Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Christmas Gone Wrong

Timmy, age 10, was anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival and the unveiling of countless Christmas goodies from Santa's sack. Timmy gently arranged cookies on a plate and placed it near a tall glass of frosty milk on an antique table near the fireplace. The light of a worn oil lamp cast a serene glow on Timmy's living room and he smiled wide as the moment swept over him.

The euphoric silence was severed as a metal clanking began on the roof above Timmy. Growing louder and meticulously repetitive, the clanging came to a stop above the chimney. Timmy's eyes bloomed open as he saw a metallic leg descend from the deep darkness of the long-extinguished fireplace.

Clang!

Another leg came down and hovering beside it was a strange device that reminded Timmy of a fantasy toy gun that he once had. He marvelled at the eerie blue glow that pulsated along the weapon's surface as the mysterious figure continued folding into the living room. With whistling and whirring, a devious figure, ducked out into the light and stood to a full height towering over Timmy.

"This was not Santa Claus" Timmy concluded. This figure resembled a man... loosely. A man that had suffered disfigurement and had his skin painted a sickly lavender. A man strapped into a robotic contraption that resembled a body and covered in moving parts, cylinders, tanks of putrid green fluid, and glowing panels with dancing lights. The creature stepped towards Timmy drawing the gleaming gun from its leg and taking aim at Timmy.

"M e r r y C h r i s t m a s T i m m y" The creature blurted out in a monotonous voice from some area far from its mouth.

Timmy, being the bright lad that he was dove into the fireplace to avoid a bright, blue blast from the thing's gun. The creature turned quickly firing again and again as Timmy struggled to dodge the shots. His chest was caving in from exertion; Timmy had never moved so fast before. The living room lay in shambles before Timmy finally made it outside the front door to sprint away. He dared not return to warn his parents or see if they were ok.

He ran as fast as he could to his friend Ronald's house across the street, banging on the door until Ronald's mother, Anna, answered wrapping herself in a night gown.

"What is it Timmy? It's late!" Anna asked with a scratchy voice, rubbing her eyes.

"A monster's in my house! He's dressed like San'a!" Timmy shouted.

"That's absurd Timmy! Your house is..." Anna began to say before a crash sounded from Timmy's house and the creature burst into the night with a blast from its rocket pack. It flew up into the air and towards Ronald's house as Timmy's roof collapsed with a giant thud.

Anna gasped before fainting back into her house.

Timmy ran inside to wake Ronald from his room when he heard a crash from the other side of the door. Timmy burst in to gaze upon the creature grasping Ronald with a giant, mechanical hand; only briefly before jumping through the gaping hole in the roof and disappearing into the night. Timmy sat down and sobbed when Ronald's father, John, burst into the room with a rifle

"What happened? What's going on?" He asked wildly, aiming his gun around.

Timmy only pointed up; John's eyes following to reveal the explanation he desperately sought. John kneeled down to scoop up Timmy then he bolted into the entry way to briefly inspect his fainted wife. She was alive but unconcious. John, rushed into the street to see the creature in Timmy's front yard throwing Ronald's dangling form into a small cylindrical craft with hundreds more dancing lights and odd looking devices. John figured he only had one chance and with great care he aimed his gun at the creature and took a shot.

The creature continued on its task for only a moment before collapsing. It was over. Timmy continued to sob and John held him trying to offer some consolement. John carried Timmy to his house to find Timmy's parents crawling out of the rubble near the rear of the house. Timmy let out a sigh of relief and ran to his parents who snatched him up with affectionate hugs.

Ronald stood up and gripped his head stumbling towards his father. John ran to aid him and noticed Ronald had been struck in the head by a small piece of wood from Ronald's house. It didn't look serious but John didn't have to decide what to do as a few police and an ambulance showed up to greet them.

"Everything ok here sir?" One of the officers asked.

"It is now" John replied.

Christmas Gone Wrong II

Goragg leered at the blinking light on his console. Low fuel again. He would need more biomaterial in his tank before he could return home to his lunar base beneath the surface of the moon. His previous confrontation in the trade district of Townville netted a few pigeons, a skateboarding teen, and a bag of trash from the back of a resturaunt. All sources of fuel but not enough "new" material to power his craft home.

Goragg despised the elders for sending him to Earth to scout ahead of the hive fleet. Earth was an inhospitable place with intelligent life forms that weren't necessarilly as smart but were definitely a nuisance when gathered together.

