Close Encounters

By Infinite Fill

This is the very first book written by Infinite Fill which consists of three very interesting short stories about Close Encounters with.....

The first story: 'Trace, the white light seems to be coming towards us!' Alvin glanced over to Tracy who was staring at the oncoming ball of light in a daze.

Story 2: The princely figure, now with luminous colours appered to be sparkling and throwing rainbow colours of light in every direction.

Story 3: Johnny lurched forward in a bid to reclaim his bag of gold....He could not stop and his momentum sent him over the edge of the plateau.      

• Language: English
• Publisher: Infinite Fill
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393177821

Book preview

By Infinite Fill

Contents

Story 1:

The Flying Torchlight          Page 3 – 47

Story 2:

The Princely Ghost      Page 48 – 126

Story 3:

The Warlock Who Stole Luck       Page 127 - 199

The Flying Torchlight

‘MUMMY, I’M HOME!’ TRACY shouted excitedly from the gate of their detached house, after alighting from her school bus.

Letting herself in after punching some numbers into the digital lock at the side-gate, she dashed towards their main-house – a quaint looking but pretty modern in design detached house snugged comfortably in a cosy neighbourhood close to the National Botanical Gardens. Her school bag seemed too big, too heavy for her small frame and every step, a herculean-task that, she dreaded from Day 1 of school.

‘How’s school today?’ Mrs Lee asked.

‘As usual,’ Tracy replied and she clambered up the stairs to her room.

‘Take a shower, get changed and come down for your lunch!’ Mrs Lee thundered.

Up in her room, which she shared with her twin brother - Alvin, she dropped her school bag with a heavy thud onto the wood flooring. En route to the bathroom, she just could not resist stealing glances at the ‘giant’ jig-saw puzzle that she and Alvin were trying to complete. The jig-saw puzzle is a 1,500-piece photograph of them with Mickey & Minnie taken at Disney Land during their last December holiday in Paris.      

A final glance at the half-completed jig-saw puzzle after her shower and she headed down for her sumptuous lunch.

‘Where’s Alvin, Mummy?’ Tracy mumbled, half chewing on her lasagne topped with her favourite grated mozzarella cheese and anxiously wanting to know when her twin brother will be home so they could continue with their quest to complete the jig-saw puzzle, framed it up and displayed it in their living room just above their television.

‘He’s got his basketball practise today, Girl,’ Mummy replied.

‘Have you forgotten again? It’s every Friday.’

‘Enjoying your lasagne?’

‘Yes, it’s perfect! Totally enjoying it!’ Tracy exclaimed approvingly.

‘Please finish all your homework before you do your puzzle again!’ Mrs Lee reminded.

‘Can’t do because we signed a pact to do the puzzle together no matter what,’ Tracy answered half-heartedly.

‘Well, finish your homework and I’ll bring you out for ice-cream near the Super-mart,’ Mrs Lee suggested after seeing a dejected Tracy.

‘Lots of stuff to buy for tomorrow’s tea-party.’

‘Alvin will be home by 6 o’clock and most probably your puzzle quest can only be continued around 9 pm tonight.’

’Okay,’ Tracy agreed reluctantly.

Hours later, Tracy and her mum headed for their usual shopping destination.

‘Mummy, we are in Holland Village!’ Tracy pointing out excitedly.

It’s a short eight minutes’ drive to this interesting and bustling neighbourhood - a popular shopping and dining destination among the younger Singaporeans and expatriates. Dotted with popular eateries and food chains, watering holes and some specialist shops, and shopping centres, Holland Village exudes a subtle European charm. 

After stocking up groceries, party necessities including disposable plates and cutleries, Mummy bought a bouquet of yellow lilies at her favourite florist. Next, she ordered a chocolate cake topped with succulent strawberries – which is Alvin’s and Tracy’s favourite cake, at the most popular ‘Cakes & Such’ to be collected before 3 pm tomorrow.

‘Ice-cream time!’ Tracy shouted.

Mummy nodded in approval.

‘You want Haagen-Dazs ice-cream?’ She asked. 

‘Yes, yes!’ Tracy answered emphatically.

A smiling waitress ushered them to a table by the window, settled them down, and offered them a glass of iced cold water each. Tracy and her mum gulped down the refreshing glass of water and beamed, ‘Wow!’ in unison.

‘Better than any other drink, ever!’ Tracy remarked.

‘Shall I top it up for you guys?’ the friendly waitress asked.

The weather this afternoon was definitely hot. A searing temperature of 35 degrees Celsius is a norm during the month of July. In this sweltering heat, a glass or two of iced cold water was definitely welcoming and comforting.

