The Others
By Paul McCann
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Todd first noticed the others, by chance alone one day in a crowded restaurant.
Maybe it was fate that chose him to see them he didn’t know why but he was given the ability to see them. They always appeared from nowhere all of a sudden they would come, unnoticed by everyone but him.
Todd purposely began to eat out in restaurants every day because that’s where he always saw them. They would always arrive alone and somehow they looked different to us. Human like but very strange. They were unobtrusive and sat alone observing, mingling in with the crowd. They were never approached by the waiting staff, they never ordered a meal and they just sat there silently watching.
Todd had become aware of their presence among us and observed a number of things about them. They never ate, or spoke, they always sat alone, at times they walked through solid walls and doors. The others sometimes took a child with them as they left. They were unnoticed except for Todd who was very aware of them but didn’t know how to inform everyone else about their presence.
Previously when he had tried to point them out to people, no one could see them and they thought Todd was weird and called him names.
This made Todd feel angry because he knew what he saw and he knew the others were dangerous and he knew there was a reason that he could see them.
He had tried to take pictures of them in the restaurants were they appeared but each time he did the images were always blurred.
He thought he would try something outside the square and wrote a short play called The Others which he presented to a local theatre company.
The director liked the script and decided to give it a go.
After a few months of rehearsing the play, the theatre company were ready to go public in their performance of The Others. The day before the play was to be staged in town, the theatre hall that was to be used for the play was completely gutted by a fire by an unknown cause. Todd knew it was no accident and started to get a little worried.
He put up some posters around town with different messages like Stranger Danger or Beware Of Others There but his posters were always removed.
Todd never used his real name when he wrote to the media about the others because he feared they might find him. All of his stories were ignored by main stream media. Each time he tried to publish something on his social media websites it was mysteriously blocked.
He was aware of some empty houses around the town and used those address to write letters to politicians and the police under another name but he had no responses to his letters about The Others .
One day Todd went to a restaurant and decided to confront one of the others if they appeared in a restaurant . Todd sat down and ordered some food suddenly two strange men approached him and sat down
One of the men said ,
“Todd we know , you know about the others. “
Todd replied .
“How do you know and who are you?”
Todd replied .
“Call us the messengers Todd and we are doing our best to stop the others interfering in the world .”
“So what do you know about them ?”
Said Todd .
“The Others have been here for a long time unnoticed by most people . In this world they are now in in Governments , in medicine research and even in the police force and defence force “
“Why are they here ?”
Todd asked.
“A small army of supernatural beings that are already here . We are not sure of their motive but we are aware of their presence. “
“I have seen them take little children.“.
Said Todd
“We know all about that Todd and we have returned those children to their parents unharmed. We also are watching the others and will take action when see any danger present ”
“Do the others know who you are.“
The two strangers pointed over to a table and the man sitting there waved over to them . Todd was very surprised and said
“They know you. “.
One of the strangers replied said
“Yes and for some reason Todd you can see the others, but they cannot see you . You are very gifted and so we think you can help us in our quest to drive them out from this world .”
“Is there something that we can use against them ?”
Todd asked
“Yes , we believe that they their body system can be broken down by any form of nutrition . “
“So that’s why I never see them eating ?
Todd replied .
“Exactly and can be the one to feed them without being seen .“
“Am I supposed to spoon feed the others .“
Todd asked .
One of the strangers smiled and said ,.
“We have developed a serum that can be injected into them . The substance you give is a form of nutrition that will render the others vulnerable to all the viruses and diseases of the earth and in a very short time , the others will be no more .”
“Wow that is awesome .So we are going to save the human race from the others ?”
“ That is the plan and you have been given this power to be that unseen hand of destruction that will eliminate the others from this world “
Todd lifted his arm in the air and said
“ Oh Yeah I’ll be there , just tell me how and when .“
The stranger replied ,
“Each day we will give you instructions of who and where you will be expected to be and in that place you will secretly and invisibly inject the serum to the others .”
“So you know where the others are and are going to be “
Todd replied .
“Yes Todd . We have been closely monitoring the others for a long time . We know their movements and who they all are .. Now we are ready and thanks to you we can now remove them from the world .“
“Ok Bro , lets get this show on the road .“
Said Todd .
“There is one other thing you should know Todd “
Said the stranger ..
“What is that ?”
Todd asked ,.
“ When the job is done , you will remember nothing about what happened and who the others were .“
Todd replied ,
“Ok , I get it . So it’s like a secret mission on earth ?”
“That’s right Todd , its really nothing new ., There have been many other missions like this before through history .“
“That’s so cool .”
“By the way Todd , I’m pretty sure in the future there will be many more secret missions to come .“
Very interesting. Shows a lot of imagination. However, it probably would be better if you wrote that Todd was merely seeing things… Including the strangers, rather than making the story seem like the others and the strangers were aliens visiting the planet with questionable motives. Seeing things and hearing voices are common symptoms of mental illness. Repeating myself, I believe that mental illness would be a better premise for your story than some very surreal alien invasion where nutrition (?) becomes some kind of deciding factor in the revelation of the invaders.
Editing would certainly help the reading and a good look at the story by another party would also help turn this story into something that could a TV series or movie.
Pegasus is the symbol of wisdom and inspiration. This book, although a dystopia, is meant to inspire people to search for a greater future through wisdom. We have the technology to create a Garden of Eden here on Earth, if only we are wise enough to
This chair is not your grandmother's rocking chair! In fact, you wouldn't want your grandmother or any loved one near it! So find a well lit room and enjoy an intense read of this Sci-Fi thriller.
