A Catastrophe in the Making

A little girl dreams of aliens coming to earth.

It was a completely normal day. I was just finishing my coffee, ready to head into the office. Our oldest Philip had just wolfed down his breakfast and was heading out the door to catch the bus to take him to middle school. My wife had gone upstairs to get our four year old daughter to get her ready for daycare. That’s when things got weird.

It started when my wife came down the stairs, a worried look on her face.

“Mike, have you seen the Sybil? She’s not in her bed.”

“What do you mean, she’s not in her bed,” I said, almost spilling my coffee.

“Just what I said, she’s not there. I checked the other rooms upstairs, and she’s not in any of them.”

“Well, where could she be?” I asked as I stood. “Did she come downstairs at all?”

That’s when Philip came back inside. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Philip,” my wife asked. “Have you seen your sister?”

“Yes.” He said in a faraway voice. He seemed stunned.

“Well, where is she?”

“Floating above the house.”

“What?” we both said in unison. He just pointed to the front door. My wife and I dashed outside. Sure enough, our daughter was floating about ten feet above the roof, on her back, seemingly still asleep.

By now some of our neighbors had come outside. Everybody was staring at Sybil. A few had cell phones, and like good little internet drones were no doubt live streaming it to the world. My wife and I looked at each other.

“What’s going on?” we both asked at the same time. I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I looked back up, Sybil was still there.

“This can’t be happening,” my wife said.

“It is, though.”

“Sybil, sweetie,” she called up to her. “Come down to Mommy.”

“Do you think she can hear you?”

“Who knows? It’s worth a try.”

I didn’t have a better idea, so I started calling too. I don’t know if she heard us, but after about ten minutes she floated down. By now everybody on our block was out. I heard sirens in the distance and what sounded like approaching helicopters. Then she settled gently into my wife’s arms and woke up.

“Sybil, honey, are you okay?”

“Yes, Mommy. I was having a dream.”

“About what?”

“Mommy, what’s a cats-tro-fy?”

“A catastrophe? It’s something very bad. Why do you ask?”

“Because we’re all getting one today.”

“What?”

“Yes, funny looking people in silver ships are coming, and they are bringing them to everybody.”

“What do you mean, everybody?” I asked.

“Everybody. Everybody on Earth.”

Several of our neighbors were close enough to hear this, and they all gasped in horror. A few had cell phones pointed our way, and I could picture the electronic panic engulfing the planet. People began screaming and running to their homes. I know it’s every person’s dream to be a viral sensation, but this was more of a nightmare. We bolted into our house and locked the door.

It didn’t help. Soon police cars were pulling up outside and a Blackhawk landed in the street and began disgorging troops. A military officer with a bunch of stars on his shoulders backed by a full combat platoon came up and pounded on our door.

“Open up! This is a matter of National security.”

I eased the door open a crack. “Look, we don’t know any more than you do.”

“That’s not good enough. We need to know how this hoax was perpetrated.”

“It’s not a hoax. Our daughter was floating above the house.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now open this door or I’ll break it down!”

“Aren’t you supposed to have a warrant?”

“Civilization is on the brink of collapse. We’re a little past warrants.”

“Okay,” I said, realizing arguing was pointless. “But not all of you at once. If you scare her, she won’t say anything.”

“Fine, it will just be me and my aide.” He turned to the rest of his men. “Set up a perimeter.”

The soldiers proceeded to gleefully set up a secure perimeter. I let the general and his aide in and closed the door behind them.
My wife was sitting on the couch with Sybil in her lap. Philip was staring out the window, impressed with all the weaponry on display. The general sat in a chair facing them, his aide standing at his shoulder at parade rest.

“Okay, little girl,” he said, with an attempt at a smile. “What is this catastrophe you saw?”

“It’s coming today,” she said, as she played with the hem of her pajama top. “Funny looking men in silver ships are bringing it to us.”

“When today is this supposed to happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“She can’t tell time,” My wife interjected.

“Sybil,” I said. “In your dream, was it daylight when the ships came?”

“Yes.”

“Was it bright day, or was it getting dark?”

“It was bright.”

“So, probably sometime soon,” I said. Just then his aide stiffened and put a hand to his ear.

“Sir, we’re getting reports of multiple alien craft entering the atmosphere. It’s happening all over the world.”

We looked at each other. As one, we got up and went outside. Everyone was staring at the sky, some in fear, some with resignation, as a silver cigar shaped ship came down and hovered over us. I noticed that every cat in the neighborhood was also out. A voice boomed out of the craft.

“PEOPLE OF EARTH. LONG HAVE WE SEARCHED FOR OUR LOST ONES. NOW THEY ARE FOUND. WE THANK YOU FOR CARING FOR THEM.”

As one, the cats all started floating up the ship.

“WE GIVE YOU THIS TO REMEMBER US BY.”

Several golden objects left the ship and floated down to us. I reached out and took one. It depicted a cat, sitting on a pedestal.

It was a cat trophy.