Chatterbox: In This Month's Issue

@HoodedMidnight, I got part one done! Behold:

“And so it begins.” Isaac, perched atop the roof of his house, the wind blowing dramatically through his brown hair, stared into the sunrise. “The sun rises, and the dawn of a new age begins… An age of terror. For they rise.” His face was grim, his eyes somber as he contemplated what horrors lay ahead of him. “For it is… VALENTINES DAY.”

“Hey, Isaac! Whatcha doin up there?” Isaac shook his head slightly, and blinked a couple times in rapid succession. Looking down, he saw the familiar form of his friend Hana. Her arms were folded and an expression of amusement flitted across her face.

“I am dramatically monologuing into the sunrise. You know what day it is, yeah?”

“Nah, duh I know what day it is. It’s Valentine's Day.”

“Precisely. I’ve been preparing for months, and I can only hope I’m alive by this day’s end. I have a various array of weapons if you don’t have one already.” Hana’s look of amusement turned to one of slight confusion.

“Um, Isaac, hate to seem like an idiot, but what the heck are you talking about?”

“You said it yourself, It’s Valentine's Day.”

“Wha- Actually can you come down here? It’s really annoying to keep yelling at you.”

“Sure. I’ll bring the weapons.” Isaac opened his roof hatch and climbed back down into his house. Hana rolled her eyes. A couple minutes later, Isaac emerged carrying two nerf guns spray painted black. “I’ve done some modifying to these. Let’s just say they don’t shoot foam darts anymore,” he said with a slight twinkle in his eye. He tossed one to Hana who caught it easily and shoved it into her pocket.

“Okay, so what’s going on? Did I miss something?”

“Obviously I’m talking about the ancient evils that rise ever annual Day of Valentines. What else would I be talking about?” Isaac said, with a sigh of exasperation. Hana raised her eyebrows.

“So what you’re saying is that every Valentines Day, a bunch of monsters show up?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“So…” Hana spread her arms apart in a gesture meaning Look around, doofus, “Where are they?”

“Lying in wait for unsuspecting civilians to approach their lairs. My theory is that they’ve come from another realm incomprehensible to the mortal mind and obviously if they’re come from some other realm they’re going to need a tether to their homeworld and-” He was cut off by a small laugh on Hana’s part. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Nothing, please, keep going.” She was trying very hard not to laugh.

“Is there something funny about what I’m saying?” Isaac asked.

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Was I supposed to?” Hana asked incredulously.

“Uh, yes.”

“I don’t. Now if I were to actually see one of these creatures, it’s possible that I’d change my mind…”

“Do you value your sleep?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Then you do not want to see one of these.”

“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun. Adventure or whatever! On one hand, if we find them I’ll have been proven wrong, and in the significantly more likely scenario that we find nothing, you can stop being paranoid.” Isaac thought. He then thought a little more. He then stopped thinking and just stared off into space.

“Fine. Meet me at the corner of Coffee and Sycamore at sunset. Bring a flashlight, a camera, and a weapon. We have some monsters to hunt.”

I'll post part 2 soon as I finish it!