Thursday, December 16, 2010

Walking with Superman: Day 148

Up on a housetop, some thing creeps,
Through the chimney, madness seeps.
Lights flash with colors that should not be
from non-Euclidean Christmas Trees.


Superman isn't the only alien visitor to Newburyport, Massachusetts this week. A bizarre creature fell out of the sky onto the Howard family's suburban house only a few days before he arrived, and it has since caused no end of strange problems. Witnesses report different, often conflicting descriptions of the creature, and those who look at it too long or too closely have had an unfortunate tendency to slip into psychosis. Reality around it seems to have warped; light no longer travels in a strictly straight line around the shapeless visitor, and houses sag into impossible angles. Neighbors have complained of motion sickness and abnormal dreams, and the Howards have not stepped outside since it landed. Phone calls to the house produce only strange music, and those who have caught glimpses through the sagging windows have said that the Howards no longer look entirely human. And as the thing begins to stir, apparently waking from unconsciousness, slipping its tendrils around nearby houses and digging them into the ground, Superman decides to attempt communication. What he learns of the entity's origins is more bizarre than even its affects on Newburyport, and makes the problem of sending it away much more urgent. What is the secret of the thing on the housetop?

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