Light Through the Window

by Cassandra Morphy

  Derick took the brunt of the force when the two of them impacted with the cement beneath them. As he let off a grunt of pain, his grip on her slackened enough for her to draw breath. As she desperately pulled air into her starving lunges, she started to punch upwards, blindly, hitting his face as often as not. His hands eventually went up to protect that face, freeing Ellie once and for all. She jumped back up to her feet, spinning around to face Derick, though he was still prone on the floor. What came next wasn't pretty, but they never taught anyone to fight fair at the Crowbarland Preparatory School.

  "Ellie, stop," Becky finally said, as she was trying to pull Ellie away from Derick. He wasn't moving anymore, his chest barely rising to draw breath. Ellie turned on Becky, thinking her a new adversary. Her flying fist stopped just before impacting with Becky's chest, just as it registered to Ellie who she was attacking.

  "Oh, god, I'm sorry," Ellie said, her bloodied fists covering her mouth abashedly.

  "It's alright. I'm fine. See? No harm done. I can't say the same for that guy, though. Was he...?"

  "Yea, he was one of them. He was strong."

  "I'll say," Becky said. She went over to what was left of Derick, taking a cautious approach to his prone form. "I mean, you're no heavy girl in any way, but he threw you around like a rag doll. How did you do that?" She tapped on Derick's chest a few times before placing her hand over his heart.

  "Do what?" Ellie asked.

  After a few seconds, Becky nodded at Derick, as if she were satisfied with something that he said. Then, unceremoniously, she flipped him over onto his side, facing away from her. "How did you take him down like that? I mean, you were awesome. It was like watching two karate masters or something." She pulled up his shirt, examining his back as if she were looking for something.

  "It's what they taught me in boarding school. Didn't I mention ninja class?"

  "Yea, but I was thinking that was like the whole rope climbing stealth thing, not martial arts, too."

  "What are you looking for?" Ellie asked. She came up behind Becky, though trying to give the unconscious man a wide berth.

  "Wings," she said, simply. She pulled down the shirt, putting it back into place and smoothing it out a little.

  "Wings? What? Like an angel or something?"

  "Actually, yeah. Exactly like an angel. I mean, we ruled out demons, right? 'Cause they're not in the Pacific Northwest and they're too young and all of that, right?"

  "Right," Ellie said.

  "Well, they have to be something."

  "But angels? Really? That's a bit far-fetched, isn't it?"

  "Not as far-fetched as you might think. There are demons, and all. Are angels that hard to believe?"

  "Well, demons are just like dead humans brought back to life, in a way. Some form of perverted undead. But angels? If you believe in angels, you have to believe in God and all that stuff. That's just a bit much to swallow."

  "Okay, then what do you think they are?" Becky asked. She stood back up, giving Derick a sideways kick in the process.

  "Actually... I know exactly what they are. I've just been waiting for the right time to tell you guys."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  What They Are

  This time, Ellie didn't say anything to any of the group until the five of them were together again in the lecture hall. Eric had met up with George and Becky when they had first gone to the cafeteria. It was only after Becky had noticed that Ellie wasn't with her that she had gone looking for her, finding her with Derick. Once the four of them were together, food at hand, it was just a matter of waiting for Alex. Ellie had texted her to meet up in the lecture hall.

  As they waited for Alex to show up, Ellie was staring at the far wall of the lecture hall. It was the wall that she had been flung into during her fight with Derick. The same wall that his prone form was probably still against. She had come so close to ending up just like that student that had shone up the day that her father had been kidnapped. Derick still might end up that way. If things had been different, she would have called an ambulance for the boy. She had a feeling that he would be better off without one.

  Ellie jumped as the door to the lecture hall slammed shut. She turned around to the door, half expecting her father to walk in to start class. Instead, it was just Alex, with a bag of chips, perhaps the last remnants of the road trip snacks, in her hand. She quickly sat down in the first row of chairs, in the empty seat between Becky and George.

  "Well?" Eric asked, impatiently. He was sitting by himself over by the door. His arms were crossed and half of his body was pointed towards the exit, making it clear that he wasn't sure if he wanted to be there or not. "What did you find out?"

  "Where are the files?" Alex asked.

  "They got them," Ellie said. "They were waiting for us to get back."

  "I didn't even notice them," Becky said.

  "They were waiting for me to get back," Ellie said. "They ambushed me by the quad. I could have sworn it was all of them there, with Vern by their side. I did what I could to hide the files, but it was already too late to drop them somewhere safe. We don't have anything left."

  "So, the trip was for nothing," Eric said. "Glad I didn't bother with it. No, I was busy studying for the next test. You do know that's Thursday, right? I can barely keep up with my other classes with how much time I'm spending on this one. Tell your father how much I appreciate this. We haven't even had a single test in another class yet, but this one?"

  "The trip wasn't for nothing," Ellie said.

  "That's right," Alex said. "She spent the entire trip back reading those files. She knows all there is to know about those three."

  "Well, not everything, just what they told their shrinks up to the point where they were discharged. The three of them were let out at around the same time in '03."

