Curiosity of the Undiscovered

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Space— a phenomenal example of a polysemy. The word space can transport a person’s mind—or body—into a broad spectrum of universes…within their imagination…or literally. Space is deep, expansive, and vast. Space contains a universe of endless possibilities, opportunities, and discoveries.

Vanessa was a typical, spry, motivated, and constantly productive young woman, until the day that altered the course of her existence forever. On a tranquil autumn day of 1995, 20-year-old Vanessa Erikson was sitting outside on the front porch of her safe and comfortable home, absorbing the sensation of the calm breeze, when she noticed something peculiar. Vanessa had lived a relatively average life prior to this day. She had a full-time job, was saving up to move out of her parents’ house, had a strong desire to help or guide others in whatever way that she could, and was an incredibly determined and compassionate individual. She had also experienced a plethora of traumatic events by this point, yet she was extraordinarily resilient and remained optimistic.

Vanessa lived with her 17-year-old brother, Henry, who was one of her best friends, and her loving parents, Sarah and Josh Erikson. She lived in a small town in Vermont, with an unusually low population. Everyone who lived there had this indescribably odd relationship with one another. The manner in which everyone interacted was generally far from normal. Everyone knew everything about each other, but no household had a real relationship with another household. There were no authentic friends in this municipality, but everyone shared everything. Anyone looking from the outside would find this community to be offbeat and uncultured. Vanessa found her entire atmosphere to be normal because that was all she had ever known.

On this particular autumn day, this tiny town seemed to be almost completely vacant. Vanessa came to the realization that she was the only person present in this town, on that day. Henry was participating in a soccer tournament out of town, and both Sarah and Josh went with him. Vanessa decided to take this as an opportunity to relax and unwind with some “me” time. Every one of Vanessa’s neighbors, who aren’t really her neighbors, as every house in this town is separated by a wide distance, seemed to have some plan out of town that day. Whether it was a random party out of town, or a spontaneous road trip, every person in that town had an obligation outside of the town, on that day. It was not a holiday, not anyone's birthday, and there were no significant events happening in anyone’s families. Every minuscule piece of news, moment of drama—anything and everything spread around that miniature town, so Vanessa would have known if there were any events occurring that day, and she knew that there weren’t. The day was overall nothing overtly special, so it was simply strange that Vanessa was the only person present in this town on this seemingly random day.

Vanessa didn’t want to think anything of it, because she knew she would overthink and panic if she were to deeply ponder about the reason for the emptiness. Around dusk, Vanessa was journaling on her porch, which was typical for her, especially when the weather was comforting. She used writing as an outlet to express her feelings and thoughts, and doing it benefited her in her personal struggles. Autumn was also her favorite season, and journaling outside, encircled with nature’s wonders, certainly enhanced her creativity. While physically alone with her racing thoughts, as well as emotionally lonely, she was writing about how she had this odd, painful, but irrational fear that she was going to be abducted, harmed in some way, or something bizarre was going to happen in the near future. She truly believed her crippling anxiety was merely at a peak, until she looked up at the sky and felt this debilitating worry overcome her mind and body.

Space is so diverse—the universe contains so much of the unknown and yet to be discovered. Vanessa loved looking deep into the variety of fascinating wonders in the sky. She loved sunrises and sunsets, and loved to use her disposable cameras to photograph those amazing skies. She was always curious about the unknown and what other beings could possibly be beyond our planet.

The gentle breeze gradually began to transform into a wild windstorm. Vanessa soaked in the cool sensation for a minute, then decided that she wanted to go inside and settle down in her bed. As Vanessa began to gather her belongings from the front porch and make her way inside of the house, she heard a faint screeching noise…the noise sounded like a formation of words, but she could not make out what those words were. Her feelings of distress began to rapidly build when the initially faint screeching steadily started to become louder and much more ominous.

While high-pitched and difficult to discern, Vanessa pieced together random words that she heard like a jigsaw puzzle. She heard “more”, “careful”, “freedom”, “trapped”, “traitor”, “mad”, and the word that stuck out most to her was “revenge”. She was at a total loss and simply could not understand what this whole situation meant for her. She was frightened beyond any point of fear that she had in the past, and the uncertainty of what was going to occur invoked progressively increasing feelings of tension, hysteria, and panic.

Revenge was all that was replaying inside of Vanessa’s brain. She could not think of a logical reason why some strange force or being would seek revenge on her. There was nobody else around, no one she could tell, no one who could help her, and because nobody else was present, there was no other rational target for this peculiar situation than Vanessa. Or at least, so Vanessa assumed.

The screeching began to increase in volume more and more until it became unbearable and Vanessa’s curiosity was trumped by her desire to be safe and feel more protected. Thus, she bolted inside the house and slammed the front door shut. As soon as she went back inside, she was greeted with something that she never expected to witness…something that she never wanted to witness.

She let out a piercing and genuinely terrorized shriek. All of a sudden, her world went black.