Looking through the ice-cream menu was totally appetising and mouth-watering. With so many dessert and sundae selections as well as ice-cream flavours to choose from, Tracy was agonising what to order but Mummy suggested a Banana Split and Tracy picked her favourite Wild Strawberry and Mango flavours, while Mum finished the order with Mint Chocolate Chip and Green Tea. 

‘Mummy, shall we top it up with Caramel and Chocolate Chips?’ Tracy pleaded.

‘Of course, Girl,’ Mummy replied.

While waiting for their ‘afternoon delight’ to arrive, Mrs Lee went through the list of guests and the ‘to-do’ list for tomorrow’s tea party with Tracy.   

‘Mrs Clement and her two nine years old twins, Mrs Tan, Dr Nancy and Mr and Mrs Gopal and their twelve years old son,’ Mrs Lee checked. 

‘How about Denise – Mrs Tan’s eight years old daughter?’ Tracy enquired. 

‘Isn’t she coming? I thought she told me she’s definitely coming!’ Tracy queried.

Right at that moment, Tracy noticed a familiar face staring into the window outside. A bespectacled cute little face is making funny faces at her. 

‘Mummy, it’s Denise!’ Tracy tucked at her mum.

‘Speaking of the devil, ha-ha!’ Mrs Lee laughed.

Soon, Mrs Tan and Denise joined them at their table.

‘I thought you promised to come to my tea party tomorrow, Denise?’ Tracy sounded agitated.

‘Of course, I am coming!’ Denise replied.

‘Mummy!’ Tracy looked at Mrs Lee inquiringly.

‘Ha-ha, I am just pulling your leg just now, Girl’ ‘And testing whether you are paying attention to what I am saying.’

‘Hurray!’ beamed Tracy.

Moments later, they were tucking into their Banana Splits.

While Mrs Lee and Mrs Tan were engaged in their adult conversation, Tracy and Denise were talking enthusiastically about their school life and everything interesting happening around them.

Talking about which, Denise related an interesting or rather strange incident that his older brother, Kevin, encountered last night.

While finishing up his project work in the wee hours of the night, he got up, stared out of his bedroom window into the night sky for a breather. The night sky was unusually clear and he could actually pick out the Southern Cross and other stellar constellations.  

Out of nowhere, a brilliant white light appeared in the night sky. It traversed across the sky haphazardly, the brilliant white light blinked on and off while it traversed across. Then all of a sudden, it disappeared out of the sky.

Kevin waited for well over ten minutes but the brilliant white light did not appear again.

‘UFO?’ Tracy almost shouted.

Mummy gave Tracy a stern look. ‘Quiet down, Girl!’

‘Not sure. Kevin couldn’t make out any form or shape. He saw only a brilliant white light.’

‘Could be anything!’ Denise answered.

‘Any noise he heard?’ Tracy questioned.

‘Nope. Completely silent. Kevin said.’ Denise replied.

‘Very strange indeed! What could it be?’ Tracy followed up.

‘Is he going to observe the night sky again tonight?’

‘Yes.’ Denise whispered into Tracy’s ear. ‘I’m going to join him tonight.’

‘Happy star gazing!’ Tracy whispered back. ‘Tell me everything tomorrow at my tea party.’

‘Definitely,’ Denise nodded.

After lapping up their last scoops of their favourite ice-cream, they all headed home happy and satisfied. For Denise and Tracy, there were an added sense of anticipation and excitement....

‘Alvin, are you done with your homework?’ Tracy asked anxiously.

‘What’s the time now?’ Alvin answered.

‘Coming to nine! We got to be in bed latest by ten-thirty pm!’ Tracy harried.  

‘Okay, okay. I am finishing.’ Alvin started packing up his books and stationery.

‘Can we start now?’ Tracy continued, already seated at their designated jig-saw puzzle station – a brightly lit area right at the centre of their bedroom.

‘You’ve got our favourite snack and drink ready?’ Alvin asked dashing to Tracy’s side.

‘Sour Cream Potato Chips and Strawberry Milk, checked!’ Tracy replied while trying very hard to place a piece of the uncompleted puzzles onto its rightful place.

‘Ha, I got you!’ Alvin triumphantly sounded out.

‘Remember this totally white piece which we had tried to figure out where it should go, since last afternoon?’

‘Great job, Al!’ Tracy beamed. ‘Can’t wait to have this ‘giant’ puzzle framed up and display over our television!’ 

Although Tracy and Alvin were fraternal twins, they looked pretty identical – same dark brown eyes, black hair, facial features and physical build. Even their infectious smile was identical. Couldn’t really tell them apart if not for their hair length, their voices and the clothes they wore. And of course, Alvin loved playing basketball while Tracy enjoyed swimming.

