by Anitra Marie

Created on: August 13, 2010

The weirdest night of my life started out normally enough. I had just put on my most comfortable set of pink lace pajamas, brushed the day's tangles out of my hair, dabbed some acne cream on the latest pimple blossoming on my forehead, and was finishing up by brushing my teeth. After a thorough scrubbing, I was leaning over the sink to spit the toothpaste out. That's when the metal ball fell out of my right nostril, startling me enough that I almost choked to death on a mouthful of bubblegum flavored Crest.

After spitting what was left of the toothpaste out, I reached into the sink and scooped out the ball before it could roll down the drain. It was about the size of a pea and seemed to be made of the purest silver. Holding it in my palm, I could tell that it was completely smooth and warm to the touch, which wasn't surprising considering it had been crammed up my nose. And yet there wasn't a single drop of snot or speck of a booger on it, and believe me, I checked. I wracked my brain but didn't have a shred of a clue how a tiny, perfectly clean metal ball had found its way into my right nostril. I began pinching my nose to see if anything else would fall out, but nothing happened.

Telling my parents wasn't an option. They were already asleep and probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Well, I thought, if I'm lucky this will make sense in the morning. So I put the mystery ball in the pocket of my pajamas and got into bed.

Some time later I was woken up by what sounded like a huge rat scurrying in my room. All the lamps were off - I refused to sleep with a nightlight  - so the only source of light came from occasional glimpses of moon glow that filtered in through the drawn curtains. I cracked one eye open and sneaked a quick look at the clock on the nightstand. It read 4:32 am.

There was a soft thump and something else that sounded like papers being torn. Something was definitely in my room. I wasn't stupid, at least not right away. I just laid in bed with the sheets pulled up to my neck and kept my eyes half-open, waiting for them to adjust to the darkness. It wasn't long before I got my first look at the intruder.

IThe thing was small and compact, with long, thin arms that made it look disturbingly like a bug. A pear-shaped head bobbed on top of a tube-like neck and, whenever a ray of moonlight touched its face, I glimpsed two huge, pitch-black eyes. The sort of eyes that were full of secrets and unparalleled knowledge. Only now this wise, mysterious

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