The Voice in the Boys' Room by Michael Dahl

Author:Michael Dahl [Dahl, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror; scary; short stories; anthology; 978-1-4965-0596-5; 978-1-4965-2334-1
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2015-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

What a movie! I mean, what a movie!

We burst out of the theater — my friend Carlos and I, and my big brother, Caleb, and his buddy Ethan. We couldn’t stop talking about it.

“Awesome, dude!” Carlos said.

“Totally awesome,” I said.

Stealth Invasion IV: Alien Destruction. Best. Movie. Ever. The absolute best in the series.

“I want to see it again,” said Caleb.

“We are so seeing it again,” said Carlos.

“I can’t,” said Ethan. “Gotta get home. It’s late.”

It was late. After midnight. The moon and stars were shining. My mom and Carlos’s parents had let us stay out late because we were with Caleb and Ethan, who were sixteen.

We walked down the sidewalk, past a corner where people were getting on a city bus. Its doors hissed shut as it pulled away from the curb. The greenish lights inside the bus and the tinted windows made the passengers inside look like aliens. Visitors to our planet were taking off in their silver ship. Swoosh!

“The alien destructor suits were cool!” I said.

“Their blue starships were even cooler,” said Carlos.

Caleb snorted. “Which is why the whole thing would never work,” he said. “Not in real life. Not in a million years.”

“Yeah,” said Ethan.

I stopped walking. “What do you mean?” I said.

“Alien invasion,” said Caleb. “If their ships were coming at us like that, in the open, we would have seen them from miles away.”

“The armies of Earth would have banded together,” said Ethan. “By the time they reached the planet, we’d be ready for them.”

“We sure wouldn’t be surprised, like the army dudes in the movie,” said Caleb. “The movie’s called Stealth Invasion. Where was the stealth part?”

“Good one, dude,” agreed Ethan.

We started walking again. We were ten blocks from our house. Carlos was sleeping over with us, but Ethan lived a little farther away. The four of us were the only ones on the sidewalk. I could feel warmth rising from the cement, even though the night was cool. Cool and dark. And each block got darker than the last. Why weren’t the streetlights working?

Ethan was chuckling to himself. I guess he was still thinking about Caleb’s remark that the aliens weren’t stealthy. Caleb sort of had a point.

“If you’re so smart, how would you do it?” asked Carlos.

“Yeah, how would you do it?” I said.

Caleb usually waves his arms around when he talks big. This time he didn’t. He stopped in the middle of the block, where the shadows were thickest. He leaned in close to us, like he didn’t want anyone else to hear. “Like the movie says, boys — stealth,” Caleb said. “Hidden. Secret. Camouflaged.”

“I know what stealth means,” I said.

“If I were an alien, I’d already be here,” said Caleb. “I would have been here for years by now. Dozens of years. Hiding. Just waiting for the right time. Then I’d attack and catch everyone by surprise. That’s how an invasion works.”

“Good one, dude,” said Ethan.

“Where would you hide?” Carlos asked quietly.

Caleb looked around. He stared down at his shoes. He snorted again.

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