The twins were close, doing their school homework together, spending most of their free time together solving jig-saw puzzles – they have upgraded from 500 pieces, 750 pieces, then 1,000 pieces and the current 1,500 pieces ‘giant’ puzzle, all within a short span of two years and they also enjoyed the same cartoons and children’s television programmes together.

Besides, they supported each other emotionally – the best of friends and they didn’t keep any secrets from each other.

‘Trace, any interesting happened today?’ Alvin mumbled while munching on a mouthful of their favourite potato snack.

‘Yes! Mum brought me to Holland Village and we had Banana Split at Haagen-Dazs,’ Tracy replied.

‘We had our favourite Strawberry and Mango flavours. Envious?’

‘Yup. Super envy!’ Alvin retorted. ‘But nothing interesting.’

‘Oh, then Denise appeared with her mum!’ Tracy half replying and trying to focus on her jig-saw puzzle.    

‘Appearing from thin air, out of nowhere?’ Alvin laughed heartily.

‘Sort of. I saw her face suddenly peering into the window next to my seat!’ Tracy tried to make it sound interesting.

‘Not interesting at all!’ Alvin responded.

‘Oh!’ exclaimed Tracy.

Alvin almost tossed the packet of chips into the air. ‘What!?’ Staring at Tracy.

‘I remembered something very, very interesting Denise told me when we were talking and enjoying our ice-cream!’ Tracy sounded out and was now very keen to share that interesting incident Kevin experienced the night before.

Alvin sat upright and anxiously awaited Tracy’s account of the incident.

Just as Tracy finished relating the whole incident that Kevin encountered last night while peering into the night sky, they jumped out of their sitting position when they heard a loud thud.

The door opened.

‘Guys, it’s close to bedtime!’ Dad bellowed. ‘Come on, go wash up and get ready to go sleep.’

‘Okay Daddy,’ the twins replied in unison. ‘Goodnight Daddy!’

‘Goodnight Guys! Better sleep well. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow.’ Dad hugged and kissed them goodnight.

After Dad left them to wash up, Alvin whispered to Tracy, ‘Shall we continue with our jig-saw puzzle for another hour?’

‘Dad and Mum will know if our lights are still on, Al.’

‘Remember the powerful torchlight that Grandpa gave me last Christmas?’

‘Yes, yes. We had a great time shining at neighbours’ houses and shining it up into the night sky,’ laughed Tracy.

‘We can prop the torchlight upon the stool and continue our puzzle,’ Alvin suggested. ‘Better keep time, we need to stop at 11.30 pm.’

Getting no reply from Tracy, he turned to find her deep in thoughts.

‘Well, penny for your thoughts!’ Alvin nudged his twin sister.

Alvin saw a sly smile appearing on Tracy’s little glowing face.

‘Well, what’s up?’ Alvin asked inquisitively.

As they were getting out of their en suite bathroom, they turned off the lights including their bedroom lights except for the nightlights on the bedside table beside each of their bed. 

‘Al,’ whispered Tracy. ‘Shall we do something more exciting and interesting instead?’

‘What’s more exciting and interesting than challenging our `giant’ puzzle in the dark?’ Alvin whispered back. ‘Using just a torchlight to help us see!’

‘Remember the incident Kevin encountered last night?’ Tracy tempted.

‘Denise is joining her brother tonight to observe the night sky!’ Tracy continued. ‘We can’t join them but we can do some observation ourselves, right, Al?’

‘Ha-ha, sounds exciting indeed!’ Kevin whispered excitedly, trying hard to contain his excitement.

‘Alvin, I can almost see your face glowing with excitement!’ Tracy teased her twin brother. ‘Good idea, right!?’

Alvin was grabbing and shaking Tracy’s arm vehemently and nodding his head approvingly at the same time. 

‘Let’s do it!’ Both sounding out at the same time.

‘But is it too early now?’ Alvin asked. ‘It’s only 10:40 pm.’  

‘No harm starting earlier then miss it later,’ Tracy suggested. ‘Maybe tonight the UFO will visit earlier.’

They crept to the window to avoid making any noise on the hardwood flooring. Looking up into the night sky brought back fond memories they had with Daddy when they were crazy about the powerful torchlight Grandpa gave Alvin. Those nights were like one year ago but they were fresh in their minds. They would shine their light at neighbours’ windows and when someone appeared before the windows, they would duck below their window and had a good laugh about it. They would also take turns to spot any stray cats or dogs, shine at them and make them danced and pounced around the light spots. More often, they would challenge each other who could spot fruit bats flying and perching at some nearby fruit trees.

They also enjoyed gazing at stars and picking out constellations which Daddy had taught them to identify. But, after so many nights, they only managed to picked out the Southern Cross and one satellite.

