The Howardsfield Horror

by Jay Mason

  ****

  To: Alex

  From: R. Gibson

  Subj: Long time no see

  Hi Alex,

  It’s seems ages since I’ve seen you. I can’t believe the film is taking up so much of your time. I mean, I can believe you, obviously. I don’t think you’re lying, but boy, they are working you hard. Have you had any time to find some proof I can offer Cat that there is nothing hiding in the cornfields that’s going to come out and bite her?I’m sorry to bug you. I’m sure you’re doing it. It’s just that she’s still having those nightmares. Can’t remember when I had an unbroken night’s sleep. I don’t mean to be selfish or lacking in understanding, but I — well — you know how we all have a lot on our plates in this family and Cat’s antics aren’t helping anyone.

  Any chance you could manage a coffee and a catch up sometime, Alex? It would be good to see you.

  R x

  To: R. Gibson

  From: Alex Morgan

  Subj: Cat

  Hi Rusty,

  I’ve been kinda of busy. Sorry about that. What with the film and keeping up with the courses — even badly — I don’t seem to have much time left over. I have been looking into the legend and all the reported sightings. In fact I’ve amassed quite a lot of material. The problem is trying to disprove something doesn’t exist when you can’t see it anyway is very difficult. Please give Cat my love. I’ll get in touch as soon as I can.

  Alex

  Alex’s finger hovered over the x key. Then she took her hand away and clicked on send. She sat back in her seat. The silver top she had bought for tonight shimmered. It had ribbon straps, but wide flowing sleeves that started from slightly below the shoulder, leaving them bare. She wore it with jeans. She’d brushed her hair back from her forehead and held it back with a silver band. Even her mother thought she looked ‘nice’.

  The doorbell rang. Alex got up and jogged down the stairs to open the door. Joe stood there with a medium sized picnic basket in his left hand. He held it up. “You ordered a moonlight picnic, my lady.”

  Alex smiled and lent over to kiss him quickly on the cheek. “Bye Mum, Dad,” she called over her shoulder. Then she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

  “You look lovely,” said Joe.

  “Thanks,” said Alex. “I’ve got a shawl in my bag. We can use it as a ground sheet until I get too cold!”

  “No worries,” said Joe. “I’ve another in the basket. You can keep it to yourself.” Joe hefted the basket. “Are we going far? Should we go back for the car?”

  “No,” said Alex. “The cornfield Cat came from is at the bottom of this lane. It’s not been burnt yet, but we can make a crop circle.”

  Joe laughed. “Won’t the farmer object?”

  Alex shook her head. “There’s nothing worth harvesting left on the stalks. It’ll all be gone soon anyway.”

  “Then lead on,” said Joe. “I shall consider this further research for my role as an alien.”

  Alex laughed. At the cornfield they did tramp down some of the corn to make a place for the picnic, but the result wasn’t particularly circular.

  “Those aliens must be so good at maths,” said Joe. “It’s taken us this much effort to make a messy,” he tilted his head to one side, “rhomboid?”

  “Ovoid,” said Alex, panting slightly.

  “You sure it’s not a rhomboid,” said Joe. “It sounds so much better.”

  Alex flopped down on the ground. “It’s whatever you want to call it,” she said. “You’re more of an alien than me.”

  “I’ll try and take that as a compliment,” said Joe. “Here, take this.” He took the blanket from the basket. Alex opened it out and they both sat down. She looked up at the night stars. Joe followed her gaze. “So many stars, you wonder how anyone ever named them all,” he said.

  “I don’t think they do all have names yet,” said Alex.

  “I read that some of them are dead already?”

  “Yes,” said Alex. “Some are so far away the light takes so long to reach us that the original star has already gone supernova.”

  “All that is left is their performance,” said Joe. “Like us actors leaving our youth on film, while ageing and dying in real life.”

  “Ah,” said Alex. “That is similar. I never thought of that.” There was silence between them for a few moments. “You know,” Alex confessed, “when some people look up at the stars it makes them feel small.”

  “I can see that,” said Joe. “Does it to you?”