  "So, if this... whatever it is, happened after '03?" Becky asked.

  "Like I said, a wasted trip," Eric said.

  "It wasn't a wasted trip, because what happened... It goes back to 2001."

  "The planes?" Alex asked. "Is this about those stupid planes again? Are they behind the disappearance of the second plane?"

  "It's not... I don't think it's related to the planes. From what I read, though, I'm in the 'aliens did it' camp, now."

  "They're aliens?" Becky asked. She shuddered a little, rubbing her hands along her arms as if she were cold.

  "That's the general consensus. Basically, Natalie had... issues before all of this started. Then, according to her, her roommate at the time got infected by some weird animal thing and she had become convinced she was an alien."

  "But this was after Natalie was already crazy?" Eric asked.

  "Well... yes. Natalie had been in and out of that hospital for a couple of decades before that. The thing is, at least according to the file, after she was committed that last time, she never had mental problems after that. Neither did Robert or Bethany."

  "Wait, who are Robert and Bethany?" George asked. He had been quiet the entire time that Ellie had been talking, so she was a bit surprised that he had been paying attention at all.

  "Robert is Sam's father, as best as I can figure out, and Bethany is Rebecca Anne's mother. "

  "So... but, wait. Are they aliens or humans?" Becky asked.

  "As best as I can figure it, they're humans infected with some alien contagion. What the contagion does, or how it's transmitted, I have no idea. Natalie didn't know, either, when she was last committed. All she knew was that her roommate wasn't her roommate anymore. There was something off about her, in a major way."

  "Sound familiar to anyone else?" Alex asked. "I wonder if Sam was infected sometime this summer."

  "Sound more like he would have been infected from birth," Becky said. "I hate to break it to you, but your friend probably never was normal."

  "Oh, please, like any of you are normal," Eric scoffed. He shifted a little in his chair, like he wanted to get further away from the rest of the group, though he was too
lazy, or too afraid, to leave just yet.

  "But you said her roommate was infected, right?" Becky asked. "Not her."

  "Well, from what was in her file, it seemed that at some point after she was committed for claiming that her roommate was an alien, and hearing voices and a couple of other things, she broke out of the hospital, went home, and killed her roommate. Soon after that, after she was sent back to the hospital, all evidence of her mental problems was gone. The voices were gone, at least as far as any of the doctors could figure. Her paranoia and all the other issues she had from listening to the voices just stopped. It was like she was suddenly cured. On top of that, she completely dropped the whole alien conspiracy theory, claiming she had made it all up."

  "Sounds like someone knocked some sense into her," Eric said.

  "Really? Because it sounds like she was infected to me," Ellie said.

  "Yea," Becky said. "Maybe this roommate of hers got to Natalie before she could get to her. Killing her was probably too little too late."

  "But still satisfying I'll bet," Alex said. Ellie gave her a questioning look, wondering if she had been this bloodthirsty when they were going out. "What? Oh, please. Who here wouldn't want to kill an alien that was capable of infecting the entire human race?"

  Eric raised his hand, glaring back at the rest of them, daring for any of them to contradict his claim.

  "Remind me to leave him behind in a zombie apocalypse," Becky said.

  "What about the other two?" Alex asked. "Where do they come in?"

  "That's what really cinched the whole 'Natalie was an alien' thing. Soon after she came back to the hospital, after killing her roommate, Robert's mental problems suddenly went away as well. From what I read in his file, it happened just like with Natalie. One day he was so manic he thought he could fly. The next, he was completely stable, and stayed that way until his release. The change in all three of them was just so sudden, the doctors didn't know what to make of it, so they had to keep them on for observation. Plus, with Natalie having killed her roommate, and rumors of about four or five other deaths at her hand, they had to keep her committed for a few years anyway."

  "Wait, Sam's mom was a serial killer?" Alex asked. "He seems so--"

  "Normal?" Becky asked. "Really? You think Sam is normal?"

  "To be fair, she's never seen him at his most creepy," Ellie said.

  "We still don't know what's really going on here," Alex said. "Sure, I'll allow that something... abnormal is happening. That's why I had gone along with this whole mess this entire time."

  "Sure," Becky said. "That's why. It has nothing to do with--"

  "Even if you're right, even if they are aliens, so what?" George asked.

  "Wait, so what?" Ellie asked. Becky and Alex both looked over at him as well, glaring the guy down. None of them seemed to think his comment made much sense.

  "Yes, so what? You do remember what's been happening over in Washington and Oregon for the past twelve years, right?"

  "Yes, George. We're all aware of the presence of demons in our world," Ellie said.

  "Some of us are more aware than others," Becky said. She crossed her arms protectively, warding off his next words.

  "Well, we've been able to live peacefully with them this whole time."

  "Relatively," Becky said.

  "And, apparently, these aliens have been around even longer. They haven't done anything."

  "That's because they were hiding," Ellie said. "When the demons came, they came in the thousands. Only the HPS knows the exact number, and even the official number might be off. It assumes that all the demons reported in or were captured or whatever. When these aliens came, there was one."

  "That we know about. And they had been living among us, not doing anything."

