The Visitor: First Meeting

This story began as a result of a writing prompt I received via e-mail. Enjoy and feel free to comment. I feel there is more to be said. How about you?

A single glance between two people can change your life. I always passed this belief off as foolishness. I have spent too many years studying and learning to fall for such pedantic drivel, yet each night before going to bed, I glance out the window. Somewhere outside my enclosed environment, more information waits to be discovered. What am I missing? What don’t I know that would bring me closer to enlightenment? What is out there that I am still not aware of? This evening was no different…at first. Then I looked out the window one last time, knowing that it wouldn’t be any different than the millions of times that I had looked out that window before.

I must now accept that I was wrong. A single glance between two creatures truly can change your life. On the other side of the pane of glass, large bright eyes reflect the light of the fireplace. I lean forward, hoping to see more clearly. A comically small head holds those large eyes. Thin tufts of fur sprout from its jowls and the top of its head. As it looks back at me, I see three distinct membranes slide over the shining orbs of its eyes like eyelids with varying degrees of opaqueness.

“What on earth?” The words slip unbidden from my lips.

‘Earth,’ a voice echoes through my head like thunder.

I put my hands up to shield my ears though I know it will not block the sounds coming from inside my head. The voice is not my own. It sounds tinny and un-modulated like robots in old movies. I take a step closer to the window.

“Did you…?” My muddled mind can’t form the rest of the question.

‘You,’ the voice echoes in my head.

This time it does not sound like a thunderclap. I can hear the voice clearly, but I find it hard to believe that is comes from anywhere but inside my head. The creature hasn’t moved except to tilt its head as if it is trying to understand my words.

“Do you understand what I am saying?”

‘ing?’

The eyelids blink, blink, blink again. Then they slowly begin opening, revealing the large dark eyes so hypnotically that I barely notice the squeal of the latch pushing against the wood. Still trapped in those eyes, I remain unaware as the window begins to rise. My mouth falls open as the eyes disappear behind the wooden frame of the window and a long snout uncurls into the room. Teardrop-shaped nostrils flare in and out as the window continues to rise until it slams against the top of the window frame.

“How did you do that?” I step back.

‘That,’ the voice echoes my final word again.

A mixture of fear and annoyance wars in my head as I pull my plush bathrobe closer around my own wrinkled form. The creature pulls itself over the windowsill with more grace than one would expect from such a short, stout body. It sits down on the windowsill, watching me carefully. As it stares at me, images begin to fill my mind. I see stars flying past me. Planets appear and disappear so swiftly that I am not sure if they are in our solar system or not. My head begins to spin from all of the information that flows into me. Moments later my head tilts again as the voice echoes through my skull again.

‘You will help me?’ The creature’s mouth moves as if saying the words, but no sound comes out.

“How are you doing that?”

‘You will help me?’ The voice pauses before filling the silence with another question. ‘Please?’

Sweat beads up on my forehead. My heartbeat feels uneven somehow. I slowly scuff my way backward to the overstuffed chair that sits by the fire, falling into it heavily.

“Help you? Who will help me?”

By this time, I am convinced that I have lost my mind. This bizarre creature can’t really be peering at me from his vantage point on my windowsill. It can’t. As I try to convince myself of the veracity of my own thoughts, the creature jumps down on long, spindly legs and lopes toward me. Too weary to move, I watch his approach anxiously. He slows down as he nears me, reaching out with large furry hands to take my left hand in his.

‘I’ll help you,’ the tinny voice almost sounds compassionate.

“How can you help me?”

‘You are old. You are afraid you will die before you have the answers you desire. I can promise you those answers if you will help me.’

Those large eyes mesmerize me again. I sink into them, slowly drowning in their dark depths. He blinks and I remain trapped. I still cannot speak.

‘Will you help me?’ The voice asks again.

“If you have the answers to my questions, why do you need my help?”

‘Because I cannot feel as you do.’

“I don’t understand.”

‘You should sleep. Hearing me as you do seems to take some toll on your strength. We will talk in the morning.’

The voice does not change into one more human yet it lulls me. I feel my eyes closing and my head falling heavily on my chest. I barely have time to wonder what the next day will bring before a dark, dreamless sleep overtakes me.