  “Sort of, but not in a bad way. I look up and think I’m part of this. I’m part of this universe, a tiny, tiny bit that will only ever know the smallest amount of what is out there. And then I think aren’t I lucky to be part of something so wonderful.”

  “You’re lovely,” said Joe and before Alex knew what he was about to do she was in his arms. “That’s the second time you’ve caught me off guard,” she said.

  “Not unwelcome, is it?” asked Joe.

  “No,” said Alex; though the truth was a spiky piece of stem was digging into her left buttock now Joe had pulled her off balance. His arms felt strong and warm about her — as she thought an action hero’s was meant to be. But his breath smelt of — olives? Garlic? He must have had an Italian sub at lunch. Any minute now he would kiss her. This time it would be better, she told herself. This time she knew the kiss was incoming. The setting was as romantic as you could get — moonlight, stars. Shame the temperature was dropping. She could hardly break out of his arms to get her shawl. Joe held her firmly. What’s he waiting for, thought Alex. And then he kissed her.

  It was less awkward than last time, but Alex’s predominant response was the feeling of the corn sticking into her butt. She tried to kiss more enthusiastically and Joe seemed happy enough. He lowered her gently to the ground. Alex felt the relief of the corn stalk moving from under her butt only moments later to feel one sticking in the small of her back. A leaf from a broken stalk tickled her ear, but Joe continued to kiss her. Alex tried to concentrate on the kiss. Joe wasn’t quite lying on her, more half on, half beside, but she could feel through his jeans that his interest in her was increasing.

  Shit, thought Alex. How did she get him to move to a more comfortable position without breaking the moment? Wouldn’t it be more chivalrous if he was the one lying on the corn stems?

  Joe’s right hand stroked down her hair to her shoulder and began to finger the ribbon strap. “Is this okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, sure,” said Alex. She wanted it to be okay. Joe was a nice guy. He was handsome. He was kind. Hell, he was a film star. He was someone half the girls at college would kill to be with. No, make that all the girls and some of the boys too. I’m so lucky, Alex told herself.

  But a little voice in her head said, really, are you? Is this who you want?

  Alex pulled away from the kiss, “Joe,” she began.

  But Joe had also pulled out the embrace. “I can see them too,” he said. He sat up, staring into the sky.

  Alex followed suit, trying to discreetly pull a corn stem out of the back of her jeans. She followed his gaze and saw two lights in the sky that were certainly not stars. Joe sprang to his feet. “C’mon,” he said, holding out a hand to her, “let’s follow them.”

  Alex took his hand. She was about to say she wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but Joe was grinning delightedly. Well, this is one way to get out of kissing, thought Alex. She took his hand and got to her feet.

  “Through the cornfield or out and round?” Asked Joe.

  “Round,” said Alex. “It’s really difficult to push through the rows.”

  “You’re the expert,” said Joe. And they were off.

  It was a novel experience for Alex to be chasing the lights. With Joe she felt safe. She didn’t think for a moment this was an alien encounter, but the joy on Joe’s face as he chased his UFOs made her feel warm and happy. Rather like watching a beloved dog play with a stick on the beach, said a voice at the
back of her mind. She also wanted to see where the lights went. If it had been her and Rusty she would have worried that they might be made to disappear, but Joe was a star. No one was going to try and kidnap him.

  They ran fast for twenty minutes. Joe was super-fit and Alex started to lag behind him. He turned back now and then urging her forward, obviously not keen to abandon the chase. Finally the lights swooped down over a hill and disappeared.

  They reached the top of the hill and Joe stood there, looking backwards and forwards, like someone who can’t understand a conjuring trick. Alex sat down to catch her breath. She had realised a while back where the lights were headed. They had vanished over the Centre.

  “Where did they go?” asked Joe.

  “Who knows?” says Alex.

  Joe looked at her. “I’m sorry, Alex, you look exhausted and I’ve lost the picnic basket.”

  “It’s okay,” said Alex. “I’m not hungry. Just tired.”

  Joe nodded. “That was an amazing experience. We need time to process it. I’ll take you home.”

