Key ideas: creative fiction 8

Close Encounter

1. Most of my friends are spending the summer sleeping late and hanging out by the pool, but not me. I’m working in Arizona with my dad, who’s an archaeologist. Dad and his colleagues are excavating a prehistoric Native American site. Today, Dad and another archaeologist, Aleksei, are working in one of the pueblos, scraping away layers of dirt to uncover artifacts which turn out to be mostly pottery.
2. “I found something over here”, Aleksei says pointing to an oval-head-shaped object. “This is definitely not a platter or bowl. It looks like a small human skull—maybe a child’s?”
3. Dad and I scurry over to Aleksei and the unidentified skull. After careful examination, the consensus is that, although the object appears to be some type of skull, there’s something about it that doesn’t seem quite right. Fortunately, we soon discover that there’s more than just the skull—there’s an entire skeleton buried in the pueblo wall. All the archaeologists on-site come to assist. They work diligently over the next few hours to excavate more of the mysterious remains.
4. By late afternoon, Dad stands back from the excavation and furrows his brow. “This definitely isn’t human—look at the

   metacarpus and phalanges

   . The metacarpus is longer and narrower than a human’s, and it appears as if this creature had seven fingers on each hand. Also, the cranium—see how elongated it is? Let’s get the specimen to the lab for examination.”
5. It takes a while to get everything documented. Finally, after midnight, the bones are carefully transported to the lab.
6. “Devorah, go to your tent and get some sleep”, Dad says when he notices me yawning. “We’ll know more about the skeleton tomorrow.”
7. “OK”, I say reluctantly, but really, how can I sleep? We found the remains of a creature, which no one is saying (but everyone must be thinking) is an alien!
8. I toss and turn all night until around 4 a.m. when I see a bright light flash once. Then I hear footsteps outside. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. A small shadow, like that of a child, drifts across the nylon panels of my tent. Petrified, I can’t move. For hours I lay there listening intently, but I don’t hear anything more than a whoosh. When the first light of day enters my tent, I jump from my cot and sprint to the lab.
9. Some of the archaeologists are already there, including my dad. All of them have bewildered looks on their faces. As I walk closer, I see why. The examination table is empty—the skeleton has disappeared!