Chapter 3

The next day Melanie woke without any provocation from her beeping alarm clock. She lay in her bed waiting for the sun to come up and the day began. She felt strange. She knew that from the way the bed looked that she had tossed and turned all night.

Of course, she did have a good reason for all the tossing and turning. Her dreams were tainted by flying spaceships and tall misshapen humanoids. She kept imagining that they were abducting her Jamie and taking him away from her forever.

She shuddered at the thought of that. Jamie was one of the most important humans in her live. She hated to think of anything bad happening to that sweet little boy.

Melanie eyes squinted as the sun slowly began to creep into her room. Today there was no smell of bacon.

She was shocked when the sound of her alarm clock started going off. She had forgotten to disarm it. She reached over and flipped the button that would turn it off.

She got out of bed, not remembering how she got in there in the first place. She had on her pajama pants and shirt.

She looked at herself in the mirror and was surprised to find out that her hair was lying perfectly in place.

She got out of the bed, folding all of the sheets into hospital corners. She walked out of the room into the living room. Her father Trev was sitting there but Jamie was probably still in bed.

"Hey," he said sleepily with a smile on his face.

She yawned and blinked. "Hey, woke up early too."

He sighed. "I'm waiting for Jeb to get here. I swear I'm going to throw him out of this house and never think about him again."

"Dad, he's your brother. You can't stop loving him."

"I never said that I'd stop loving him. There is nothing he can do or say that will ever make me stop loving him. I just said that he won't be back in my house. I love Jeb I just can't understand his reasoning."

Melanie looked at the clock hanging above the television it was five in the morning, her mom should already be up.

"Where's mom." She asked.

"Oh, she left at four so she could get to her mothers house before nighttime."

"Oh," she said softly. She picked up the television remote and flipped on the television. It was on the news channel that it was on last night.

"Today the most miraculous things have happened. Over fifty thousand people have turned themselves in for crimes they committed or to have drug rehab. This is truly a great day for America"

They news continued on this way. It was full of inspirational stories and changes in nature. At seven Jamie walked into the living room to join them.

They continued to watch the new until there was a knock on the door. A frazzled looking Uncle Jeb walked through the door without waiting for someone to open in.

"Come on in, Jeb." Their dad said sarcastically.

Basically, Jeb looked terrible. His semi-white hair was sticking up in place and there were black bruise-like places under his eyes. His clothes were wrinkled and had holes in them. There were grease stains all over them and looked like they haven't been changed in weeks. He didn't wait for anybody to invoke the conversation.

"Trev, you are my brother and I care for you. So I'm begging that you listen to me. Don't trust anybody. I want you to come with me to the safe house."

Trev laughed. "Honestly."

Jeb's eyes flashed with a hint of red in them. "There is something wrong with the world. Don't trust anybody."

"Okay I just got done watching the news and so far all I can see is that the world is going great."
"Oh Trev surely you aren't as dumb as you are acting right now. The world is changing at a breakneck pace. Mayberry wasn't as nice as things are getting."

Trev just laughed. Jeb grabbed a photo album from the table. He searched around his pocket until he found a pencil. He started to practically carve into the back of it.

"I should have gone with Linda to her mothers. Then at least I wouldn't have to talk to you."

"Lind's mama asked you all to come up for a visit, right? Kind of strange, out of the blue? Got a little upset when only Linda would come? Tell the truth, Trey, I don't think Linda will be minding anything much when she gets back. Oh, she might act like it, but you'll be able to tell the difference."

"Get out of my house, Jeb." Trev ordered.

"Don't trust anybody."

"Out, Jeb."

He walked over to Melanie and pulled her close. "Don't le 'em get you honey," he whispered. "Follow the lines. Start at the beginning and follow the lines. Uncle Jeb'll keep a safe place for you."
Trev ran over. "Damn it Jeb, out of my house," he said through tightly clenched teeth. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him over to the door.

"I've warned you. Don't trust anybody." The door slammed in Jeb's face.

Trev made an indiscernible noise. "That man? How can he come into my house, deface my picture frame, and claim that the world is being taken over? How can we be related? How am I the only normal one in the family? I swear sometimes I think that I'm adopted. "

Melanie and Jamie didn't say a word while he was ranting. Jamie looked worried but Melanie looked confused. The things that Jeb had said were true. The town had surpassed that of Mayberry. It was way too nice.

Their phone began to ring. Trev went and answered it. Melanie took advantage of the moment alone with Jamie. "What do you think, Jamie?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what to think. I don't think that he's lying, but he's telling what he thinks the truth is."

"What if it's true?" He looked, highly disbelievingly at her. "Just think about it. I see a spaceship in the sky and suddenly the world changes and everybody starts acting weird and then Uncle Jeb comes and confirms my suspicious."

He sat, speechless, realizing the precedence in what she was saying. "I don't know but can you really believe that there are aliens and other planets out in the universe. It just crazy to…"

Jamie stopped in the middle of the sentence. Trev walked into the living room from the kitchen. "That was your mother, she sounded really strange over the phone. She ran into some car trouble when she got to her mothers house. I've got to go help her fix the car. Melanie, I want you to take care of Jamie while I'm getting your mother and the car. We'll be back before tomorrow evening. I've already called Mrs. Whittleson, she'll check over here every-so-often."

He grabbed a hat off of the hat rack next to the door and walked out. "Well, uh," Jamie said after their father had walked out of the front door. "That was weird."

"He was lying." She stated simply.

"What."

"Yeah. He has this little quirk when he lies he'll always put on a hat. He was defiantly lying about something."

"What do you think he was lying about?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I think the reason that he went up there. I don't think that mom's car had anything to do with it."

Jebediah sat furious in the desert, camouflage colored jeep three blocks away. How dare his brother treat him like that? Throw him out when he could prove what he was saying was true.

He just hope that some of his message went into his niece and nephew. He rarely ever saw them but loved them more than words can describe. Now he could only hope that they believed him.

His brother's car passed by him. 'Where is he going?' Jeb thought to himself. He started the jeep and went off into the opposite direction to the caves. "I tried and I failed." He took out a cell phone from his jacket pocket.

He dialed a number and held it to his ear.

"Maggie speaking."

"The invasion has started." He closed the phone, looked straight ahead, and started driving.