Status: Exciting
Why, Georgia
One
The day was slipping away, much in the same fashion that Patrick Henry's hand was slipping up Georgia McBride's shirt. In the exact same way she didn't want his hand to be slipping. Subtly she pulled his hand out from under her shirt and broke off their lack luster kiss. The sun was long gone and the moon was rising steadily. The cicadas hummed in the thick of the woods and gnats landed on Georgia and Patrick's sweaty skin. A small breeze blew through the corn field. Like clockwork a meteor shower began exactly at 10:37 pm on Saturday June 9th.
Small bits of space were being pulled to earth with the same force that kept Georgia's feet planted firmly on the ground. The rocks hit the atmosphere and burned up as they streaked across the summer sky. Patrick leaned in to kiss Georgia's neck and she pushed him off, sans subtlety. Why had she bothered bringing him out here in the first place. He didn't give half a care about meteor showers.
As promptly as the show had begun it came to an end. Georgia stood, dusted off the seat of her shorts and grabber her keys. She made a beeline towards the edge of the corn field where her beaten to hell and back pick up truck sat, not caring if she came off as rude. A sound between a flare gun and a siren wailed behind her. She spun around and a fiery mass was hurtling through the sky towards the opposite end of the field. Before she could register what was going on the object hit the ground. Sending with it a super sonic boom and a forceful shaking of the ground. So forceful in fact, that Georgia and Patrick were knocked flat on their backs.
An unforgettable shrill ringing was the only sound Georgia McBride could hear and an unforgettable hollow filled her chest. Blinking, she slowly pushed herself up from the ground. The cicadas had long since stopped their song and much of the corn around her had bent almost in half, the tips of each stalk reaching for the ground. Patrick Henry called out to her from the pick up truck but she couldn't hear him and he couldn't see her. He would call out to her into the dark for a few more minutes before giving up and driving home.
Georgia weaved her way through the field. Reaching out into the pitch black, she could feel waves of heat wash over her as she neared the impact. Soon the dark was illuminated by a dying green light that blinked a few feet in front of her. The ringing in Georgia's ears subsided, replaced by and incredible pounding of her heartbeat and the soft hum from a matte black machine half embedded in the ground.
Flight or Fight was not something Georgia liked to think about, if anything, ignoring her animal instincts gave her more zest for living. Where everyone else in the small town of Kelly, Georgia feared God, the ever climbing gas prices, and that "damn-son-of-a-bitch-Obama", Georgia McBride only feared getting stuck. While everyone else spent their time with their noses in their bibles, Georgia poured over text books and star maps. Georgia had a taste for adventure and a knack for getting in trouble. Approaching a smoking black box with green blinking lights was most definitely asking for the strongest reprimanding Georgia could ever receive.
Georgia was close enough to smell some sort of burning material and even in the dark night she could see the smoke rising up from the part of the machine embedded in the ground. She reached out her hand, her fingers an inch away from the surface of the machine. Every nerve in her body screamed out that this was by far the worst thing she could ever do. "What do you think you're doing?" She froze, like a deer caught in headlights. "Don't you dare touch my ship, just back up."
A tall figured resembling a man emerged from the smoke clutching a small silver box with red and blue furiously blinking lights. Georgia pulled her hand back down to her side and turned to face whomever was approaching her. Goosebumps covered her arms and legs and a deep flush crept up her neck towards her face. The figured stopped walking and held up the small silver box first at her then back at the ship. "You said ship?" The words spilled from Georgia's mouth with no second thought.
"Yes." The figured seemed annoyed.
"As in, space ship?"
The figured stopped waving the box over the outside of the ship and turned towards her, "Yes a space ship. Don't act like you've never seen one."
"I'm not acting."
"What?"
"I've never seen a space ship."
"Where am I?"
"Georgia."
"Not Florida?" Florida came out of the figures mouth but sounded much closer to Flu-rye-day.
"Not since I last checked."
"Your sass isn't helping."
"Helping what?"
