It was December 21st, when someone mentions December, most people automatically think of that jolly, family time called Christmas. But for me it’s UFO Month. You may think I’m weird for believing in stuff like Aliens and UFOs, but do you really think that were alone in something that is 13.7 billion years old? The Universe: Commonly defined as the totality of everything that’s exists or is known to exist. Did you know that Saturn’s moon (Titan) has plenty of evidence of organic life chemicals in its atmosphere and that life is know to only exist on Earth, but in 1986 NASA found what is thought to be fossils of microscopic living things in a rock on Mars. Yep, that’s me. A human dictionary. I know everything about everything; I call it my super power. But as to every Superhero, there’s always a dark side to your power, like Kryptonite to Superman or the colour yellow to the Green Lanterns. For me, I got myself hurt. I lost friends. I lost family. I lost my life.

I’m 15 now; just an ordinary 15-year-old girl trying not to let her weaknesses get to her. I live in an abandoned food factory. Twinkles the snack that makes you shine. God, I hated them. I can still smell that horrible coconut stench coming from the machines. Ew. I’ve lived here for 3 years now, after my family kicked me out. I used to live in a mansion, it was massive. I had 4 older sisters and 2 older brothers: Jessica 25, Ashley 23, Jake 23, Rebecca 21, Owen 20 and Frankie 19. Our parents had left us when I was just 5, apparently they had gone on holiday for a long time, that’s what I was told. Please. Who goes on holiday for 10 years without calling or writing? They sent money every month, £1000 each. My parents were rich. The owners of Twinkles. I think that’s why I feel at home living in this factory, for somehow I know my parents walked along this floor just once before the business went south. The reason I’m living here is because every night I used to sneak out of the house and go UFO hunting. I wouldn’t return until 4am every day. I missed school; my attendance went down to 25%. I wouldn’t help around the house and to be honest, I was horrible. And now I know why I’m here. I feel better on my own, I have money, food, shelter and can do what I want, when I want. But I’m lonely. I have no one to talk to, no one to share my thoughts with, that’s why I go searching for new life. I want a friend that can listen to me and give me advice, not just ignore me.

It’s now 21:00, time to go. I tend to walk over behind the factories, you know old scraps of abandoned metal, it’s kind of a luxury for extraterrestrials, but today I’m heading towards the open space. It’s quiet out, there’s no one but me around. Occasionally you can hear the squawk of a bird overhead, but apart from that, it’s just me. I like it; it gives me time to think. As I wander down to paved path, the ground starts to become soft. I knew I had reached the end of the line. I was always told never to go onto the sand, no one has every returned. But today I couldn’t care; today was the day, 3 years ago my siblings chucked me out. Today was the day where I knew no one would return for me. I stepped onto the sand, it was different than walking on a beach, it felt rougher. I carried on walking, never looking back as I took one more step further away from the place I hated. It was now 23:47, I’ve been walking for 2 hours and 47 minutes and nothing had happened. Was it really true that no one returns? I stood still and glanced out at what was nothing and took in what I could see: sand, sand, sand and more sand. This was ridiculous, I decided to turn back and head home, but which way did I come? I couldn’t see anything, literally. My sight had started to deteriorate; all I could see was what looked like sand starting to move. It was moving away from me. There was this loud helicopter type noise hovering up above, I tried to look up but I couldn’t hear or see anything, at this point I started to panic. I tried to move but my legs had gone heavy, I was stuck. I had no sight, I couldn’t move nor hear anything, I tried to shout but nothing came out. And all of a sudden everything went quite. My sight, voice, movement and hearing came back. I looked around and nothing was to be seen. The sand was still. I checked my watch; 23:52. I turned ran. Probably the best decision I’d had all day. I was heading back the way I came, hopefully. In the distance I could see the path, oh God was I happy to see that. I glanced at my watch again, 23:54. If I was right I had to get onto the path before midnight. There was only a few hundred meters to go, I tripped. Scrambling to get back onto my feet, my watch bleeped 23:57. Midnight was getting closer. I ran and ran and ran until I could barely feel my feet. It was a miracle, my right foot touched down onto the stone path, shortly followed by my right shoulder head and the left side of my body. I had fallen to the ground, but I was relieved to be back on a hard surface. With blood gushing from my face, I edged myself away from the sand and sat on the ground, just in time to hear my watch beep: 00:00. There was a bright light shining down from the sky and within seconds it was gone. There was this oval object flying towards me. This object had come from the sky. What was it? I just sat there, knowing the wise words from my sister: ‘Never to go onto the sand, no one has every returned’ were true. But I was safe right? I wasn’t on the sand anymore. The object continued to hurl itself at me and all of a sudden it stopped. Just stopped. Stopped just in front of where the path ends and the sand starts. I couldn’t see inside, but what I could see was a silhouette. A silhouette of a small body and a larger head. Could it really be aliens? Could the path be blocking them from me?

What could it be?

