I walked into the house and threw my car keys on the table by the door. I heard Mum call out, “Is that you, Dean?”

I shook my head. Every time. It was just the two of us living here now, so I don’t know who else she thought would be using keys to get in. Old habits die hard, I guess.

“No!” I replied in a loud voice. “It’s a polite burglar who went to the trouble of making his own set of keys instead of just breaking a window.”

“Don’t be a smartass!” she yelled back. “Get in here and give your old mum a kiss.”

I could hear the TV, so I walked into the living room and found her on the couch watching one of her soaps. I gave her a kiss on her head and teased her, “How can you watch that junk?”

She waved me away distractedly. “Leave me alone. I don’t make fun of you for watching all those science-fiction shows.”

“That’s because the chances of aliens existing are much greater than people getting amnesia five times and marrying their dead husband’s long-lost twin. Which means you can’t make fun of my shows because they are more realistic than yours.”

She turned to me with a triumphant smile on her face. “Mary-sue has only had amnesia twice, thank you very much Mr. Know-it-all!” A slight frown appeared on her face and her voice trailed off as she continued. “But she did marry her husband’s twin.”

I laughed and walked into the kitchen to get a drink. Dad had passed away suddenly last year, leaving Mum and me by ourselves in the house. I was glad that there was something she enjoyed that could take her mind off things, even if it was trashy daytime TV.

Grabbing a glass of water, I went back in and sat on the couch with her. When the commercials came on, she turned her attention my way. “How was work?”

“Good. Same as always.” I worked at the local pub and had just finished the lunch shift. It was enjoyable work. There were always a lot of people around and I got to chat with them as I went about my tasks. It was never dull, and it wasn’t exhausting work.

“Have you put an application in at any other places?” she asked me for the hundredth time.

I suppressed a sigh. This was a sore point between us. I had graduated from university just after dad died and hadn’t been in the frame of mind for job hunting. I had actually been planning on taking some time off anyway, wanting to do some traveling before getting locked into a full-time job. Dad’s passing had changed that plan. I hadn’t wanted to leave Mum all alone.

I had picked up the job at the pub to help pay bills around the house and for some spending money. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at the moment. Also, I was really enjoying my current job, so I wasn’t in any rush to find a new one.

Mum saw it as a waste of my time and talents. She kept saying that I had studied hard to get my business degree so I should put it to good use. I kept putting her off, telling her I would find a more ‘respectable’ job when I was ready.

Instead of getting into another argument over it, I just told her what she wanted to hear. “There are a few places I’m looking at that could be good. I’ll let you know if anything happens with them.”

That seemed to satisfy her. “Ok, that’s good honey. By the way, I’m on nights for the next few days, so you’re on your own for dinner tonight. There’s some stuff in the fridge.”

She was a nurse at a hospital in the city, and night shifts were pretty common. Sometimes we barely saw each other with all the shift work we did. “No worries. I’m actually going to meet up with some friends tonight, so we might get home at the same time.” I gave her a cheeky grin.

She sighed. “Just don’t pass out on the driveway again. My old back can’t handle having to lug you in.”

I chuckled and went up to my room as her attention turned back to the TV. That had only happened once, but she never let me forget it.

I spent the next couple of hours playing a game on my PC and messaging my friends to finalize tonight. We were going to meet up at the pub where I worked at 8 p.m. We could get cheaper drinks there thanks to me, and if things got a bit out of control, we would be politely kicked out instead of painfully. That hadn’t happened for a while though. I liked to think we were becoming more mature, not more boring as one of my friends had complained recently.

I got ready a little before 7:30. The pub didn’t have a very strict dress code, so I just put on some jeans and a T-shirt.

It was a nice night out. The moon was almost full and there was a cool breeze blowing. I decided to walk instead of calling for a ride. It would only take about 30 minutes on foot. With the amount of beers that I expected to knock back, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get a bit of exercise in.

It wasn’t like I was in bad shape or anything, but I felt like I was on my way. For a 23-year old, my stomach was bigger than I thought it should be. I was too lazy and lacking in self-control to do anything serious about getting in proper shape, but occasional exercise helped me feel like I was doing something about it.