"Never mind that. This is a disaster." The figured walked around the back of the wreckage mumbling under its breath.
"Because you crashed your ship?"
"I did not crash my ship." The voice was low and rough with a bitterness on every word.
"That doesn't look like a landing." The matte black ship was now becoming more apparent. What use to be the body of the vessel was split almost in two with the forward end buried completed in the dirt and producing a very foul odor.
"You've never seen a space ship before, what do you know?"
"I know you don't have very much time to keep pointing that box at what's left of your ship."
The figure stopped moving, "What are you talking about?"
"The police are probably already halfway here, you made a pretty interesting entrance."
"Good they can help me fix this up."
"It doesn't work like that. They're going to arrest you and send what's left of your ship to either be destroyed or Area 51."
"Area 51?"
"Not important. You've got to go, like right now."
"With what ship?" Georgia looked over the destroyed machine and made another,extreme decision.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"Trust me." She stood on her toes to look over what was left of the corn and sure as the sun rises in east the flashing lights of police cars were speeding towards the field. Georgia looked at the figure expectantly, "Are you coming?" The figured turned and reached into the machine pulling out some sort of bag and hastily throwing items inside. He faced her as she turned on her heels and sprinted off into the corn, in the opposite direction of the oncoming police.
They ran until they came to the edge of a property encased by a rotting white fence. Georgia turned and ran parallel to the fence until a house came into view. She grabbed the top of the fence and threw her legs over then kept running towards the house. Georgia didn't bother to turn to make sure the figure had kept up with her, while she did have a taste for adventure she couldn't quite decided if this was all some elaborate joke or if a man had actually crash landed in a space ship a mile from her house. She could see her pick up truck parked in the front drive way and her father talking with Patrick out on the front porch. She ran to the back side of the house to the large tree that just so happened to be conveniently growing outside of her bedroom window.
"Can you climb a tree?" Georgia undid her hair tie, pulled her hair into a tight ponytail and retied her hair out of her face. Strands had undone themselves during her run and stuck to the sides of her face. She said a silent 'Thank you' to God that she had been keeping up with her resolution to run more.
"Yes I can."
"Good. Climb that tree. Don't go all the way to the top. Stay there until further notice." The figure began climbing as Georgia raced around to the front of her house.
Secretly Georgia hoped her father was chewing Patrick out. He wasn't good for much besides paying for their dates to What A Burger and not asking questions. In fact, Georgia didn't really like him but he hadn't done anything major for her to feel the need to break up with him. Patrick was not the smartest, nor was he the most hansom, but he had asked her to junior prom and had shown up to her house on time. She could hear him trying to explain her cars presence verses her absence and decided to speak up, "Hi dad." She smiled at them both and noted the relief on her fathers face and bewilderment on Patricks. Without a second glance she opened her front door and strode inside to wash her hands.
The front door slammed as Georgia wrapped her hands in a small towel. "You are not to see that damn Henry kid anymore do you hear me Georgia Lee?" Her father's face had turned a deep red and the vein on his temple was out on display. He was going to give himself a heart attack if he kept over reacting like this.
"That's fine."
"You're damn right that's fine. He's a lazy, good for nothing rat who left you out to die in that corn field."
Georgia rolled her eyes and headed up the stairs to her room. She couldn't care either way if Patrick had waited for her. She wouldn't exactly miss the way he sloppily sucked at her face or pawed at her chest.
Georgia pulled dirty towels from her laundry and stuffed them under the crack in her door and turned on the radio. She moved her pile of school work out from under the window and pushed up on the pane. The window slowly moved upwards letting in the humid air. "Still there?"
"Yes. Now what?"
"Now you climb over that pretty large branch and jump." The figured did as Georgia made its way down the branch closest to Georgia's open window but stopped halfway there. He looked up at a higher branch that seemed a bit less sturdy.
