Damned Thing Rewrite

Off the coast of Spain lies a small island, so remote that it doesn’t even appear on world maps. No one outside the little island even knows about it. It’s only other proof of existence is a little piece of paper Christopher Columbus had signed, claiming the island as property of Spain. The Queen called it Deserted Island. Over the years people passed it by, and did nothing, though some occasionally stopped and rested. When passing by, it looked like a giant sandbar. Its inhabitants, four small families, were all descendants from the islands first inhabitant or so they thought.
It was July, which meant that it was trading month. The Rodriguez family would be traveling to the mainland where they would sell their catch. For some odd reason, Luis stayed behind, stating he was behind in his work. Luis was a well respected and exceptional scientist, so the family didn’t question. After a week of selling fish and spending their profit, the family returned with smiles. Their catch had totaled over $300,000, but after all the expenditures $200,000 remained. Chris wanted to tell his father all about his stay on the mainland, but couldn’t find him. All of a sudden a screech was heard from behind the house, it was Roberta. The family rushed to find Roberta standing over a charred body and crimson stained ashes scattered about. The body belonged to Luis. The family made contact with the mainland and the criminal investigating unit quickly arrived. They searched the island for clues. Trees were severely gnawed and there were lines of charred sand zigzagging through small lines of trees. Chris went on his own to look for clues. About five feet to the left of where his father had been found lay a video camera filled with unharmed tape that dated back to the beginning of the week. He showed the investigators, who had also found multiple cameras, but they were all fried. All hope of finding out what had happened to Luis rested in what was inside of the one working camera.
The head investigator plugged the video from the camera into the VCR. What they saw was astonishing. Luis was standing in front of the house; it looked like he was waving to his family. After a couple of minutes of standing and waving, he anxiously/nervously looked about in all directions. He then sprinted back into the house. Nothing moved for several days. On the fifth day, a powerful storm started up. It was nothing like Chris had ever seen. Trees swayed violently in the strong winds and large waves crashed down onto the land. The next night Luis was seen creeping out of the house with some sort of metallic rod. It resembled a lightning rod. He ran behind the house where there was a small clearing in front of a small set of trees and started to prod the sand, putting holes in the ground, and then connecting the holes with lines drawn by the rod. The rod stood directly in the middle. The figure was in the shape of some ancient symbol. It was a flame inside of a circle.
At exactly midnight, a very bright light flew down from the sky and landed right in the circle hitting the pole. At that moment a force field seemingly sprouted out of nowhere and inside stood some sort of electromagnetic creature, a lightning elemental or some sort. The creature thrashed about, trying to break through the bonds, but it was in vain, for it was not going to break. Luis jumped around screaming in joy. Most of the words were hard to understand but what could clearly be heard was, “I have caught it, I have caught it, I have really caught it.” He stepped on the ground in some sort of pattern; it looked like he was trying to find something. His foot then sunk into the sand, and as he pulled it out, the sand disappeared and out of it arose a lab. Luis picked up a two pronged pole from one of the lab tables and stuck it through the force field, into the creature. Temperature readings, EMP force, radiation data swarmed one of the computer screens. “Argggghhh, Eeeeeeee”, the creature was screeching so loudly that Luis had to put on a device resembling earmuffs. The next instrument of choice was a long pole with a rotating satellite dish on the end. He tried to connect it to the top of the pole, but he was trembling so much from the screeching that he missed and the creature unexpectedly caught it. It pulled the instrument, along with Luis, through the shield, thus breaking the magnetic bond of the force field. With the bond now broken the creature suddenly vanished. His facial expressions turned into great fear, he seemed to know he was going to die. There was movement among the trees. They bent and broke. The ones left standing looked like they had been hit by a fireball. Blood suddenly started to spew from Luis’ body. Many cuts were forming all over his body. “Owww, Arrghhhh”, Luis was screaming. The edge of the cuts started to char and turn black. He almost resembled a roasted pig as he crawled toward his set of instruments. He reached for a small round object with a switch on it and flicked it. An explosion of light came from where he lay. The explosion left as quickly as it had come. What was left was a pile of ashes and the dead body of Luis.
Everyone in the room was silent. They were still shocked from what had just been viewed. The investigators moved to the next room where they deliberated on the cause of death of Luis.
