The Land of Myth - Chapter 1
Strange happenings
In the darkness of his bedroom, Jacob Trip bolted upright at the sound of a huge bang! His heart beat faster than a big band’s drum as the air swirled around the room and lifted the duvet off his bed. A cold breeze ran up his pyjama legs like a beast with a thousand feet. It was as though the duvet had come alive; every corner flapped around and grabbed him here, there and everywhere until he eventually managed to throw it to the floor.
He searched for his bedside lamp and, with a trembling hand, he flicked the switch to see pieces of paper fluttering around the room like massive butterflies. Curtains flapped so high they nearly touched the ceiling as the window swung to and fro on its hinges. He let out a sigh of relief on realising it had blown open during a storm; but even so, the bang it made when it hit the wall had been a huge shock.
He stepped over toys that had blown onto the floor and battled his way towards the flapping fabric. He tried to close the window, but he could not fasten it because the latch had broken; the screws had been torn out of the wooden frame and the wind whistled through the tiniest of gaps.
Now he was stuck. He had never seen or heard a storm as fierce as this and he couldn’t stay here until dawn holding the window closed. He took a deep breath and called at the top of his voice.
“Dad… Mum!”
The wind increased and a flash of lightning zig-zagged from a flaming, yellow and white hole in a pitch black sky. To his amazement, the lightning did not reach the ground; instead it collided with something high above a line of trees and exploded into a shower of sparkling, orange and yellow stars. The stars swirled and formed a line. He gasped as they zoomed towards him.
“Whoa! Mum… Dad!”
For a moment it looked as though they were going to come straight through the window but, at the last second, they lifted and disappeared over the roof.
As fast as the storm came, the flaming hole vanished, the wind dropped, and the black cloud drifted away to reveal a half moon and a sky full of normal, twinkling stars. Footsteps pounded up the stairs. His bedroom door burst open and Mrs Trip filled the door frame. Her hair looked like it had been lifted off her head and put on backwards. She sounded short of breath as though she had been on a marathon run.
“Are you all right, Love? The wind out there is absolutely awful… your father and I thought the roof was going to come off! We heard a huge bang and we thought the barn door had blown off its hinges.” She paused for breath and looked out of the window. “Well… that’s weird. It was really windy out there a moment ago.”
Jacob quickly told her about the broken catch and what he had seen.
“Oh I’m sorry, Jacob,” she said as she tip-toed around the mess over the floor to give him a hug. “I would have come in sooner but I thought Dad would need a little help.”
He heard Dad close the front door and climb the stairs. He entered the room dressed in pyjamas, scratching the top of his bald head and looking very confused. “That must have been the shortest storm ever,” he gasped. “I only got a few steps from the house and the wind stopped…” he clicked his fingers, “just like that. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life!”
“Did you see the lightning and the orange and yellow stars, Dad?”
“I saw a flash just before the wind dropped but that was all, Son.”
“It was really weird,” said Jacob getting excited as he recounted his tale of the lightning and the stars. “After they went over the roof, something big and black moved in the sky after the wind stopped. I think it might have been an alien spaceship!”
Silence descended on the room. Jacob looked at his parent’s bewildered faces, realising how silly his story sounded.
“Aliens! I’ve heard everything now, Son,” said Mr Trip followed by a chuckle.
A door on the landing opened and the sleepy form of Jacob’s sister wobbled out. Her eyes blinked in the electric light. “What’s going on?”
“Your brother has just seen an alien invasion,” said Mr Trip. “Are there any in your room?”
She looked confused. “What?”
Mum gave her a hug too. “Oh, take no notice, Lucy, your father is just being daft as usual. There’s just been a storm that’s all. Now, let’s all go back to bed.”
Mr Trip checked the damage to Jacob’s window. “Mmm… a piece of wood should do the trick. I’ll pop to the garage and get a hammer and a couple of nails.” He strode out of the room mumbling, “aliens indeed.” His chuckles followed him down the stairs.
Jacob looked at Mum. “But I did see something, Mum. I’m not making it up, honest.”
She put an arm around his shoulder. “I’m not doubting you, Love. But chances are there is a logical explanation for whatever happened; maybe it was something as simple as a brief hurricane and a black cloud. Now, come on, let’s sort out your duvet.”
Jacob was sorry he’d mentioned about aliens now. He knew his dad would tease him for months, maybe even years.
Dad entered with a hammer and some nails. “There you go, Son,” he said after a few gentle taps and a smile. “That should stop any little green men getting in and snuggling up in bed with you.” He ruffled Jacob’s short, spiky hair. “See you in the morning, earthling.”