Constellations or Spooky tale for Write, Edit, Publish blog-hop

In this post for the October Write, Edit, Publish blog-hop we are challenged to write about the Constellations or to scare you with a Spooky tale. Denise Covey and Yolanda Renee have really put on their witches hats to come up with such a challenge. We'll, I've done both. Alas I'm not alone, so I've added the link that will take you to the list of all the other writers and artist. To read go here.

Guess which constellation is in my story? You're right.

Orion

Half the student body was in the park tonight. At least it felt like half. Some were gathered around the huge bonfire in the pit the park provided. Most were smoking pot and drinking beer. I was using one of the telescopes Mr. Weaver had provided to study the stars along with my classmates.

            “Hey, Wigs,” Brian said, walking up to me along with his buddies, Jack and Paul.

            I glanced at them. “My name is Katie.” The students at my school had started calling me ‘wigs’ after I lost all my hair during chemo, two years ago when I wore a wig. All better now and my hair was back, short but real.

            Brian stopped in front of the telescope blocking my view. “It’s not fair that you were assigned Orion.”

            I stood up straight ready for a fight with the class bullies. “What’s it to you?”

            “We want Orion.” Brian shoved his hands into his pockets.

            “So?” I looked between the three.

            “We are all from Orion,” Paul said.

            “Huh?” Paul was tall and too thin.

            “It’s true,” Jack said. “Aliens came down and colonized this planet from the Orion system.”

            “You’re saying we are from the Orion system? That we are aliens?” This sounded a lot like that weird T.V. show.

            “Not exactly,” Brian said. “We mated with the inhabitants. Changed the DNA.”

            “So what exactly does this have to do with me?” I folded my arms.

            “When you do your report,” Brian said. “Add that in.”

            “You’re joking, right? You want me to humiliate myself by claiming that advanced aliens had sex with cave women? The answers no, boys.”

            “Look.” Jack grabbed my arm. I yanked it out of his fingers and backed up.

            “You three are just pissed because Mr. Weaver gave you the Big and Little Dipper. Maybe you should take it up with Orion, I hear he’s moved in down the street. Big guy, white hair, carries a sickle.” I approached the telescope. Brian picked it up.

            I put my hands on my hip. “Hey Dipper boy, put it down!”

            “You are just---” Jack seemed to have a hard time figuring out how to insult me.

“Hand over the assignment. You take the two Dippers and we take Orion.” Brian’s grin made me want to smack him.

            “Why don’t you go to the nearest cave and dance with the Neanderthals.”

            “Because you won’t be there, ‘Wigs.’” Paul stepped a little to near and I backed up.

            Mr. Weaver came over. “You alright Katherine?”

            “Yeah, just great.” I said. “These three want Orion instead of the Big and Little Dipper.”

            “The assignments stand. Get to work on your project boys and leave Katherine alone.”

            Brian, Paul and Jack walked away grumbling. Mr. Weaver adjusted the telescope and nodded at me. I finished my study of Orion and put my notes in my backpack and left.

            My parents had bought a house that skirted the park. I approached the back gate about fifteen minutes later. I was still mad at the dipper boys and took several steps over the brown grass in the backyard toward the rear of my house. The night had been cool, but a sudden blast of frigid air came on the wind and I was shoved to the ground. I grunted, lost my breath and turned over on my back. The fallen oak leaves rustled beneath me.

            Above me in a cloudless sky was the constellation Orion. Now I’ve never been good at connecting the stars the way the Ancient Greeks did, but as I watched a laser light spread between the stars to outline Orion. His sword sheathed at his side and a sickle raised in one hand.

            As I watched, Orion turned his head and his eyes came alive in shades of red. He leapt from the sky and landed near me. I gasped, my hair was tossed in the wind about my face and I wondered if someone had slipped me a hallucination pill in my coffee.

            “You dare to mock me, human?!” Orion’s deep voice rocked the bare branches of our oat near me. I opened my mouth but couldn’t speak.

            “Die!” Orion swept his sickle past my head. I scooted back like a desperate bug on my hands and feet, straddling the ground. Orion’s sickle slammed into the oak tree. It groaned and a dead branch fell slicing deep into my side. I gasped. Pain coursed through my body like ghostly fingers trying to freeze my soul. The imagine of Orion blurred. I felt the ground shake with his weight as he walked away and realized he had left.

            The wind still whisked through the bitter night. Oak leaves swirled around me. I held my side were the oak had injured me. Blood flowed warm between my fingers. My breath now came in short gasps. My last thought as I died was; The Dipper Boys would get Orion now.

Word Count: 825

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my story.

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N. R. Williams

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