Elsewhere

This is a story I've been working on for a little while now. I just can't figure out how I want to end it. Thought I'd post in here to get some criticism. So, criticize.

-

Our story starts out like many others do. It's hot. Scorching hot. The air is thick and dry, but that doesn't stop the neighborhood from bustling with life. The mowing of grass and washing of cars; the sound of middle aged housewives bickering among themselves over the newest gossip, sipping lemondae on their front porches. And how could one possibly forget the raucous laughter of children? School's out for the summer, and the neighborhood's children are full of life.
"How old do you think he was," Shaun asks, inquisitively, staring at the decrepit house.
"I heard he was like, a hundred," Zeke responds, as he sits and fiddles with his action figures.
"Let's check it out. I bet the bodies are still in there."
"Dude, that's gross."
As the children sit and wonder about what lies inside the house, another inhabitant of the neighborhood zooms by on his bicycle. "Watch out faggots," he exclaims, but the children pay him no mind. They feel sorry for him. He recently turned 14, and has nothing better to do than pick on kids half his age.
"I swear to God Cam, if you talk to my brother like that one more time, I'm gonna kick your ass! And then I'm gonna tell your mom. And then she'll kick your ass again. You know I'm not joking, you big jerk!"
Shaun's sister, Samantha, is a lively one. Quick to anger, but with a big heart, she's always at her brother's side. She comes stomping across the street, with her friend Alice in tow, huffing and puffing. Ready to put Cam in his place.
"Sam, you're just embarassing me. He's harmless. He just wants attention."
"Well, I don't appreciate it in the slightest. I think he needs to learn some respect," Samantha says haughtily, marching back towards Alice's house.
"Shaun, what's wrong with your sister?"
"I think she watches too much TV."

As night comes, the neghborhood begins to settle down. The mothers begin calling their children back in for the night and putting dinner on the table. It's a typical night at Shaun and Samantha's household - they eat dinner, they get cleaned up for the night, they retired to their rooms to entertain themselves until they fall asleep, all the while their father drinks and yells at the TV and their mother reads her romace novels and fantasizes about a better life.
Shaun sits in his room, fantasizing of a better life as well. As he reads his comic books, he dreams of strange alien creatures, giant robots, talking animals, and any other manner of non-reality. He, however, is much more proactive. He closes his door, turns off his lights and, as quietly as he possibly can, crawls out his window to wander the night.
The first place he goes is to Zeke's. What good is an adventure without your best friend? He creeps up to Zeke's window and gives it a quick rap. Much to Shaun's amusment, Zeke nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Oh my gosh, what are you doin' Shaun," Zeke asks as he opens the window. "I almost peed my pants."
"Come on man, we're gonna go check out that house!"
"Oh no you're not," a voice booms from behind the house, making them both jump this time.
"Did you think I wouldn't see you sneak by my window," asks Samantha, with a devilish grin on her face.
"If you think I'm gonna let you little twerps go in to a creepy old house, that some weird old man just got murdered in, you've got another thing coming. I mean, I couldn't live with myself knowing that the two of you could be in danger. You did know they never caught the burglar, right?"
Shaun and Zeke look at each other with worried looks on their faces.
"So I'm coming with you," Sam says slyly, to the boys surprise. "But first, we gotta go get Alice. Zeke, you got a flashlight?"

So after coercing Zeke a bit, the three youths take off across the street to Alice's house. They creep behind the house. Sam expertly reaches behind a bush and pulls out metal wire hanger.
"Watch this," she says and with her usual mischevious smile, she slides the coat hanger in to a small hole in the side of the house.
"She doesn't have any windows, so this is how I gotta get her attention."
And, just like she said, Alice came outside and around the house in a robe and house shoes.
"What is it Sam? I was asleep," she says, rubbing her eyes.
"You wanna go do something fun?"
Alice sighs. "Let me get dressed."

