Chapter 1
I’d always loved science fiction movies. But never did I think I could get caught up in one…
It began when I was staying with my Aunt Janet for the weekend. My parents seem to believe that I might accidentally burn down the house if I stay there alone, so they always ship me off to stay with a relative. That weekend they rented a beach house and would be away for four days.
I hate the beach, but I hated Aunt Janet’s house even more.
She’s the most boring person in the world. For some reason she likes to pretend that anything not mainstream doesn’t exist. Her boyfriend Brad doesn’t mind talking about science fiction, since he likes to read Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke once in a while… but he doesn’t say a word about it when she is listening.
All her friends are equally awful.
Much to my annoyance, a wedding she’d been invited to happened to be on the exact same weekend I’d be staying with her. How dreadful.
She made me wear an awful lavender-colored dress and a hat for some reason. I’ll never understand half the things that woman says.
“I won’t want my own niece embarrassing me in front of Betty’s family and other friends,” Aunt Janet explained as we got in the car. “They think you’re a polite young lady, Fay Gallagher. Hopefully you can avoid saying something rude or talking about Science Fiction.”
Though she didn’t notice, Brad winked at me. He knew I’d hidden a tattered old copy of 2001: a Space Odyssey in my pastel colored purse.
And so, we drove to the little church where the ceremony was being held. I didn’t dare get my book out yet, fearing that Aunt Janet would take it away before we even got to the place.
Amidst the crowd of ordinary people in boring formal clothing I noticed a man and two women dressed in solemn clothes reminiscent of 19th century mourning wear. Before I could strike up a conversation with the only interesting people there, we had to sit down.
Aunt Janet and I sat on either side of her boyfriend. This made it easier for me to read the book I’d brought. He was in the way of her finding out I wasn’t paying attention.
So I read my book the entire time.
“It’s time to leave now,” her boyfriend whispered after a while.
He’s extremely nice for someone dating grumpy old Aunt Janet. Always looking out for everybody…
After we’d all left the church, I leaned against the outside wall and went back to reading. Science Fiction is a great escape from real life. The sound of thunder in the distance began to worry me, so I ended up putting my book back in my purse and entertained myself by making up stories in which I became a character in a Sci-Fi film… or a scream-queen like the actress I share a first name with.
I noticed that, as the other guests cleared away, Aunt Janet and her boyfriend remained. They appeared to be having a conversation of great importance, judging by the serious expression on his face.
A moment later the two of them ran toward the steps to the church. I knew exactly what was going on when he kneeled down in front of her and handed her a small box… with a glittering ring inside.
Oh joy. Another wedding coming up… another wedding I’d be required to attend!
Even as they walked into the church again, I stayed outside. I’d take a possibly life threatening thunderstorm over eavesdropping on sickeningly sentimental conversations any day.
Thankfully they soon came back outside. We then got in the car and drove away to dinner. Then, we changed out of our formal wear and into more ordinary clothes. But it’s not either of those trivial events that mattered. No, the next important part of this story I am telling is when their car got a flat tire…
That’s when things got interesting.
Brad was too busy listening to this bizarre cassette recording of Richard Nixon’s resignation speech to realize that we’d been driving the wrong way for at least a half hour.
Aunt Janet was too busy staring at the many motorcyclists who happened to be riding around for no reason.
I was to busy making up stories involving spaceships, laser beams of doom, and highly attractive female vampires (Aunt Janet had taken away my book after going through my suspiciously heavy purse).
The car stopped in front of a blinking sign that read ‘DEAD END’ in large, friendly letters. Suddenly, I heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a car tire popping.
“What was that noise?” Aunt Janet whispered.
“I think we have a flat tire,” her boyfriend replied.
We sat in dull silence for a moment.
“Did anyone else see a castle a mile or so back?” I asked.
Aunt Janet laughed nervously. “I thought I imagined that. You rarely see castles in Ohio.”
“I bet they’ll have a telephone. Then maybe we can call Professor Scott. We were going to visit him anyway,” Brad said slowly.
“We’re going to visit someone? Is that why it’s taking so long to drive back to your house?” I asked. They ignored me.
“Well, let’s go,” Aunt Janet said as she got out of the car.
The three of us began to walk toward the castle that loomed in the distance. To my amusement, my aunt was attempting to use a newspaper to keep her hair from getting messed up by the rain. It didn’t work. In fact, the ink was running and dripping all over her.
My curly red hair looked awful most of the time, anyway. So I hardly cared if it got soaked. Though I did pity begin Aunt Janet once I realized the dress she wore was dry-clean only.
Once we finally stood on the doorstep, Brad knocked on the door. The person who opened it was extremely strange looking, to say the very least.
