Emmaline and I walked into the living room expecting to find our mother, but it was empty. Only the sound of the television filled the room. I threw a searching look around the large family room anyways. I needed answers, and I was tired of waiting for them.

“Oh wow, would you look at that!” I heard my sister exclaim.

I turned around to find her pointing toward the large flat screen that took up most of the living room wall. I focused on the image there.

It was still the same live video of the hulking alien ship hovering over Lake Thurmond, but there was an addition to the scene that had me standing with my mouth wide open.

“It has the same markings as the bigger ship,” my sister said in disbelief, matching my own immediate thoughts.

Another much smaller ship was beneath the larger alien one. It was right above the surface of the lake. Cascades of water was sluicing off the smaller vessel as it rose slowly into the air. It appeared to be pulled by a greenish light that encompassed the ship like something out of Star Trek. But even more remarkable was that this ship that had identical markings to that of the bigger alien vessel had obviously come from the depths of the lake.

“Holy shit! Do you know what this means?”

My shock at the new development was tempered by my sister’s words. I pursed my lips and turned to my sister giving her a long look “Really, Em?”

She was doing her best to ignore me. I decided to let her choice of words go, because she was right, this changed everything in a much bigger way.

“How long do you think it was down there?” My sister asked as she plopped right in the middle of the pewter gray sofa.

I decided for one of plush recliners and sat down, because I wasn’t sure I could trust my own legs and knees anymore. This day was getting weirder and weirder by the moment. I settled myself as best I could as I rested both my hands on the arms of the chair. For a moment, I focused on the soft surface of the microfiber to remind myself that the world around me had not changed, even if it seemed like everything was being turned on its side in a blink of an eye.

I watched the television as the smaller vessel rose slowly from the lake to the bigger ship, but now the camera was zoomed in for a close up with the smaller craft filling the screen. The new view allowed a better look at the swirling glyphs. The silver swoops really did look like they were dancing across the midnight surface of the ship. There were also other line forms that were weaved between the loops that looked closer to what letters might be, but these were unlike any letters I had ever seen. Though, I’m sure they had meaning to those in the larger ship.

With the closer angle it showed something else even more startling. The smaller ship had large patches of green algae across much of the lower hull.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Looks like it’s been down there awhile,” I muttered to no one in particular.

“Yeah, but how long?”

I threw Emmaline an irritated look. “How the hell should I know? A while. As much that’s covering that ship, it would have to be more than a few months, maybe even a few years.”

“More like twenty.”

Both Emmaline looked behind us to see our mother standing a few paces from the sofa. Her arms were across her middle like she was holding herself up by sheer will alone. Her face was blotchy and red. She stood staring ahead as if not seeing anything at all.

I stood up. I wanted to go to her, but at the same time something stopped me. I didn’t know what. It seemed like my body refused to move.

“Mom?” That’s all I could get out. All my questions and uncertainty in that one word, hoping that she would understand and finally help me know what was going on, what was bothering her so badly.

My mother slowly looked to me and I got to see her eyes. They stared back at me with such agony that it took my breath away.

“I’m so sorry Michael. We tried to keep this away from you, but I’m afraid that all we did wasn’t enough. I’m so sorry.” Her words cracked on the end of her words and she started to sob.

I was finally able to move and raced across the space between us. I wrapped her up in my arms and held her, deciding not to ask anymore questions. I didn’t want to upset her any more than she was. It was hard to see her like this. She was the one who was supposed to be comforting me and helping me not to freak out like she always did, and now all I could do was babble some nonsense about everything being alright. I wasn’t so sure that it would.

It was then I noticed my dad. He was standing in the space between the living room and kitchen. He had a sad look on his face, but also something else that hadn’t been before. A look of grim determination. He stood for a moment as if taking in the scene of his family, then he crossed the living room and took mom from my arms.

“It’s okay Cassie. It’s going to be okay,” he comforted her.

“No, it’s not.” She sobbed. “It’s never going to be alright. We were delusional to think we could escape it, escape them.”

“But we did, at least for a little while, and what a great little while it’s been. No matter what, we will always have that. And it will be okay again. You will see.”

Mom must have heard something in his voice because she looked up at dad with an expected look on her face. She stopped crying and quickly wiped her tears away with the back of her hands.

“You were able to make contact then?”

My dad nodded. “Yes, one of Rainus’s men is on board.”

“What did he say?”

“He said to let them take him back and Rainus will watch over him.”

“But-”

Dad held up a hand to interrupt her. “Cassie, believe me, I know. We knew we had to be prepared for this eventuality, even still, I’m not ready to just hand him over. So let me take care of this please.”

Mom nodded, but she didn’t seem to like whatever dad had said.

He looked over to my sister. “Take your mother to her room. She needs to rest, and I want you to stay in there with her. Michael and I need to have a talk.”

“But––” My sister’s face was red with anger, but her words were stopped by a hard look from our father. It was a look we both knew well and knew not to disobey.

She stomped her feet across the thick green carpet letting everyone know her thoughts on dad’s order, but nonetheless, she took mom’s arm and led her up the stairs to the master bedroom. A few moments later, dad and I both heard the door to the room shut.

It wasn’t until then that dad jerked his head to the kitchen. I gave one last look at the journey of the smaller vessel. It was almost to the larger ship. Now a black cavernous hole in the side ready to take the other ship into its waiting grasp.