Edmond's parents knew their son was an intelligent and generally well behaved soul, they were also sharply aware that Edmond didn't fit in. Edmond was a quiet boy who seemed to spend most of his time on his own, which gave him an independent air; one that made him seem more mature than his twelve years would suggest. Rather than go out after school Edmond preferred to stay in and do his homework and read which his parents assumed accounted for the pale hue of his skin, his occasional dark moods, and his general lack of progress in gym class, the only class Edmond didn't excel in at Clarkstown Grade school. In spite of his bookish and solitary nature, to his mothers chagrin and his father's delight they presented Edmond with a chess set on his birthday rather than a baseball, or a tennis racquet, or any one of the myriad of things they could have provided Edmond that might have led him outdoors. This chess set was special, however, because its pieces were fashioned like alien creatures. The Kings had oblong heads and anthropodic eyes yet a crown still sat upon their heads. A crown sat on the Queens heads as well; in general the Queens looked similar to the Kings save for their feminine incline. The Knight's were made up of masks similar to Darth Vader's covering hallow faces, they didn't appear to be equine in the least, while the Rooks looked like Rooks tend to look but they were equipped with reptilian-like arms that stretched from their sides. The bishops were skeletal and thin with bony bubble-like heads. The pawns were very simple round creatures with a single eye. The pieces were clear and black colored and all the pieces were sculptured from glass which lent them a mysterious sheen when the light hit them just right.

Edmond fell in love with the set. He'd spend hours in his room entranced by the glass objects that stood on wooden board in the center of the floor. The pieces seemed to come alive in his mind and in his play he created stories surrounding the figures.

On this night while the house was dark and his parents were asleep he imagined the King of the clear side had a secret liaison with the Queen from the black side. As he moved the black Queen one square away from the clear King he thought how vanquished his wife, the clear Queen, and her husband, the black King would be if the clear King overtook the black Queen. Names, they needed names, he surmised. The black pieces are now the Thanatos and the clear pieces are the Errinyes. And how about first names? The black Queen is Venetia the Clear King is Draco, yes Draco, and the black King's name is Red, just Red. Red, King of Thanatos. The clear Queen is Zale! Zale Queen of Errinyes! Later on he'd bestow names on the other pieces he had plenty of time. There were an awful lot of names to invent for one evening. The king of Errinyes, Draco must resist temptation or war could break out, but the pawn behind him could take him if he didn't make a move. Draco thought quietly about his next move and about the last war with the Thanatosians. Venetia would speak next, or would she? It was up to Edmond, and then came a voice out of the blue.

"Edmond what are you doing in there it's way past your bed time."

"Sorry mom." Edmond said. The fate of Venetia and Draco's impending tryst would have to wait for tomorrow.

The table was set with his favorite breakfast fortifications; chocolate chip pancakes, sausages, home fries; the works. There wasn't anything in the world like a birthday weekend. His father, Richard sat across the table thumbing through the paper. When his mother, Helen placed the pancakes down before him she said.

"What were you doing up so late last night, Edmond?"

"I was playing with the new chess set, Mom. It's incredible I really love it."

"The pieces are very unusual, really works of art, I think. I came upon it at an antique shop down on..."Richard was about to finish when his cell phone began to ring.

"Mom, I've been creating the most wonderful stories around the pieces. Oh, and I've named them too. The black pieces are the Thanatos and the clear pieces are the Errinyes. I've named the black Queen Venetia and the clear King Draco. I think they will become very close to the detriment of Zale, the clear Queen of Errinyes and Red, the black King of Thanatos." As his worlds trailed off he caught the look in his mother's eyes. It was the same look that sprang to her face when she'd overhead him conjuring up those tales by his fish tank. The underground war he dreamt up in the city he named the New Atlantis. Her eyes seemed to withdraw in disappointment like he'd let her down in a very significant way.

Her head shook and she said.

"Edmond if you played with other children, and you made some friends, you wouldn't' get lost in imaginary worlds."

"I don't want to. I'm not lost, and the other kids ...Well, they don't like me. They think I'm too smart. They think I'm some kind of weirdo. When I get older I'll find more friends, I promise." If only she could understand, but she seemed to grow more solemn.

She held her hand out and pointed her index finger directly in Edmond's direction, waving it up and down like it was beating to the rhythm of her words, and she said.

"Edmond, it's not always about what you want. Time passes too quickly. If you don't start mingling with the world you may wake up one morning not far from now and find yourself a lonely man."

"But, mom."

Then she almost smiled.

"Don't you find making up all those names confusing? How do you remember them all, Edmond?" His eager smile met the intense expression that crept across his face.

"I just do, mom and I'm not finished I still have to name the Pawns and the Rooks and the Bishops, oh and the Knights!"

"Edmond I need you to help me with the shopping today if you can tear yourself away from the Thanatos."