“What we have just witnessed is beyond explanation. I don’t even know where to start. In my fifteen years in this business I have never seen such a thing. How are we supposed to explain this to the chief? There’s no way he’ll believe this” Stated Richard (head of the unit).
The others mumbled amongst themselves. “He’s right, what are we supposed to tell the head honcho? Are jobs are on the line here. He’s going to laugh at us and fire us on the spot. (One of them mimics the chief) You’re going to tell me a creature came down from the sky, turned invisible, and killed this man. HAHAHAHAH, is this some sort of joke. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. My 2 month old son makes more sense than you, and he can barely speak.”
He stops mimicking and the investigators stop talking. Then the youngest of the group came up with an idea.
“That’s it. A lightning storm, that’s it. We can tell the chief that Mr. Rodriguez was outside studying the weather during a storm, and was repeatedly struck by lightning while holding the lightning rod. That answers the charred body. Then we can tell him that the lightning burnt the sand creating the ash. Most of it is going to blow away anyways, so we won’t have to show him the ones with blood.”
The unit agreed, and they walked to the family to tell them that their work there was done.
“I heard what you said. You are going to tell everybody my father dies from a lightning storm. That’s a lie”, said Chris.
“Well kid, unless you tell me something I didn’t see, your father was killed by lightning”, replied Richard.
“But that’s a lie. You saw that creature attack him”, said Chris.
“Actually, no, I didn’t. I saw lightning hit a lightning rod then disappear and your father on the ground burnt to a pulp” Snickered Richard.
“But what about the ashes with my father’s blood”, Chris was trying as hard as he could to get Richard to tell the truth.
“What ashes. There are no ashes. Even if there were, they would’ve been blown out to sea by now. Sorry kid, our work here is done.”
With that last reply the investigators left to return to the mainland. The family finally came to terms with the death, and buried Luis on the island. The report back on the mainland said Luis Rodriguez died from being struck repeatedly by lightning. The one thing that still baffled the investigators and the family was…what happened to the lab.
The door was next to the staircase leading to the second floor. Behind the door was an elevator that led straight down for about 50 feet. Once stopped, it opened to a magnificent underwater laboratory. The lab spread over the size of the island and it was enclosed by some strong glass. It made the visitor seem like they were swimming in the ocean. There stood many machines and tables full of equipments. On the ceiling lay panels where the lab could shift up above surface level. That is how Luis brought up his instruments during the event. In the far corner of the lab a large computer sat on top of a large desk with many drawers. That is where the most important work of Luis Rodriguez rested.
The file was labeled: Lightning Creature- the one that never dies. Luis kept every part of this file neatly organized. The first section was a timeline dating back to the 1400’s. Shown next to the timeline was an energy chart with side notes by Luis. If the link labeled key dates was clicked, the timeline would cut itself up, and only show the dates where the energy level was higher than 200. The first note read: an explosion caused the forming of Deserted Island. The one that never dies was that explosion. The explosion was so powerful that it lowered the water level enough so that a small strip of land protruded from the water. Other notes followed: This creature is not dangerous. Its energy level is very remarkable, and whenever it makes its presence something extraordinary occurs. I would love to study this creature and figure out what causes these ratings. It comes by explosion, and with my recent data seems to be lightning. The last note s written by Luis were dated the month that he died. Energy levels have spiked to 182 in Earth’s core. I have tested the force field many times and it has been able to withstand energy levels of over 400. Once it is the force field, I will stab it with the two pronged rod which will measure its energy ratings. The satellite rod will be used to take in the sounds of the creature and attempt to translate what it says. The creature will arrive in four days. This is unfortunate because my family is leaving to cash in earnings for our catch that day, but this is a once in a lifetime moment, so I cannot miss this. This creature doesn’t seem harmless so I’m hoping it won’t react violently to my instruments.
The last and newest file uploaded to the computer was dated the exact day and time that Luis died. The file contained everything from the encounter. The satellite rod did its job.
“I come in peace, please stop. Why have you trapped me? I am just a creature of lightning. I have come for my rest stop. I come to Earth every 200 years when my orbit intersects with Earth’s. I have only come to admire its beauty… If you insist on a fight I will retaliate. I feel no pain but you shall.”
No one ever saw or discovered this information, let alone the lab. The family left after Luis’ death and the houses remained. The soul of Luis and the Lightning creature are all that reside on the island.