The Orange

“Yep, this is it.” Said Wes, pulling into the driveway of a large green house.

“It sure doesn’t look haunted,” Tucker mumbled, “Shouldn’t it be a little more, I dunno, scary looking?” Tucker opened the passenger side door and got out of the red P.T. Cruiser, and got out. Tucker was still a new reporter at The Chronicle, and hadn't been on many stories yet.

“They never are.” Answered Wes. He turned around and poked Grace, who was lying in the back seat. “Hey Grace, wake up.”

“Huh? Where are we?” She muttered sleepily.

“Minnesota.” Tucker said from the back of the car.

After they took all the bags from the trunk, they went to the door to find it unlocked. The inside of the house was still completely furnished, and dark, as if everyone had just suddenly gotten up and left.

“Well, it doesn’t look haunted to me…” Grace Observed, looking around.

“That's exactly what I said,” said Tucker, but Grace looked slightly confused. “...but you were asleep, Grace.”

“Why'd Donald make us come here anyway? I mean, it wasn't exactly a short drive.” Wes pulled out his camera, and started snapping pictures of random things since he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary around. Tucker moved on to the back of the house.

"Hey, Wes" Tucker motioned out the back door to the yard, where there was a deck and a pool and such.

Wes came back down the stairs and went to join his friend. Tucker opened the door.

“Hey Grace, you coming?” asked Wes.

“Um, no. I'm still kinda tired.” She said as she sat down on a couch.

So, the two guys went into the backyard and looked around. Wes took some more pictures of nothing, as there wasn't much around. Well, except for that orange on the diving bored. Wait…

“Hey Tuck B., look at that weird orange!”

They ran over, and Tucker examined it while Wes used up another roll of film.

“We better show this to Grace." Tucker said, picking it up.

“Maybe it's like a port key or something, and we could get sent to some alien universe where they would experiment on us and cut out our-“

“Ok, stop with the sci-fi stuff.” Then he stopped, stared at it for a second, and ran back into the house.

“Um, okay... I was gonna suggest we don't touch it, but that works, too." He ran after his partner, but when he opened the door, he became very confused. Grace was perched on top of a chair in the kitchen holding out a cross at Tucker, who was sitting in the floor staring intently at the mysterious fruit. Just another day at the World Chronicle.

“Hey, what's with Tucker?” asked Grace.

The Tucker in question was still sitting on the wood floor, holding the orange and rocking back and forth. Wes walked over to his friend, but he just stared like he didn't recognize him, and then his the fruit behind his back as if to keep it safe.

"Tucker, chill out. I don't want your orange." Wes said, moving towards him in a non-threatening way.

"This is not just any orange, it is THE Orange!"

Wes stepped back again. "Okay then. Whatever you say, but we really have to leave now." He snapped another picture. Tucker glared in anger.

"Now you must pay! Bow down to The Orange!" he was bout to jump at Wes, but Grace got between them. Tucker stopped. He looked at Grace, then at the Orange. "Really?" he asked it, a surprised look on his face. Then he shrugged and grabbed her by the arm forcefully. "You! The Orange says that you are to become his Orange Queen when we take over this filthy planet! Come!"

He pulled her off, though she struggled a bit, and threw her into a bathroom with the orange. He locked the door from the outside as she screamed and hit it in an attempt to get out.

"Help! Let me out of here! What am I supposed to do with this thing?" She looked at the fruit. It taunted her from it spot on the floor.

"You'll figure it out." said tucker. Suddenly the pounding stopped.

"Oh. No way..." Tucker, still being controlled by the orange, ignored her and went to the kitchen.

"Now, as for you..." He pulled out a rope and tied Wes to a chair. Then he went over and grabbed a knife. "I shall peel the skin from your flesh and slice you into bite-sized segments so that you may be eaten by my master!"

"Ew. That's just sick... Please don't kill me!" cried Wes from his chair. tucker struck at him, but only managed to slice the rope in two.

Tucker stared at the knife in his fist, and dropped it to the floor in disgust. " You're right. That is sick." He said, looking like the normal Tucker again.

"You okay, man?" Wes stood up, letting the rope fall to the floor.

"Yeah, I think so." He looked around, rubbing his head.

"We gotta get out of here. That thing's gonna make us all crazy!" said Wes hurriedly, grabbing his stuff.

"Yeah, let's go." said Tucker, though he couldn't really remember why it was so important that they get out of there. And so, they ran out the front door, jumped into Wes' car, and drove back to New York as fast as they could, which was rather fast.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Grace was sitting against the locked door, watching the Orange as it sat on the floor hear the far wall, which wasn't all that far. She heard a door slam. "Tucker?...Wes?..." she yelled, "I guess they left." She sighed and looked to her only companion. "So, where are you from?" she asked it. The orange didn't move, but she found that she suddenly knew the answer. "Really? Have you abducted me before?"

And so, Grace and the Orange from space had a long, involved, one-sided conversation. That is, until Grace's stomach suddenly made a rather loud noise.

"You know, I'm getting kinda hungry..." she looked hungrily over at the fruit in the corner.

The Orange was frightened, but stood its ground.