One of their favourite pastimes was to shine the powerful torchlight into the night sky and to see how far it can light up. Daddy was always warning them not to shine at any aircraft because it was illegal.

‘Saw anything interesting?’ Alvin whispered. ‘It’s been half an hour since we started.’

‘One super big round moon!’ Tracy joked. ‘Wonder if Denise and Kevin saw anything?’

‘So, when do we call it a day, or night?’ Alvin asked. ‘We stop at 11.30 pm?’

‘What if the light appears at midnight, Al?’ Tracy replied. ‘We’ll miss this fantastic opportunity to witness something extraordinary in our lifetime!’

‘Like you know it will not appear again tomorrow night or another night?’

‘You bet!’ retorted Tracy.

Just as they were arguing about when to stop the night sky observation, a brilliant ball of white light suddenly appeared in the night sky before their very eyes.

‘Wow, you saw that Trace?’ Alvin held Tracy’s hand tightly.

‘Yes, yes!’ Tracy stammered. ‘Think it’s the same brilliant light that Kevin saw?’

‘Have to be,’ Alvin answering unbelievably. ‘Fits all the description that Kevin mentioned.’

The ball of white light was not very far from them actually. It was moving at great speed in no particular direction, almost haphazardly as Kevin mentioned. But Tracy noticed something different about what Kevin described.

Instead of blinking on and off while it traversed across the sky, the brilliant white light seemed to be flickering.

‘I noticed it too,’ Alvin agreed totally. ‘It is flickering and not blinking!’

‘Shall we shine the torchlight at the ‘UFO’?’

‘No! Remember what Daddy kept reminding us?’ Tracy sounded very concerned. ‘Never ever shine bright lights at aircraft flying in the night sky!’

Before she could finish her stern warning to Alvin, she saw the powerful white light from Alvin’s torchlight shining into the night sky where the big ball of white light was traversing across.

‘No Alvin!’ Tracy let out a cry. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Can you turn it off instantly?’ 

Alvin turned off his torchlight immediately and at the same time noticed something strange.

‘Trace, the white light seems to be coming towards us!’ Alvin glanced over to Tracy who was staring at the oncoming ball of light in a daze.   

Alwin pulled Tracy down to hide below the window sill. Hugging each other and shivering in fear. They could see their room illuminated by the oncoming ball of light. They waited for something drastic to happen and praying that nothing would ever happen.

Within a few moments, they heard rustling of leaves of a nearby tree and finally a loud thud. Their room was dark again, no more illuminated by any foreign bright light.

With his back against the wall under the window sill, Alvin finally managed to take a peek around their bedroom. All was quiet and dark except for their nightlights.

‘Trace, the coast is clear.’ Alvin whispered.

They managed to stand up gingerly.

‘Are you alright, Trace?

‘Yes, how about you?’ Tracy replied nervously. ‘Scary stuff just now!’

‘Pretty intense huh?’ Alvin added as he shone his torchlight around their room to make sure no ‘UFO’ or anything strange landed in their bedroom. 

‘You heard the rustling of leaves and a loud thud just now, Al? Tracy asked.

‘Sure did!’ Alvin replied. ‘Let me check out the trees nearby.’

Alvin shone his powerful torchlight at several trees nearby but they could not see anything strange and they gave up after several minutes.

‘Think we better turn in for the night,’ Tracy said. ‘Enough excitement for the night!’

‘Totally agree!’ Alvin responded. ‘And goodnight.’

‘Goodnight, Al.’

They did not immediately drift off into dreamland. At least Tracy didn’t. The whole episode just then still spooked her although she was safe and comfortable in her bed. She tried to recall the events in her head from the moment they spotted the brilliant white ball of light – flickering instead of blinking that Kevin described, to when Alvin started shining at the ball of light with his powerful torchlight. And the scariest moment of their lives when they noticed the white ball of light was coming towards them very quickly and she was in a daze until and luckily Alvin pulled her down under the window.

‘Must be Alvin’s shining his torchlight at the ball of light that attracted its attention or antagonise it to come charging at us!’ Tracy thought.

‘Alvin,’ Tracy whispered. ‘Alvin!’ She raised her voice a little. ‘Are you awake?’

No response came from Alvin. She wanted to throw a small pillow in the direction of Alvin but refrained from the action in the last moment.

‘Must be very tired – the basketball practise, homework, the jig-saw puzzle and finally UFO spotting!’ Tracy mumbled to herself, looking at the sleeping Alvin.

‘Well, goodnight, Al and we shall have a good talk about this tomorrow!’

‘Come on!’ Daddy was shouting from the front. ‘They are gaining on us!’

Daddy was