"I've got a better idea." The figure smirked and threw its bag through the open window and into Georgia's arms. It was heavy, bulky and too awkward for her to hold so she placed it on top of her bed and returned to her spot by the window. She watched as the figure retreated back into the large tree and climbed up another three feet. The figure climbed off the branch holding on only by its hands and began swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Georgia quickly moved from the open window and the figure let go, throwing its body through the window and landing on the floor with a loud thud.
"My idea was quieter." Georgia hissed as she ushered the figure into her close throwing its heavy bag into its arms and the dirty towels at its feet before shutting the door. She pulled a worn looking bible out from under her bed and pretended to read it. Her father threw open her bedroom door looking like he was about to explode.
"What in the Hell was that noise?"
"I slipped and fell."
"Don't you lie to me Georgia Lee. You best have slipped and fell. Why the is that damned window open?"
"I wanted some fresh air."
"You spent your entire night outside. Lying is a sin. You best study your bible a bit harder tonight. And I better not find that damned Henry kid on my property or you both will become strongly acquainted with the back of my hand." Georgia's father slammed the window shut then turned and pulled her door closed with such a ferocity it shook the whole house. He stomped his way down the stair case and back to his spot on the sofa.
Georgia tucked her bible back under her bed and shut her door again, this time locking it. She opened her closet and picked up the towels from the floor and stuck them back under the door. The figured stepped out of her closet and into her room and looked around. No longer hidden by shadows Georgia looked the figure up and down. It was a he with short buzzed hair and a serious 5 o'clock shadow. He wore a long sleeved grey shirt covered in what looked like black grease. The shirt tucked into long black pants with a deep grey stripe sewn down the side. The pants had been hastily shoved into knee high black boots. What looked like a gun was belted to his hip. "Who are you?"
"Phoenix."
"Like the bird?"
"The what?"
"Never mind." Georgia stepped around him and into her closet pushing aside clothes to reveal her hidden books, everything from the Hitchhikers Guide, to Star Wars. She carried stacks of books and dumped them all on her bed. "Are you a writer?"
"No?" She threw her copy of the Guide onto her desk and began pawing through her other books.
"How about a Soldier? Are you a soldier for some inter Galactic army?"
"Definitely not."
"Then what's with the gun?" She pointed to the weapon tucked in it's holster.
"None of your business."
"I'm making it my business." Phoenix watched as she moved an arm load of Star Trek novels off to her desk.
"What about-"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm assuming you're not from this planet." Phoenix nodded. "In all the sci-fi books I have ever read where something crash lands into Earth there is something they do horribly wrong. If I know which plot to follow, I can know what to avoid."
"I didn't crash land."
"So you meant to bury the front half of your ship into a corn field?"
"No."
"Then what did you mean to do?" Georgia picked up her remaining books and set them in a separate stack on her desk.
"I meant to land in Florida."
"So you admit you crashed?" Georgia smirked and grabbed her backpack, dumping its contents out onto her bed. She threw her notebooks full of school work to the side and picked out the important things.
"I didn't crash."
"Fine. What's in Florida?" Georgia made a point of pronouncing Florida the way almost everyone else on the planet did.
"N-A-S-A?"
"Oh yeah, duh! So why did you need to go to NASA?"
"It's your space agency right? I figure because your world is neutral they'd be able to help me fix my ship and leave."
"NASA won't be able to help you. Hell, NASA will probably never see your ship. But what are you talking about neutral? Was your ship broken before you crashed?"
"I didn't crash. I was shot at. They damaged my main engines and apparently my navigation. The main computer said NASA built ships that traveled into space."
"Shot at? How is Earth Neutral?"
"You haven't taken a side in this war."
"So you are a soldier? What's this war?"
"I'm not a solider." Georgia dug through her closet pulling out various items and shoving them into her back pack; a toothbrush, a Swiss army knife, a small bag filled with hair ties. She wasn't exactly sure what sort of adventure she was packing for but hair ties were always a necessity.
"Okay you're not a soldier." Georgia laid down on the floor and reached for some books she had stashed under her bed. With her Field Guide to the Night Sky tucked away safely in her bag she kicked the rest of the books back beneath her bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing." She pulled a glass jar filled with cash out of her desk drawer and shoved it deep into her bag then zipped it shut.
