The Peculiar Package(Angelina Cao) It was a perfectly normal day for John Leveras Marvesque - until the package arrived. He yawned and clambered out of bed at 7:00, sleepily nibbled a bit of his breakfast, and worked his way up half of the stairs before the doorbell rang. It screeched and rattled as John hastily made his way back down the winding stairs and made a mental note to fix the doorbell. He flung open the door and grumpily called out, but all he could see was the normal cars honking and moving like slugs along the road parked in front of his house. He pulled the handle back and was about to close the door when a glint of white caught his eye. He pulled open the door again, picking up the white box. To John Leveras Marvesque - fragile, it said. Curious, John carried it inside, the door slamming behind him. He carefully opened the box and found a little blob of green goo sitting in the bottom of the box. He trashed it without a second thought, curiosity chased away by fumes of anger at his new neighborhood kids like a wisp of smoke after a candle had been blown out. Those pesky kids! Thinking of nothing but fun for themselves. He had been expecting that new chair for ages, the old one cracked and peeling and so hard to sit on. And now? Last time it was the dripping popsicle, and yesterday it was the wood shavings. He made another mental note to stomp over to the pesky boy’s house and have a serious talk first thing tomorrow morning. After all this running around and thinking, he felt tired. Seriously, a 86 year old man could use some nap time now. He hobbled up the stairs and sat on the bed, making it squeak and groan. Do I need a new bed, too? John thought irritably. He lay down, preparing for a deep sleep although it was only 8:00.

In the trash, something happened. Something green pulsed, glowing and writhing like a glow-in-the-dark lizard trapped in a hole. Finally, the outer layer burst out, revealing another layer of green, but this one brighter and growing larger by the second. The trash can itself started to shudder, as if it could sense all the horrors inside that one little blob of green goo.

John groaned and opened one eye. He nearly jumped up in fright. The whole room was glowing an eerie green. He heard a strange whistling downstairs, too, a high-pitched note that wavered between very loud whistling and quiet screaming. Blundering around, he fumbled for the door but only managed to sweep the alarm clock crashing to the floor and get hopelessly entangled in the blankets. Hanging on one side, he made a absurd mental note to make this day known as worst day EVER. Or maybe i’m dreaming… the glow brightened to a blinding lime green. A voice thundered from nowhere, ”you are not dreaming!” Maybe not, John thought meekly. The whistling grew more intense, the glow brightened to a white. The strange noise kept on getting louder, and the bright glare kept on getting brighter, and louder, and then-

“Ugh.” John rolled over in the blankets. He still had one eye open, which made him think that glow was not a dream. Hmmm...maybe a hallucination? He untangled himself and clambered out of bed, looking for something normal to do. Wait for the chair to come. Too boring. Wash the dishes. Just did. sweep the floor. I hate that. Polish the table. I don't have polish. Go to the supermarket. My fridge is full. Scream at the naughty boy. They just left for swimming. Trim your garden. Just did that yesterday. Trim your garden again. No. Take out the trash. No way - sure. Ah, sure. Something normal to do. He heaved himself up from the flattened beanbag he had been sitting on and went downstairs to get the trash bag. He was scooping the trash up while trying not to breathe in the filthy odor when he noticed something. The trash can was shuddering and shaking like a leaf in a storm. He closed the window and bolted it, but the trash can just fell over. He stomped back to the trash and swept it into the bag, tied it, and hefted it onto his shoulder to take out. The trash can stopped shuddering and stood itself up. Fortunately, John had his back to the trash can and would have flipped out if he saw the bizarre trash can event. Pretty soon, John was schlepping the trash can one inch per minute. The blob of goo flew out and smacked the ground hard when he let go of the trash bag to take a rest. Grumbling, he reached down to pick it up. But before he had a chance, the goo started spinning. John groaned again. He made another crazy mental note to never, ever, ever trust green goo. He frowned. Wait. The spinning goo appeared to be..."argh!" John screamed as he fell sideways, lashing out wildly to prevent his fall. The goo wrapped around his arm like a thin circlet, reaching and twisting like a snake. The glow started again, soft at first, then brighter and brighter and brighter-

John groaned and sat up. He felt as if he had ate something rotten. Looking around, he realized he was sitting on something green. Something soft. Something slimy... John tried to jump up in fright but instead sunk back in. Picking his way out, he carefully ventured out and found himself face to face with an alien. It had a human appearance but was slimy green from head to toe. John shrieked and tried to run away, but instead got tangled in something white. He looked up and saw an unpleasant surprise-another alien which looked like a huge version of his alarm clock. "Bee doh bee doh be doh bee do-" John smacked the button on the aliens head like how he would on any alarm clock. The alien stopped abruptly and vanished. John looked around again, and realized that if he squinted really hard, the surroundings seemed familiar. Closet. Desk. Door. Wall. Screaming alarm. Wait. What?!

John untangled himself out of bed. He had woken up with a really weird face, and his face muscles felt sore. He sat up drowsily and hit the snooze button on the alarm, which was wailing at top speed. "what- just happened?"

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