  "No, they haven't," Alex snapped. "They've been infecting other humans, spreading their numbers. Now, it's like half the freshman class at this school is an alien. Who's to say there aren't more at other colleges. We only know about these because we've witnessed them. Well, Ellie had witnessed them at least."

  "And who knows what else they've been up to all this time," Becky said. "Just because they've been living among us in secret doesn't mean they haven't been working against us this whole time. Trust me, you'd be surprised what a secret group of people can accomplish without anyone knowing about it."

  "Fine," George said. "But, just tell me one thing. Are you so hell bent on getting rid of them because they're aliens or because you think they're up to something that needs to be stopped?"

  Silence filled the room for a moment as the three of them thought about his words. It didn't take long for Ellie to remember exactly why she wanted them gone. They had been looking at her like she was going to be joining them this entire time, from the first moment she spotted them. Now that she knew what they were, now that she knew exactly what joining them meant, it scared her even more than before.

  "I want to stop them because I don't want to be one of them," Ellie said. "If the only way to do that is to kill them all, then so be it."

  "Fine, then what are we doing next?" George asked.

  "We reach out to my contact," Becky said. "That was the plan all along, right? We were going to get as many names as we could and some understanding on who or what they are and pass it off to them. Well, I think we're there."

  "Except we still don't know what they're up to," George said. "Wouldn't that come into play at some point?"

  "That's for the HPS to determine," Becky said.

  "Wait, the HPS?" Ellie asked. "Who exactly is your contact?"

  "Agent Gorning. Why?" Ellie gulped loudly, then she snickered. This turned into a rather loud and long laugh fest. "What?" Becky asked.

  "Agent Gorning. He's my contact as well. He's Mare's father."

  "Woah, wait, you're dating the daughter of an HPS agent?" Alex asked.

  "Kinda makes it real to you doesn't it," Becky said.

  "How do you know Agent Gorning?" Ellie asked.

  "He helped out with my mom when she died. Hero called them in when they... well, they didn't get there in time to save her."

  "Save her from what? You never really told me what happened to her."

  "I don’t really know much about the events around her death, and what little I do know is classified. But, well, like I said, you'd be surprised what a secret group can do without anyone knowing about it."

  "So, we give this Agent guy all we have," Alex said. "The list of people we were able to identify, the stuff your hacker friend got for you, everything you can remember from the files, all of it. Then we're done, right?"

  "I guess," Ellie said, shrugging. "I'm not sure if he'll believe all of this stuff. Heck, I lived through it and I barely believe it sometimes."

  "Well, he's your precious Mare's father. Wouldn't he just believe you for that?"

  "Except I don't really know him. I've only met him like three times. He's not that big of a part in Mare's life. Without the files, we don't really have that much to give him."

  "We'll email him together," Becky said. "He'll at least look into it, track it down as best he can. He's in the government. He'll have more access than we do."

  "Yea, like to psych hospital records," Eric said. "You could have brought him into all of this yesterday and have him deal with it all. But, no, you had to go off and do your own thing. Nice job in getting those files by the way."

  "Oh, shut up, Eric," Alex said. "If you want to leave, there's the door, but you can't complain about being left out of things anymore."

  "I just want to know when I need to make a run for the border. Or, I guess more appropriately, whose side I'm on when the shit hits the fan."

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The Second Test

  Ellie and Becky went back to their room, immediately writing up the email to send to Agent Gorning. They added everything they had collected so far, including a detailed recount of everything Ellie could remember from the three records. She had left out the part abou
t the break ins, to both Rebecca Anne's room and the psych hospital, though she knew he was bound to find out about at least one of those during his investigation. It wasn't much, but with the picture files the email was already bumping against the size limit. At the end, Ellie added "P.S. Don't tell Mare about any of this. She’ll only worry, and you know what she does when she worries."

  Agent Gorning's reply was short and sweet, coming moments after they hit send. "I'll look into it. In the meantime, no more investigations. As for telling Mare, obviously I won't. Thank you for not mentioning it to her already."

  And that was it. They didn't hear back from him or see any sign of an investigation happening on campus. At least, that is, other than the one that Vern was working on.

  Ever since they got back from New York, and probably even before that, Vern had been going around to their fellow classmates, asking questions about Ellie and her friends. For the most part, Ellie's relatively hermit status saved her from the worst of it. Other than the occasional run in with Sam and his inner circle, that one study session, the two support group meetings, and, of course, her friends, Ellie hadn't had much in the way of interactions with her peers. Word had quickly gotten out that she was Professor Neilson's daughter, but she barely noticed a change at all. Going into the semester, that news getting out had been her greatest fear. And yet it was barely something she concerned herself about by the end of the first month.

  On Wednesday, she inadvertently managed to listen in on one of Vern's interviews. He was talking with a girl, of the normal human variety, that Ellie thought may have sat three rows in front of her in Physics class. Vern had cornered the girl as she was heading out of the library. Ellie was just behind her, but when she caught a glimpse of Vern around the corner, she ducked off to the side. It wasn't so that she could listen in on their discussion, though. It was more that she wanted to avoid being spotted by him at all.