The Dome Spaceman

The town of Charles was small, with a population of just over a thousand. Like most small towns it was quiet, had a certain charm about it, and the people of Charles were a happy people. Being in the middle of nowhere, the people, like the town itself, had a sort of old world rural charm. Many people didn't lock their doors, and a portion of the population held certain… views, on certain things. And certain types of people. But all defects aside, they were the friendliest group of people you could hope to meet.

One of these friendly people was a young boy by the name of Toby. Toby was nine years old and did things that nine-year-olds in the middle of nowhere do - mainly play with his friends and watch the television. Today Toby was running errands with his father, getting milk and the like, and like any child standing in one place for too long he grew restless.

“Dad, when are we gonna go home?”

“Not now Toby, I’m talking to Mr. Heavens. Go see if some of your friends are outside.”

“But dad, I wanna go home.”

“Not now Toby.”

Toby gave up on his father and did as he said, walking out of the grocery store to see if any of his friends were out in front playing on one of the machines. None of them were. It was hot outside, so Toby made to go back inside when suddenly he was taken aback by a strange homeless man.

“Beware!” shouted the man.“He is coming! Hide yourselves, lock your doors!”

Suddenly the homeless man turned to Toby, and Toby could see his mangled face. His beard was matted yet sparse, and he heralded a scar over one milky eye.

“Beware, little boy,” the man said, inching closer and closer. “Beware The Dome Spaceman.” At this point the man was close, close enough to touch, and Toby was too scared of him to move. Suddenly the man grabbed him and pulled him to within inches of his face. His eyes were glazed and bloodshot, as if he'd never gotten any sleep in his life. The man smelled of death, and his breath made Toby gag from its rankness. He was missing teeth and had open sores on his gums. “Beware The Dome Spaceman, boy,” he whispered. “The Dome Space Man cometh, and The Dome Space Man taketh away.”

Before the man had a chance to say anything else a fist collided with his head.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Toby’s father yelled. “Get your hands off my son!”

The man fell down and laughed a bloodied laugh, cackling as he scrambled away, disappearing into the cars in the parking lot.

“Get the fuck out of here you crazy piece of shit!” Toby’s father screamed after him, before turning his attention to Toby. “Toby are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Toby was speechless, simply shaking his head in the negative. Tears were blurring his vision. Tears of fear, tears that could only be shed by a child and the most unfortunate of men.

“Jesus Christ,” his father said. “I’m so sorry Tobes, I shouldn’t have left you alone. Let’s go home buddy. We’ll get some ice cream on the way, how does that sound?”

Toby nodded and took his father’s hand as they made their way to the car, the homeless man having long been out of sight.

Later that night after dinner Toby's parents were talking while Toby watched the television, pretending not to hear them.

“I’m telling you, honey, it was like something out of a horror film.” Toby’s father said. “The police really need to do something about the homeless in this town.”

“I'm sure they're doing all they can sweetie, ” his mother said. “They can't be everywhere at once. Besides, it's not illegal to be homeless”

“I'm telling you they're animals. They should be rounded up and put in a camp outside of town.”

Toby simply watched the television, wondering how sending the homeless people camping would help anything. His thoughts ceased, however, when his favorite show came on. He forgot all about the homeless man as he watched the newest episode enraptured. Soon it was time for bed, and his parents tucked him in and bid him goodnight.

Toby slept lightly, as some children do, afraid of being caught unawares by the monsters in his closet or under his bed. Those terrors so real to us in our youngest years, the ones that inspire our fear of the dark as adults. Sleeping so lightly was he that he awoke sometime around midnight when he heard shuffled and thumping footsteps in the hallway outside his room. He thought it to be his father from the heavy sound of boots, but why was his father up and dressed at such an hour? He got out of bed and walked quietly and carefully to the door, cracking it just so. What he saw was not his father. It was some strange man. Toby couldn't make out much in the ways of features, but the man had an ungainly, fluid gait. As if his bones weren't quite there. He was wearing overalls without a shirt, and Toby could see, even in the dark, something squirming beneath his skin. Toby froze with fear. Thankfully the man was moving away from him and hadn't noticed his opening the door. Toby regained his composure when the man turned the corner to his parents' room, and he hurriedly shut the door and slightly less carefully ran to his bed and got under the covers. He was terrified as he heard his mother scream and his father yell out, and even more afraid of the silence that followed.

Toby heard two thumps, and then the sound of things being dragged. The noise got louder and the same footsteps could be heard again as whatever it was passed outside his room. Then the noise quieted, the footsteps faded away. He cowered under his covers, wondering what to do. After a minute he began to cry, softly at first, then no longer able to control himself he erupted into full-on wailing. So loud were his cries that he did not hear the footsteps once again, but he did hear the creaking of his doors hinges as it crept open. Toby went silent. Now he could hear the footsteps louder than ever as he lay quivering, the only thing between him and the man his comforter. His breaths came quickly, as something slowly pulled back his covers.

And there it stood.

The nightlight on his side table illuminated and cast shadows across the figure. It was a man, or what was left of one; the clothes nearly fell off of a frame so gaunt that it was literally skin and bone, highlighting the disgusting undulations of something just beneath the flesh. His skin was bone white, as if all the blood had been taken from his body. What pulled back the covers used to be a hand, but now was a mass of tentacles, purple and shiny in the dim blue light. But the most disturbing feature was the face. Where once some human visage had been there was now a singular black entity - a dome, shining brilliantly like polished obsidian. Toby made to scream, and that was the last thing he ever made to do. The creature used the opportunity presented by Toby’s open mouth to shove a tentacle from its “hand” down his throat. It hurt. It was a pain unlike anything little Toby had ever felt. He could feel the tentacle working its way down with tiny barbs, reaching into his stomach, ripping and tearing away at his insides. Meanwhile, two smaller tentacles found their way into his nose, working their way into his sinuses and curling up around his brain. By this point Toby no longer felt the pain in his throat and stomach, he’d gone limp in the space man’s grasp. Finally, to top it all off, a small, obsidian dome emerged from the mass of tentacles, and with jagged black spikes attached itself to Toby’s face.

The man grabbed Toby’s now dead body, and began dragging him across the floor. He took him outside, out into the field out back. The moonlight illuminated their bodies, causing the creature's skin to nearly glow from its entirely pallid complexion. He dragged little Toby out into the middle of the field, reuniting him with his parents. The monster laid them out in such a way as to make an equilateral triangle. Despite the sides being uneven it was perfect, their bodies head to foot, their domes shining in the moonlight. Then the creature stepped into the middle and shed its skin suit, its multitude of tentacles exposed and squirming in the cold air. A Lovecraftian horror it stood, being some seven feet tall outside of its confines.

After a few moments, a hole of light opened up above them, like some sort of gate to heaven fifty feet off the ground. The light was focused like a beam, hardly illuminating anything other than the triangle of bodies. But the bodies, they were awash in the glow from the night sky. The light rippled over them, but they cast no shadows as they began floating into the air as if rising from the bottom of the Dead Sea. Before long the four of them passed the threshold, and the heavens closed themselves to the world.

The Dome Space Man cometh, and The Dome Space Man taketh away.