Summoning all her willpower, she managed to force a single word out that fell from her mouth like a hoarse croak, “Hello?”
Only darkness surrounded the table. She saw nothing beyond what was immediately illuminated by the light overhead. Her heart raced. She wanted to believe it was just a dream, just a nightmare she could escape if she could only will herself to wake up. But the cold air against her skin, the slight smell of sulfur, the way her throat ached for water told her this was no dream.
“Please,” she managed to say, “let me go. Please.”
She felt a tear slip out of her eye and travel down towards her ear as she lay there. What could she do? Nothing, the thought invaded her mind. I can’t do anything. I never can do anything.
From the darkness, she heard movement. She strained her neck and eyes trying to look down the length of the table, past her feet, and into the darkness where the noise had come from. Slowly, a grey shape emerged from the darkness and stood at the foot of the examination table. It’s large head tilted down. It’s large black eyes looked at Stephanie. She wanted to scream at it, but she had no strength to do so. The alien simply stood there, staring down at her. She hated it. She hated how it looked, how it stood, how those black eyes seemed to look at nothing and everything at the same time. She hated that she had no control, no power, no protection, that she lay there completely vulnerable and exposed.
Do not be afraid, came the uninvited thought to her mind. She stared at the alien being, feeling enraged by this new invasion of her person. It was in her head now. It was as if she could feel it moving around the rooms of her mind, searching, digging. What was it after?
“Stop,” she whimpered.
We are here to help you, came the response in her mind.
“Please,” she said, “let me go.”
She wanted to scream. She wanted to ask it why they had to take her. Why did she have to be paralyzed, naked, humiliated?
Our ways are different than yours, came the response. We are here to bring help to the human race. You are special. You have been chosen. This is a great privilege.
It sure as hell didn’t seem like a privilege to Stephanie. The words that were being projected into her mind were soothing on the surface, but she couldn’t shake the sense of dread within her.
“Everything is okay,” said a voice to her right.
She strained her neck and eyes forcing her head to move so she could see who stood there now. The voice had been human, a boy’s voice. Finally, her eyes caught a glimpse of who stood just next to the table. It was the boy from the picture, the boy that had gone missing: Tommy Ferguson. He appeared to be naked himself. The look on his face seemed placid as he stood there looking at her.
“Everything will be fine, Stephanie,” he said to her. “We’re here to help you. We’re here to help everyone.”
An odd smile took over the boy’s lips, but only his lips. His eyes remained fixed on hers, though they seemed vacant. From behind Tommy, a grey hand with long fingers reached out of the darkness and came to rest on his left shoulder. Slowly, another grey alien stepped closer and stood just behind Tommy, now visible in the light.
“Come be with us,” Tommy said.
This was too much for her and Stephanie summoned what remained of her strength and willpower. She screamed. As she did so, she felt cold hands from all around reach out and take hold of her body. The light vanished.
***
Stephanie convulsed as she fought the hands that held her. Her eyes opened and she saw light again. But now she saw the white walls of her room in St. Jerome. Two nurses, one male and another female, tried to hold her down as her arms and legs flailed about. There was a awful howling sound that horrified Stephanie. Slowly, she realized that she was the one making that unearthly sound. She regained control of her body and gasped for breath.
“Everything’s okay, Stephanie,” the female nurse said to her. “Everything’s okay. It was just a dream. You’re safe.”
Stephanie looked around, confused. Had it been just a dream? Though she lay on her bed in the hospital gown, she still felt the cold metal of the examination table pressed against her back. Her throat still ached for water. Her body still tingled slightly from whatever invisible force had held her down.
As she breathed hard, trying to regain her composure, a new sensation came to her. She felt a stinging on the back of her neck. The nurses released her now but stood looking at her as she lay on her bed. Slowly, Stephanie reached back and touched her neck. She felt something on her fingers. Pulling her hand back, she saw blood on her fingers. The nurses, seeing this, became alarmed.
“What happened?” the male nurse asked.
They helped her sit up, and the male nurse pulled her hair aside to look at her neck.
“Oh my god,” he said. “She’s scratched the hell out of her neck. We’re going to need to clean that up.”
The female nurse stood quickly and bolted out of the room. The male nurse looked at Stephanie with concern.
“Did you scratch your neck?” he asked her.
Stephanie looked down at her hands. She had reached with her left hand just then to touch her neck. The fingers on that hand were stained with blood of course. But she looked at her right hand and noticed that they too were stained with blood. But not on the pads of the fingers like she’d touched her neck with that hand as well. There was blood under her finger nails. She’d done this to herself.
***
Mitchell looked at the fragile girl before her. Stephanie seemed even more of a girl now than when she’d first seen her. Her hair was a mess and her face pale as she sat on her bed in her hospital gown, her back against the wall behind her. Evans and Mitchell sat in chairs that had been brought into Stephanie’s room.
“Stephanie,” she said. “It’s Agent Mitchell. Do you remember me?”
Stephanie nodded.
“Dr. Evans and I would like to ask you some questions, if that’s okay,” Mitchell said, softly.
