Chapter 4

They all stood in stunned silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Perry felt like a deer caught in the headlights. The alien-like figure just sat there, the bottom of its head resting lazily on one of its hands, that carried the weight to one of the armrests. Clearly, this interloper wasn’t human. It had the shape of a person, but it had blue skin, and its head was shaped like the head of a hammerhead shark. Instead of hands in the traditional sense, it’s arm appendages were really just tentacles. If it had eyes, they were closed, and judging by its posture, Perry guessed it was probably sleeping.

Perry brought his finger up to his lips and looked around to make sure everyone saw his gesture. The others nodded. Slowly they tiptoed to behind the wooden table, and carefully, gently, they put it on its side in their best effort not to make a sound. Despite that, the table still made a soft thump. The six school mates huddled together behind their cover, gripping their weapons tightly, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing happened. Perry peered over the edge of the table, and there was Mr. Hammerhead still dozing off in his chair.

“Maybe we should...” whispered Shane with uncertainty. “Maybe we should stab him while he’s sleeping?”

“Yeah, Shane, go stab him,” whispered Greg.

Perry looked around the illuminated room, finally not having to worry about his phone’s battery life and his eyes finally having adjusted to the sudden brightness. The wall that had the fireplace was completely gone. Behind it was a room of pure white. White walls, floors and ceiling, furnished with nothing but a single chair, with a single occupant, Mr. Hammerhead.

After a minute, or so, of trying to decide whether they should enact Shane’s plan, with no one volunteering to physically carry it out a new light appeared. A yellow sprite that hovered down from the ceiling. First, it moved around the room, swooping down near Perry and his companions, then it went to Mr. Hammerhead and around it closely.

Mr. Hammerhead opened its eyes, tilted back it’s head until it was in a normal sitting posture, and surprisingly yawned, stretching out its tentacles, much like a human would when just waking up. It looked around the room, immediately noticing the table on its side with a bunch of foreheads peeking out from the top.

“Asauafkkyl Vellludizxquil Tucuc Hiypzlic,” it said. It had voice full of clicks and gargling sounds.

“Videyur Ynpilis,” the sprite replied with what sounded like a synthesized voice.

Their conversation continued, each of them speaking unpronounceable gibberish in turn. Then Mr. Hammerhead walked forward from his chair, his tentacle-arms stretched out in greeting while speaking the same gibberish. It stopped, tilting its head to the side and resting its tentacle-arm-hands on its waist. It spoke again, the same nonsensical gibberish, but this time louder and with a more aggressive inflection.

It waited. What was it waiting for? Perry hid completely behind the cover. This new situation, to him, was a non-sequitur to punctuation an already confusing sentence. The sprite said something, then floated close to Perry. Hovering right in front of his eyes, still speaking gibberish.

“What do you want? We don’t understand you,” said Perry. “What’s going on?”

The sprite moved faster than Perry could see, darting straight into and up Perry’s nose before he could react. All of Perry’s senses were on fire, the sound of the loudest freight train he ever heard ringing in his ears, a myriad of bright colours flooding his sight. Feelings of hot and cold all over his body, pain in places as if his skin was peeling off. The smell of vinegar and roses filled his nose, he tasted metal and charcoal on his tongue. Then everything disappeared and the sprite sprung out from his nose.

It moved so fast, even though it’s intentions were now clear, no one could stop it. It jumped into Heather’s nose, who was sitting next to Perry, and she spasmed as if she was having a seizure. Light shined out of her eyes, nose and mouth. Her skin turned slightly luminescent for just a few seconds. Then it left her and she returned to normal.

The same thing happened to each person left. They all responded the same way. When it was over it floated back over towards Mr. Hammerhead and said, “Okay, I think they should understand us now.”

“Good,” said Mr. Hammerhead. “If you fellas understand me, say something.”

Perry and his companions didn’t respond. They just exchanged worried glances.

“They aren’t saying anything.” Mr. Hammerhead looked over to the sprite. “Why aren’t they saying anything?”

“I don’t know,” said the sprite. “They should understand us. Like, I’m really sure they can understand us.”

“If they can understand us, why aren’t they saying anything.” Mr. Hammerhead shook his head. “Say something! Hello! I’m talking here! Do I look like some kind of jackass to you? Seriously, this is starting to get on my nerves.”