Pickledeath
(Choice #1 Stand up and scream the earth has been invaded)
Michael stood and pointed his finger at the Mendigan driving the school bus. “EARTH INVADERS!”
The babble of talking teens hushed. Michael’s face burned red, but a boy has to do what a boy has to do. He’d been listening to BadSad for a whole two years. He had this computer program that would let him play the cd backwards. So far he’d been able to interpret three words. Control. Invasion. Pickledeath. Although he wasn’t sure on the last one.
Perhaps the band had been warning the earth? Perhaps BadSad wasn’t really a heavy metal band, but some sort of super hybrid aliens warning earth of certain disaster? Yes! This was it! They’d given him a secret code and it was up to Michael to warn others before utter destruction. Pickledeath, he thought again and cringed.
Every one sat in their seats. Quiet. The Mendigan raised one of its tentacles and adjusted the mirror to watch him.
Michael’s heart beat like a thousand drums. “Earth has been invaded and we will all die a pickledeath!”
A voice from behind him said, “Go tell your mommy about it, jack ass.”
He turned and looked for the owner of the voice, but everyone was laughing already.
“Look at the bus driver!” he said and looked again. And the Mendigan was gone, replaced by Mr. Bernstein. He hit the breaks and Michael fell forward. “Get back to your seat, kid! Invasion is complete.”
There was more laughing and the general chatter picked up once more. Michael stood and sat at his seat. He watched Mr. Bernstein very carefully. He looked up in the huge rear-view mirror and for one second their eyes met. He heard Mr. Berstein’s voice inside his head, invasion is complete. Pickledeath. Pickledeath. Pickledeath. The word echoed inside his mind. He grabbed his head, shook it. Mr. Bernstein’s voice disappeared.
Michael glanced his way again. Mr. Bernstein smirked and Michael knew for sure he was an alien. For some reason the other kids couldn’t see it. Brainwashed.
“Are you saying Mr. Bernstein is an alien?” said a voice to his left. It was Latoya, a shy girl with shiny black hair and chocolate skin. He’d seen her around at school. She was quiet and kept to herself.
“Can you see it?” he asked.
Latoya clutched at her pink backpack, hugged it. She nodded her head. “A Mendigan.”
They both looked up at the bus driver. Mr. Bernstein was watching them instead of the road.
“I’m scared,” she whispered, then, “pickledeath.”
“Control. Invasion. Right?” said Michael.
Latoya nodded and looked away.
So he wasn’t the only one! But how did she know? “Do you listen to BadSad?”
She shook her head. “Beyonce.”
Michael did a double take. “Backwards?”
She nodded her head.
They both remained quiet the rest of the way to school, considering their predicament. The bus passed more green silos and Mendigans on the road. Finally, they turned into the middle school and the bus drew to a stop. The door opened and kids piled out. Michael and Latoya were the last.
They huddled close to each other and avoided Mr. Bernstein as they stepped out.
“Earthlings?” he said as they hurried down the steps. Michael turned at the door, while Latoya rushed past him.
“No one will believe you,” said Mr. Bernstein. And suddenly, he was a Mendigan again…his long tentacles reached for Michael.
Michael turned and ran. He could hear the alien’s laughter in his head as he looked for Latoya, spotted her pink backpack, and shuffled towards her. He grabbed his head and shook it like he did the first time, and the voice disappeared.
“Latoya, what are we going to do?” he asked her.
They huddled by the school door, talking in low voices. “I was thinking.” Layota bit on her lower lip, and Michael noticed the cute freckles that dotted across her nose. “I brought my ipod with me. If we can sneak into the office and play the music backwards on the school intercom, maybe someone will believe us, maybe they will be able to see the Mendigans.”
Michael leaned against the wall thinking. “Or maybe we should go to the music store down the street. There must be more messages on different cds. There has to be instructions on what we should do by the same ones who warned us.”
Latoya looked up at him. “Maybe.”
The school bell rang.
What should Michael and Latoya do?
1) Sneak into the secretary’s office and play Beyonce backwards on the school intercom (Tim Keeton)
ps.
Erin Cole has written the 2nd choice (Bide his time and go along with it for now from Barry's The Mendigans) called, "Pretend Everything Is Normal". It is brilliant, dark, and takes a completely different spin.