Again, Stephanie nodded.
“Stephanie,” Evans spoke up, “did you have a nightmare?”
Stephanie looked off now, saying nothing. They watched her, waiting. At last, she nodded.
“Can you tell us what it was about?” Evans asked.
“I don’t want to,” Stephanie said softly.
“I know it must be really scary,” Evans said, maintaining a soothing tone. “We just want to help you. You can tell us anything.”
At this, Stephanie looked at him for moment. Then she looked to Mitchell. She seemed to be considering whether or not she could trust them. Mitchell waited, doing her best to communicate empathy and safety with open posture and eye contact.
“I was in this …” Stephanie said at last. “This very dark place. It was their ship.”
“Can you recall what it looked like?” Evans asked.
“It was all dark,” she said, shaking her head.
“What were you doing in this dark place?”
She looked down before speaking. “I was … on a table. There was a light above me. I couldn’t move. I was naked.” Those last words were almost a whisper.
“It’s okay,” Evans said. “You’re safe now. Was there anyone there with you?”
“Not at first,” she said.
“Who else was there?”
“One of them stood at the end of the table,” Stephanie said. “He talked to me in my head.”
Evans nodded, glancing over at Mitchell. “What did he tell you?”
“That I shouldn’t be scared. I was special. I had been chosen.”
“And how did you feel?”
“Scared,” she said, her voice wavering.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was there anyone else there?”
Stephanie looked at Evans now. “That boy was there. That boy that went missing.”
“Tommy?” Mitchell asked. Quickly she reached into her bag and pulled out the picture she had of
Tommy Ferguson and showed it to Stephanie. “You saw this boy?”
Stephanie nodded, “He was naked too. Just standing there. And he was with them. One of the aliens stood there with him.”
“Stephanie,” Mitchell said, leaning in closer, “the other day, when we showed you this picture of Tommy Ferguson, you said something. Do you remember what you said?”
Stephanie looked at her in bewilderment. She shook her head.
“You said something to us about being taken to join Tommy in three days. Do you remember that?” Mitchell pressed.
Stephanie looked from Mitchell to Evans, clearly confused. Again she shook her head.
“Are you sure?” Mitchell tried again. “I know this is hard, but I need you to think carefully about—“
“NO!” Stephanie screamed suddenly. “Just stop! Leave me alone!”
Stephanie turned on her bed, pressing her right shoulder against the wall so she was turned away from them and facing the window. Tears flowed from her eyes and she fought to control her breathing as her body shook.
“We just want to help, Stephanie,” Evans tried to reassure her.
“Well, you’re not helping!” she shot back.
Evans looked to Mitchell shaking his head slightly. They were done for now.
“We’re going to let you rest,” Evans said to her. “Your parents will be here in a bit. If you need anything, we’ll be here. Just call the nurse.”
Stephanie did not look at him. She stared out the window that showed only the yellow glow of a lamp outside on the hospital grounds. Night had set in hours ago. And with the dark clouds that hung over the area, it was a particularly dark night.
Evans and Mitchell rose to leave. They stepped out of her room and headed down the long hallway. As they did so, the male nurse on duty turned the corner and was immediately followed by the Clarks. They headed towards them. Mitchell wondered if they had been awoken. She and Evans had previously gotten dinner and then headed back to look at more of the old case files. Nothing else proved to be as interesting as the discovery of Pastor Diego’s report. Either way, they had still been up. The Clarks, on the other hand, looked positively exhausted. But this probably had more to do with the stress of the past few days. Likely, they too had been up simply because sleep didn’t feel like a viable option given the circumstances.
They passed each other in the hallway with only brief eye contact. Tim gave a slight nod. Dorothy looked at Evans and Mitchell with her wide concerned motherly eyes. They continued down the hall, their footsteps echoing against the old brick walls. Overhead, a florescent light buzzed oppressively as Mitchell and Evans walked away. Mitchell felt helpless. What could she do to stop this?
“Do you buy it?” she asked Evans.
“The abduction story?” he said, glancing over at her as they walked. “It’s consistent with other such cases.”
“Right. But do you believe it when she says she doesn’t remember what she said the other day?”
“She’s clearly suffered some serious psychological trauma. I’m sure the past few days will forever be hard for her to recall.”
Everything seems hard for Stephanie to recall, Mitchell thought. Then a new thought popped into her head. What if they could help Stephanie recall? She grabbed Evans’s arm, stopping him before they reached the waiting room entrance. He looked at her, surprised.
“Then, let’s help her recall,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Evans frowned.
“Hypnosis,” Mitchell said softly. “It’s a common practice in abduction cases.”
She could see hesitation in Evans’s eyes. He sighed, looking off. “Hypnosis can be a wonderful thing,” he said. “I’ve used it with certain patients.”
“But?” Mitchell prompted.
“Under hypnosis, people have a high level of suggestibility. Especially in a case like this, it may be too easy to introduce more suggestions of alien abductions into Stephanie’s mind rather than uncovering the truth.”
