Smith's Story

by Patrick Wood

Smith was often described as creative and imaginative. Never was he described as intelligent. People viewed his ideas and beliefs as crazy, even humorous. Smith was however entirely serious with his theories.

Perhaps the oddest of these ideas was his belief in a “shadow world.”

Yes, he truly believed that earth had an invisible, solid reflection which was home to alien life. He developed this idea in high school and kept it.

Smith was laughed at, sometimes ridiculed. Despite this he kept on believing, although after graduating from high school he decided to keep his mouth shut to avoid being sent to a mental hospital. He worked as a book publisher for a little while. Eventually he became very angry that only he saw the “truth”. He then set out to prove his theory was probable. He dedicated his spare time to research and writing papers.

The result did not surprise him at all. It was probable! Delighted, he ran with an enormous smile to his car and drove to the university.

Again, he was laughed at. He was told although his theory was probable it would have been found already if it existed. Depressed and angry about the stupidity and blindness of the professors, he returned home to sleep the rest of the day. His last thought before dozing off was “If I could get to the shadow world, it would sure show them.”

So began the story. Smith dreamed that he sat on his couch and he and the couch flew out the window and up, up, up until cars were specks. It did not stop there. The couch kept going, up and up, above the clouds, above planet earth. Then he drifted in space to the shadow world which was at first invisible and then suddenly bright as day when he arrived.

His interesting dream was cut short by his alarm clock. He got up with a smile on his face. “That was silly” he thought. He began to change into the clothes he would were to work. Immediately after putting on his shoes to complete the appearance, Smith realized something. “IT’S ONLY TUESDAY! Arrgh!” Smith could not believe he was so far from the weekend.

Smith collapsed into his couch, then straightened himself into a sitting position and buried his head in his hands.

Slowly at first, the couch began to lift off the ground. Smith began to laugh. “HAHA! I must have never woken up! Here we go again!” The couch zoomed out the open window and drifted upward. It all seemed so real.

Smith couldn’t resist punching his jaw to test for pain. The test came back positive. “GAAA!” screamed Smith as the couch copied the exact same path it had in his dream. A seatbelt emerged from the couch and strapped Smith to his chair tightly. “This can’t be happening, but it seems so real!” he thought. The chair was now above the clouds. He knew that there was no chance of surviving in outer space if the dream was real.

Then again, what are the chances of an ascending couch?

It wasn’t long until the couch had left the earth. Smith was still alive and well. “This is ridiculous!” he thought. He pinched himself and again felt pain. Then something strange caught his eye; a pistol lying next to him. “I don’t even own a gun! How awkward can this get?” he said. He didn’t hear himself, as there is no sound in space. Interesting how that law held true. “I might need that gun,” he thought as he stuffed the gun in his pocket.

Instantly afterwards, the shadow world appeared in a flash as it had in the dream. Smith then realized what he had previously experienced was no dream. It was a prophesy. “This is real!” he shouted. This time he could hear himself. He had entered this world’s atmosphere. The chair began its descent. “I wonder if there are aliens here?” thought Smith. The chair landed in a heap of plants unfamiliar to Smith. “I’m pretty sure this is alien life,” Smith said with a smile.

He unbuckled himself and decided to look around. As he walked he continued to see unusual plants but atmosphere and temperature was similar to what he was used to. In fact the air seemed cleaner than the air in his native England. He was enjoying himself and kept walking for quite a way before stopping for what he had been hoping to see. Humanoid aliens! In the distance there were a fair number of them. They looked friendly enough. He approached slowly. What a fascinating site! There were obviously at least four different species around a table. They all looked a lot like humans. Their skin tone was brownish and they all had jet black hair, but there were a few noticeable differences. One species had large teeth too big to fit in their mouths. Another was short and smelled of Jasmine. One even had un-symmetrical eyes. How incredible!

They would pass a parchment-like object around and write engravings on it. A few gave him a confused glance; He could tell he was the only human these fellows ever saw. It soon became Smith’s turn. He was handed the parchment and writing utensil. Smith could see all the others had written one word each. Smith wrote down the only thing that came to mind: Smith. Little did he know he had enlisted in the Army.

Smith set the parchment down on the stone table and looked up. The creature behind the table smiled and beckoned all the other creatures to follow him with an arm gesture. The creature was going at a fast pace, nearly jogging. Smith and the other creatures scurried along until they arrived at what looked like a military fort. The creature who had led them here opened a shed and took out spears and clubs. He then took out the parchment, took a look at it and called out “Tambi.” A creature stepped forward and took a spear. The creature with the parchment then said “Chang.” Another creature walked up and took one of the primitive weapons. Smith now understood. Attendance was being taken! He waited for his name to be called and listened to the names being called. His companions’ names sounded almost Chinese. Leung, Fang, and Wang were called. Then a look of confusion took the attendance-taker’s face. Smith knew the creature had stumbled across his name. What was once so common was now so different. Smith put his hands over his mouth in an attempt to muffle a small laugh he just couldn’t completely bottle-up. “Smith,” he said, to the relief of the puzzled creature. The creature nodded dumbly as Smith stepped forward and took a club.

