The Paranormal Adventures of Christina and Art # 1: The Creatures that Came from the Land Down Under

A/N: I wrote this story seven years ago and turned it into a series. This is the first revision:

The dark figure hid behind the bushes as the campers sang. It uttered a low growl as it waited for the  right time. It kept its eyes on a giggling boy. He had freckles and wore a Ninja Turtles shirt. The camera zoomed in on the happy children as I closed my eyes.

               “Pathetic,” Art said.

               “Shut up, Arthur,” I mocked

               “But you are. This movie is so lame!”

               “No, I was just closing my eyes to visualize it better.” I played with my long, blond hair.

               “You’re the worst liar! This stupid movie has you scared.”

               “Yeah, well…” I stuck my tongue out at him.

               “Mature,” Art said.

               His midnight black hair was in a ponytail and he had green eyes. His hair and eyes got all the girls.

               I looked at his short nose. “You do so have the cutest nose!” I touched it.

               “Thanks, but, your nose is cuter!” He looked into my deep blue eyes and kissed me. “Crap! I’m sorry, Christina! I donno what came over me!”

               “Art, it’s OK. I know we’re just friends.”

               “Alright,” he said.

               “Besides, Josh likes me,” I said.

               “I know, but…”

               “I know what you were gonna say, but he’s not gonna kill you.”

               “OK. You’re right; you are the most understanding person I know!”

               “Thanks.”

               Just then, I heard a high pitched noise, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. “Did you hear that?

               “What?”

               “I heard a high pitched noise.”

               “I didn’t hear it,” he replied.

               “Weird.” I got up and looked around the room. “Maybe it’s the… uh, I donno.” I heard it again. It seemed like it was coming from the living room, so I followed it.

“What the heck?” I said, looking at the large yellow egg-shaped thing in the middle of the room.

“Whoa!” Art exclaimed behind. “What is that?”

“I donno.” I went to it and touched it. “It feels warm.”

Art touched the egg too. “It’s soft too.” He examined it.

“Where did it come from? Do you think someone dropped it off?”

“Maybe.” Art shrugged.

The noise suddenly got louder. “Tell me you hear that now.”

“Yes, I do. This is weird!”

Suddenly, the egg started glowing. “What the f-“ BRRRRRRR!!! Art and I both covered our ears.

“GO OUTSIDE!” Art yelled and we ran out.

“What should we do?” I asked, and just then I heard roaring in the house.

“What was that?” he asked as I turned around.

A yellow rabbit-like creature, standing up like a person, burst through the doorway. It was taller than a horse. Its lanky legs were a little brown. It had furry, big feet with long claw-like toenails. Chills ran down my back as it flexed its muscular, long arms. It looked at me through its black, beady eyes and growled through its wide, greenish mouth.

“RUN!” I screamed, and we started to, but I looked back and it wasn’t chasing after us.

I stopped and turned around.

“Christina, what are you doing?” Art asked.

“It stopped.”

“Yeah! Obviously, but let’s keep running.”

“Wait!” I exclaimed and slowly walked toward it.

“Christina!”

“Shhh!” I looked up and watched the creature as it opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp, pointy teeth.

“Run!” Art whispered and I felt him grab my arm.

“Shhh!”

“But-“

The creature roared and stared down at us. I noticed its pink pushed-in nose. Its heaving, massive chest put out a message that this was a creature you did not want to mess with.

 “Are you freakin’ nuts?” Art whispered.

“Shut up! I think it might be nice.”

The creature bowed and sniffed my hair as I kept still. I looked at its weird lobster claws with big, fat fingers on the end.

 It grabbed my hair with its claw, and lightly tugged on it.

“Ow!” I exclaimed. It stopped and growled.

               “Christina,” Art whispered.

               Suddenly, it lay down with its arms by its head like a dog, put its big, floppy ears down, and moaned.

               “Huh?” Art said.

               “Maybe it feels sorry for hurting me,” I replied and touched its fleshy head. It looked at me and put its claw on my head. It rubbed my head, and it touched my nose. “It’s OK, you’re just curious, aren’t you?” It nodded. “Well, my name’s Christina and this is Art.”

               It smiled and looked at the ground. It grunted and looked back at me. “What?” I said.

               It pointed at itself, then the ground.

“I don’t understand. You’re trying to tell us something about the ground?”

It nodded.

“Do you belong under the ground?”

It nodded, walked to my house, and made a noise. It had a funny, clumsy, skipping gait.

“What?” I said and went to my house. It went in, and looked at the pieces of the yellow egg on the floor.

“You must’ve come out of that egg,” Art said.

It nodded.

“Were you just born?” I asked, and it shook its head. It looked around the room and walked to the shelf. It took a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something. It held the paper up:

My name is Xander. I wasn’t just born. I don’t know how I got in that egg. Maybe they put me in there.

