Lethal Silence – Alexander Makarytchev

Lethal Silence – Alexander Makarytchev

10 Jun 2012


lethalsilence

by Alexander Makarytchev

Alexander came with his class to a writing workshop in July 2011. The class wrote the beginning of Lethal Silence together (in italics below), then finished it on their own.

As the spaceship hurtled towards earth, Gordon let out a terrifying scream. He was about to land in Santa’s workshop. He thought of life back on his home planet, Mars, where he had an endless supply of space candy and life was good.

Gordon was a slug-like Martian with seven eyes and sunglasses. His irises and body could change colour whenever he liked. He was sent from Mars to brainwash the innocent things who live on earth. Gordon got out of the spaceship and saw lots of elves. He thought they were leprechauns and had already been brainwashed.

Making a joke, he said, ‘I come in pieces.’

The elves stared at him blankly.

He said, ‘Resistance is futile.’

The elves looked at him even more blankly.

He held a piece of space candy and said,‘If you can understand me, you can have this.’

All the elves went to grab the candy. After they started eating it they felt a bit sick. Santa came in and asked, ‘Who is doing this to my elves?’

Suddenly a big ball of fire hurtled through the atmosphere and out of it jumped Bob. Bob had wings and was an alien in disguise. He had come to save the earth and stop Gordon.

 Gordon stared and Bob stared back. Gordon was not fooled by Bob’s pitiful disguise. Bob had always terrorised Gordon, even as a child. Finally it was time for payback. Gordon quickly scooped up a massive water gun from a trolley. It was actually more like a water cannon. He screamed in fury as he let loose all his anger into that one jet of water. Bob let out a piercing scream as the gargantuan beam of water collided into his fiery body.

He crumpled to the ground and faded away as the last embers of his once magnificent body drifted away. As Gordon’s rage subsided into an unsettling silence he felt the true horror of what he had done. He stumbled out into the night, appalled at what he had done and collapsed into the snow. For a while he looked at the majestic night sky with its gorgeous stars and glorious moon. Then the cold of the night took him as he settled into an uneasy sleep.

When he woke up the sun was glaring at him with all its might, as if to try to keep him warm in the merciless cold. He had a small icicle growing out of his nose. He reluctantly straightened his slug body and peered into the distance. He saw a strange object stumbling embarrassingly across the freezing water.

After it stopped he saw a few pinkish creatures walk out into the snow and ice. He moved closer and dragged himself up to the object with his suckers squelching against the side of it. He crawled into a small hatch and curled into a ball. He thought he was safe until, click, the door shut with a little noise. Even though it was so quiet it might as well have been deafening because its meaning was certain.

He was trapped and alone.

The ship stuttered to life and the crate was very loose. Gordon was bounced and jolted around as the ship moved grudgingly across the vast sea. Gordon’s mind slowly drifted away and he fainted.

Once again the sun was on him but this time the merciless cold wasn’t around. He was on a place full of sand like his home, but this sand was yellow. The sun’s beams were shimmering on the swelteringly hot sand. Creatures were running around and playing joyfully in the water. The remains of the unfortunate crate lay near him in a tumble of splinters. One of those pink creatures was prodding him with a stick.

When he rose up the thing was about to scream when he clamped a slimy tentacle over its mouth. Then he put two slimy tentacles on either side of the head and squelching sound was heard as the tentacles brainwashed the innocent thing. Its eyes glazed over and it stumbled aimlessly around the sand without a master to command it. Cunningly, he slinked from person to person, cold-heartedly brainwashing all of them.

Soon there was only one creature left. One insignificant creature. It was sobbing and bawling its head off. As he came to it, it looked up with fear in its eyes. He stuck his tentacles on its head and started to brainwash it when something clicked in his mind.

His whole life flashed before his eyes. A life of endless and mindless brainwashing, ruining people’s lives. He had already brainwashed everyone on the beach but there was still a long painful journey to go before it was complete.

As he went back to reality there was nothing but silence . . . Lethal Silence.

About the Author – Alexander Makarytchev

Alexandria Park Community School

In his own words: “WASSUP? My name is Alexander Makarytchev, author of my version of ‘Lethal Silence’. My hobbies are video gaming, reading and eating. My favourite games right now are ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’. My favourite food is pizza. The things in life that I hate are music, long-distance running (I am pretty good at sprinting), and AAARRRRTTTT (I REALLY hate art!!). I have a brother who varies between nice and annoying.”

Alexander’s story was published in I Met a Martian and Other Stories, the Sydney Story Factory’s first official anthology.