"For what?"
Georgia dug through her closet until she found a small crumpled piece of paper. She shoved the note deep into her pocket. "We're going to my brothers."
Small bits of space were being pulled to earth with the same force that kept Georgia's feet planted firmly on the ground. The rocks hit the atmosphere and burned up as they streaked across the summer sky. Patrick leaned in to kiss Georgia's neck and she pushed him off, sans subtlety. Why had she bothered bringing him out here in the first place. He didn't give half a care about meteor showers.
As promptly as the show had begun it came to an end. Georgia stood, dusted off the seat of her shorts and grabber her keys. She made a beeline towards the edge of the corn field where her beaten to hell and back pick up truck sat, not caring if she came off as rude. A sound between a flare gun and a siren wailed behind her. She spun around and a fiery mass was hurtling through the sky towards the opposite end of the field. Before she could register what was going on the object hit the ground. Sending with it a super sonic boom and a forceful shaking of the ground. So forceful in fact, that Georgia and Patrick were knocked flat on their backs.
An unforgettable shrill ringing was the only sound Georgia McBride could hear and an unforgettable hollow filled her chest. Blinking, she slowly pushed herself up from the ground. The cicadas had long since stopped their song and much of the corn around her had bent almost in half, the tips of each stalk reaching for the ground. Patrick Henry called out to her from the pick up truck but she couldn't hear him and he couldn't see her. He would call out to her into the dark for a few more minutes before giving up and driving home.
Georgia weaved her way through the field. Reaching out into the pitch black, she could feel waves of heat wash over her as she neared the impact. Soon the dark was illuminated by a dying green light that blinked a few feet in front of her. The ringing in Georgia's ears subsided, replaced by and incredible pounding of her heartbeat and the soft hum from a matte black machine half embedded in the ground.
Flight or Fight was not something Georgia liked to think about, if anything, ignoring her animal instincts gave her more zest for living. Where everyone else in the small town of Kelly, Georgia feared God, the ever climbing gas prices, and that "damn-son-of-a-bitch-Obama", Georgia McBride only feared getting stuck. While everyone else spent their time with their noses in their bibles, Georgia poured over text books and star maps. Georgia had a taste for adventure and a knack for getting in trouble. Approaching a smoking black box with green blinking lights was most definitely asking for the strongest reprimanding Georgia could ever receive.
Georgia was close enough to smell some sort of burning material and even in the dark night she could see the smoke rising up from the part of the machine embedded in the ground. She reached out her hand, her fingers an inch away from the surface of the machine. Every nerve in her body screamed out that this was by far the worst thing she could ever do. "What do you think you're doing?" She froze, like a deer caught in headlights. "Don't you dare touch my ship, just back up."
A tall figured resembling a man emerged from the smoke clutching a small silver box with red and blue furiously blinking lights. Georgia pulled her hand back down to her side and turned to face whomever was approaching her. Goosebumps covered her arms and legs and a deep flush crept up her neck towards her face. The figured stopped walking and held up the small silver box first at her then back at the ship. "You said ship?" The words spilled from Georgia's mouth with no second thought.
"Yes." The figured seemed annoyed.
"As in, space ship?"
The figured stopped waving the box over the outside of the ship and turned towards her, "Yes a space ship. Don't act like you've never seen one."
"I'm not acting."
"What?"
"I've never seen a space ship."
"Where am I?"
"Georgia."
"Not Florida?" Florida came out of the figures mouth but sounded much closer to Flu-rye-day.
"Not since I last checked."
"Your sass isn't helping."
"Helping what?"
"Never mind that. This is a disaster." The figured walked around the back of the wreckage mumbling under its breath.
"Because you crashed your ship?"
"I did not crash my ship." The voice was low and rough with a bitterness on every word.
"That doesn't look like a landing." The matte black ship was now becoming more apparent. What use to be the body of the vessel was split almost in two with the forward end buried completed in the dirt and producing a very foul odor.