And yet again, the youths set off in to the night, yearning for adventure. They move quickly, steathily, from house to house until they reach their destination. They reach the house, and immediately a wave of anxiety washes over them. The house seems bigger than they are. Bigger than life. It's intimadation is almost overwhelming.
"I can't do this," Zeke exclaims, nervously, "I'm sorry guys, I just got-gotta go home. I'm freaking out."
"Gosh, you're such a chicken Zeke," Shaun mutters casually, "If you're gonna run off like that, at least give me your flashlight."
"I undertsand if you're afraid Zeke," Alice says, reassuringly, "This place is really freaky. I'm a little scared myself."
"Well you little pansies can debate all you want, I'm gonna go see what this place is about," Sam exclaims, marching off with her usual bravado.
The rest of the group stare at each, mystified.
"Wait on me sis," Shaun exclaims, taking off towards his sister. Zeke stands frozen like a statute, anxious as can be, until Alice lays her hand on his should and says, in her typical, mother=esque voice, "Don't worry sweetheart. I won't let anything bad happen to you. Promise."

Alice and Zeke walk up to the backporch to find the two siblings starring, perplexed, at the door. It's standing, wide open, inviting yet ominous. They all stand silent, waiting on someone to say something. For someone to show them a sign. And suddenly, frighteningly it comes in the form of wood being chopped. The youths nearly jump of their skin, but Samantha quickly takes control of the situation.
She sticks her hand out, motioning for the rest of the group to stay put. She slowly creeps through the door, shining her flashlight from side to side, making sure to scan every nook and cranny of her surrounding for whatever may have made the noise.
"Why are you here?"
The voice comes from behind Samantha, with a dry tone and a sinister purpose. This time, Sam truely is scared to her core. She collapses to the floor, dropping her flashlight. She wishes to scream, just to utter one word, but her body won't cooperate. She reaches out, desperately grasping for her flashlight, but it slowly, rolls away. Creeping out of her arms reach. The flashnight slowly, inexplicably, stops, revealing a shirtless Cam, covered in sweat, hefting a massive axe.
"CAMERON JOSEPH MAXWELL HOW DARE YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?!?!?"

The rest of group rushes in, and after a few moments of explanation figure out that Cam had been exploring the house, and that the basement was the only area that he couldn't get to. He'd scoured the house from top to bottom and couldn't find a key to fit the multiple locks on the door. So, as a last resort, he decided to break the door down with an axe he found in the basement.
"So, what do you think's down there," Shaun asks, letting his curiosity get the best of him.
"I dunno, but I don't think the cops went down there though. Nothing outside of the crime scene has been touched. I bet there's something good down there though. This door's sturdy as Hell. I've been whacking at it for near an hour, and I'm just now making progress."
“Cam, this isn't right,” Alice pleads, “We need to go. We're all going to get in a lot of trouble.”
“I'm not going anywhere,” he responds, as he hefts the ax back up over his shoulder.
“I say we help him,” Sam says, defiantly.
“Sam, we have to be the responsible ones. We have two seven year old kids with us, one of which is your brother. We're probably trespassing right now. Who knows what other laws we're breaking. If Cam wants to stay here and chop a door down, let him do it.”
Sam considers Alice's words for a moment, but it's too late. The door finally gives, bowing in half and splintering in to thousands of tiny pieces. Cam starts kicking the door down, and little by little they make enough space to enter in to the basement area. Sam goes in first with the flashlight, and slowly creeps to the bottom of the stairs, scanning the area cautiously.
“It's okay guys, come down,” she exclaims once she gets to the bottom.
Sam quickly shines the light around until she finds the light switch and the rest of the group funnels through the door and down the stairs in to the musky old basement. They quickly disperse to every corner of the basement, hopeful to find any potential spoils. Alice however, sits at the bottom of the stairs, looking sour and uncomfortable.
“Goddamnit,” Cam exclaims, frustrated, “There isn't anything down here.”
The two young boys look at each other, confused, wearing old hats and sunglasses, looking quite content.
“Cameron, do not say words like that in front of children,” Alice says in an explosion of frustration.
“At least we had fun, right,” Sam asks in a very matter-of-factly manner. “At least we haven’t been stuck in our rooms all night with nothing to do. I'd probably just be in bed right now. I know turd over here would be.”
Sam lovingly punches her brother in the arm, hops up to her feet and begins placing everything that they had tore in to back to its original place. But, out of the corner of her eye, she catches something peculiar. A large box, placed under a table, out of the way. Almost as if to be hidden.
“Hey guys, check this out,” she says as she gingerly picks the box up.
“Ohhh what's in there,” Shaun asks as he pops his head up over the table.
“I don't know, but it's super light. And this box feels weird. Like vinyl or something almost.”
Sam gently unfolds the top of the box, reaches in and pulls out something resembling a large, red pear, covered in indentations. The rest of the group huddles around her, captivated, as she turns it around in her hands, examining every inch of the surface. And then, it begins to glow.

