Let's Play
by eryn grewe
There were five families that lived on Borden street. All of the kids were around Michael’s age. Michael was 9, not in the older kids group and not the baby. The biggest news this week was that two kids spotted a glowing, green, man-like figure in their house. Thank god, because that meant they finally stopped talking about how Michael had to leave the neighborhood sleepover early because he wet the bed. Cora saw the face of a green figure reflected in her dining room plate and Jimmy saw him eating cereal at his kitchen table. Jimmy told a lot of lies so his story probably wasn’t true! But Cora was Bobby’s older sister and she was so boring and had no reason to lie.
Earlier in the day while they ate chicken nuggets and watched the Jetsons, Molly and Brian were devising a plan to catch the green man, or at least get a photo. Bobby took a break from drinking his ketchup to warn everyone that he saw a recent episode of “America’s Most Wanted” (he was always talking about that show) and a bunch of kids got murdered by a serial killer so they should really take this seriously. Michael wasn’t allowed to watch that show and just hearing about it freaked him out. Was this green figure a ghost, alien, serial killer? He didn’t even want to think about it.
Michael’s older brother had a sleepover that night so he had the room to himself. Usually Michael liked having the room to himself but not with all of this green figure news. Michael wished his brother was there to tell him a story to calm him down, but the noise from his air conditioner lulled him to sleep.
Michael woke up not feeling rested. He looked at the clock and saw it was only 3:06. He hated that he couldn’t make it through the night without getting up to use the bathroom. At least he hadn’t wet the bed again.
He went downstairs, nervously scanning the room with every creaking step. There was only one bathroom in their house, and he had to go down a flight of stairs, through the living room and past the kitchen to get there. There were so many opportunities for someone to jump out and grab him. He knew because he played hide-and-seek all the time. Even though it was summer, the house felt cold.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a light source flash from the kitchen. Michael gasped as he leaped into the bathroom locking the door behind him. He looked through the cabinets seeing if there was anything he could use, nothing but expired pills and so many bottles of toothpaste.
Michael thought about it for a while and calmed himself down to the point of thinking he had just imagined it. He collected his breath and decided to run back upstairs.
Five feet in front of him stood an 8-foot figure. There was a lime green glowing orb around him. “Let’s play,” the figure spoke.
Michael was paralyzed with fear. He couldn’t talk, move, or see anything but the huge glowing figure. He looked very human but there were black holes for eyes. Michael dashed around him, sprinting up the stairs and into his bed, locking the door behind him. He stayed awake until the next morning when his parents woke him up.
The following day news spread around the neighborhood that two blocks over on Willow, an 8-year-old boy was found murdered. Michael never told anyone about his encounter. The green figure story ran on “America’s Most Wanted” the following week but was never solved.