"You've never seen a space ship before, what do you know?"
"I know you don't have very much time to keep pointing that box at what's left of your ship."
The figure stopped moving, "What are you talking about?"
"The police are probably already halfway here, you made a pretty interesting entrance."
"Good they can help me fix this up."
"It doesn't work like that. They're going to arrest you and send what's left of your ship to either be destroyed or Area 51."
"Area 51?"
"Not important. You've got to go, like right now."
"With what ship?" Georgia looked over the destroyed machine and made another,extreme decision.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"Trust me." She stood on her toes to look over what was left of the corn and sure as the sun rises in east the flashing lights of police cars were speeding towards the field. Georgia looked at the figure expectantly, "Are you coming?" The figured turned and reached into the machine pulling out some sort of bag and hastily throwing items inside. He faced her as she turned on her heels and sprinted off into the corn, in the opposite direction of the oncoming police.
They ran until they came to the edge of a property encased by a rotting white fence. Georgia turned and ran parallel to the fence until a house came into view. She grabbed the top of the fence and threw her legs over then kept running towards the house. Georgia didn't bother to turn to make sure the figure had kept up with her, while she did have a taste for adventure she couldn't quite decided if this was all some elaborate joke or if a man had actually crash landed in a space ship a mile from her house. She could see her pick up truck parked in the front drive way and her father talking with Patrick out on the front porch. She ran to the back side of the house to the large tree that just so happened to be conveniently growing outside of her bedroom window.
"Can you climb a tree?" Georgia undid her hair tie, pulled her hair into a tight ponytail and retied her hair out of her face. Strands had undone themselves during her run and stuck to the sides of her face. She said a silent 'Thank you' to God that she had been keeping up with her resolution to run more.
"Yes I can."
"Good. Climb that tree. Don't go all the way to the top. Stay there until further notice." The figure began climbing as Georgia raced around to the front of her house.
Secretly Georgia hoped her father was chewing Patrick out. He wasn't good for much besides paying for their dates to What A Burger and not asking questions. In fact, Georgia didn't really like him but he hadn't done anything major for her to feel the need to break up with him. Patrick was not the smartest, nor was he the most hansom, but he had asked her to junior prom and had shown up to her house on time. She could hear him trying to explain her cars presence verses her absence and decided to speak up, "Hi dad." She smiled at them both and noted the relief on her fathers face and bewilderment on Patricks. Without a second glance she opened her front door and strode inside to wash her hands.
The front door slammed as Georgia wrapped her hands in a small towel. "You are not to see that damn Henry kid anymore do you hear me Georgia Lee?" Her father's face had turned a deep red and the vein on his temple was out on display. He was going to give himself a heart attack if he kept over reacting like this.
"That's fine."
"You're damn right that's fine. He's a lazy, good for nothing rat who left you out to die in that corn field."
Georgia rolled her eyes and headed up the stairs to her room. She couldn't care either way if Patrick had waited for her. She wouldn't exactly miss the way he sloppily sucked at her face or pawed at her chest.
Georgia pulled dirty towels from her laundry and stuffed them under the crack in her door and turned on the radio. She moved her pile of school work out from under the window and pushed up on the pane. The window slowly moved upwards letting in the humid air. "Still there?"
"Yes. Now what?"
"Now you climb over that pretty large branch and jump." The figured did as Georgia made its way down the branch closest to Georgia's open window but stopped halfway there. He looked up at a higher branch that seemed a bit less sturdy.
"I've got a better idea." The figure smirked and threw its bag through the open window and into Georgia's arms. It was heavy, bulky and too awkward for her to hold so she placed it on top of her bed and returned to her spot by the window. She watched as the figure retreated back into the large tree and climbed up another three feet. The figure climbed off the branch holding on only by its hands and began swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Georgia quickly moved from the open window and the figure let go, throwing its body through the window and landing on the floor with a loud thud.