Shaun awakes, disoriented, on a soft mound of dirt. He rolls over, rises up and brushes the dirt off his face as he looks around. Samantha, he screams, over and over again, to no response. For the first time in his young life he feels truly alone. However, Shaun is a courageous child, and he will not let this bring him down. He brushes himself off, and begins walking, following the dimly illuminated rocks scattered throughout the walls and ceiling of the cave.
After hours of walking, Shaun sits down for a moment to catch his breath, and it dawns on him – how did he get here? How could he and his friends just disappear from the basement? Where is this place, and how can he possibly get home? Just as the insurmountable weight of the situation begins to mount of him, he hears the sound of foot steps echoing down through the cavern.
“Sam,” he exclaims, as he springs up and takes off running. What he sees next is at the same time terrifying, and fascinating. A creature, nearly four times his height, staring at him through a peculiar set of lenses, unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Both of them stand, frozen, both perhaps frightened of the other. The creature begins to move one of his six arms and Shaun screams, horrified, at the absolute top of his lungs.
“Please stop that.”
Shaun freezes again, completely in disbelief. Did this thing just speak english.
“Do you understand me?”
“I-I-I-”
“How peculiar. You understand me, don't you? But how could you possibly no the language of my people?”
The creature begins to move closer to Shaun, lowering its massive head level with Shaun.
“Do you have a name, creature? Or is all you do shriek all about the place? We obviously don't mean each other any harm.”
“My-uh-my name is Shaun.”
“Sha-un,” the creature says, sounding the name out, “Most peculiar. My people have given me the nomenclature Gorja. Now Shaun, do you know how you came to be in this particular system of caves?”
“No I don't, Mr. Gorja. Me and my sister and my friends were just hangin' out in this old house, and boom, here I am. You haven't seen my sister have you?”
“No, youngling, I have never encountered your particular species before. And you say you just appeared here? Out of thin air?”
Shaun shakes his head in accordance.
“That is most odd. Most odd indeed. Well then, if your companions are in this system I should be quite capable of finding them. I've been mapping this system for the past few cycles, and luckily I've brought my instrumentation.”
Gorja pulls a strange, otherworldly device out of the bag on his back. He pulls it apart with four of his hands to reveal a maze of gears and a soft humming noise. Slowly, he begins to move the device all around him.
“Ah, here we are. There's some unusual activity in this direction. Come come, small one.”
Gorja reaches out his massive hand, scoops up Shaun and they're off.

Elsewhere in the massive cave system Alice awakes to a disturbing sensation. Cameron is above her, pressing his body against hers. It takes her moment to realize it, but her shirt is off and his hands exploring areas any young man would want to explore. There are no words.
“GET THE hug OFF HER,” Samantha shrieks, as she cracks Cam in the back of the head, sending to the ground, reeling. “I'LL hugging KILL YOU I SWEAR TO GOD I hugging WILL”
Cam quickly raises to his feet and bolts off in the opposite direction. Sam bolts to Alice's side to comfort her as she breaks down; the weight of the situation finally making itself known. But then something new occurs to Samantha.
“Zeke?”
She scans the surrounding area, and laying motionless several meters away is Zeke. She slowly rises to her feet and moves towards his body. Only about a third of the way there does she begin to panic. She's racing now. She sprints to his side and collapses, almost laying on top of him. She first notices that he isn't breathing. Then that he's pale. White as a sheet. Then she feels him and it hits her, harder than anything in her entire life has. She breaks down.
“Sam! What's wrong,” Alice shouts across the cave. But Samantha can't move. Can't speak. Can't do anything but cry. As far as she's concerned, she let this boy die. A sweet, innocent, seven year old boy.