"B l a s t e d H u m a n s." Goragg belted out in the Earthly tongue, spewing the words and gagging on the unpleasant tone.

Goragg was a member of a great race of aliens living beneath the surface of the moon for a milennia. They thrived in a technological era full of prosperity, but the interior lunar resources were wearing thin and Goragg's race for the first time would consider an assault on Earth.

The light blinked again.

Goragg steered his craft over a small clearing in the forest that surrounded the trade district and bordered the urban sprawl where many humans slept awaiting gifts from a fictional character. Pathetic, Goragg thought. Humans seemed to know nothing of advancement and their culture displayed it like a neon sign at midnight.

Landing his craft, Goragg stepped out into the cool night. Much too warm for his tastes. Looking around at the clearing, Goragg's eye scanner picked up on several small rodents and other forest dwellers that he could scavenge for fuel. Maybe he could finally leave!

Goragg wished nothing more then to get home. He had learned much about the human way of life. More than he cared. More than the elders requested. His only wish was to return to the moon and join his 200 family members once again. A few blasts from Goragg's gun and he had enough fuel to lift off again. A grin forced itself across his twisted features as his cylindrical craft rose into the sky. Finally the nightmare was over.

With his craft rising, Goragg soon began to see black as the deep blue of the atmosphere faded behind him. For a small joke to his family; in preparation for his return, Goragg placed a red helmet on his head. The soft piece of armor has a white felt-lined brim and was ornamented with a white felt ball at the end. Equipment he salvaged from the skateboarder at the mall.

Just then the light on the main console went off again indicating that his fuel was not of sufficient "new" material. Scowling, and tossing the hat into the back of his craft, Goragg guided his craft down to rest in the front yard of a modest home within the community that bordered the forest.

Goragg sighed before opening the canopy and equipping his laser pistol.

Christmas Gone Wrong III

Goragg's systems came back online. His head pounded as a reserve tank of green fluid began pumping its sickly contents into Goragg's body. The gunshot had punctured his primary tank and brought his controlling computer system crashing down. It took a few moments to boot up.

Recalling his situation, Goragg wasted no time rising and sprinting a short distance to his craft. Jumping in, Goragg had swiped his large metal hand across a control panel, bringing his ship to life before even touching the seat. The bystanders in the area all focussed on the gleaming, metal vessel.

Without hesitation, Timmy began running for the ship and the police in the area withdrew their firearms, taking aim.

"No Timmy! come back!" Timmy's mother screamed, reaching her hand out in a futile attempt to stop her son. Ronald, instantly knowing his friend's intention bolted after him.

"Ronald! Get back here!" John wailed.

Neither boy paid any heed to their parents' calls and leapt into the back of Goragg's ship before the canopy closed and it began rising into the air.

Timmy and Ronald's parents dropped to their knees, afraid of what was happening to their children. The entire time, police let fly an endless stream of ammunition until their supplies were exhausted. One officer managed to tag the side of the ship but the bullet only harmlessly deflected away. Within a minute, the craft was no longer visible.

Timmy and Ronald were hudled in what appeared to be a storage area with large silver spheres (supply containers probably) that steadied themselves against the vibrations of the ship as it left the upper atmosphere.

"Where do you think we're going Tim?" Ronald whispered.

"I don't know but wherever we go, I will make sure these things don't get back to our houses. I grabbed my dad's cell phone before we left!"

"Oh great, yeah you can, make calls from like a billion miles away! Yeah right." Ronald whispered again, sarcasm heavy on his quiet voice.

The ship came to a stop. Or what felt like a stop. The vibration ceased and Timmy heard Goragg speaking in a different language. From the dialog, Timmy understood that Goragg was angry with the situation and the distant end, faintly heard from a speaker was not pleased either.

Venturing out into the main area of a craft no larger then a full-sized van, Timmy peered out of the canopy as best he could. He noticed the moon was in view and on a screen in front of Goragg there was a view of the Earth. It seemed they stopped half way to Goragg's lunar home.

Opening up the cell phone, Timmy switched it on and held it to his head as he crawled back into the storage space with Ronald.

"Mom, I'm on dad's cellphone in this thing's ship! We're almost to the moon!" Timmy exclaimed, trying to be as quiet as he could be.

"Oh Timmy thank God!" His mother said turning to Timmy's father.