"My idea was quieter." Georgia hissed as she ushered the figure into her close throwing its heavy bag into its arms and the dirty towels at its feet before shutting the door. She pulled a worn looking bible out from under her bed and pretended to read it. Her father threw open her bedroom door looking like he was about to explode.
"What in the Hell was that noise?"
"I slipped and fell."
"Don't you lie to me Georgia Lee. You best have slipped and fell. Why the is that damned window open?"
"I wanted some fresh air."
"You spent your entire night outside. Lying is a sin. You best study your bible a bit harder tonight. And I better not find that damned Henry kid on my property or you both will become strongly acquainted with the back of my hand." Georgia's father slammed the window shut then turned and pulled her door closed with such a ferocity it shook the whole house. He stomped his way down the stair case and back to his spot on the sofa.
Georgia tucked her bible back under her bed and shut her door again, this time locking it. She opened her closet and picked up the towels from the floor and stuck them back under the door. The figured stepped out of her closet and into her room and looked around. No longer hidden by shadows Georgia looked the figure up and down. It was a he with short buzzed hair and a serious 5 o'clock shadow. He wore a long sleeved grey shirt covered in what looked like black grease. The shirt tucked into long black pants with a deep grey stripe sewn down the side. The pants had been hastily shoved into knee high black boots. What looked like a gun was belted to his hip. "Who are you?"
"Phoenix."
"Like the bird?"
"The what?"
"Never mind." Georgia stepped around him and into her closet pushing aside clothes to reveal her hidden books, everything from the Hitchhikers Guide, to Star Wars. She carried stacks of books and dumped them all on her bed. "Are you a writer?"
"No?" She threw her copy of the Guide onto her desk and began pawing through her other books.
"How about a Soldier? Are you a soldier for some inter Galactic army?"
"Definitely not."
"Then what's with the gun?" She pointed to the weapon tucked in it's holster.
"None of your business."
"I'm making it my business." Phoenix watched as she moved an arm load of Star Trek novels off to her desk.
"What about-"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm assuming you're not from this planet." Phoenix nodded. "In all the sci-fi books I have ever read where something crash lands into Earth there is something they do horribly wrong. If I know which plot to follow, I can know what to avoid."
"I didn't crash land."
"So you meant to bury the front half of your ship into a corn field?"
"No."
"Then what did you mean to do?" Georgia picked up her remaining books and set them in a separate stack on her desk.
"I meant to land in Florida."
"So you admit you crashed?" Georgia smirked and grabbed her backpack, dumping its contents out onto her bed. She threw her notebooks full of school work to the side and picked out the important things.
"I didn't crash."
"Fine. What's in Florida?" Georgia made a point of pronouncing Florida the way almost everyone else on the planet did.
"N-A-S-A?"
"Oh yeah, duh! So why did you need to go to NASA?"
"It's your space agency right? I figure because your world is neutral they'd be able to help me fix my ship and leave."
"NASA won't be able to help you. Hell, NASA will probably never see your ship. But what are you talking about neutral? Was your ship broken before you crashed?"
"I didn't crash. I was shot at. They damaged my main engines and apparently my navigation. The main computer said NASA built ships that traveled into space."
"Shot at? How is Earth Neutral?"
"You haven't taken a side in this war."
"So you are a soldier? What's this war?"
"I'm not a solider." Georgia dug through her closet pulling out various items and shoving them into her back pack; a toothbrush, a Swiss army knife, a small bag filled with hair ties. She wasn't exactly sure what sort of adventure she was packing for but hair ties were always a necessity.
"Okay you're not a soldier." Georgia laid down on the floor and reached for some books she had stashed under her bed. With her Field Guide to the Night Sky tucked away safely in her bag she kicked the rest of the books back beneath her bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing." She pulled a glass jar filled with cash out of her desk drawer and shoved it deep into her bag then zipped it shut.
"For what?"
Georgia dug through her closet until she found a small crumpled piece of paper. She shoved the note deep into her pocket. "We're going to my brothers."