After an hour or so of travel, Gorja and Shaun begin to hear the chatter of his sister and Alice. They exit the tunnel and enter a massive cave, filled with the glowing crystals. Alice and Sam are immediately taken back by Gorja's appearance, put Shaun quickly hops off his back and alleviates their worries.
“Hey sis! I made a friend!”
“Oh Shaun, oh God Shaun I thought you were dead.”
“It's okay Sam, my friend rescued me. His name is Gorja.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” he says as he bows his head.
“Where are we? I feel like I'm in Oz or some jive. Are we on planet Earth? I just... I'm so confused.”
“I don't believe you are on your home planet any longer, unfortunately,” Gorja says, hoping to enlighten the group, “This is the only solution I can think of, however unlikely that may be. This is especially troubling, considering none of you seem to be in possession of any sort of craft, or possess any sort of exceptional technology. I'm baffled by the situation, to be frank. Especially how we can verbally communicated with one another. There's no possible way we could know each others language.”
“What's wrong with Alice? And where's Zeke,” asks Shaun.
“Oh Shaun,” Sam says, with tears in her eyes, “Zeke... he died sweetheart. He-he broke his neck or something, when we all landed in this crazy place. I'm so sorry.”
Shaun is shocked. Heartbroken. His best friend is dead. He sees the mound of dirt under one of the giant tree roots jutting out of the wall. It's all too real. He drops to his knees and sobs in his sisters lap.

“So where do you guys come from?”
“Shaun, you're bothering him,” Sam says, scolding her brother. They've been riding on the back of Gorja for hours now, on their way back to his home.
“Oh, he's no bother. I quite enjoy his inquisitive nature. Now, let me see, how do I explain this. You mentioned god, correct? Well, in the basest terms, the earth is our god. We came from it, it provides for us, we go back to it when we perish. There are some that take the spiritual aspect of it to extremes, but I am a scientist. I simply don't function that way.”
Shaun takes a sip of the strange green liquid that Gorja provided for them, and ponders on his answer.
“So, what is above us? Is there an above us?”
“My my, that is a weighted question now, isn't it? Yes, of course there is a surface. This is a planet; I'm sure very similar to the one you humans come from. There are a variety of marvels on the surface world. Many aliens things that I'm sure would astonish you. A variety of flora, and fauna. However, from what I've deduced from our conversations, you humans are the dominant species on your planet, correct?”
The group nods in accordance.
“Well, unfortunately, we are not. You see, for millions of years my race of people, The Sheg, evolved underground. There are another race though, above ground. They are called the Zarkuul, and they dominate every area we know of the surface.”
“Why are they dominate and not you,” Shaun asks.
“Well, for one, they're nearly three times our size. Mix that with a savage barbarism, and you get an incredibly volatile mixture. They nearly kill us on sight. That's why when we do go to the surface, we go under cover of darkness, using stealth to our advantage.”
The kids mull over this thought, until they begin to hear the rustle and bustle one would equate with a community.
“Here we are, young ones. Welcome to Elsewhere.”
The group exit the tunnel and look down in to the city and are overwhelmed with amazement. The town is as long as it is wide, with holes and buildings covering every surface. Elsewhere is exploding with life, the sheg everywhere, like a giant ant farm. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them. The children are overwhelmed as Gorja timbally makes his way down the wall surface, weaving through foot traffic, towards a massive construct in the center of the community.
“Gorja, why don't any of these people think we're weird,” asks Shaun, always yearning for knowledge.
“I'm always bringing back specimens and what not. It's really not that unusual to see me with something so... unusual.”
“We aren't really just specimens, are we?”
“My word, of course not. I could never harm another sentient being.”
“Sen-ti-ent?”
“It means you know you're alive,” Alice chimes in, only adding to Shaun's confusion.