"They're ok, they have your phone and they are headed to the moon!"

"I don't know what to do, but I'll make it home mom, don't worry!" Timmy assured, still whispering.

Then, Goragg's conversation stopped and an awkward silence filled the spacious-for-its-size craft. Timmy and Ronald both ducked as far back as they could and Timmy closed the phone. Goragg belted out a vicious roar as he turned around in his triangular seat only to not see the intruders. After a brief moment of inspection he turned back to his demanding control panels.

Soon the spaceship began vibrating again and upon peeking out, Timmy and Ronald saw that they were again headed to the moon. It was a magnificent site to them both and Timmy knew Ronald was thinking the same thing. How cool it would be if they weren't in danger to be where they were.

Timmy heard some tiny clacking noises but dismissed them as vibration from the ship.

According to Timmy's cell phone, it only took another hour to reach the moon. The craft had flown to the Northernmost pole and from what Timmy could see the ship was entering a giant mouth on the moon. As it opened other craft poured out to the surface. All manner of craft that seemed to be living machines.

Just then, Goragg whipped around to face the boys.

"W e l c o m e T o T h e M o o n!" he said.

Ronald and Timmy sat terrified as Goragg let out a horrible sounding impression of a human laugh. Looking down they saw that their hands and legs had been bound by tiny robots with gleaming orange eyes in the center of their teardrop shaped bodies.

"Great!" Ronald said finally, still oozing with sarcasm.

Christmas Gone Wrong IV

Timmy and Ronald struggled in their bonds. Large, gleaming straps of metal that conformed to the shape of their bodies, held them in place as Goragg paced in front of them. Timmy looked to Ronald and they shared a glance that indicated neither of them could wriggle free.

Goragg began muttering in his alien language, seemingly speaking to himself. Timmy noticed that the still-grotesque creature was pressing a circular disc into its palm and concluded that the alien was talking over a radio of some sort.

"These two pose no threat and could be useful for manipulating the emotions of human leaders... yes... I will." Goragg said.

Goragg turned to the boys cracking the best simulation of a smile that he could muster. His elders had instructed him to show the boys around the alien city before being loaded into the main craf that would lead an alien assault on Earth.

"S e e M y C i t y" Goragg spewed.

The boys, though scared, were curious about their surroundings and had no alternative to following Goragg's orders. The metal around them had poured from out of nowhere and fitted their bodies ensuring escape was impossible.

Goragg turned and began down a hallway and as he did, the boys' bonds followed after, forcing the two to scramble their feet. Goragg typed onto a brightly-lit, red console and the door in front of him whizzed open revealing a large, metal cavern. Inside, the boys saw countless ships that resembled the mini-van-like ship that brought them to the moon. Around each ship were thousands of Goragg's kind formed up as if waiting for some order. In the center of the place, rested a giant, cylindrical ship that had appeared punctured by triangular sheets of metal in a dozen places. A winged soda can, Timmy thought.

"What is all of this? Where are you taking us?" Timmy nagged.

Goragg turned to face him as if understanding his words.

"Y o u W i l l B e R a n s o m" Goragg blurted out, spitting afterwards and twisting his horrible features into a snarl.

"What does ransom mean?" Ronald whispered, trying not to provoke the alien.

"It means they are going to use us to get something" Timmy replied.

Goragg led the boys onto a large, railed disc that levitated and carried the three down to the center craft where the party was met by dozens of Goragg's kind. Some of the aliens appeared quite presentable with flowing Green robes and metal plates hiding their distasteful features. Surrounded by activity, the boys had little time to comprehend what was happening before they were shuttled into the main ship and after a while, the main deck in that craft. Here, there were more decorated aliens and hundreds more like Goragg.

The trio was led up to an observation platform that could overlook the entire control area in addition to having the best seat in the house for the giant television above. A television with a crystal-clear view of the Earth. The boys marvelled at what they saw though tempered by their situation.

On the main platform, was the most decorated of all the aliens. It wore white robes adorned with brown stripes and rectangular tassles all around. It carried a metal baton with a mirror finish that glowed green slightly. Timmy watched as Goragg performed a small dance and bowed before the greater being.

The elder and Goragg began speaking in their alien language, obviously planning their next move and all Timmy and Ronald could do was marvel at the picture of the Earth in front of them and be saddened by the thought of their parents far away.

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