I locked the door behind me, leaving the key in its usual hiding place. Mum had already left for work. As I walked down the street, I noticed there weren’t many people around. Since it was a Friday night, they were probably off doing something special. We weren’t exactly friends with our neighbours, but we were friendly, stopping for a quick chat when our paths crossed or just giving a quick wave. It was a nice area to live in, and only a half-hour drive into Brisbane’s city center.

After about five minutes, I hit the state forest, or ‘the bush’ as we called it. It was pretty large and was a good place to go for a hike. I knew that from experience, having spent a couple of hours one day going along all the tracks in there.

Now, though, the darkness of night gave it sort of an ominous feel, with the glow from the streetlights barely illuminating a couple of steps in. I quickly turned right and kept going until I hit the main road, then I went left and kept on walking. This one would take me all the way to the pub.

The bush was fenced off along here to keep the wildlife from becoming roadkill, but you could still come across some snakes every now and then. The footpath was well lit though, so as long as I kept half an eye out, I’d be fine.

After a little bit, I went past the entrance to the local park on my left. The park was a wide-open area as big as a couple of football fields. My friends and I had played a lot of cricket and footy in the park when we were younger, and still managed to get a few games in occasionally. Since it was boxed in by the bush, you could even spot some kangaroos out on the grass on occasion.

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Once I got to the pub, I couldn’t find my mates anywhere. Checking the time on my phone, I saw it was just past 8. Damn it, I’m early, I thought. I smiled as I remembered recently trying to explain Australian time to a foreign exchange student from Japan. He’d looked anxious as he waited for some friends to arrive for lunch. I told him Aussies were never in a rush. I should have walked slower, I thought regretfully.

I grabbed a seat at the bar and had a beer while I was waiting. I couldn’t chat to my coworkers much as they were a bit busy serving the evening crowd. I mainly just watched the footy on the TV near the bar. I was engrossed in the game when I suddenly felt a hand grip my shoulder.

“Deano! How many’s that mate?” Josh said, gesturing to the beer.

“Just the first, you slow bugger. Let’s grab a table and wait for the other two.”

After getting a couple of drinks, we found an open table and after a short time, Tony and Jared turned up. We had all known each other since high school and often hung out together. I was surprised to see their girlfriends weren’t with them. When I asked, they said they were hanging out with their friends.

“Right on. Just the boys, then,” Josh said.

We ordered some steaks and a round of beers, then settled in.

“So, what’s new?” I asked, taking a swig.

“Not much, mate,” Tony said. “Planning to go fishing in the morning if I pull up alright. Any of you want to come along?”

“No thanks, champ,” Josh told him. “I’ve got a game of cricket in the afternoon, so I need to make sure I get enough sleep.”

Jared was just laughing. “There’s no way you’re getting up for fishing, Tony. You say that every time and then you’re too hungover to move.”

I smiled as Tony started to argue with Jared, enjoying the regular routine of them bickering good-naturedly.

Dinner progressed with some good conversation and more than a few beers. When we were done, we talked about what to do next. There was a nightclub attached to the pub, but we weren’t quite drunk enough to fool ourselves into thinking dancing was a good idea.

That left us with the pokies, or the slot machine section as some people called it, and the billiards room. We decided to hit the billiard tables and play a few games.

Several hours passed by as we drank and played. The other boys were finally drunk enough for the nightclub, but even with discounted drinks my funds were running low. I wished Tony luck on getting up for fishing, getting another laugh out of Jared, and then started walking home.

It was about 2 a.m., so thankfully there was no one around for me to drunkenly stumble into. By the time I approached the park, I was busting to use the toilet. The trees called to me, but the fence was high enough to give me problems when I was sober, let alone as drunk as I was now. That meant I had to make my way into the park before I could relieve myself.

I crossed the parking lot at the entrance and then went right towards the trees. They were closer than the public toilet. Walking up to the nearest one, I relieved myself with a big sigh. Just as I finished zipping up, the ground started shaking violently and I fell down. Backwards, luckily.

The shaking continued for about 10 seconds. At first, I wondered if I were just drunker than I thought and simply unable to stand, but a few distant screams from the houses across the road convinced me otherwise. What the hell was going on!? Was it an earthquake? I don’t remember ever experiencing an earthquake before. I didn’t know Brisbane even got earthquakes!