“What is this place? A library? Or is it, like, a court house or something?”
Alice and the rest of the group stand staring in wonder at the massive construct standing the middle of Elsewhere. Gorja goes up to the front entrance, reaches in to a hole in the wall and pulls a lever. The massive door unfolds to the sound of gears whirring and two large sheg holding what looks like giant flails step out of the doorway.
“Greetings Councilman Gorja. Go right ahead.”
“I'm not sure what a library, or a court house is, but you could call this a capital of sorts for our community. We call it Doodegga,” Gorja explains. “It is a place of culture.”
“You're on a council,” Alive inquires.
“Yes, young one. I am leader of our scientific community. There are two other, much less interesting councilman as well,” Gorja says with a chuckle.

The children continue following Gorja through Doodegga until they exit in to a large chamber. Gorja motions for the children to keep quiet as he scoops them all up and begins moving up the wall, eventually making their way in to another chamber.
“This, children, is the end of today’s lesson. Please be safe on your journey home,” another voice booms out of the chamber.
“Coulcilman Hoodja, I didn't realize your lesson was over for the days,” says Gorja, as dozens of tiny, infantile sheg swarm past him on every surface.
“Gorja, I was beginning to wonder about your well being. Please, co – By the earth ,
Gorja, what for of creature are these,” he inquires motioning towards the children.
“Hi mister,” Shaun says, poking his head out from behind Gorja's head.
“Gorja, how could they possibly know our language? This is miraculous.”
“It is actually far from it. I suspect these children - they call themselves humans - I suspect they somehow came in to contact with some form of technology, far beyond anything either of our races are capable of. It's quite fascinating. They're from another world, Hoodja.”

Meanwhile, on the surface, Cam pops his head out of a small shaft. What he sees around him is wildly fascinating. An alien world unlike anything in his wildest imagination. The trees, or what he would call trees, seem like they're miles above his head and as wide as buildings. Creatures surrounded, so varied in color and shape that they defy description. None seemed to mean him harm, but they did examine him with a variety of tendrils and needles and strange alien appendages.
The ground is spongy and soft. He wonders if this is their equivalent to mud. As he explores the alien environment, he finds something like a giant thorn that he straps to his back, thinking it may be useful later.
As he makes his way up over a hill on this alien plain, Cam can't help but think about how happy he is. This might be the most fun he's ever had. It isn't boring and mundane like his normal life. He doesn't have to put up with his ignorant parents, or his pathetic schoolmates. He imagines spending the rest of his life exploring this beautiful alien world.
A putrid stench catches Cam's nose and snaps him back to his extremely strange reality. He swiftly moves through the strange flora until he discovers the source of the smell – a large pool of crystal clear liquid. He looks up and notices that the pool is being fed by a small stream. He feels compelled to follow it. How could he deny his curiosity?
As he treks up a huge hill, following the putrid smelling stream, he begins to realize that this couldn't be naturally occurring. Something is pouring the liquid down the hill. It also looks as if the liquid is turning to the ground a different color. Almost like it's killing it.
As he nears the top of the hill he begins hearing sounds, like people talking. He ducks down and begins to crawl towards the crest of the hill on his stomach. As he pears down in to the other side of the valley, he somehow isn't shocked by the sight he sees. Giant, frightening creatures, with massive wings like bats, like something ripped straight of some nightmare of dying and going to Hell. Several Sheg lay around them, hog tied, laying on their backs.

“What are you, vile creature,” one of them exclaims, holding one of their long talons to the Sheg's throat. “I said, what are you? We heard you vocalize. Do not play games with us, if you value your lives.”
“You do not value life, monster,” one of them says, “You will kill us all regardless of weather we speak or not.”

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