Fiction Friday #156

This week’s challenge:
A boy and his father awaken early to watch the sunrise from their mountain campsite, but they begin to panic when the sky remains dark long into the afternoon.

“Kyle” he whispered as he nudged his son in the dark tent under the soft glow of the battery powered lantern hanging from the roof of the tent. It was 5:00 a.m. by the tattered old Seiko – damn watch had been through hell and back, but no matter how much abuse he gave it, it kept right on ticking – on Mark’s wrist and they had planned to wake early to catch breakfast and watch the sun rise before they spent the day fishing for trout in the remote mountain lake.

The young boy stirred, his eyes opening slightly. “Dad?” he asked as if he needed reassurance that the man awakening him really was his father.

“Wake up, son. Breakfast is on. We have to hurry if you want to see the sun come up.”

With a sudden jolt – you would have thought it was Christmas morning – little Kyle awoke, wide-eyed and ready to go. He wiggled out of his sleeping bag in no time flat. “Coming!”

Twenty minutes later, father and son hiked to the summit of the mountain with a small rolling cooler in tow filled with their morning’s fare: hot sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and reheated buttermilk biscuits (thanks mom!). The boy had a skip in his step, happy to be spending the weekend with his daddy; the man content as well. It had been a few years since he had been able to spend any meaningful time with his Kyle. After he started at McKinley and Partners, the courtroom had taken the majority of his time – his family life suffered.

The two sat atop the rocky outcropping that was the summit of Bear Mountain, eating and making small talk, mostly young Kyle bragging about the monstrous trout he was going to catch – as well as the evil lake monster with three heads and bear’s feet he was going to tame and ride home. Swallowing the remnants of a sausage link, Mark said “almost six! Ready?”

And they waited.

“Hmm. That’s funny. Sun’s supposed to come up at six.”

“Where is it, dad?”

“News must have been wrong. Don’t worry, it’ll be up soon.”

Laughing, Kyle answered “Make it come up now! I want to see it!”

Mark took a bite of reheated biscuit – he savored the smoky flavor impregnated by the campfire – and murmured “if only it worked that way …”

And they waited.

The Seiko glared back 6:27. What the hell?

6:40

He looked at his son, who had since finished his breakfast and found entertainment in pretending a group of small stones he gathered were soldiers. A mighty war raged at Kyle’s feet and he was the Grand Wizard of Rockin-Rollia, his flashlight the sun above the battle field. One swift kick knocked out the ranks that were attempting to flank King Elvis’s batallion with a stern “oh, no you don’t!”

7:00 Something’s up. “Kyle, I need to go back to the campsite for a minute” Mark said, trying his damndest to make up an excuse to leave. “Will you be okay here by yourself?”

Matter-of-factly, Kyle replied “of course, dad!” Mark couldn’t help but laugh. The boy returned his attention to the troops and resumed belting out commands to his little soldiers. Mark knew he had nothing to worry about: his son was a well decorated Scout and knew how to take care of himself in the forest and how to – god forbid something really did happen – get himself out of trouble and to safety.

Back at the camp site, Mark located the keys to his Chevy and started the two mile trek down the mountain side to the parking area. There were now four other vehicles, one a truck with a heavy-set bearded man standing outside its door. As he approached, he cautiously hailed “hello there.” The man turned, held out his palm vertically, and said “quiet! Something’s going on.”

7:30

The voice on the radio spoke solemnly. Although daylight should have started creeping its way across the globe, it hadn’t. The feminine voice placed the image of a beautiful young blonde in Mark’s mind, and that made him smile. She spoke of events across North America: the East coast states were in a panic – they were three hours ahead and still plunged in darkness. The rest of the world had no idea what was going on – it was normally night for them as it was. Not only was it dark on the East coast, the sultry voice reported, but temperatures were steadily falling as one travelled West.

7:45

The bearded man sighed, opened the door, and leaned inside. When his massive body emerged, he turned around and produced a rifle. “Mister – I don’t know what the fuck’s goin’ on, but you better find some protection. You up here by yerself?”

Unsure of the man’s intentions, and out of concern for his son, he replied “yeah. Had to get away from the wife for a while. Bitch ain’t easy to live with.”

“I know what you mean, bud” the bearded man said with a chuckle. A hand ran lovingly up the barrel of the Remington he was holding, spat on the ground, and farted.

8:00

The radio interrupted with a beep and the young woman (In Mark’s mind!) came back on. “This just in!  NASA has reported – you’re not going to believe this, folks – that a large, unidentified object has been spotted …” her voice trailing off. After what seemed like an hour’s pause, she resumed. “… has been spotted sitting between the Earth and the Sun.” Another short pause. “Am I reading this right?” And another. “… larger than the diameter of the Moon?”

The two men looked at each other. “See? Hear that? I told ya!” the bearded man exclaimed. “They’re here!”

“Who’s here?”

“Them! They’re gonna invade!”

The bearded man frantically hopped into his truck and sped away. As the taillights faded around the bend in the road, Mark heard the crunching of small feet on gravel coming from behind him. He turned around to see the glowing eye of a flashlight whipping its beam back and forth across the path. “Who’s there?” Mark shouted.

“Daddy?”

“Kyle?” he asked, surprised. The beam of light found him and quickly grew in size as the boy ran to him. “Kyle, what’s wrong?”

“I ran down here as fast as I could, daddy!”

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m scared! I was up there, playing – waiting for you, just like you told me to. And I looked up and the …”

“What?”

“The stars started moving.”

“What? Kyle?”

“I’m telling you the truth! They started moving and then three of them grew! I watched them for a minute and one of them came straight at me. That’s when I ran.”

“Kyle, that’s just your mind playing tricks on you” Mark said in a feeble attempt to reassure his son. “You were alone, in the dark. I’m sorry – I shouldn’t have done that.”

Crying, young Kyle looked his father in the eyes and replied sternly “I’m not making it up, dad.” He slowly looked upward, his father’s eyes following his until they lost each others’ gazes and continued upward into the night sky.

The stars were moving.

Without a word, Mark grabbed his son by the arm and bolted for the safety of his Chevy. With the radio on, they gazed out the windshield. The stars were all traveling East, an errant one here and there shooting off to the North or South to some unknown destination.

8:20

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to go home.”

“Me too, son. Me too.”

8:27

The radio signal began to crackle, but Mark could still make out the reporter’s voice. “Coming to … live … K103 … your rock station …”

“What are they saying, dad?”

“Ssh. Let me listen.”

“… a ship … landed on top of Stone Mountain … Georgia … 8:28 …never seen anything like it …”

Mark looked at the Seiko, noting the second hand had stopped. The time showed precisely 8:28.

The invasion had begun.

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