Fallen Leaves

It was a brisk Autumn morning as the sun peered through the few remaining orange, yellow, red, and purple leaves hanging on the nearly naked limbs. He stood in his front yard next to three giant oaks that sat side by side as if they were holding hands. The branches, intertwined once full of singing birds, now empty, missing the hands of children clambering about, like monkey bars on a playground in the summer. He could see his breath as he exhaled and the ice glistened in the air as each rake full of leaves dragged across the cold partially frozen ground. The sun shone brightly across the clear blue sky; rays poked through branches and lit up Henry’s hazel green and blue eyes as he adjusted his green and yellow beanie and buttoned up his gray flannel jacket, the fur of the collar warmed his neck as it tightened with each button. Five large leaf piles as high as Henry’s knees were spread across the yard as long as a basketball court. He took his rake, a long wooden handle topped with a wide red thick plastic head and steadily pulled the piles one scrape at a time across the ground. Five piles became four, four became three, three two, and after dozens of scrapes of the rake, one pile at least four feet tall and six feet wide in each direction lay before him. Henry leaned against the rake as it sat up-right with his left forearm; with his right he reached up and dragged across his forehead, the back of his sleeve collected beads of cold sweat that ran slowly from the rim of his thick wool beanie complete with a furry ball on top. Henry took a deep breath and walked the rake over to the house and leaned the tool to stand on its own against the wall. He turned around and ran full speed toward the towering pile of leaves; as he neared time seemed to slow down, his legs became springs as they bent low enough for his bottom to touch the tallest blades of grass. A force surged through Henry as his legs straightened and he shot into the air with a jump as tall as a gymnast. His body went sideways as he sprawled his arms and legs out, he looked like he was making snow angels in the air as he began to descend. His left arm was the first to enter the pile of leaves followed by his shoulder and the rest of his torso. Leaves began to squirt straight up into the air and in a split second his old beat up white tennis shoes stained with grass, followed the rest of his body as he disappeared, buried in all the colors of Fall. Henry exhaled a deep breath as he lay in his bed of leaves, and was overwhelmed with a great feeling of success and completion. He now knew that he would be able to attend the annual family game night at grandma's house, that he had accomplished his main goal for the day. He could already hear the faint laughter of the kids running around the living room, the rolls of dice on the table, and the mouth watering aroma of fresh baked blackberry pie coming out of the oven, just waiting to be topped with vanilla ice cream. The next moment is what Henry certainly could never have imagined in his wildest dreams. As he began to reach down through the pile of leaves to push off the ground and help hoist himself back upright, the light of the sun suddenly dimmed, and a feeling of anxiety rushed over him. Henry thought this was odd, but what came next was far more frightening. Henry sat up leaves falling from his face, he adjusted his cap and plucked a couple remaining leaves from behind his ears. Once he collected himself he was met with complete surprise and confusion. He was no longer sitting in his front yard under a clear blue sky, what he now looked across was a barren wasteland. Still sitting in, and surrounded by the same pile of leaves Henry immediately rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands as if he had something in them. When opened, his eyes lay on the same world, the sky was a dark orange as if the sun had set behind a mountain surrounded by smoke, as far as he could see there was no sign of life. The ground was dry and hardened with large cracks in many places, the only remnants of any plants were bushes that looked like withered burnt sticks barely standing out of the dry hard ground. Henry began to stand, still surrounded by leaves, dumbstruck with what he was seeing. As he turned around in a circle, in every direction, the same, occasionally the air would ripple as if heat coursed through it like the heat of a hot summer day. Henry closed his eyes tight as he stood in the pile of leaves, but when he opened them the same sight met his gaze. Panic entered his mind, he reached into the right hand pocket of his light blue jeans and felt some relief when he felt his cell phone. He ripped his hand out of his pocket holding his phone with the quickness of a snapping mouse trap. He flipped it over and illuminated the screen with the press of a button on the side, but to his dismay an expected fear came to pass, “no signal” flashed across the status bar. The palm of his left hand rested upon his forehead, his hair poked between his fingers. Frozen with fear, Henry slowly looked up from his phone and saw the hellish landscape go on for what seemed like miles in every direction. His right hand slowly slid the cell phone back into his pants pocket and he squatted back down, hand still pressed to his forehead bangs pointing in every direction. Henry thought