“Who?"

He (I guessed) wrote:  the other Voltins, like me. We’ve existed for centuries underground. We belong there. We do not want to live above ground due to our uniqueness. We’ve seen how people treat animals.

“Yes, but a lot of people love animals and care for them,” I said.

“Yeah, I have a dog and I love her. I play with her, feed her, and take her to the vet,” Art added.

But we’re not like other animals, except maybe dolphins. We’re advanced like you people. We have towns, hold elections, and buy items that help our economy.

               “But, why haven’t we found you?” I asked.

               We’re very technologically advanced. We have a cloaking device that not only makes us invisible, but blanks out your senses and your technologies.

               “Wow! I don’t believe it!” I exclaimed.

               Suddenly, I heard a scream followed by a roar. I went out with Art and Xander. At the end of the street, a man ran towards us. “Shit!” he exclaimed and turned around, but another Voltin turned the corner and bit his upper half off.

I shuddered as his entrails dripped from its mouth. Xander ran to it and bit its arm. The second Voltin roared then whipped its tail in Xander’s face. He staggered back and charged at the second. He knocked it down and grunted. It grunted back. Xander got off the other Voltin and helped it up. He waved at us.

               “You want us to follow?” I asked and he nodded. So Art and I followed them a couple blocks down. I saw a huge hole in the street, where people were gawking. They looked at the Voltins, screamed, and started running.

I didn’t bother trying to tell them it was OK. I continued walking towards the hole. The Voltins stopped and turned around. They pointed to us, put their arms together like they were holding a baby, and looked at the hole.

               “What?” I said and Xander picked me up. I yelped in surprise.

               “Hey!” Art exclaimed. I looked back as the other Voltin picked him up. Xander fell down the hole with me. I screamed, expecting to die as I felt it getting cold.

               Suddenly, we landed. It was pitch dark. “Where are we?” I asked as Xander put me down.

I heard a clap and lights turned on.

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

There were space-age looking lights all around us. I looked around at the community of Voltins. I figured there were about a hundred or so. Some were staring at me while others were minding their own business.

Although Xander said they think people are cruel to animals, I guessed the Voltins who weren’t staring at me didn’t care.

               There were small buildings like liquor stores and convenience stores.

               “Did you just clap?” I asked.

               Xander nodded. He clapped again and the lights went off. Clap. The lights turned on again.           “Cool!” I exclaimed and Xander walked away. “Hey, where are you going?” I asked and heard Art scream so I turned around as the other Voltin landed with him.

“Am I dead?” Art asked as he opened his eyes. The Voltin dropped him. “Oof!” Art looked around. “Amazing!”

               “Yeah!” I exclaimed.

               Suddenly, more Voltins came to us and roared.

               “Crap, I think they don’t want us down here!” I exclaimed and backed up.

               “You think?” Art replied.

               Just then, Xander came back, holding a small device. He roared and ran between the others, and Art and me. The others roared as they swiped at him.

               “We’re friendly,” I said. “We won’t hurt you!” They stopped and looked at me. “We won’t hurt you.  Xander told us about you, and many people are nice.”

               Xander picked the device up and gave it to me. He pointed to his ear, then at me. “What?” I asked.

“You want her to put it in her ear?” Art asked.

He nodded, so I did.

               “Now you can understand us,” Xander said and I jumped.

“Sorry?”

               “It doesn’t matter now… We’re going to eat you.

               “What!?” I exclaimed

               “You heard me, you tasty snack!”

               “But… but… but-“

               He laughed. “You humans will believe anything! That’s why it’s so easy!”

               “Why did you stop the others from eating us?” Art asked.

               “It was just a show… to gain your trust. And about the egg I came out of? It was supposed to be an act. I wanted you to think I was hatched, but the egg made the siren noise. I don’t know how and why. Our technology does mess up.”

               I looked for a way out but it was no use; we were trapped. “HELP!” I screamed.

Xander laughed. “No one is going to save you! They wouldn’t be quick enough.” He came closer. I punched his stomach as hard as I could, but he didn’t even blink.  

               “AAAAHHHH!” Art screamed, and I helplessly watched as they leapt on him and gobbled his face.  

               “Any last words?” Xander asked.

               “I hope you get indigestion!” I exclaimed.

Read the extended version:

https://www.wattpad.com/840698713-the-paranormal-adventures-of-christina-and-art-1?fbclid=IwAR3X9c7aQ7_yAPdCm9rJIes09l3F9EbuGzBuFML-IddSPWrPNWpHZUmbQtw

or

https://medium.com/@CharlieMMurph/the-paranormal-adventures-of-christina-and-art-1-the-creatures-that-came-from-the-land-down-f1c2746634cc

I think I like Medium better, so I might move my stories over to Medium and delete my Wattpad account.