LaEscritora

Casper knew that working the night shift wasn’t going to be much fun. He knew that working the night shift as a janitor was going to be even less fun. He had expected some long nights and some dull work from the start. What he hadn’t expected was to be cleaning fucking Area 51. Not that he was allowed to call it that. They’d been very specific on that point, actually, amongst others. This was an alien-free facility, and also a joke-free facility. It practically said so on his contract- the long, complicated, very intimidating contract he’d read through and eventually signed; and that was only after signing the NDA. He should have known that there was a catch when he saw how much they were willing to pay him for what would otherwise be a minimum-wage job. By the time he could work out whether he was getting cold feet or not, he was in too deep. The pay was very good. He tried to repeat that to himself as he clocked in for his first real day (night) on the job, his shoulders a little

My name is Jeremy Waters, and I have never left New Mexico. I say this just to point out how mundane my life should be. I don’t take risks, I don’t put myself in dangerous situations. I’m not the kind of person who would, say, go hiking through the Alaskan wilderness. The most excitement I normally get is going out to happy hour with some friends. I’m fine with that. Really. I don’t need or want much more excitement- I get anxious when there’s more traffic than usual. Boring suits me just fine. Hence why I live in the same town I grew up in, less than an hour from my aunt and uncle, in an apartment owned by a friend of a friend. The college I recently graduated from is a few blocks away, and my upcoming job as a court stenographer only necessitates a fifteen-minute drive. My life, by all rights, should be entirely normal. Yet, recently it’s been nothing but strange. Strange, and dangerous. * * * * * It started with a walk in the park. Well

Charlie got back, shutting the front door behind him, and Sawyer looked up from his work at the kitchen counter to greet his husband with a smile. “Hey!” Sawyer enthused. “How’d it go?” “Oh, just fine,” Charlie replied, returning the smile. “They were both quite excited, I think they’ll have a good time.” He hadn’t seen his sister quite so enthused in a while. It was a lovely thing to see, especially after her recent trauma, and he was betting their son would have a good time spending the night somewhere else for once. Something special. Charlie walked over towards the kitchen counter and asked, “Can I help with anything?” Sawyer shooed him back towards the table with a grin. “Absolutely not, hon. I’ve got tonight covered. You just relax, okay?” Charlie was always doing things around the house, especially when it came to feeding everybody; Sawyer just wanted to give him a night off. Laughing, Charlie took a seat at the kitchen table. “Alright, alright,” he conceded with a smile. He

Sawyer wasn’t paying attention to the miles as they passed by. His feet, nearly as big as one of the cars driving down the highway, barely touched the ground before they pushed off again. His strides were long and loping, his gait gentle, an attempt to not shake the ground or crush the earth as he jogged along. Giants didn’t often move so fast; he was supposed to stay deep in the woods, where he wouldn’t be seen, wouldn’t be noticed. Not weaving through wilderness in the near-dark, an enormous shadow barely glimpsed as it passed but potentially glimpsed all the same. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered, all that was on his mind, was Charlie. His human friend was moving. This was the second time Sawyer had moved with Charlie, and the rhythm of his gait felt familiar, keeping pace with a car he kept track of out of the corner of his eye. The headlights sparked through the trees, flickering from the distant highway. The moon rose, low and large on Sawyer’s right, while on his left