text: At first, I thought it my ears playing tracks on me, but when I entered the kitchen, I noticed the backdoor was wide open and I caught a glimpse of something large in the yard, which looked almost like a meteor, but I didn’t hear anything like that this morning or the night before. It had a rippling layer of gold over a transparent shell of green. Sharon, my wife said something and turning my attention to her, I asked. “What did you say? And what’s that thing outside?” “Eraluth meg’ath nousth,” she said, smiling to Stevey, who sat across the table. Stevey, who was dirty and I assumed he got that way from playing outside that morning, returned the smile and replied, “Asouth de’ath aggilth’b.” “What are you guys saying? Is this one of those made up languages to fool me?” I asked, looking from my wife to my son, confused. I had taken French, Spanish, and even some Latin in college but what they spoke seemed to be so obscure, so odd, that I recognized no dialect of any language. She looked up at me and said, “Acum’th uonagg tura-tae’ggth” and Stevery, cheerily, faced me and said, “Manjeuth ujjothyine nagith.” There was something about their eyes I noticed. She had crystal blue eyes, something that caught my attention when we met in college, and my son had gotten my brown ones, but the blues of my wife’s eyes were tinged green and gold, while Stevey’s were a bright hazel. Maybe it was just the way the sun hit their ears? but... That doesn’t explain why they’re speaking like this? “C’mon, stop joking around. We have some stuff to do today and I can’t have you speaking gibberish, the neighbors will think we’re crazy.” Stevey looked at his mother, and said, nodding. “Uejith neugg brujth.” I felt a throb in my temples and I dug my nails into my palms. It was fun at first, but now it was becoming annoying. It was too early for something like this, especially when we had a day planned to go out to the park with the neighbors. “All right, cut this out now. It’s not funny anymore.” Stevey turned to me, repeating what he said to his mother. “Now quit it!” I roared, slamming my fist on the table. “If you talk like that one more time, you’re grounded for a week!” Sharon said, grinning. “Houg’th nyuaeth blougfh.” I quickly turned towards her. “And you too, Sharon! Don’t fucking play along with this! You’re a parent, too!” They both suddenly stood up, their chairs toppling onto the ground. Stevey stood with Sharon, who began to walk towards me. I stumbled back, nearly falling against the stove against the wall. Incessantly they droned in unison, “Suoth’in jus’goi noijgus.” “Stop! For the love of god stop this!” I moved away from the stove to the wall, where it seemed they jerked forward at a speed I didn’t quite see, as if I blinked and they teleported. They stood before me, not moving, smiling. “Stop, please!” I begged. “If you don’t, God help me I will do what I have to do!” I didn’t want to hurt them, they were my family, but the way they were acting was driving me insane. Sharon placed a hand on my shoulder, and the frustration I had pent up seemed to explode inside me. Before I knew it, I punched her in the stomach. But when my fist connected with her abdomen... it felt like I had punched a stone wall. Immediately I felt the sharp pain of my fingers breaking shoot up my arm. Tears erupted from my eyes and I quickly pulled my hand band and cradled it against my chest. I slid down the wall, sitting on the floor. “What are you? You’re-- you’re not my family.” I murmured. Sharon leaned forward, placing her face an inch before mine. Her wide eyes seemed to grow beyond human capabilities, and the green and gold inside her beautiful eyes began to twist, to turn, to swirl around in her cornea. The snaking colors sprung from her eyes and everything went black, as a sudden, burning pain exploded over my body. Read more of my stories on my . Purchase my work on .