Nicholas loved to read. At the age of 10 he had already become enamored with the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Treasure Island. Although he had a great appreciation for all adventure stories, it was the ones that talked of buried treasure that thrilled him the most and so begun his obsession with Treasure Hunting. It became the little blonde boy’s favorite past time and to his parents’ great displeasure, the biggest threat to their freshly landscaped lawn. After retrieving the paper from the doorstep one rainy Saturday morning, only to see a pot holed lawn and a surprising lack of greenery, Nicholas’ father had insisted that his son find some other areas to dig.
“Son, I’m certain you will find nothing of value under the begonias” he pleaded. “How about you try the woods just one house down?” The woods, not being terrible thick, held little concern. No trace of worry that their son may meet some unfortunate end. It was merely a tiny thicket separating one residential sub division from the next.
Nicholas had no objections to the suggestion, packed his shovel and headed into the woods. It didn’t take long for him to find objects of interest. His new found treasures counted one small blue bottle found deep in the mud, a strange looking butter knife and three marbles. He packed each into his sack as he went about his dig. When it was nearly sun down he decided to call it a day’s work well done and upon heading back to the road he tripped over a large, oddly shaped rock. On closer inspection, Nicholas found it not to be a rock at all but in fact it was a skull! Unable to carry it, he decided to invite some of the local children into the trees to examine it.
“That’s a cow’s skull!” explained one of the older boys (he was taller so Nicholas always assumed he was older and wiser, he had no reason to doubt the lad)
With the extra bodies in the woods, the children quickly uncovered many more skulls! Some missing teeth or the whole jaw, riddled with moss, each bearing those great monstrous eye sockets. All the children made up stories as to how the skulls came to litter the forest floor. “A big cattle farm fire!” some claimed, “wolf on the loose!” “A monster!” each story more incredulous than the last.
Nicholas however had his own opinions on what happened to the cows. He had seen a television special some weeks ago on the worldwide phenomenon of cattle mutilation. This practice was blamed on extra-terrestrials, otherwise known to Nicholas as VISITORS from beyond the stars! (At Christmas time he would regularly watch the movie Santa Clause vs. the Martians, a personal favorite) He began to furiously research this scientific animal slaughter.
Nicholas probably shouldn’t have mentioned this theory to his parents, as they efficiently dealt with the matter by banning the television from his entertainment list after 6pm. Luckily, the Truro Library had an odd little shelf of books at the back of the adult section. It carried a few volumes and collections on topics such as crop circles, alien abductions and of course, cow mutilation. This provided more than sufficient information on how one could deduce whether or not aliens had visited an area.
Nicholas became obsessed with his mission to prove aliens had visited Forest Hill Drive. Treasure hunting no longer interested him, nor had he even remembered his intensions in the woods in the first place. He continued to explore the area and found among the long dead cattle and blueberry bushes, an odd dirt track. He followed it into a complete circle! How strange! To Nicholas, the track was bewildering and out of place. He thought what this could possibly mean and jumped to the conclusion that it may have actually been some sort of landing strip or better yet, a symbol! Perhaps a way for alien beings to find their way back to their bovine mutilation center!
If he could prove that Truro really was the epicenter of alien research, he would be famous! The local newspapers would want to interview him! There might even be television appearances, but how to prove it? Well Nicholas supposed he must be vigilant. He felt it was his duty to monitor the landing area at night for signs of visitors. Before he did the unthinkable and usurped his parents’ authority to camp out all night in the woods, he must prepare himself for any contact that might be made. Nicholas gathered some provisions, a telescope, an old tape recorder, and a camcorder he found in the basement. He grabbed an old tape from his parents’ home video shelf labeled “Wedding Vows” and popped it in, determined to bring back proof of life beyond the stars.
That night, Nicholas waited till his parents were asleep and snuck out of the house. He headed down the street, hopped the broken fence at the end of the road and shot into the trees. It was a balmy night so Nicholas brought a sleeping bag with him. He plunked himself down on the moist ground and stared up at the stars through his telescope. Now, being a young boy accustomed to going to school all day and not yet imbued with a strong sense of time, Nicholas neglected his watch and dozed off. He was later awakened by the cracking of twigs underfoot and a bright light coming towards him. Nicholas shot to his feet, and not very silently mind you. He grabbed the camcorder and snapped it on, pointing it directly towards the light (If Nicholas had known how a camcorder worked, he would have not pointed it directly into the glow but he was ten and was never allowed to play with his parent’s electronics)
The rustling and cracking of branches became louder as the alien approached. Nicholas was convinced this was contact! He shouted out “Hello! I mean you no harm! I wish to make contact and introduce you to all of humanity!” Nicholas had read such greeting in his books of course.
The movement stopped. He lost sight of the glow and all was silent. He didn’t even hear the crickets. He felt the hairs rise all over his body and he shuddered with fright. Nicholas tried not to let the unnerving atmosphere overwhelm his sense of duty. He had to make contact, he had to obtain proof and so he took a few steps forward with the camcorder. Suddenly he felt the ground move from under him, as though he were floating, until he hit the ground. He dropped the camcorder which as luck would have it, did not break and continued to film the scene.
Was he being abducted? Perhaps the aliens had no intension of greeting him, perhaps they were not friendly! What a terrible mistake he had made, so he began to cry out – “I’m sorry! Please, please don’t perform horrible experiments on me! Please I’m just a boy!” But it did no good; he felt a tight and painful grip around one of his legs as if someone had dug many tiny needles into his ankle. Nicholas cried out several times and begged to be release. He could not see his attacker but suddenly felt something pound on his chest and then grab his face with more of those tiny needles...a snarling and then… nothing.
When Nicholas did not appear to be in his room, or at breakfast, or anywhere else in the house, his parents began to worry. Actually, they were more furious than worried. They assumed that their son had come up with another hair brained scheme to achieve *something* that had to do with whatever obsession he was currently nurturing. What was it again? Turtles? Bacterial cultures? Birds? Treasure? No, no, it had something to do with astronomy now. They did notice he spent a lot of time with his telescope lately, but that was soon to end. Nicholas’ obsessions and interests’ only lasted the course of a few days.
After speaking with some of the local children, the adults concluded that they better look into the little area of woods at the end of the road. They delicately crossed the broken fence with all the care and caution adults tend to use and began to scout the area for signs of Nicholas’ presence. The area was searched completely in no time and all that could be found was a sleeping bag, a telescope, a bag of odds and ends, and finally a camcorder still recording. The adults took the camcorder back to the house and opened it. They pushed the recorded-over wedding vows tape into the VCR. What they saw was monstrous! Never in their most frightening nightmares had they ever guessed they would watch the demise of their only son on a television screen. Why, they may need to create another now child… after they get over the gruesome film. They heard the cries of Nicholas ringing out through the television speakers as his face was literally torn off by coyotes. Eventually he was dragged away in silence leaving a speechless couple
(and a few curious neighbors) holding each other and struggling to breathe in the midst of their inexplicable horror.
The next day all of Truro was advised that coyotes have started running in packs, and may be extremely dangerous. Pieces of Nicholas were found several miles away from him home…
“Sanctuary”
By Amy Marie Brander