I didn’t have time to think, I stood up and ran. I ran as fast as I could. Blood running from my head and arm, it didn’t bother me, I just wanted to get as far a way as possible. I had no idea where I was running. Without thinking I sprinted past the Twinkles factory and carried on running. I got up to a main road, cars, people, police; I knew I was safer here. I slowed down and sat on the side of the main road. I was paranoid. People all around me, I was wrong. What if they knew what had happened? What if they weren’t human? I caught my breath and started running again. I headed towards Huntington Palace. It wasn’t a Palace, but a street of mansions. Number 4 was my house. I passed number 1, number 2 and number 3. Number 4 came up on my right. The gate was closed. There was no way in. I could hear noises in my head and they were getting louder. Blood was dripping onto the floor, I started going lightheaded. My limbs got heavy and with all my strength I climbed up and over the gate. I collapsed at the bottom, but managed to get back up. I staggered up the path to the front door and pressed the bell frantically. I collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood.

The door opened. I could hear everything that was going on. There was shouting, screaming and panicking. I was lifted up of the ground a placed onto a much softer object. Everything started to go distorted and after a few seconds I heard nothing. That’s all I can remember. I guess I was unconscious. I could see nothing but black. I started to open my eyes; I could see a bright light above me. Was I dead? I slowly sat myself up, in what seemed be some sort of hospital. I was alone. My head hurt. The bleeding had stopped, but I was bandaged up. I could hear sound, voices? After a few seconds it became clear. I looked around, I was in a room, and I wasn’t alone. I glanced around the room to see what looked like to be 4 girls and 2 boys, all of them in their 20’s all fast asleep. I pulled back the covers and slowly placed my feet on the ground. It was cold. Very different from what I have previously experienced. I saw my shoes sitting in a corner of the room. I walked over to them to pick them up. As I touched them I got a flashback. I flashback of what had happened before. I collapsed. All I could remember while lying here was what had happened. I could see and feel everything, it was horribly realistic. I slowly faded out of the flashback and into once again that world of black, this time for much longer. I could hear voices this time. I felt a shock onto my chest and I woke up immediately. I was surrounded by men. Doctors. There was a sense of relief when I woke up and I could tell people felt more relaxed. The tension had gone. This time the 6 people surrounding me were awake. I instantly recognized them. Jessica, Ashley, Rebecca, Frankie, Jake and Owen. The voices in my head had stopped and I could once again think clearly. They smiled; for once in three years I had seen them smile at me. A tear ran from down my face. I didn’t smile back. Should I smile? They kicked a 12 year old out on the streets, should I smile at them? Why did I come back? I knew as soon as I woke up I wouldn’t want to be hear. I started at the wall in front of me and didn’t make eye contact with anyone. Jessica spoke first.
“Hey Beth, can you hear me?” Her voice was soft and kind, like I remembered. As she spoke a tear ran down my face. She reached out a gently touched my hand. I paused. What should I say? Before I was about to reply I heard Ashley speak, “Were really sorry for what happened 3 years ago. We didn’t mean what happened…” before she could finish Jessica cut her off, “Lets not talk about that now. Ok?” Her voice became sharper than before. I started to get angry, why didn’t she want to talk about it? I continued to stare at the wall; “I slept in an abandoned factory for three years. You cut me off from my money. I had only £200 to survive on…” I tried to carry on, but was cut off by Owen, “We thought you would come back!” His voice broke as a tear rolled down his face. I thought to myself, should I be sympathetic for them? Should I show that I’m sorry they threw me out? No. It was their idea, not mine. I replied in a harsh tone, “Obviously not”, at this point I knew all hell would brake lose. There was a few seconds of silence before Rebecca spoke; she was the nicest out of everyone. I knew when I was leaving that she didn’t want it to happen. I remember she never came out to say bye, but stayed inside. I still remember her face, tears rolling down as she fought with Jessica over what to do. “Why didn’t you go to stay with Nan and Granddad?” I remembered her voice, soft and warming. There was not a part of evil in her. I looked over to Rebecca, I knew I could talk to her; I knew she felt sorry for me. I looked over at my shoes and without saying a word; I pulled back the covers and walked over to them. I knelt down beside them and lifted up the insole of the shoe. I reached in a pulled out a letter addressed to the Jones Siblings. I handed the unopened letter to Rebecca and sat on the floor. She opened it and read what was written:

“Dear Jessica, Ashley, Jake, Rebecca, Owen, Frankie and Beth,

It’s Nan and Granddad here, were sorry to inform you this way but we couldn’t bare to ring up or tell you in person. Over the past two years your Granddad and me have experienced problems. Problems that have become a giant obstacle in later life. As you know our Granddad has been diagnosed with lung cancer and I have been having frequent heart attacks, which are getting worse each time. We have recently been informed that your Granddad’s cancer is terminal and that a heart attack can now kill me, no matter how big. So together we thought that instead of living our lives in fear that we might pass away at any time, we’ve decided to go together. Again please accept our greatest apologies for telling you this way.

We love all you and forever,

Nan and Granddad xxxxxxx

Dated December 21st 2009.” A tear ran down everyone’s face as she closed the letter and placed it on the bed. “I saw them,” I stared at the floor as I recalled what I had seen. “I saw was their bodies.” Everyone looked at me in horror. “They were just lying there. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran. I ran as far a way as possible to try and get the image out of my head. That’s why I never came back. I didn’t want to come back and remember what I’d seen.”