It's Alive
It was supposed to be a casserole, a casserole like nothing his family had eaten before. It had the typical ingredients: meat, vegetables, cheese, and broth. But the results were far from typical.
At first, the blob only wiggled, trying to get used to the tingling sensation of a living body. Then he stood, which caught Alan's attention for the first time. He gasped, poking the food-like entity half expecting it to fall back over into the casserole dish. Instead it cried out in delight, jumping back with a wide, cheese-filled smile.
"It's alive…," Alan murmured in disbelief, poking the thing again just to watch it react. "How did I do that?"
In that very moment, Buster arrived. Alan's mother had invited him over for helping them at the shop earlier that day. She thought it'd be a treat for Buster to eat one of Alan's creations, as he'd cooked for the family before with pleasant results.
And the trip was definitely a treat. Buster opened the door as soon as Alan touched the creature, and he stood in the doorway gaping at the creature throughout the entire reaction, cheesy smile and all. Alan smiled and made a sound of disbelief before gasping loudly: Buster cried out in a mix of half-fear and half-shock.
"What is that thing? Brain, is it an alien?" Buster gasped, moving towards the food-thing so fast that he frightened it, causing it to dive into the corner of the casserole dish, a wave of aluminum foil covering his body. "It's an alien! They've landed! Aliens have landed in Elwood City! Man, I forgot my camera," Buster sighed. "Brain, get your camera. Please, it might be our only chance!" he exclaimed, pulling at Alan's sleeves.
"Buster, it's not an alien! I created it somehow, but I don't know what I did. It might've been the extra salt or the extra mayonnaise. I'm really not quite sure," he said, scratching his head.
"What's all the fuss about in here?" Mrs. Powers asked.
"ALIENS!" Buster cried, pointing to the cowering creature still hiding under the aluminum foil. It was completely still, and Mrs. Powers thought it looked just like their dinner.
"Oh, Buster, you're always making me laugh!" she chuckled. "Alan, your father will be home from work in ten minutes. Is your meal almost ready?"
"N-Not quite," Alan stammered, giving Buster a look while his mother left the room. "What do we do? I can't tell her I created this. You've scared it so much it might not move for us again. Look at him," Alan said, trying to pull the foil away with no luck. "He's strong and sensitive. He's so helpless. I can't let my parents try to eat him. I have to tell them. They'll never believe me because this is nonsense, but I have to tell them."
Buster thought for a moment, his eyes searching the room. He spotted a box of rice and some other leftover ingredients and he started pouring them all in another casserole dish sitting on the counter. Alan watched as Buster threw together a casserole, place it into the still-hot oven, and set the timer for thirty minutes.
"That should be enough time to get him to my house. It's hot outside so you should put it in a cooler. We can't risk damaging him," Buster said frantically, moving towards the Powers' garage, since that's where he'd seen a cooler before.
But that was a year ago. Since then, the family's cooler had sprung a leak that caused too much off a mess, so his mother threw it away. The only other cooler was too small for the entire dish. They'd have to get him out somehow, which meant that Buster had to leave the room.
"No, I don't trust you, Brain. Call me paranoid, but I just don't trust you to keep this thing alive. You don't believe enough. You never have," Buster murmured with a crazed look in his eye. Alan scoffed at him, pulling the medium-sized lunch bag from the cabinet above the refrigerator. "Brain, promise me or I won't leave. Promise me you won't hurt him."
"I promise, Buster. I won't hurt him," Alan assured him. "Now go. My dad will be home soon and we need to-"
But it was too late. He heard the car door slam, which silenced him immediately. The boys exchanged glances before haste took over. Alan dumped the dish, foil and all, into the lunch bag and ran with Buster out the back door. They ran and ran through the Elwood City streets on the way to Buster's condo.
Once there, they moved past Mrs. Baxter as quietly as they could, tiptoeing up the stairs and into Buster's room.
"Open it, open it!" Buster whispered frantically, helping Alan pull open the zipper.
Inside, a mound of crumpled casserole looked up at them. There was no life, no smile. It did not laugh when Alan touched it, nor when Buster touched it.
"How could you do this?! You killed it!" Buster cried, his voice so loud that Mrs. Baxter ran up the stairs to see what was going on. "He killed it! He killed his own creation!"
"Buster, I-"
But Alan felt the same way. He closed the lunch bag, sulking past the very confused Mrs. Baxter and into the hall.
There was no explanation for why it came alive in the first place. Maybe it was all a lie. Maybe it was all trapped gas reacting in a human-looking fashion.
Alan didn't know what to make of his so-called "creation," but now that it was dead, he was a shell of a man. He sulked home, his mind numb and empty. He walked slowly, even when crossing the street. He was honked at and nearly ran over, but it didn't matter. His creation was dead.
"Alan, where have you been?!" his mother scolded when he sulked into the door. "Where's Buster? Answer me, Alan!" his mother pleaded.
Alan slipped right past her and to his room.
Hours later, he woke up without even realizing he'd gone to sleep. The container was moving in his hands, moving in a pattern Brain didn't recognize at first. Then he did: Something was trying to escape.
"You're alive!" Alan cried, picking up the friendly blob of food. "I thought you were gone! Oh, this is wonderful!"
The food blob squealed happily, wiggling in Alan's hand. A moment later, he was running around the container, laughing at every spin around the turns.
"I'll get you an aquarium so you'll have more space, and I'll never do that again. You're mine, all mine," Brain smiled. "I'm Frankenstein and you're creature. I've fulfilled an item on my bucket list without even realizing it," he said, moving to his desk and marking the item off his secret list.
As his house lay silent, Alan watched his squealing creature with delight, his secret creature that would never leave his sight again.
Theme 014: Wonders
Self-Created Prompt: Brain creates a creature in a kitchen; Buster discovers the "alien" and hilarity ensues.
To complete the themes yourself, I have the list posted on my profile. The list is for any type of fan fiction (one-shot, drabble, etc.) and any fandom. Challenge yourself in other ways to make it more fun, and enjoy!