to himself “what is this?! I must’ve hit my head, this can’t be real!! How did I get here? Am I dead?!” He looked at the ground and the leaves on the outer rim of the pile had already begun to wither and turn to dust. He grabbed a handful of them and felt the crunch and dryness as they disintegrated within his fist. They felt too real, and a terrifying realization overcame him, however he got to this place, it was as real as the one he left behind. Suddenly Henry’s eyes opened wide and he quickly sat down. He twisted his upper half around to look behind him at the center of the pile of leaves. He faced forward and placed his hands on the ground beside him. He then thrust himself backward into the thicker part of the pile, laying on his back he frantically covered himself in leaves. After only a couple of seconds he was completely submerged and no trace of him lingered in sight. Henry shut his eyes tight and after what seemed like ten minutes a light fell upon his closed eyelids. Taking many short breaths on the verge of hyperventilating, Henry peeked open his eyes and saw the many colors of the leaves brightly illuminated. Henry sat up like a lightning bolt and the rays of the sun became brighter and brighter as the leaves fell away. “WOOOHOOOO!!!!!” yelled a now standing Henry “I’m Back!” he jumped out of the pile of leaves and danced around it. “But what happened? Was it a dream? Did I hit my head?” Henry ran over to the house and collected his rake, he slowly tiptoed back over to the pile of leaves but stopped no closer than six feet away. He held the rake at its very end barely able to touch the pile, and slowly inched forward tapping the rake down on its side further and further into the leaves. Nothing happened, no magic doorway, no portal, no heat wave, nothing. Just a nice Autumn day sun shining, blue sky overhead. Henry swung the rake through the middle of the pile toward one side and sent leaves flying through the air, but again nothing unusual happened. “It felt so real,” he thought, still trembling. “I need some water, maybe I’m just dehydrated,” he said to himself as he began to walk toward the house. As he turned, Henry looked down at the edge of the pile of leaves, and was struck with pure terror. There on the wet partially frozen dewey grass sat an unmistakable line of dead, dry, and cracked leaves, a line that continued along the entire perimeter of the pile. Henry jumped several feet backward away from the pile of leaves. Henry proceeded to run into the house, ran to the kitchen and stared out the window at the pile of leaves waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, but he was ready. Henry poked his fingers through the plastic of a case of water that sat on some shelves nearby, and pulled a bottle out. His eyes never left the pile of leaves, he twisted the cap off in a hurry and with a few gulps the water was gone. Henry dropped the bottle where he stood, eyes still fixed on the pile, he took his cell phone out of his pants pocket and was met with some relief as he had full reception. Henry tapped the screen twice and “calling..” appeared as he held the phone up to his ear. “Hello?” said a voice through the speaker, “Kevin! You won’t believe what just happened to me, I don’t even believe it!” Henry said frantically. “Oh what up cuz, you still coming to grandmas for game night?” said Kevin from the other side of the phone. “DUDE!? LISTEN TO ME!!” Henry said loudly through the phone, “what’s up man? you sound out of breath.” “So I was raking, and once I finished I jumped…” Henry proceeded to tell Kevin what happened to him down to every last detail, “how much did you smoke today?” Kevin replied. “For real man I’m serious!” Henry exclaimed into the phone. “So you’re telling me, you raked the front yard, and jumped in the pile of leaves and magically got teleported to hell or something? What’s the joke man I don’t get it.” Henry was getting worked up, “I’m not joking, I know how it sounds but this is legit!” Kevin then asked “Well did you take any pics on your phone?” Henry felt a little silly now having thought about how unbelievable his story was, “No but..” Henry still staring at the pile, thought of the dry cracked line of leaves, it was still there, he could at least show Kevin that. “Hang on, I’ll call you right back” Henry hung up the phone, swiped over a page and tapped an icon of a video camera. He swiped to Kevin’s name, tapped the screen and it made a ringing noise. “Alright let’s see these leaves that were magically turned to dust,” said Kevin, a thin, yet handsome faced guy with straight brown hair appearing on screen. Henry turned and walked to the front door said “okay,” and switched the camera from self facing to forward facing. Henry walked back out to the pile of leaves, and approached slowly. He got right above the line of dry cracked and disintegrated leaves and held the phone closer and closer centering the line in the picture. “What the?” Henry heard from his cousin beginning to look curious on screen. “See I told you! I don’t know what happened but it was some scary stuff cuz! You still have that friend into ghosts and stuff?” Henry asked. “Scotty? Oh! Yeah I know what you’re thinking let me call and see what he’s got going on, hang on.” Kevin ended the call from his side, and Henry took a few steps away from the pile. A few seconds