

The following is the first six pages of The Infinite Odyssey as
written for you to sample.
A young woman with strawberry hair and green eyes gazed up at the enormous
canvas of twinkling stars that covered the vast endless night sky. She looked
at these stars with a sense of awe. These stars were further away, and
bigger then she could ever imagine. Yet they still shined above every
night, a constant reminder of how small and insignificant she truly was.
These massive burning balls of energy could be seen to everyone
on earth and were suns to other worlds, while her simple little life
was only known by a few people. Every night she yearned
to break free and be part of something more.
“Lindy.” A voice called from behind, waking her from her trance.
Lindy turned to see a youthful looking man with brown
hair standing at the door to their house.
“It’s late. Aren’t you coming in?” He asked.
“Huh? Sure. Be right there,” Lindy replied. She made her way past the door into
the small, rustic house she called home. Their house was one of about
dozen small, cheaply made homes in this rural neighborhood.
“Hey Randy, I was thinking maybe we could do something
tomorrow,” she suggested.“I’ve got to work late tomorrow,” Randy
answered.“That makes four days in a row. Can’t someone cover
for you?” she pleaded.“Lindy I’m sorry. I don’t want to, but we really
need the extra money. You know how strapped we are for cash,”
he reminded her.
“I know. You’re just being a good brother, but still...”
“Look, I should be free this weekend,” promised Randy.
“You said that last week. I hardly see you anymore,” she complained.
“What do you want me to do? Ever since Mom died I’ve been the
breadwinner. I really wish I didn’t have to work all the time, but I
don’t really have much of a choice.”
“I know all that, it’s just... I don’t know.
I feel like we’ll be struggling forever.”
“Look it’ll work out. Just give it time,”
Randy said, trying to comfort his sister.
“Yeah, right,” Lindy replied with little confidence
“Look it’s late. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Randy headed for the bathroom.
Lindy sat down at one of the kitchen chairs. It wobbled as she did. Lindy
just sighed and stared out the window. She loved her older brother, but
he took his responsibilities so seriously he never had time for her, or
even himself. Lindy lost her train of thought when she heard something
unusual from outside. It was a faint humming coming from overhead, and
was gradually getting louder. Lindy couldn’t quite identify what she was
hearing. She stepped up to the window to see if she could find the
source of the sound. The sound was still getting louder, and had
grown from a humming to a roaring of what sounded like a jet
engine. Lindy started backing away from the window, as the
sound seemed to be coming from behind. Suddenly a
loud boom filled the area and the bright ball of fire
shot across the sky towards the near-by forest. Lindy fell backwards and scampered
away from the window in fright. She felt her heart nearly pounding out her chest.
Lindy stood up and saw an eerie bright light shimmering from deep within the
forest. Lindy saw her brother coming out of the bathroom.
She ran across the hall and grabbed his sleeve.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Randy you got to see this!” Lindy pleaded trying to drag her brother
to the window. “What was the sound?” asked Randy.
“Something just crashed into the forest!” Lindy dragged her
brother to the window. “Look, there.” She pointed at the forest.
“What am I looking for?” asked Randy.
“The light...” Lindy noticed there wasn’t a light coming
from the forest anymore. “What light?”
“Something flew overhead and landed in forest, and there was light coming from the
woods. I swear,” babbled Lindy. “I don’t see anything,” said Randy.
“It’s gone, but it was there,” insisted Lindy. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t know. I saw it fly right over and crash into the forest,” repeated Lindy.
“I don’t see anything,” said Randy. Lindy stared out at the window.
“I don’t know,” mumbled Lindy. “It’s late, why don’t you go to bed,”
suggested Randy. “Yeah, okay,” Lindy agreed reluctantly..
“Okay, you’ll feel better in the morning,” assured Randy. Lindy headed for her room, and
quickly climbed into her bed. For the next few minutes she just rocked in her bed with
her arms across her knees, trying to calm down. It still felt like her heart was going
to pound out of her chest. Eventually Lindy got up her nerve and leaned over
and peeked out her window, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. She laid
down in her bed, her blood still racing. After about an hour of tossing and
turning she managed to finally fall asleep.
