2010-


    Ten year old Tanner Lerner smiled as he watched the night sky. He had spent a lot of


    time picking out his spot. He planned to watch as much of the meteor shower that he


    could before his parents came out to fetch him.


    They encouraged his interest in the stars, but they had set a curfew they enforced. He


    was not supposed to be out after ten on a school night.


    He had picked his spot so they couldn’t find him easily when they came out to call


    him in. He could put not responding down to having his earphones in while watching


    the sky.


    He thought that wouldn’t fly over well, but it would get him time to watch the stars


    as the shower started.


    “What you doing, Squirt?” His cousin, Darla Huitt, approached from the base of the


    hill. She was in the same grade as he was, and he thought he couldn’t get rid of her


    easily.


    “Star watching.” Tanner wondered what he could say to get her to leave him alone.


    He didn’t need her to get in his way while he was making his observations.


    “Are you allowed out this late?” She grinned at him. “Only big boys are supposed to


    be able to get out of their play pens.”


    Anger boiled in his system but he forced it down. He didn’t need the pest getting


    close to his parents and getting grounded because he was not home.


    “Don’t you have someone else to troll?” Tanner gritted his teeth. If he could hold on


    for a few moments, then his project would fly.


    “Not really.” She smiled. “All my homework is done.”


    Great. She planned to hang out with him and drive him crazy. Maybe he should pack


    it in and go somewhere else. Packing the telescope would be a pain, but he thought


    about it and realized unless he went home, she would follow him around to tell him


    how she felt.


    And he didn’t care how she felt.


    He looked at his watch. The shower was supposed to start in a few minutes. He


    looked for the first streak heading across the sky. Once he had a visual bearing, he


    could turn and focus the telescope on the meteors heading toward Earth.


    He could ignore his cousin for the time to the shower starting. Maybe if he ignored


    her, she would go away. He decided that wasn’t going to work. She would just get in


    his way to keep him from doing that.


    Maybe he should pack it in. There would be other meteor showers he could watch


    without her interfering.


    He didn’t want to give up his hill.


    “What’s so cool about these meteors?” She covered her mouth as she yawned.


    “They only show once in a century.” He realized that maybe talking to her might not


    be a good thing and slowed things down. On the other hand, he might be able to


    knock everything over with a grudge and set up somewhere else.


    Tanner spotted the leading edge of the storm and smiled. He watched the flames with


    his telescope. Concentrating on that would be better as a whole than watching for


    someone who had a problem temper try to get him in trouble.


    Why didn’t she move on? She didn’t have any interest in the stars as far as he was


    concerned.


    Why wasn’t she home?


    “Parents fighting?” Tanner scanned the sky. One of the meteors seemed to be


    wobbling. What was going on there?


    “When aren’t they, Squirt?” She sighed. “They should just get a divorce and be done


    with it.”


    Tanner silently agreed. Uncle Bill and Aunt Jamie fought all the time. They never


    seemed to say a nice thing to each other whenever he saw them together. It was


    embarrassing to him. He didn’t want to take sides, but frequently they asked him an


    opinion. His answers seemed to always make things worse.


    And he could rarely extract himself from the situation without making both of them


    mad at him.


    One of the meteors veered out of the stream in the sky. He studied it with his


    telescope. It seemed to be getting bigger. He looked at it with his naked eye. It was


    coming down close by.


    “We should get away from here.” Tanner looked at his setup. He didn’t want to lose


    his telescope, but he didn’t have time to pack it up. He decided to move. If the meteor


    hit and missed his telescope, he would come back for it. “Meteor hits look like


    cannon shots afterwards.”


    “What are you talking about?” She looked up at the approaching light. She smiled.


    “Are you crazy?” Tanner grabbed her arm. He pulled on her to follow him. “We’ll be


    killed if we stay here.”


    “That’s fine with me.” She pushed him away. “It beats going back home.”


    “We have to go.” Tanner pulled as hard as he could. She resisted, digging in her


    heels. “It’s not safe.”


    “Run if you want.” She punched him in the face. He went down. “This is what I


    need.”


    Tanner got to his feet. The light in the sky was closer. He looked at his cousin. Then


    he did the only thing he could think of to do. He tackled her, pushing her down the


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.hill in front of him. They rolled from the apex, his cousin screaming in his ear. He


    took a shot to the face as they hit bottom.


    Darla unleashed a stream of invective as she tried to get to her feet. A fist to the face


    didn’t slow her down. She retaliated with a kick.


    Tanner clenched his teeth. The light from the stars hung above them as they wrestled


    on the ground. An explosion picked him up and sent him tumbling to the ground. He


    landed on his back.


    He stood up. Darla lay on her face. She didn’t move. He wondered if she got her wish.


    He decided to check on his telescope before he dealt with her. He had no interest in


    getting involved with her parents.


    He marched up the altered hill. He didn’t have to like astronomy to know he and his


    cousin were lucky to still be in one piece. The top of the hill had been carved out. The


    trees and his telescope were gone. He supposed they had been reduced to fragments


    from the impact.


    How was he going to explain losing that to his parents. First, he violated his curfew.


    Then he lost his expensive telescope. And if his cousin said anything, he would be


    grounded for punching her in the mouth.


    He should punch her again to make it worth getting punished.


    He walked to the edge of the crater. He spotted something glowing at the bottom of


    the bowl. Maybe the meteor had survived impact. If it had, it would be worth losing


    his telescope.


    He took off his shirt and touched the edge of the glow with it. He smiled when his


    shirt didn’t catch fire. The thing was cooling off fast.


