My Short Short for the Day

 *******     continued     *******

Jonah slowly turned around, his hands shaking and his body tensing.  “Who…who’s there?”

He stared hard into the darkness.  There was another, softer clank.  Some scraping noises.  A crash.  Then silence.

“Hello?”  Jonah’s voice was barely audible.

Now he could hear a new scraping sort of noise, like something being dragged slowly across the floor.  Jonah took a tentative step forward.  “Anyone there?”

The scraping noise continued to steadily come closer.

“I come in peace.”  Jonah said, hoping the shakiness in his voice wasn’t obvious.

The scraping noise was close now, but Jonah couldn’t make out anything in the darkness.  He would have to use his flashlight.  He didn’t want to, but curiosity forced him to pull it out and aim it at the darkness.  He turned it on and held his breath.  He peered intently at the circle of light that cut through the darkness.  The spotlight showed darkness, but it seemed not as dark.  Then it moved.  Slightly but enough to make him jump and fumble the flashlight.  Something was alive in there. 

Jonah turned around and frantically searched for the exit.  His heart thundered harder as he struggled not to scream.  Sweat rolled down his face.  His hands moved rapidly, praying for a latch, indent or anything to force open the door. 

Then he felt a pressure on his shoulder.  He froze in terror.  He closed his eyes tight, pleading for it to be a dream.  But the pressure on his shoulder was still there.  He opened his eyes and slowly turned his head to the side.

“I…I…I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to break in.  The door just opened…”  Jonah stammered.

“Are…are you…human?”  The voice was soft and raspy.

Jonah turned around and came face to face with a woman about the age of his mother.  She looked normal.  “How?”

The woman smiled.  “You are human.  Are we on Earth?”

“Yeeesss.”  Jonah thought that was a weird question but not as weird as seeing a human on an alien spaceship.

“Oh, thank goodness.  We made it.  We made it home.”  The woman’s eyes filled with tears and she dropped to her knees, covering her face and crying.