He could tell she was still disappointed but at the same time there was another feeling underneath telling Edmond she was trying.

Night came at last and it was back to the game after having secured the towel underneath the door to keep the light hidden from parental units who might be venturing down the hall at odd hours. Would Draco make a move? What would Venetia say? Would the pawn in a triumphant march end the entire thing, or would the King move one square to the side escaping both the Pawn's checkmate and, of course, the Queens.

Venetia would say.

"If you take me you'll be free of my pawn."

Then King Draco would return.

"My lady, I can easily step to the side and clear you both."

But the Queen would plead.

"But if you do who knows when, or if we'll have this chance gain?"

Edmond held the King uneasily in his hand, hovering it above the Queen, and then he drew the King down on her.

"At last, defeated in the most pleasurable of ways."

He could barely believe he had Venetia say those words, he blushed inside. Then he looked across the board and imagined Zale was looking sternly their way.

"There's more to this you know your Zale is my half sister." Venetia would admit and then a clear Rook spots her and it seems his reptilian arms are almost twitching to grab her. She shudders as Draco tries to comfort her telling her.

"Do not worry, Venetia my Rooks are stronger than yours."

"Don't be silly," she says and then she spies one of her bishops bowing his bulbous head in disgust.

"I'm afraid we are doomed," she continues, when her husband Red, King of Thantaos motions to their pawns to march in formation. They step in line; their singular eyes beam red and zero in on Draco. Suddenly the Errinyes Knights begin to gather, the clear masks still hide the steely death of their unknown faces, when without warning the towel fell away. It wasn't strong enough to fortify the door from the approaching unit. She stepped in. The game stopped and standing above him she said.

"Edmund, the old towel under the door trick? Did you really think you could fool me?" She'd uncovered the secret there was little to do, but confess and hope for leniency. "I'm sorry mom, but I was so..."

She came closer and pointed at the board and said.

"Those are the strangest chess moves I've ever seen. Edmund you've got all your Pawns together near the center of the board."

"That's because a war is about to break out between the Thanatos and the Errinyes because Queen Zale caught her husband King Draco and Queen Venetia together. You should have seen the look on the black Bishop's face. He looked like he was about to hurl."He said as his arms waved in furry.

Helen sat down on the floor next to Edmond. Patting him on the back, she said. "Edmond you have got to calm down and you've got to get some sleep, before you drive yourself loco, never mind your father and me."

There was the look again. She'd never understand her eyes so distant yet so clear and solid like the glass that formed the chess pieces.

"But mom, it's just a game don't worry I'm fine."

"By the way, what were Draco and Venetia? Is that her name? Doing together?"

He lowered his head and said.

"They were about to do the hootchie-cootchie"

At that notion she smiled, at last a smile. It was the same smile she had when he told her it was snowing in his closet when he made up that story about Bigfoot.

"Edmond, you've got to go out and find a friend to play this game with." As the words left her mouth a laugh escaped her throat. And then she stood and began to move the chess pieces in place when Edmond cried.

"No, Mom, don't touch them!"

The smile raced from her face and she firmly said.

"Edmond, go to bed."

She walked out of the room shutting the door behind her, her head shaking and her eyes in focus.

This was no time for sleep. He pulled the chair out from under the desk and braced it against the door. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? If she came back he'd hear the chair fall and he'd scramble underneath the covers. He began to place the clear Errinyes Pawns back in the center of the board when he imagined they were about to fall under attack by a Black Thanatosian knight who had them in his sight. He'd stretch his hand out and a lazar beam of hot white light would knock out half the clear pawns if it were not for the Errinyes Rook who stretched his snake- like arm across the Black Knights neck, knocking him down on the board, all the clear Pawns would be lost. The rest of the clear Pawns would begin to retreat when King Draco would order them back into battle. Then Queen Zale would shout to Draco.

"Bring them back you fool or you'll lose them all."

He'd say.

"Madam what do you care? I give them all to you, Venetia"

Then one of the pieces, one he wasn't controlling, a Thantatosian Bishop shouted. "Man why are we all in a tangle? It's the boy who's got us all out of whack." What was going on? Who made him say that?

"No one made me say that, boy, and where did you get all those sorry out- of- date names you gave us?"

This wasn't possible, his mother was right he was going loco. He crept closer to the board his eyes grew in wonder.

"Sir," Edmond cautiously said, "I name all my things."

"Yo we aren't your things, little man," the Bishop said," and we like to keep things simple. I'm Black Bishop Number One. He's Black Bishop Number Two. The Kings are Black King and Clear King and so on and so forth, baby. The dude who got knocked down is Black Knight Number Two, you see?" He said and his bony head drew down.

"But I dig the name he gave me, Venetia is a cool name." The black Queen said and then she snapped her fingers.

