The War of the Worlds

I woke this morning feeling today was to be a special day.
How right I was. And for all the wrong reasons.

The morning started as it did yesterday & the day before that, and the day before that.
Spring is with us. The skies are clear & blue. The early morning sun warming the chilled waters of the Tranquillity Pool.
The Jasmin flowers were enjoying the soothing cool waters of the Tranquillity Pool.

The day started as any normal day.

The birds chirping, bees buzzing, all is good with the world.
I was soon to be corrected.

The birds were the first to notice. They could sense danger.

Landing as they always do for their morning ritual of feasting on grapes, apple & rice, something was different. They were edgy. Hesitant to lean forward to eat, constantly scanning the skies above.

Brad the Bowerbird is never hesitant about eating.

Always a beak down, tail up sort of guy.

He's one that certainly loves his grapes.

But not today!!

Normally Mal the Noisy Miner would be scoffing down as much as he could

before getting his marching orders from Red the Red Wattlebird.

Again, not today.

Red was the most alert.

He is in breeding season and other birds worry about him

He's been King of the Tranquillity Pool for weeks now.

Most out of character.

That should have set off alarm bells, but sitting on my veranda with a cup of coffee in my hand I just noted it as unusual.

The real tell was what happened next. The Jasmin flowers started to quiver. Swimming together they formed a tight bunch in the centre of the Tranquillity Pool. It was as though they were trying to get away from the edge.
I’ve never seen flowers more terrified. What was I missing?

Then it started.

Those calm waters of the Tranquillity Pool were coming alive.

Slowly it started to boil with small eruptions.

Fire burn

And Cauldron Bubble.

These growing in severity until they created Whirlpools.

Slowly the flowers were being sucked in, drawn by an unyielding force.

The beginning.

The ensuing panic.

Panic set in. It was each Jasmin for itself. Self-preservation can lead to ugly sights, as neighbour turned on neighbour. Pushing friends towards the sucking force in an effort to save their own lives. Flowerkind reduced to its very fabric.

Something was happening. What now?

The Whirlpools were changing. Each whirlpool changing to a vortex, sucking the haplessly trapped flowers into its cone.

Oh the Humanity

Ladies & Gentleman I'm watching as...

Oh my God, there goes another soul.

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.

Yet another family is being sucked into the vortex.

They've now grabbed a young flower.

Her petals are raised.

Begging.

Oh the Humanity.

A few lucky souls tried to escape, those close to the edge jumped for their lives, only to be caught again by the swirling whirlpools below.

Trying to escape the horror,

this couple plunge to the swirling waters below.

The cones act like a living organism

Morphing.

Grabbing those that try to escape.

A lone escape.

It might just make it to still waters.

The vortex’s started to spin, going higher and higher, until they were pathways to the mothership above.

Defying gravity,

the water starts to spiral to the sky.

Higher & Higher.

Until the mothership was reached

The Aliens were harvesting the Jasmin Flowers. Slowly they were sucked up into the belly of the mothership to a fate I’m unable to describe.

After a time, it looked like the Aliens appetite had been quenched.

As the last transport spout started to disappear, a few of the Aliens descended to check out the left overs. Happy they had harvested the best of the Jasmin, they left.

And just like that, one last splash and it was as though they were never here.

It certainly did turn into a special day.

Well I had a bit of fun putting this together, I hope you enjoyed it to.

What will be in my next post? God knows. Stay tuned.