    If he could get the thing out of the hill, he could take it home and look at it. Maybe


    he could call a museum and ask them what he could do with it. There might be some


    money in the thing.


    If there was a reward, he could replace his telescope with the money.


    All he had to do was get the thing out of the crater and get it home.


    He heard Darla moan at the bottom of the hill. He needed to grab the thing and head


    home. He wasn’t going to share credit with her. She had almost got them killed with


    her reluctance to flee.


    He decided to wrap his shirt around the glow. If he could carry it away, he expected


    it to cool while he ran home. It should be completely safe to touch by the time he got


    it to his house.


    Then he could come back for Darla, if he felt like it. If she didn’t know about the


    thing, she couldn’t try to use it as some kind of lever for promises.


    He wasn’t getting involved with her, or the rest of her crazy family if he could help


    it.


    Tanner started into the crater. He looked for the source of the glow as he spread his


    shirt out to catch it. Once he had the thing covered, he planned to tie the shirt together


    so he could carry it like a bag.


    He dropped the shirt. He grabbed the edges and started to scoop up what was left at


    the bottom of the bowl. Pain ran up his hands. He dropped the shirt.


    He examined his fingers. Lines colored the pads, then spread up one arm as he


    watched. He gritted his teeth at the thought he might be dead thanks to Darla.


    He should kick her to get some revenge before he died from whatever he had touched


    through his shirt.


    He picked up his shirt. The shine was gone. He spotted two holes through the cloth.


    Whatever had poked him in the hands had done it through the shirt. How was he


    going to explain things to his parents?


    What was this writing on his arm? It looked like buttons. He realized it looked like


    a typewriter keypad. He could make things like letters out under the stars, but not


    exactly what. How was he going to explain a big tattoo like that.


    Things just kept getting worse for him.


    He should kick Darla for what she had got him into. He sat down on the edge of the


    crater and wondered what he was going to do. All of his options looked bad to him.


    He should have known something bad was going to happen the moment she showed


    up. He looked down the hill. What was he going to do?


    Pain throbbed in his hands. He needed to have that checked out. He couldn’t let some


    unknown fungus eat at him. He should get to the hospital and let them keep him from


    melting, or whatever he was going to do now.


    He stood up. At least Darla was safe until she got home. That had been his good deed


    for the day. He might as well lord it over her as much as he could.


    He got to his feet. He noticed a stream of glowing particles heading down the hill for


    the first time. He grimaced. The stream headed right for Darla.


    He rushed down to pull her out of the way. The last thing he needed was to get


    blamed for a tattoo on his cousin.


    He grabbed her shoulders and picked her up in a sitting position. He frowned. Two


    squares had written themselves in at her temples. An eye disfigured her forehead. Too


    late to do anything for her now.


    He couldn’t carry her. He had to wake her up and get her on her way before anyone


    investigated what had happened. He wasn’t explaining an alien tattoo to anyone if he


    could help it.


    He certainly wasn’t going to take Darla home and tell her parents that she had been


    knocked out and some glowing stuff had pierced her brain.


    He knew better to expect anything good coming out of that.


    He slapped Darla’s face. That felt good. He did it again. She moaned.


    “Wake up.” He slapped her again. “We don’t have time for this, Darla.”


    “Don’t hit me again, Squirt.” She opened her eyes. They were the wrong color.


    Tanner grimaced. How were they going to explain glowing yellow eyes. He decided


    to let Darla handle it.


    He didn’t want to look out for her. He didn’t need the hassle her parents would cause


    him if he was reported to his own parents.


    “Let’s go.” He got to his feet. “You took a bad hit, and I need to change my clothes.”


    “All right.” Darla got to her feet. “I feel sick as a dog. My head hurts, and I’m craving


    some pizza.”


    “I’ll walk with you to your house.” Tanner pulled on his shirt. “After that, I have to


    get home and clean up myself.”


    “I don’t need your help.” Darla staggered toward her house five steps. She paused and


    hung her head.


    Was she going to be sick? Could she make it on her own? What should he do?


    He decided the best thing he could do was help her if she wanted it. Then he had to


    get home and take his punishment from his own parents.


    He could take it. He was alive. He had saved his cousin’s life. He had been infected


    with something, but the initial pain was over. He could live with that after he talked


    to a doctor about it.


    He needed to make the best of what he could do at the moment. He didn’t want to be


    confined to the hospital, but if it helped him figure things out, then that might be the


    best solution to the sudden focus.


    Maybe the doctors could figure out why the thing resembled a typewriter. He doubted


    that was accidental, but he had no clue on what it meant.


    He walked behind Darla as she cut across several lots to her house. He watched as she


    went inside. He hoped the tattoo on her face wouldn’t get her in trouble. He knew that


    was forlorn. Her parents liked to fight too much for them to let it go.


    They would be on her like rabid squirrels.


    He turned and headed for his own house. He had to get home and sneak inside


    without his parents catching him. He didn’t want them telling him that he had broken


    curfew and he was going to be punished. Helping Darla would be seen as a plus, but


    not mitigating. He shouldn’t have been out there to have to help Darla in the first


    place.


    He would figure something out while he was trying to sneak into his house.


    At least his parents didn’t generally make things hard for him. He was thankful for


    that.


    He scratched an itch on his newly tattooed arm. Three of the buttons glowed. He


    looked at the shining buttons. Then he felt himself shrinking down to the size of an


    ant. He looked at his surroundings in horror.


    How was he going to deal with this?