  Far from beginning disappointed that her romantic evening had been spoilt Alex felt only relief. She said goodnight to Joe on the doorstep and managed to hug him in a way that avoided a kiss. Joe ruffled the hair on her head. “Next time, I’ll take you somewhere nicer,” he said.

  Alex waved him off as he walked down the drive. As she walked up the stairs to bed, she realised she didn’t want to lose Joe as a friend, but she wasn’t ready for a relationship with him. How was she going to tell him that she wanted to take things slow? After all, things happening too fast was the only explanation for the way she had felt tonight. Wasn’t it?

  4. An Out of this World Adventure

  Alex watched her transformation in the mirror. Pure white straight hair framed a pale face with violet eyes and strangely arched and black stencilled eyebrows. She grinned and the reflection grinned back.

  “Keep still,” said the make-up artist. “The director wants your skin tinged — either red or green. I can’t work out how to do either yet without making you look ghastly.”

  “I thought I was cast as a student,” said Alex, who had felt too shy to mention this earlier, but when someone has been changing your appearance even to the extent of cleaning your ears, she found her shyness faded.

  “Ah-huh,” said the woman, “you are and all the students turn into aliens. We’re shooting the last scenes first. Haven’t you read the script?”

  “Only bits and pieces,” said Alex.

  The make-up artist shrugged. “I don’t expect it matters much. They have herders for the crowd scenes. Just listen and do as you’re told and you’re be doing better than most of the leads.”

  “Are they difficult?” asked Alex.

  The make-up artist stood back from the chair and raised her brush to her mouth, “Well, I shouldn’t say anything,” she said with a sly grin.

  “But,” said Alex, who was learning there was no such thing as being close-mouthed on set.

  “But Leonda has black hairs on her chin. I have to pull out a dozen each morning. And the acne! I have to layer her up half an inch thick for the cameras. Her cellulite is terrible too. They had me on set yesterday patching up the lumps on her thighs. Lighting said they couldn’t shoot the sex scene without her looking like the side of the moon!”

  “Gosh,” said Alex. “She always looks so pretty when I see her. That must be down to you.”

  The make-up woman preened. “I am good if I say so myself. Mind you, our lead, our Joe, he’s easy to do. Perfect in all proportions if you get my meaning. And he doesn’t smoke, eat sugar or lay into the fried foods like dear Leonda. Always sends me a Christmas hamper too. Lovely boy. I always volunteer to do his on-set touch-ups. He even smells nice.”

  “Yeah, he’s a good guy,” said Alex, faintly embarrassed by the woman’s gushing. The door opened and a girl with a clipboard ushered in Cat. “Can you fit this one in, Tina? She’s going to be in the background, so nothing too much. It’s a favour to Joe.”

  Tina looked Cat over. Cat blushed and looked at the ground. “Yeah,” said Tina, “the director mentioned something about having androgynous hatchlings in the back story yesterday. Looks like I’ll be able to give him one.” She and the staff girl giggled. “Come in, little miss and take a seat. Now, I’ll start by shaving your head.”

  “What!” squeaked Cat in alarm.

  “Look at me,” said Alex. “Shorn and dyed.”

  “OMG!” said Cat. “Alex? What have they done to you!”

  “We’re teasing you, hon,” said Tina. “You’ll be wearing a wig like your friend here. Only yours is going to be shorter. If you don’t mind waiting Alex, this little one won’t take long and you can head over to costume together.”

  ****

  “Little one,” protested Cat as Alex lead her through the makeshift lanes and alleys that formed the location unit. “I’m almost fifteen.”

  “But you’re not tall like your brother,” said Alex, “and all that gymnastics has kept you super skinny.”

  “I suppose so,” said Cat. “I like the violet eyes, don’t you?”

  Alex nodded. She opened a door to a large trailer. “I think this is costume. Let’s find out what aliens wear.”

  Half an hour later the girls emerged having along with ten other girls been poured into white body suits. The suits had extra lining, so ‘nothing personal’ as the dresser had put it, showed through. However, the fabric was totally figure hugging.

