on the flickering pale light in the large first-floor bay windows. It was the unmistakable flickering of a television. A shadow moved inside, illuminated just barely by that faint light.

"Oh, wow, great," Jimmy grabbed her hand, "That's a mystery we've already solved. Let's get back to the car," when she didn't budge, he tugged fiercely at her wrist, "Come on, Alice. We're not supposed to be here. Let's go."

She was frozen stone still, eyes wide with wonder. Her lungs were burning, but she was afraid to breathe. Afraid to break the silence and the spell. The lights flickered again and went out. The back door of the house slowly swung open, and a figure emerged as if from an abyss. He lingered on the threshold, as if leaning against it for support.

"Alice!" Jimmy had her arm in both his hands now. "Please, let's go!"

A twig cracked behind them, and Alice heard that low guttural sound again. Her head snapped in its direction and her camera with it. Her eyes caught just the edge of a bewildering shadow.

Jimmy hovered behind her, shifting anxiously from leg to leg. His voice wobbled, "Did you hear that?"

She motioned for him to be quiet and set her eyes back on the figure by the house. He stood in the grass now, shirtless with a thick blood-stained bandage wrapped around his middle. An unnatural moonlight cast him in blue and silver.

"There," she hissed at Jimmy, thrusting him in front of her so he could see, "The light!"

A void of silence seemed to have settled over the valley. There was no sound but that of the river. Alice aimed the camera and looked through the viewfinder, waiting for just the right moment.

The unnatural moonlight intensified and focused on the figure. He looked slowly up, the glow glinting in the glass of his eyes. Alice held her breath, held the camera steady and poised her finger over the trigger. It was a weapon in her hands.