It was a hot summer day, and I was walking home from my friend Dave’s house, making sure not to step on the cracks, a game I had always played with myself. The day had been nothing exciting. I had had woken up, gotten dressed, and went over to Dave’s house where I spent most of the day. I had now left and I continued walking down the street until I noticed something quite odd. There was no one around. No dogs barking, no joggers, and frankly no one in sight. This made no sense whatsoever; it was a beautiful Friday evening with hardly a cloud in the sky. I was a little perplexed but not enough to stop walking and investigate. Besides, I was almost home and had the appetite of a horse. Soon, I arrived at my house and went in.

“Mom… Dad… I’m home,” I called. There was no answer. Once more I yelled, “Hello? Anyone home?” Still no one answered. This was strange -- I always had to be home around six o’clock for dinner. “Maybe they went to grab fast food,” I said aloud to myself. After a few minutes of thinking I concluded that must be it. Just to make sure, I grabbed my home phone and dialed my father’s number.
“I’m sorry but this number has been disconnected or is no longer in use. We are sorry for your inconvenience,” said a recorded message of a woman’s voice. I re-entered the number just to make sure I hadn’t hit a wrong digit but I got the same recorded message. A seemingly normal day had taken an odd twist.


I decided to head back to Dave’s house. Even if I didn’t know where my parents were Dave would let me stay at his house until I did. So I walked back to Dave’s and again I saw not one person on the street.

“This is so weird,” I muttered to myself. I continued walking until I came to Dave’s house and knocked on the front door. All his cars were there and his garage was open so I assumed he was home, but no one answered the door. With the circumstances I felt it was acceptable to go in through his garage door. When I entered the house I heard strange noises from upstairs and immediately I headed that way. I reached the master bedroom where the noise was coming from and opened the door; what I saw terrified me.


It was a group of three green alien creatures playing a game something like chess. This is where it gets strange: they were using a shrunken version of my neighbors for chess pieces! I knew I had to do something and immediately instincts kicked in and my adrenaline started rushing. I ran toward the aliens and kicked over their game board.

“Waaaaahhhh,” they cried as they melted in fear into a gooey, green puddle. Not really knowing what happened, I sat down on the bed as the wave of confusion from the day washed over me. Just as I was about to pass out I remembered something: my game-piece neighbors. I began to think, How will I ever change them back?...then I spotted the aliens’ laser. It was my only hope, I had to try it. I decided to try it on Mrs. Mitip, a mean old lady who lived down the street. I said a quick prayer in my head as I pulled the trigger.

“Zap!,” shot the laser --- and in an instant standing in front of me was a normal size Mrs. Mitip. Shortly thereafter everyone was back to size when I thought to myself, I did it, I’m a hero!