Lindy found herself standing outside her own house at night. She felt very strange, as if
everything was moving slower than normal. She looked up, and saw only the black
sky, empty of stars or the moon. A brilliant flash of light streaked through the empty
sky, over the house, and into the forest. Lindy looked off to where this flash had
gone. Some force called to Lindy from inside the forest. Unable to suppress
the strange attraction, Lindy walked into the forest. The dark woods
showed no end, and every inch was shrouded in darkness except a
single bead of light shining from deep in the forest that beckoned to
her. She ran towards it, but every step didn’t seem to bring Lindy
any closer to source, yet she kept running. Suddenly Lindy was
in a clearing. A ball of light floated in the center of this
clearing. Unable to resist, she moved her hand towards it.
Just as she touched the light, it vanished. Lindy looked up and saw the stars twinkling in
the sky. Each dot of light appeared bigger as if heading towards Lindy. The stars
became so large; their bright light flooded the sky, and seemed to explode in a blaze
of light. Lindy awoke in a fright. She sat up for a moment and wiped the beads of
sweat from her forehead. She saw the clock on her nightstand, and realized
she had slept in. Lindy headed into the kitchen and made herself a late
breakfast from whatever little food she could find in the refrigerator. After
breakfast she picked up the newspaper, and started looking through
the job listings, hoping maybe to find a way to help pull her own
weight. As she was looking through the listings she heard
something coming from the other side of the house.
Lindy got up and headed towards the source of the sound. As she got closer, the noise
became clear as if something was fumbling through items in the garage. Randy had
always left for work by this time of day, but she couldn’t help hoping he was still here.
Slowly she crept out of the house and towards the garage. The sound of tools
and items being tossed and knocked across the garage could be heard from
inside. A sense of fear washed over Lindy as she neared the source, as it
seemed it wasn’t her brother inside. Lindy walked slowly to the edge of
the garage door, and peered inside. She saw someone rummaging
through various boxes and containers inside, pocketing certain
tools. The person wore a large tattered brown cloak whose
hood concealed their face. The intruder tossed an empty
paint can aside, it smacked into the wall next to Lindy,
startling her backwards causing her to trip.
The cloaked figure turned and saw Lindy at the entrance. She panicked and bolted back
for the house. She ran through the back door into the house and immediately locked
the door behind her. She sprinted to the front door and locked it next. Then ran to
the phone, and picked up the receiver. Lindy was distracted by a bang at the
window. She looked up and saw the person standing in front of the window.
Lindy fell backwards in fright. She scampered into the kitchen like a scared
rodent. Too frightened to move, Lindy sat there, breathing heavy, and
fearing who the intruder might be. She waited for the intruder to
enter, and listened carefully for someone trying to open the door.
After a few minutes of silence she opened her eyes. She didn’t
see him, or anything else out of the ordinary. After what felt
like an eternity, Lindy finally stood up and slowly made her
way to the window.
She peered through the glass. There was no sign of the cloaked burglar. Lindy unlocked
the back door and headed back to the garage. There was mess of various tools and
other assorted objects strewn across the floor. She looked closely to see what was
taken. She noticed a few tools missing, but so many things were strewed across
the garage floor it was hard to tell. Lindy walked around to side of the house to
the window from where she spotted the person. There were shallow
footprints leading from the window to the forest. Lindy went back inside
and made sure to lock the door behind her. She went back to the
phone to call the police, only to remember the phone company had
cut their service off the week before. Though still frightened
Lindy went back into the house and tried to go about her daily
routine, but couldn’t stay focused.
She found herself looking out the window every few minutes, fearing the cloaked figure
would return. By the afternoon Lindy decided to lie down, hoping rest would help
soothe her nerves. She headed into her room and sat down on her bed. Lindy took
notice of the necklace on her desk. It had a gold chain that was attached to a
pink heart shaped gem. Lindy treasured this item and believed it brought her
good luck. Her mother had given it to her when she was very young, and
she use to wear it every chance she could until her mother died last year.
