A sunny, clear day it was…..on the beach. ‘The palm trees never looked this good in Tahiti’, thought Peter. A skinny, recent high school graduate, with light brownish hair and a mediocre tan, was lying on a brown beach blanket made of cotton fabric, the finest of Southern plantations.
Many people flocked to the Tahitian beaches this first day of summer. Some were with families, some were just couples holding hands, or some, like Peter, just single as can be and enjoying solitude. Next year would be Peter’s first year of college. Peter had big plans.
After winning a scholarship to Harvard, Peter wanted to be a top notch lawyer. With a Harvard law degree, anything was possible. But right now, law would wait as he basked in the deep rays of the sun.
Noon—lunchtime. The sun really intensified during this time of the day. A good thing Peter had on his black-rimmed prescription glasses. These glasses came with folding tint shades.
Before Peter could fold the shades down on the bright glare on his glasses, Peter gave a confused look. ‘Wait a minute’, Peter thought, as he looked up at the clear blue sky. Maybe the sky was too bright. Suddenly, a flash of light blinded Peter through his rectangular spectacles. Shaking his head, Peter spoke softly to himself, “What the hell happ—“
As he sat up from the blanket and came to his senses, he noticed other people did not seem to be shaken in any way. He turned to get his beer bottle, which lay covered in sand particles near the edge of his grey beach blanket. Instead, another object took its place in the shape of a round, shiny orb. The orb seemed to shatter the bottle instantaneously as Peter was blinded by the flash.
Motionless and embedded in the grains of sand, the orb stared at Peter with a magnificent glare. The orb seemed faceless and was obscured because of the immense energy released from it. Peter decided to grab it for further examination. ‘BUMMMMMM BUMMMMM BUMMMMMM BUMMMMMMMMM’…………the sound emanated from the shiny orb grew louder and louder and started to glow through three small peepholes. Peter could not let it go. It was as if his hands were glued to the surface of it. His hands felt almost like they were merging with the relentless thing.
“HELPPPPPP, get this damn thing off of me!!!!”, Peter yelled in panic. Many beachgoers heard his shriek and rushed over to Peter’s plea for assistance. A circle formed around Peter consisting of fellow beachgoers and strangers. Another flash quickly subdued all who were in close proximity of Peter and the orb. In a matter of seconds, the orb had everyone in a trance.
Suddenly, people started to fall in a sickly fashion. Peter felt sick himself and then keeled over in a nauseous state of mind. As Peter’s stomach was churning, his skin was peeling due to too much sun exposure. Yet, it was not the sun causing the shedding skin, it was the orb! Peter’s skin started to boil like water in a kettle—bubbling welts formed across the skin before falling off his body. Little did Peter and the crowd know that a far worse fate was happening to all of them.
Everyone’s skin was changing, not melting, into a grisly alteration. This change was becoming more and more hideous and ugly by the minute. Within a mere 15 minutes, Peter transformed from a meek-minded human to a ferocious monster not of this earth. All of the beachgoers also turned into 7”foot ghastly creatures of the unknown. Large demonic creatures with ram horns protruding from their heads, muscular forearms, and tough reptilian skin with one large tail split three ways with spiky endings on each one. Protruding from their mouths were gigantic fangs with saliva dripping down the jaws. A series of police sirens were getting louder and louder in the distance.
However, by the time the police arrived at the scene, half of the beach population were transforming into the same ghoulish creature that Peter had become. All of the police officers looked at each other, shocked at what was unveiled before them. A horde of hundreds of snarling creatures, whose octagon-shaped eyes with red beaming pupils glowing in unison, were standing neck and neck before only a dozen police officers.
In the center of it all was Peter, or what was once Peter. Yet, this time, the orb was perched on his or its strong purple shoulders. The orb was about to unleash a deadly dose of radiation to the unsuspecting officers. Soon, the transformation would spread to the entire globe. Humans would be replaced in domination by what the Mighty Orb commanded. The Mighty Orb has started to complete its conquest of the human race. The invaders came one sunny day, not in spaceships and not by force, but through manipulation by the orb that fell from the sky…..