The Clear Queen joined in

"And I like, Zale, Zale is mighty fine too and clear like me." Comically, she walked behind her husband the Clear King and she kicked him in the rear.

"Madame, watch your step," he said and Edmund began to laugh. Lost in a kind of zone he imagined he'd somehow stepped inside his story. None of it could be happening and yet it was. Maybe he had fallen asleep and this part of the story was his dream, but he wasn't in his bed and his eyes were wide open and over there the chair still braced against the door where he'd placed it and the chess board still on sat on the floor.

Black Bishop Number One cried out.

" What's so funny, boy? You may think this is funny now, but you wait and see, little man what is in store."

Danger, could he be in danger? Was his story changing? But it wasn't his story anymore he had no more control over this story than he did over the events in his real life. Stories were supposed to be under his control so he could have friends and happy endings and parents who understood him and he could fit in and...

Suddenly the Black King raised his head and shouted at the Bishop.

"What's the difference my wife still plotted with the clear King!"

"Why shouldn't I? My lovely half sister AKA as Zale, had me banished so she could marry him. That's how I wound up with a thug like you. That tale she made up about me offing our mother was libelous trash. I should rip her head off, then yours"

The clear Queen jumped and cried.

"You deserved it you whore."

Edmund not knowing what to do thought he'd try to change the subject. If he could change the subject maybe he could change the story.

"Hey, by the way, where are you guys from?"

"What's the matter, little man your story isn't working out like you planned?" The Bishop snickered and then he continued.

"We are from Venus you are from Mars, no really, I'll tell you. We're from a planet we call Earto that orbits around the star you call Vega, but you needn't concern yourself with that now, baby you have your hands full.

" The Clear King once again set his pawns into formation, their red eyes ready and prepared, aimed for the concentration of black Pawns that sat in waiting behind the Black King. Red beams thrust like frozen lightening out of their eyes, but they overshot the opposing pawns and hit the bookshelf above Edmond's desk. It split in two and crashed to the floor. Books fell across the room, their covers flapping, knocked into one another as they thudded across the floor like old artillery shells. Edmund jumped. His eyes scrambled across the room. Surely his mother or his father must have heard the crash. He sighed with relief, the game would be over, he could go safely to sleep like he should have hours ago.

"Sorry, little brother, your parents aren't going to come rushing to your rescue we've already taken care of them."

"No!" He shrieked and his body was ready and in position to make a run to the door when something happened that Edmund never expected to happen. The pieces grew larger. The Bishop towered over him and laughed hysterically while the pawns began to tread across his room. The pawns must have turned at least four feet tall. The bishop was higher about six feet tall the size of a human adult, but skeletal and ugly. This can't be happening he kept repeating in his head. Out of nowhere the Rooks started to swerve across the room. Their serpentine arms slithered and swung knocking down everything in their path, toys, books, cups, everything crashed to the floor. The trophy he won in the spelling bee last year he named Zeus lay on the tiles like a fallen hero. Then the knights who stood around the same size as the Bishops advanced. The plaster ripped from the walls as they rolled through the room. The Black King knelt down and grabbed Edmund by the neck and he shouted, "Stay still, boy!" Before he pushed him and held him to the floor. Like out of kilter robots all the pieces stood in formation over Edmund and they warned in mechanical unison.

"We've come for Earth. We've come for all of you. Everything will be gone. Everything you've ever dreamed of will be vanquished, destroyed. All your hopes, buried and over. Edmund, you have no future. The earth holds no future for you it will be ours in other words Checkmate."

Their hideous heads their ugly faces. The reptilian arms, the bony skulls, the beady anthropoid eyes all stared down on him. The masks-masks hiding faces of death. His body shook and trembled yet underneath the creatures he caught a glimpse of the door. There was a hole in the door. He could see the hallway. He shot out zigzagging under their glass legs and he crawled fast as he could toward the door.

The Bishop cried.

"Let him go, there's nothing out there for him. He'll soon discover what lies before him, nothing."

Edmond ran down the hall to his parent's room. He swung open the door, shouting "Mom Dad," as he looked into the empty room. His stomach sank. The Bishop was right they were gone .Everything was gone. Not knowing where to turn, or where to hide, he ran down the stairs, his heart barely catching his breath. He raced to the living room window. He looked out. Black ships filled the sky; there must have been thousands of the dark winged vultures raining over the earth. The sky grew dark. Everything he knew was gone, all the stories, over. And then he turned and saw the light coming from the kitchen and heard his parents talking over breakfast.

******

In the afternoon as Edmond walked across his lawn to the throw the chess set into the trash can he felt eyes on his body. The girl who lived next door sat on her steps. Her blonde hair blew in the breeze. She was gazing at him, he knew it. Shyly, he turned toward her and opened his mouth. He tired to speak to get past the lump in his throat. If he could just say "hello how are you?" Anything. But the words wouldn't come out. Maybe they would tomorrow.