Once the shaking stopped, I got to my feet unsteadily. The shock had helped clear my head a little. Looking around to see if any trees were about to come down on me, I noticed a faint white light shining deep in the bush, away from the road and the park. The trees were blocking the source of the light, so I wasn’t sure what it could be.

Suddenly, it disappeared. I called out but couldn’t hear any voices. In fact, I suddenly noticed that there were no noises at all immediately around me. There were no animal sounds that you would normally hear. All I could hear were some sirens in the distance. Earthquake must have startled the animals, I thought.

I debated what to do. A part of me just wanted to turn around and get back home. The stillness that blanketed the forest was more than a little unsettling. However, drunken confidence and the thought that the light may have been made by someone who was unable to respond and in need of help decided me.

Maybe a couple of kids had been drinking in there and were hurt in the earthquake. This was a popular spot for high school students to do that kind of thing. The sober voice inside told me they would be in the park, not the bush, to do that, but it didn’t matter. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get any rest tonight unless I made sure nobody was in trouble.

I turned on the flashlight on my phone and made my way along the path that ran between the park and the bush. Once I thought I was closer to where the light had come from, I left the path and walked between the trees.

I kept the flashlight darting around, making sure there were no snakes or other animals around. With the alcohol affecting my balance and having to weave between trees and walk carefully over the rocky ground, it took me several minutes to get close to where I thought the light had been coming from.

Rounding another tree, I walked into a small clearing. There were no trees or plants, just a grassy area with some sticks and rocks. It was only about 10 meters across to the other side. Between the moonlight shining down through the break in the trees and the light on my phone, there was decent visibility.

That meant it was easy to spot the strange object lying on the ground near the middle. Even without the light, the soft, emerald glow the object was giving off would have drawn my eyes to it immediately. As I walked closer, I thought it kind of looked like a green gem. It was about twice as big as my fist, and from this distance seemed to have a large number of facets. The color it was giving off wasn’t the same as the white light from earlier, but the odds were pretty good it was connected to it.

Perhaps someone had been here with this thing, dropped it, and gone off further into the forest after turning off their light. Even as I thought it, I knew it was stupid, but I had no other ideas. After swinging the flashlight on my phone around the clearing and not seeing anything, I walked up to the gem slowly. A part of me was worried it might be dangerous, but something about it drew me in. It was beautiful.

As I reached the large gem, I moved my phone into my pocket and bent down to pick it up with both hands. As soon as I touched it, my body locked up and I couldn’t move. I strained to pull my hands away, but I couldn’t even feel my muscles tense up. I tried to lift my right foot to take a step back, but absolutely nothing happened.

As I was starting to panic, I felt a presence. It felt like someone was leaning over my shoulder, but I was almost certain I was still alone in the clearing. I strained my head, desperate to look around, fear building inside me. I tried to call out but was unable to utter a single sound.

I was suddenly distracted as the feeling of someone being near me intensified and a memory popped into my head unbidden. It was from when I was learning to ride a bike when I was little. I remember falling off and crying, and then dad put me back on and held me steady as I tried again. It was one of my earliest memories.

It was replaced by another childhood memory, this time of a birthday party I had. More memories flashed by, coming faster and faster until I couldn’t make sense of them. When they finally stopped, I was dazed and mentally shaken.

What’s going on?! I thought, still frozen and panicking. Was I dying? My life just flashed before my eyes. I must be dying! This damn thing has done me in! Why did I touch it?!

Suddenly, I could feel heat building in my hands. The gem was becoming hot and the glow was getting brighter. Just before it became unbearable, the gem started to melt. Instead of dripping down to the ground, the green substance flowed into my hands. I could feel it moving inside me, spreading up my arms and then throughout my body.

Everywhere it went became pleasantly warm, similar to sitting in front of a fireplace. I could see a strange substance begin oozing out of my arms, but it wasn’t green like what had gone into me. This was dark, as though I were sweating mud. The smell from it hit me soon after and I would have thrown up if I had any control of my body.

I started to think I’d been infected by something and was going to die a horrible death when the heat suddenly began to grow in intensity just in the center of my chest. I desperately wanted to scream, but still couldn’t manage a single sound. There was a sudden spike of searing agony in my chest and then I blacked out.