Smith looked up and noticed this creature wore a fancy coat and a rather large grin. The creature led everyone inside a small fortress and left.

The floor was made of soft material which the creatures all laid down on and fell asleep without a word. Smith did so as well, not because he was tired but because he did not want to look even more out of place. After being awakened by the creature in the coat Smith learned many things over the course of the day. Firstly, he was emerged in a language he did not understand. He had expected that. He had not, however, expected to learn that he was in military training and had had to follow all the commands of the creature in the coat. He was always listening to conversations just for the fun of it and quickly found out that the name of this commander was Shota.

Smith made it through the day by mimicking others. This continued for several days and Smith disliked all of it except for the unique food that was served and the friendliness of his fellow soldiers. They would often help him during drills which Smith was deeply thankful for. Smith had gathered that everyone at the fort was a friend.

On a day that everyone thought was to proceed as any other, a new member was introduced. Although Smith never learned why this creature came late, he quickly learned how to pronounce the creature’s name, “Bow.”

Just like the English word! How easy! “Bow” had the look of a warrior.

He was fit and stood strong and upright while his muscles shone bright under the sun. This Bow guy was if possible nicer than the soldiers. Bow reminded Smith of himself. Bow was the new guy and he too took a while to get a hang of military life. Smith liked Bow more everyday. Even on the awkward day when he had to pick up his club, and not for drill.

Smith became confused as the commander talked a long time very rapidly as the regiment left the base. They walked as their base shrunk in the distance. It seemed to Smith that they were walking into the middle of nowhere until the regiment picked up speed. Smith saw a base in the distance. As they approached odd green creatures ran out. Tambi set fire to huts around the base. Smith was awestruck, not a good position for a battle. Thankfully the monsters were not coming out to fight, they came out to surrender. Commander Shota talked to the monsters as Smith took a close look at the monsters. They were about his height. They were green and relatively humanoid. They possessed very dark purple noses, almost black. After the discussion Smith was led back to the base as the monsters headed the other way. Smith didn’t quite follow what was going on, and hoped nothing like that would happen again.

But it did. Not long after Smith was handed a bow and arrows and was placed in a tree. Confused, Smith copied his friends, who held their bows ready. He waited not a minute and soon a giant appeared. This thing looked nothing like a human. It was running his way! Not far ahead of this monster was a speck…Bow! Smith’s friends fired at the monster, as did Smith. Smith let loose a beautiful shot, hitting the side of the creatures head, stunning him, letting Bow run ahead. With some other work from his friends the creature was downed. That was the second quick victory of the regiment. Smith felt as if he was living in a fantasy videogame.

Smith had his second encounter with the green monsters on a bright day.

It was overcast, but the fires Tambi started provided quite a bit of light. The scene was similar to his first encounter, only this time there were monsters and some fighting did occur. One of the monsters ran right at Smith. Smith did not even think about pulling out his gun and simply shooting the thing. Smith simply stood petrified, then WHACK! One of Smith’s friends struck the creature down to the ground. Smith thought it was Bow, but he couldn’t be sure, it happened so fast. The other monsters ran off. Another victory! Still, all present and accounted for…what about Chang? Where was Chang? Chang was simply gone. Smith sat down with the realization that he could have been the lost man. He was no longer part of military training. He was now part of military war.

The third and final encounter with the monsters came on a day that began like any other. Everyone was asleep except for Smith, who was opening his eyes, and Bow, who was heading out the base. “Where could he be going?” thought Smith as he left the base. Bow was heading northeast.

That could only mean Bow was heading to the waterhole…or well. Smith really didn’t know what to call the odd thing. Now knowing what Bow was doing, Smith started to go back to the base, then decided he was thirsty. Bow’s life was affected by the thirst of the human. Smith followed Bow to the well, expecting a normal experience, but found something coming down the hill in the distance. It grew larger as it approached. Bow’s head lifted. Green monsters! Lots of them, too! Smith knew it didn’t matter how well Bow could fight, the young warrior would not be able to fight the monsters. This time Smith did not stand still, this time Smith took action, pulling out his gun. Bow gave the pistol an odd look as Smith released a bullet. BANG! The first monster was thrown back as he was pierced in the chest by the speeding bullet. Monster after monster fell, as bullet after bullet was used. The monsters’ primitive weapons were no match for Smith’s gun. That is until it ran out of ammo. Smith had nothing left to use and a monster with a sword was practically face to face with him. Smith was about to swear, but didn’t have time before his stomach was sliced open by the sword’s blade. Smith fell to the ground as he felt pain unimaginable to us.

Smith saw Bow pick up a stone as the monster closed in on a finishing move. As the sword was placed over the monster’s head, so was the large stone that was brought down to brain the monster. Rather than looking at the dead body, Smith turned to face Bow. Smith then said his last words, hoping one day they would be understood. “I came here from earth,” said Smith. Then Bow and his surroundings disappeared into nothingness. Smith felt no more pain.

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