When she was a child she would clench the gem when she was
scared, and it always seem to comfort her. Still shaky, Lindy took
the necklace and clipped the chain behind her neck. It was
actually comforting just wearing it again after so long. Lindy
sat down on the bed, then after a few minutes drifted off.
Lindy snapped awake. She looked out the window and could see it was late in the
evening now, and the sun was slowly setting behind the trees. Lindy stood up and
wandered back into the kitchen. She saw her brother sitting at the table.
“Looks like you’ve had a hard day,” stated Randy.
“Uh-huh,” nodded Lindy as she sat down at the table.
“You’re wearing your necklace, I thought you didn’t want to wear it
anymore because it reminds you... You know,” said Randy.
“Well something happened earlier, and I needed some comfort,”
explained Lindy. “What happened?” asked her concerned brother.
“Randy, I’ve need to tell you some things that happened
today that are going to sound kinda weird,” confessed Lindy.
“You know you can tell me anything,” he assured.
“Well last night I...” Lindy stopped when something caught her eye. She picked up the
newspaper. The Headline read “UFO Sightings”.
“Wait a minute,” said Lindy as she picked up the newspaper.
“What?” Randy inquired. Lindy made a shushing sound. Her brother waited
quietly as his sister read the article to herself. Lindy abruptly dropped the
paper and headed straight to the window. She peered through the glass
and into the forest beyond it. A dim ball of light could be seen shinning
from deep within the woods. “It’s just like the dream,” Lindy whispered
to herself.“Lindy? What’s wrong?” her brother asked. Lindy just
stood motionless for a moment, staring at the light in the forest.
“Do you see that?” asked Lindy pointing out the window.
Randy stepped up to the window, and peered outside.
“That light? I see it,” he answered.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” her brother assured. Lindy darted out
of the house and started running towards the light. She could hear her brother calling
for her, but ignored it and ran deeper into the forest. Lindy kept running towards the
light getting closer with every step she took, until she finally broke through to a
clearing. Sitting in the middle was a strange metal vehicle covered in unusual
burns and dents. It looked similar to a monorail car. It had no wheels, a
large open door on one side. The front of the vehicle was open in an
upward fashion similar to that of fighter jets. Lying in the scorched
grass, near the ship, were assorted tools, some of which Lindy
recognized as coming from her garage and also a small satellite
dish attached to a metal pole that had been crudely stuck in
the dirt. A pair of lights mounted on the front of the vehicle
illuminated the clearing.
Lindy jumped when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around in a fright.
“It’s me Lindy. It’s me,” Randy said in a soothing tone.
“Randy! Thank god it’s only you.” Lindy breathed a sigh of relief.
“Lindy, talk to me. What’s...” Randy saw the strange vehicle behind his sister.
“What is that?” Her brother asked. “I don’t know. I had this dream earlier
where I found something here,” Lindy answered. She started towards the
vehicle but her brother grabbed her arm. “What are you doing? Lets
get out of here,” Randy insisted. Footsteps could be heard coming
towards the vehicle. A cloaked figure appeared from the woods
racing towards the vehicle. “Who’s that?” Randy blurted out.
“Randy look!” His sister shouted pointing into the sky.
A bright ball of light was plummeting out the sky itself.
From it came two smaller balls of light. The smaller balls struck the ground next to the
siblings exploding with tremendous force. The force of the explosion sent them flying
past the open side door, and into the ship parked in the clearing. Before the two
could react, the door slid shut. There was a powerful rumbling. Lindy and Randy
could feel the vehicle come to life as it started to move. “Oh my god! What’s
happening?!” Lindy shrieked. “I don’t know! I don’t know!” Her brother
replied in a panic. The walls around the two rumbled violently. It felt like
they were about to break apart. The two siblings held on to each other.
The vehicle continued to shake more and more. Then suddenly
there was a strange hum followed by what sounded like an
explosion. The ship made one final violent movement that
forced their heads into the wall. Lindy fell to the floor and
watched as everything went black.