  “I feel naked,” said Cat.

  Alex merely grunted. She kept her head down. She prayed no one would recognise her.

  “Worse if you’re a proper actor,” said Cat, “I’ve heard they did actually have to get naked on the set. With the camera crew and everyone. I couldn’t do that it would be totally — totally -”

  “Mortifying,” said Joe’s voice. Alex looked up into his eyes. They were full of admiration and she felt herself blush fiery red.

  “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Joe said to Cat. “Actors totally hate those scenes. Not that you’re old enough to be watching them!”

  “If one more person treats me like a little child,” said Cat, who seemed to have got over her embarrassment.

  “I hear you’re a hatching,” said Joe.

  Cat made a growling noise.

  “The director’s talking about keeping you close to me on set. I have to protect you, but I think they’re thinking of killing you off to give me more motive for hunting humans.” “Does that mean I’d get like a blood pack and stuff?” asked Cat.

  “Probably, if they can agree what colour blood you should have. Or maybe you’ll go up in a cloud of mist. Not my area.”

  “Wow,” said Cat. “This is going to be great.”

  “I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun,” said Joe. “The director knows crowd scenes are vital to the mood of this movie, so she’ll be good to you. Extras have a good time and they don’t have to learn lines.” He turned his attention to Alex. “You look great,” he said. “Sexy and spooky.”

  He put his hand under her chin and turned her face up to him. “Love the eyes,” he said. “Not as nice as your real ones, but very alien.”

  “Thanks,” managed Alex.

  “If I can do a nude scene with this lot watching,” he gestured to the hustle and bustle around him. “I think you can manage to wear a costume that has more to it than what you would wear to the beach.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it like that,” said Alex.

  “I know. It’s hard to look at people once they’ve seen your everything,” said Joe wincing comically.

  “I meant like an oversized swimming costume. That makes me feel a lot better.”

  Joe shook his head. “Women,” he said.

  Cat burst into laughter. “Look,” she pointed behind Joe.

  Joe and Alex turned. A tall, lanky alien in a skin tight cyan blue suit that extenuated his long, gaunt limbs scuttled towards them. “Rusty!” ga
sped Cat. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed helplessly. “It’s Rusty!” The face of the figure turned crimson. When it saw Alex, it made a motion to place its hands over its groin, before realising this would only draw attention where he didn’t want it.

  “I thought I’d ask your brother if he wanted some fun,” said Joe. “Isn’t he a great sport! Not many of the guys would wear those suits.”

  “You mean there was another option,” said Rusty coming within earshot.

  “Oh, yeah,” said Joe. “The others have the same facial features, but they’re in space raider suits rather than body sleeves. You’re one of the non-combatants and hang out with the females. I think it’s meant to show that not all the warriors are male or something. That the alien males can have a softer side.”

  “I’m the softer side,” said Rusty, his voice tinged with menace.

  “Ask the director,” said Joe shrugging. “This scripts been rewritten so many times, I’ve no idea what the story is now. I’m not even sure who wins in the end.”

  “Maybe they haven’t decided yet,” said Cat.

  “Out of the mouth of babes,” said Joe with a grin. “Anyway, I’m off. Have fun crew!”

  ****

  Although she hadn’t expected to, Alex did enjoy herself. She quickly learnt that for extras too there were long bouts of waiting interspersed with frantic filming. She’d taken what Tina said to heart and listened carefully to the director, so that it wasn’t long before Alex was the one the director kept choosing to open a scene, or do a special shot. Everything had to be rehearsed multiple times before it was filmed multiple times. Rusty, who was walking slightly bow-leggedly as his suit was on the tight side, was also singled out by the director for some comedy moments. When she discovered he was a football player who had learnt how to fall, she called in the stunt guys to work on some special moves with him. So instead of feeling like a fool, Rusty began to play his role for laughs and do it well.

  Alex watched, giggling, as Rusty had an encounter with an earthly door that wouldn’t open when he approached it. “He’d made a good comic actor,” said a voice next to her.