later Kevin felt his phone vibrate in his hand and heard a little bell sound. On the screen he saw a text notification that read “I’m driving to pick up Scotty I’ll be there in 5 or 10 tops.” Henry felt some relief as he knew he’d have some company soon. Scotty was a friend of Kevin’s, a friend that was obsessed with the paranormal. He had a popular video channel with a million subscribers, and would regularly make videos doing ghost hunts and haunted house investigations. Most importantly he had all the equipment that could hopefully give them some sort of answer. A few minutes had passed and a low rumbling engine and tires rolling down the road could be heard approaching. A two tone old white and gray box van pulled up and parked along the sidewalk in front of Henry’s house. A rattling-knocking sound came from under the hood as the van was turned off. Out of the driver’s side, stepped Henry’s cousin Kevin wearing a brown t-shirt with a cartoon hotdog on the front, long baggy blue jeans with a chain, and some black skate shoes. As he walked to the back of the van, the passenger door opened and Scotty a tall lanky white guy with short blond hair, square glasses, a blue and white long sleeve button up, black jeans, and brown tennis shoes stepped out. Kevin handed a device that he removed from the back of the van to Scotty and carried a small box in his other hand. “What’s up Henry?” Scotty said as the pair walked along the fence toward the gate. “I heard you had quite the experience,” “yeah it was something else man, terrifying doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Henry replied. “This the pile then?” Scotty nodded at the pile of leaves as the two joined Henry in the yard nearby. “Yeah, thanks man I don’t know what to make of it, I’m happy with anything you can give me,” Henry said sounding somewhat relieved. Scotty put on some headphones, and held down what appeared to be a power button on the device he held, it beeped as the gauge facing him illuminated. “What is that exactly?” Henry asked. “It’s an EMF machine,” Kevin said before Scotty could reply. “It measures electromagnetic fields,” Scotty clarified, “it will notify you if you’ve got some bad wires or are near some radio waves, but it’s also identified some pretty weird stuff for me,” Scotty had often used this device to begin his ghost investigations on his channel. The second Scotty pointed the device toward the leaves the meter maxed out, his eyes opened wide and he turned his head quickly to look at Henry. Scotty then pointed the meter at the ground behind him and watched as the meter returned to its resting position. Afterward he pointed it back at the pile of leaves and it again maxed out beeping wildly in his ear. “I’ve never had such a prominent reading! This is off the charts!!” A few distant car engines could be heard, but the three were too distracted to notice. Scotty became excited and then turned to face Henry. Kevin standing behind Scotty asked “what’s up man we good?” Scotty pointed the EMF device at the ground in front of his feet and slowly raised it along the grass between he and Henry. Henry felt as if someone was pointing a gun at him, and began to ask a question when Scotty yelled “I knew it!” Kevin’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened a little as he looked over Scotty’s shoulder and saw the meter bouncing wildly. Henry felt worried all over again, what do I do? Am I in trouble? Am I sick? So many thoughts entered his head. Scotty began to remove the beeping headphones from his ears, and several loud screeches came from behind him in the street as 5 black suvs slid to a halt in the street next to Kevin’s van. Several individuals all wearing matching dark blue jacket and pants reading FBI approached Henry, Kevin, and Scotty, some with guns drawn some with devices similarly looking to Scotty’s. The agents rushed all around them in the yard, those with devices wore hazmat suits and they slowly made their way toward the pile of leaves as they searched the yard for readings. A man approached in a suit and tie, he looked to be in his late 40’s, he was clean shaven, had brown hair parted to one side, and walked up with a tablet in hand. “Alright which of you is Henry?” Henry raised his hand a little as he said “I am,” Scotty and Kevin looked in shock as they stood like statues nearby. “Great we’re going to need you to come with us,” several of the agents had already set up four large poles along Henry’s fence and a cable was being strewn across pole to pole. A couple others approached carrying what looked like a giant folded up blanket. It ended up being a tarp and was attached to the cables to block any view from neighboring homes or passerbys. A man and a woman in FBI clothing walked up behind Henry and grabbed him gently but firmly around his elbows as the man in the suit turned around and lead them back toward the gate. Henry was escorted after the man and made eye contact with his cousin with a look of fear in his eyes, as Kevin said “what’s going on? Where are you taking him?” the man in the suit just continued walking, Henry started asking as well, “um excuse me can you please tell me what’s going on here?” “we need to get you out of here, that’s all you need to know right now.” Becoming worked up Kevin began to walk quickly in their direction but another agent stepped