A Collection of Short Stories By Sora空

Very old Auctor short #2

Ben went to the backyard, chainsaw in hand. His tree had grown massively tall, and its branches became unstable. His house was now prone to falling branches, so he went to work on what he had done many times before. After all, he was a lumberjack. A tradition that had been in his family for years now, dating back to the pioneer days. His family had cleared this land out, and now a small town sat within it. Even so, he wasn't very well known. He was just another guy in the town who was only seen at the store, or other needed places. Ben was coming to be 30 soon, and he felt that he had done very little. He had found love once, but was robbed of his sweet romance by a fatal illness, Cancer. Ever since, Ben closed his heart off to everything. He never again wanted to feel the pain of losing someone you love. He worked for his own pleasure, no, a comfort. Sometimes, for a split second, he would forget all about his burdens. This though, was not one of those times. The branches were a pain to cut, and Ben had to carefully watch so the branches would not crash through his roof. One branch in particular, was proving quite the challenge. It wouldn't cut right, and the chainsaw wasn't able to grip. "What on earth?" Ben grabbed the branch at the base and pulled. The branch acted like rubber. He then grabbed a hacksaw, and started cutting the branch at the base. After about a half hour it finnaly broke off, revealing a glowing blue substance that leaked from the cracks. "Holy -!" Ben tripped and fell off the ladder, landing with a thud. His world went fuzzy... then black. 
 
Ben slowly opened his eyes, the sky was dark and cloudy above him. His tree was in the corner of his view, with its long branches blowing in the wind. He coughed as he slowly sat up, and his back ached. "Wait, the tree!" Ben whipped his head around to view the fallen branch. It seemed normal, and the strange substance was nowhere to be seen. "I must have imagined it. What was in my donut? Was that reaaly just powdered suger? It tasted like sugar." Ben got to his feet and walked to the tree. "I'll deal with YOU later." Ben was tired, and fed up with the stupid tree. "Land your branches on my house for all I care! Maybe one will land on me, wouldn't that be a nice surprise?!" Ben threw his equipment into the garage and plopped onto his couch. A T.V sat quietly at the corner of the room. Ben didn't want to watch T.V. He had heard enough of the things on the news and Netflix was just a bunch of stupid stories with false hope or whatever. He had read all of his books many times over, and didn't feel the want to go to the bookstore. Ben just sat alone in his empty house, with only his mind for simulation.  
 
\1 hour later\ 
 
Ben's phone went off. His freind Luke had been texting him for the past 10 min. Asking if he wanted to go to some bon fire event. Fed up, Ben texted Luke to stop asking and to leave him alone. He didn't want to go to some event so he could sit alone next to a hot fire being eaten by bugs. Ben threw his phone behind him, before grabbing a old news paper he had already read. He continued to sit there, pretending to read. As if he needed to prove to someone he was just a normal guy reading in his living room. However Ben was distracted when he heard foot steps across the floor behind him. He quickly turned, and saw his phone was not where he had thrown it. Ben jumped up, and grabbed the axe hanging on his wall for display. It was given to him by his grandfather, but it was his closet weapon. He followed the footsteps into the kitchen. When he entered the room, he gave in sharp audible inhale. Every cabinet door was open, and food was everywhere. Snack rappers riddled the floors leading to the fridge, which was left open and contents also scattered. Ben noticed what looked like deformed foot prints from mustard and ketchep, leading into his bedroom. "No no no!!!" Ben ran across the kitchen slipping on a pile of melted cheese into his room. Ben gasped as the trailed lead to under the blankets of his bed, and something was moving underneath it. Horrified, Ben slowly approached the moving mound that had took shelter under his covers. He grabbed the sheets, axe held above him, ready to strike whatever lay benith it. "Three...two..ONE!!!!!" He quickly pulled back the blankets revealing a little blue creature. The creature looked at his with food covering its face. It coward benith Ben, whimpering from the sight of the axe, and pleading with its dark yellow eyes. Ben withdrew his axe, and looked closely at the creature. It was a blue humanoid like thing. It had two eyes, but also two antenna's. Its feet were webbed, but hands had five fingers. If Ben were to compare it to a human, he would guess of were around 5 or 6. The thing spoke with a clicking like sound, and tried to retreat. "Hey! Wait!" Ben cornered it by the closet of his room. "Wait a sec! I thought you were a thief! I won't hurt you!" Ben didn't know why, but he pitied the creature. It was all alone, eating scraps of food from other's houses. "Where's your Mom? Or whatever kind of parent. Does someone take care of you?" Then it hit him. The strange substance found in the tree. He wasn't for sure, but he guessed that was where the thing came from. "What are you little guy? Im Ben." The creature slowly let down his guard. "Clic cic Ben." "That's right! Im Ben!" The creature slowly walked out of the corner and sat on his Bens' bed. "Im Ben." The creature said smiling. Ben sat down next to it. "No, IM Ben. Your..." Ben paused. Did it even have a name? "Your Azuli, a little play on words from Spanish." A dumb name, but it rolled off the tounge. "Azuli." The creature mimicked. "Very good Azuli! Im Ben, your Azuli." The creature, Azuli, clapped his hands. Ben smiled, for the first time it seemed in years. He put his hand up comparing it to Azuli. Azuli copied Ben, and now his hand flat against Ben's. Ben noticed Azuli seemed to scanning there hands, like if he was noticing that he was different. Azuli's eyes began to glow, and he slowly morphed into a 'human'. Ben gasped in amazment. A little boy now sat infront of him, with beautiful dark yellow eyes. "Umm, don't go anywhere. I think i still have some of my childhood clothing that my mom sent me." Ben went into his closet and pulled out a box filled with old school uniforms and other special event themes. He fitted Azuli with his first grade school uniform. "This will do until I go shopping tommarow." Ben then went into his garage and pulled out a small bed he gave up on building. "It has four legs and a place for a matress so I guess it will do." Ben then placed the bed in a blank extra room he had. He grabbed a matress and blankets, and made Azuli a place to sleep. He went back to the boy who seemed to have been following him, and picked him up. Ben brought him into the room he set up for him. "It's nothing special, but it will do." Azuli's eyes went wide, before leaping down and jumping on his new bed. Ben smiled, and pit Azuli to bed. "Good night Azuli! I'll try to figure out a better situation for you in the morning." After that night, Ben started going into to town more often to get Azuli what he needed. He went to events with Azuli, and Azuli quickly became a son to Ben. Ben started homeschooling Azuli, and taught him how to speak English. 
 
\5 Years Later\  
 
"And that's how Ben learned to love again. He always believed that Azuli, was a gift sent from his late wife to help him open his heart." I man sat in a bedroom next to his boy of 11. The boy had dark yellow eyes, and giggled as his father told the story. "I love that story, but what happens next?" The man leaned down and kissed his son on his forehead. "We shall see." He walked out of the room, turning of the lights as he closed the door. "Sweet dreams Azuli."