“If there’s any truth to what she said—that in three days she would be taken to join Tommy—then we’re going to lose Stephanie in less than 48 hours,” Mitchell said softly but firmly, her eyes locked on his. “We have to try something.”
Evans looked at her for a long moment, his eyes moving back and forth as if reading her own eyes, sizing her up. She remained still, waiting.
“You’re serious about this?” he whispered.
“I just want to uncover the truth,” she said. “And either way: we might find some deep emotional trauma that is behind all of this, or we might just get some clue as to who is doing this. I think it’s all we have left. In the days before Tommy went missing, he had similar nightmares, he was a nervous wreck. He couldn’t go school, he couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t go play with friends. He was in constant fear. He would have sudden outbursts of anger, just like we just witnessed. And then … one day he was just gone.”
Evans sighed again, looking off and thinking all of this over. She waited, knowing there was no sense in pushing but hoping he would understand the urgency. What other options did they have at this point?
“If we do this,” Evans looked back to her now, “we have to be careful not to influence her. We can’t force her to recall things that didn’t happen. That won’t help us or her.”
Mitchell nodded. Evans looked back down the hallway towards Stephanie’s room. By now the Nurse and the Clarks had entered the room. The hall with its buzzing fluorescent lights stood stark and empty.
“And we have to clear this with her parents first,” Evans said with a note of finality.
Mitchell looked back down the hallway as if she expected to see anything. She thought of talking to the Clarks and trying to explain all of this to them.
“We have our work cut out for us,” she said.
***
“What you’re asking,” Tim Clark said, his voice heavy, “seems dangerous.”
The four of them sat in the waiting area of St. Jerome. Mitchell had presented the idea of hypnosis and then had looked to Evans. He took over explaining how the hypnosis process would work and why it could prove quite helpful. In silence, Tim and Dorothy soaked all of this in. Finally, Evans had finished talking. After a moment, Tim had finally spoken.
“I assure you that Dr. Evans is a highly trained professional,” Mitchell said.
Dorothy glanced over at her husband. Tim’s jaw remained firm, almost clenched. Dorothy, on the other hand, seemed potentially open to the idea. Could it really be? Tim sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling.
“Our daughter has been through a lot,” he said. “She’s in a very fragile state as it is. It just doesn’t strike me as a good idea to make her relive whatever has happened to her.”
As he spoke, Mitchell heard someone come through the front doors. Glancing over, she saw it was Pastor Diego. He spotted them right away, but waited near the door rather than approaching.
“You’re right, Mr. Clark,” Evans said. “Stephanie has been through a lot, but I sincerely believe she is strong. It’s clear to me that her subconscious mind is battling something traumatic. And while it can be scary to confront trauma head-on, it’s the only way forward.”
“The only way forward?” Tim said, making no attempt to hide how dubious he felt this notion was.
“She’s repressing memories of traumatic events,” Evans continued in an even tone. “As long as Stephanie is not able to confront and properly deal with whatever is the true cause of all of this fear and anxiety, she will continue to be tormented.”
Tim looked down, saying nothing.
“Mr. Clark, I assure you my only goal is for Stephanie to find healing from all of this,” Evans said. He glanced over at Mitchell before continuing. “We just want to help Stephanie.”
“So do we,” said Tim.
And with that he stood and moved to the door. Dorothy shot an apologetic look to Mitchell and Evans before following him. Reaching Pastor Diego, Tim stopped. They spoke
in hushed tones. Tim glanced back at Mitchell and Evans for a second as Dorothy joined them. She, however, said nothing.
“That went well,” Evans sighed.
Mitchell, eyes still locked on Diego and Tim, said, “Do parents often refuse hypnotherapy?”
“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, that’s for sure,” Evans shrugged. He looked over at the trio talking by the door. “Especially if they happen to have some religious objection to hypnosis.”
“He didn’t say so,” Mitchell pointed out. “Or maybe that’s not the issue. Maybe there’s something he doesn’t want you digging up during hypnosis.”
As she said this, Diego happened to glance in their direction. For a brief second, he locked eyes with Mitchell, then nodded. Was he simply being polite? Was he toying with her? She was having a hard time reading this guy.
“So you think Stephanie’s father has something to hide after all?” Evans asked, a bit surprised.
Mitchell sighed. “Just considering all possibilities.”
CHAPTER NINE
Evans yawned as he stared down at his laptop. He had his computer and his notebook set out on the bed of his motel room. Since getting back to the motel, he’d started typing up notes he’d made that day, going into further detail now as he worked on his computer as more observations and questions occurred to him.
Picking up his notebook, he leafed through it, looking over the notes he had made the last couple of days to make sure he’d caught everything. He’d made note of certain common occurrences for alien abductees. Stephanie seemed to have experienced missing time, which was often reported by people claiming to have seen a UFO or had a close encounter of some variety. Even Pastor Diego’s story contained this detail. What had he said? Nearly forty minutes had passed when it had only felt like a couple of minutes? Could it be that all of these people were actually experiencing something quite real?
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