in front of him and pointed a gun at his feet telling him to “stop right there, he’ll be fine,” “what is going on?!” Kevin asked loudly as he stopped in his tracks. Henry and his escorts exited the yard through the gate and turned to walk along the black tarp now blocking all views from the outside world. Henry looked over his shoulder to catch one last glimpse of his cousin and Scotty before they disappeared. A noise caught Henry’s attention and he looked into the sky as a helicopter seemed to be fast approaching them. The escorts walked to one of the suvs and opened a door ushering Henry inside. The man and woman sat on either side of Henry in the back seat while the man in the business suit got into the driver seat, turned the key, and drove away from the scene. Henry again asked “what is going on?” but the three of them ignored him. The driver looked up into the sky as the man and woman sitting nearby stared out the windows as if they were looking for something specific. They had driven about five blocks before they made a sharp turn into the parking lot of a public park. The helicopter must’ve been right above them it was so loud, and just then Henry looked out of the windshield and saw the helicopter land in the soccer field ahead. The driver got out followed by the man sitting on Henry’s left. He turned around and grabbed Henry by the arm pulling him easily toward the outside. Henry offered little resistance and exited the vehicle as well followed close behind by the female FBI agent. They again walked Henry by the arms as they followed the suit toward the helicopter loudly running in the field ahead of them. As they approached the man in the suit opened the side door of the helicopter and waited for Henry to get close before telling him to “get in,” Henry stopped suddenly and said “tell me what’s going on!!” The man in the suit began to say “you just got dragged into a dangerous situation and we need to..” before he could say any more a loud humming noise deafened them all, it drowned out even the sound of the running helicopter, and Henry looked in the direction of its origin. He saw a bright purple light extending into the sky as far as the eye could see. Henry couldn’t tell where the light was coming from exactly because there were houses that blocked his sight, but his heart sank as he realized it was coming from the direction of his house. Henry felt warm hands on his cheeks as the man in the suit pulled his face to look back in his direction. The deafening sound continued but Henry read the man’s lips as he yelled “You need to get in, we have to go!” A bright flash like a lightning strike came from the corner of Henry’s eyes. He turned his head back toward the purple light and followed it with his eyes into the sky. WOOSH! BANG! WOOSH! BANG! WOOSH BANG! Three loud thunderous thuds sounded high in the sky as three objects hovering high above the purple light appeared out of nowhere.“Are those space shi..” Henry began to say, as the man in the suit grabbed Henry by the shoulder and forced him into the helicopter. The man in the suit and the two agents jumped in and slammed the door shut. The helicopter began to vibrate a little as the engine clearly ramped up. Henry felt the helicopter lift off the ground and turn slightly as it climbed. He stared into the sky in pure astonishment as three ships lowered out of the atmosphere along the purple light. The humming noise while still loud lowered a bit and he could hear other noises now. Henry yelled to the agents “what is going on?! Are those freakin aliens?!?!” the man in the suit had put on a headset and looking toward the front of the helicopter, Henry heard him say “get us out of here!” loudly to the pilots. The helicopter leaned forward and began to move away quickly. The ships and the light grew smaller and smaller. While still in sight Henry could see the ships now about a 100 yards above the ground halt their movement. He saw a green glowing light form on the bottom and then shoot off like a rocket toward the ground. The helicopter approached a small mountain and was about to clear the peak as the green balls of light contacted the ground. Henry saw a large explosion that rose as high as they were at least. The helicopter cleared the mountain and they lost visual of the encounter. Henry looked back at the man in the suit and said “OK! What the Fu..” Henry felt a stinging pain in the left side of his neck and yanked his head to his right as he quickly covered the spot with his left hand. Henry turned to look and saw the man that had escorted him to the helicopter holding a syringe. Henry’s vision started to fade, he looked back at the man in the suit and then slumped over to his right, his head bouncing off the seat and landing on the woman’s shoulder. Henry’s eyes closed and everything went dark. The helicopter landed on what appeared to be a Military base, “Area 51” could be seen painted on the side of one building. A group of men in full military camo approached with assault rifles pointed at the helicopter as the occupants got out. Henry’s eyes fluttered as he awoke in a very groggy state. A black hood was pulled over his head, and he could hear a faint voice coming from the man in the suit “Don’t worry Henry we will explain everything but you have a lot to hear and that will be for another time.”

To Be Continued…