Something Wicked This Way Comes

Once there was a girl who dreamed about other life forms. She sensed that she wasn’t alone in this universe, and that there was more out there than just Earth. There had to be other life forms out there. Earth couldn’t be the only planet in the vast solar system that could maintain life forms. An odd dream came to her one day that changed her whole perspective on how she viewed the world. 

Marlene was in transition from eighth to ninth grade when she had the dream. Although she’d never thought of this before, this image would forever stick with her now. In a day dream she had seen a little boy dancing along a beach on a different world. The world was similar to Earth, but she could sense that it was different. His life was mirrored just like hers. She couldn’t see his face nor hear his voice in her dreams, but that didn’t stop her curiosity and wanting to know more. 

Day by day, the dreams kept reoccurring like clockwork. But try as she may, they wouldn’t stop. Whatever happened around her or to her, she could feel that the little boy from the other world was going through the same things. Marlene didn’t know what any of it meant. Humans haven’t figured out space travel yet, at least nothing past what they’ve already explored in their own solar system.

One night, she mustered up enough courage to try to control her dream state to talk to the boy. Marlene had seen enough detail to know the vague details of what his skin color, hair color, and eye color looked like, but the image was always fuzzy. Even though the boy was from another world, she didn’t sense any dangers or red flags from him. She wondered if he could see her, too. Sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and her hands resting in her lap comfortably, she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. She’d tried forcing the vision of the boy to come to her but that never worked.

It seemed like it was always when she was least expecting him to show up, that he would. Either by cutting off a dream she was having, or whenever she’d doze off in class. In a way, it helped her so she didn’t miss much at school. For when the boy would show up it would startle her and capture her attention. She liked when he would come around though, so that she never felt like she was alone.

Growing up, she didn’t have too many friends. She was always moving to new houses, changing schools, and learning how to grow up in this world, so she didn’t have any time to meet anyone. Although she didn’t know his name, the boy looked human-like to her. He was always on her mind even when she wasn’t actively thinking of what he was doing. She pondered what his life must be like compared to hers. Sometimes Marlene even wondered if he was going through the same things as she was at any point in time at that same time. 

She’d read a book one day at her school’s library that pointed out key scientific facts that humans were not the only life forms capable of unique thought and behaviors. The universe is so vast, there could be hundreds upon thousands of other worlds similar to Earth. Part of the book even stated that obvious that the Earth wasn’t flat, which always got a chuckle out of her. 

One night, the boy came into her dreams again, but this time around it really startled her. He was shouting at her, or at something that was around her.

Her dream faded and she was left standing alone in an open field. In the distance, large, lush green trees surrounded her, the tops of them hidden behind a thick layer of fog. As she looked around, her eyes soon focused on the ground beneath her feet. There were mysterious markings there. Burned into the grass like an omen. The little boy walked up to her, taking one of her hands in his own, and he spoke in an unknown language. As she looked to him, he spoke again, but this time she could understand what he was saying. 

“Something wicked this way comes.” 

“What? What does that mean?” 

Looking back down at the symbol, Marlene frowned. 

“Is something coming?” 

“Yes. An alien life form, more dangerous and unknown than I.” 

“What does this sign mean?” 

“Something bad is coming. You won’t be safe here on Earth for much longer. You need to leave while you still have time.” 

“What? But where would I go? We don’t have the technology to travel nor live on another planet. Not to mention how much it’ll cost, either.” 

“Money won’t matter once they arrive.” 

“They?” 

“You know the answer to that already. It’s what I am.” 

Marlene startled awake with a gasp. Looking around her dark room, few spots of light trickled in from her window from the stars above providing some lighting around her. Reaching for her phone on her nightstand, she searched the nearest radio station. She didn’t have any proof except for the symbol she saw in her dream, but she had to get the word out in order to save as many lives as possible. She didn’t care now if people would think of her as being crazy or delusional. Once she sketches out the symbol she saw and the words of what her otherworldly friend had spoken, everyone would have to believe her. 

As she arrived at her town’s local radio station, she practically flew up the steps to the recording studio. As she showed the drawing of the symbol and the sentence that it transcribed to, an air wave was put out and NASA was contacted. Those simple words were enough to start the fire that she and everyone else on Earth needed: Motivation to save their world from impending doom and possibly even extinction.