As Dillon and his younger brother Derrek fished at the edge of the river, they argued like many brothers do.
“Will you be quiet, we’re never going to catch any fish if you keep blabbering,” Dillon grumbled.
“But I’m just trying to tell you what I heard Nick say the other day,” Derrek said.
“There are no such things as monsters, aliens, or ghosts Derrek, just drop it.”
Derrek turned his head and stared at his fishing line. He became quiet because he knew that his brother wasn’t going to listen to him. Dillon glanced down the riverbank at his brother and could tell that he was sulking. He wanted to apologize but he also wanted some peace and quiet for awhile. Dillon sat there and watched his line but also thought about what his brother had said. Could there be aliens underground? I thought that they would come from other planets, Dillon thought.
As a half an hour passed, suddenly Derrek spoke, “I got one, I got one.”
Dillon looked at his brother and carefully got up to go help him, “reel it in but go slow… You got it,” Dillon smiled at Derrek.
“Yay, I caught a fish, finally,” Derrek held his pole tight.
After Derrek reeled the fish in, Dillon took his pole so that he could stand up.
“Is it a trout Dillon?”
“Yes it is and it’s a good size one too,” Dillon carried the pole and fish over to the pail full of water.
“Are we going to fish some more or go home and show Mom?” Derrek asked.
“Well, we only have two here so we could use one more for Mom,” Dillon said.
“But Mom said that she doesn’t care for fish that much,” Derrek reminded him.
“Oh yeah, well we can go home then if really you want to,” Dillon looked at his brother.
Just then the boys heard what sounded like a loud thud or crash.
“What was that?” Derrek asked.
They looked across the river but didn’t see anything at first. As they scanned the area, they started to see some smoke rising from the ground.
“I don’t know but it must be on fire.”
The boys tried to see what it was but because of the thick brush on the other side they couldn’t.
“I wish we had a boat,” Derrek said.
“We don’t but the McMillon’s do,” Dillon smiled at Derrek.
“Yeah, let’s go. Maybe it’s an alien spaceship,” Derrek said.
Dillon and Derrek left their fish and tackle behind and walked along the river to their neighbors yard. The McMillon’s lived on a double lot so they had more land for their yard. It took the boys about seven minutes to get to the boat that was tied to the dock in the water.
“Come on but be careful,” Dillon said to Derrek as he stepped into the small boat.
Dillon took his brothers hand and helped him into the boat. Derrek sat down on the small seat while Dillon sat on the other and grabbed the oars.
Dillon rowed the boat back down the river past where they were fishing. He looked for the smoke and rowed towards it.
“I think that it’s down this way,” Dillon glanced back at the riverbank.
“Do you think it’s a spaceship?” Derrek asked.
“I told you that I don’t believe in that stuff,” Dillon said as he continued to row.
Once Dillon found a decent place to park the boat on that side of the river, he rowed close to the riverbank. He grabbed onto a small tree that was growing sideways from the riverbank and looped the rope around it.
“Okay, I’ll hold onto the tree while you climb out of the boat,” Dillon said to Derrek.
Derrek carefully climbed onto the riverbank and waited for his brother. Dillon then climbed out and onto the bank, and glanced around. The two of them walked through some thick brush and got a whiff of smoke.
“It must be over there,” Dillon said and continued walking.
“This is kind of scary,” Derrek said.
“Do you want to wait here then?” Dillon stopped and asked him.
“No, I want to stay with you.”
“Okay, stick close to me then,” Dillon said.
The two of them hiked about fifty feet inland before they saw the small smoldering pile of something.
“What is that?” Derrek crinkled his nose and asked.
Dillon waved his hand in front of his face to try and disperse the smell, “I’m not sure.”
Suddenly, the dark grey rock looking object shook and then cracked open. Steam expelled from the object and the horrible smell got worse.
“Oh my goodness that stinks,” Dillon grabbed his nose and turned his head.
“Dillon, I’m scared, let’s go home,” Derrek turned around and walked about five feet.
“You wanted to see this right? Maybe it is an alien spaceship,” Dillon said to his brother.
“I never thought of alien’s smelling so bad though,” Derrek stopped and said.
Derrek stayed where he was while Dillon stepped a little closer to the object. He did see something move within the smoldering mound but couldn’t tell what it was. Just then, Dillon heard a familiar sound coming closer to them. He hurried over to his brother and forced him to duck behind some fir trees.
“What’s wrong Dillon?”
“Shh, be quiet,” Dillon held his brother still.
Dillon and Derrek stood completely still while a drone flew past them and over the smoldering object. The drone hovered over it for about five minutes and recorded what it was seeing. Then, as quickly as the drone arrived, when it was done, it was quickly gone. Dillon Knew what a drone was because his step-father had shown him one before he died.
“Okay, we need to go now,” Dillon said.
“Dillon, what was that?” Derrek looked up at his brother.
“It was a drone, and probably sent from the government,” Dillon said.
“Do you think whatever crashed is alien?”
Dillon looked at his brother, “I guess it is possible,” he then glanced around, “and someone out here saw it crash so we need to go before we are caught.”
Dillon took the lead and headed towards the boat. Derrek kept pretty close to his brother as they made their way through some brush. When they got to the boat Derrek hurried into it. Dillon climbed in and untied the rope. He still felt anxious but relieved that they were headed back to the other side of the river. He wasn’t sure what had crashed over there, but he knows now that someone somewhere is always watching. Why else would that drone have shown up like that? He also remembered that there is a government airport not to far away from there. Could it be aliens or something the airport people created? Either way, I’m sure it won’t be on the news.