"Are we going out to the new subdivision today?" I asked my older cousin, Vicky.

"Sure, if the weather holds out," she replied precariously.

The winding road that led to the subdivision, Bangle Creek, went through the forest at times, and the shortcut was considered to be quite dangerous. It was a muggy, summer evening. We decided to wait until after dinner, when it was cooler. It never got any cooler, and soon the clouds covered the afternoon sun.

"It looks kind of ominous out west; maybe we should just wait until tomorrow morning," my cousin said.

"No, it's not gonna rain, it's just getting dark. Let's go now, before there's no light at all."

We started out, through the forest, over the fast moving creek, and past the old church. I could see the large mansions of Bangle Creek when, suddenly, I saw a flash. And then I heard a low crack of thunder.

"I told you!" shouted Vicky, on the verge of having a heart attack. "I told you it was going to rain!"

"Listen--" I waited for another flash of lightening. As soon as there was lightening, I started counting. "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi,--" I counted all the way up to twenty. "Okay, the storm is still twenty miles away. We can walk to the subdivision and back in that time."

"I'm not going any further. You can get wet if you want." Vicky turned around and started walking home.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" As I turned around to walk home, I tripped on a large rock and landed with a THUD! "What was that?" I looked around the ground curiously and something shiny caught my eye. A large, metal object was protruding from the forest floor.

I pulled myself up to inspect this large, blunt object. By this time, the rain had soaked the forest floor to mud, and the object started sliding downhill. I ran down after it, and I stumbled and slid all the way down the hill. I was sufficiently covered in mud, but I kept running after this spaceship-thing.

I could tell that it was very, very old. It was completely rusted and very dilapidated. I was afraid that there was some sort of life form inside, but I soon realized that this would be impossible, for it had been underground for who knows how many years. There was no way in or out of this thing.

But all of a sudden, there was a faint glowing from the inside of the contraption. I shook my head vigorously; it was my imagination. I had fallen on my head, after all. But the glowing got brighter and brighter. Soon I could make out shadows from the inside of the ship.

"Iris, are you coming or not?!" shouted Vicky from the distance.

I ignored her as I tugged on the door of the ship. I was allured by the brilliant light inside.

"Iris, what are you doing? What is that thing?" Vicky ran up to me quickly and grabbed the door's latch before I could enter. Then, there was a blinding light. And that's when I lost consciousness.

Hours later, I awoke in a haze, completely soaked. A light breeze shook the leaves on the trees. The ship was gone, as was Vicky. "How could she leave without me?" I thought to myself. I looked around, although it was dark by now. I got up and headed home.

Vicky's block was swarming with squad cars. I walked up to the front path to talk to my aunt and uncle.

"Iris! Oh my God! You're alive!" cried my aunt.

"Why wouldn't I be alive? What's with all the squad cars?" I asked frantically.

"Well, you two went out into the woods during that horrible storm, and when you didn't come back, we worried. We called the police and reported you missing. They told us that they found Vicky's orange headband by the river bank... then they told us that the bank overflowed hours ago. We thought that you drowned!" explained my uncle.

"So, Vicky is, dead?" I asked in disbelief.

"We don't know anything for sure yet, but we have search teams at the river as we speak," interjected one of the officers.

Years have passed, and Vicky's disappearance still remains a mystery. But only I know what truly happened that day. I don't know what it was, and I don't know where it went, but it took Vicky with them.