* *
*
Rated: EVERYONE
"Hmm .. ?? Yes, I'm here and awake now. Gimme a sec and I'll be there."
I got up out of bed leaving Susan there, put on a robe, and opened the door.
Tricia was standing there with a big grin on her face and her camera in her other hand.
"Come on in." I offered. She walked past and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Come take a look at the photos !" she said.
I gave her a sidelong look, "Don't they have to be developed first ?"
"I did and they are. I have a darkroom I set up at my place so I can develop them faster than photo labs at the store."
She rifled through a handful of prints. I sat down on the bed with her and she handed me the shuffle.
And - what I saw was creepy to say the least. If they were a joke, they were well done. One was a full-length horror. It appeared to be a naked man except that the fingers were twice the length of a normal person's and the head extended well into the back making a ghastly bean-shape.
"Pretty cool, huh ?" she offered.
"Yeah, cool - I guess. How do you know these are authentic ?" I asked.
"Why would they make a bunch of fakes and trick people ?"
"I don't know, it's just - " and then I came across a photo of what looked like a mound of dirt, yet it sparked something within me.
"What's the matter ?" she probed.
"This - picture here, what is it of ?"
"Oh, that was actually a large photo they blew up to poster size and I just took the picture of it. I - don't know what it is."
That mound looked familiar somehow. For a second I thought of the movie Close Encounters Of The 3rd Kind, but it wasn't like that.
It wasn't from a dream or anything, but something I had seen recently, I just couldn't place where.
"There's more to look at." she offered.
I nodded and looked at the remainder. The last photo showed what appeared to be a crystalline trapezoid. From the blur I could tell that it was spinning when she took the picture.
"That's the neatest part of the exhibit. It just floats in the air like anti-gravity or something."
"Can you touch it ?" I asked.
"Oh no, it's inside a protective glass casing. I guess you couldn't see that in the photo as they keep it so clean and sterile in there.
"I'd sure like to see it up close."
"Well, I could take you myself."
I grinned broadly.
"But I could also get fired as you're not permitted back yet."
"We can remedy that right now." I went to the intercom and tapped in Tricia's number.
* * *
"Yes David ?" she asked and already sounded irritated that I interrupted her for something.
"How are you doing ?" I asked.
I then realized pleasantries would be lost on her.
"I'm fine David, is that all you called about ?"
"No no. Trudy is here and she's showing me some photos of the alien artifacts you have underground."
If Tricia was impressed, surprised, or angered, she showed none of these and kept quiet.
It was a little unnerving to say the least. "Yeah, and um, I was wondering if I could see it myself. According to Smithers I'm not permitted back at work yet."
"Give me the phone." I heard her gruffly say. Apparently she wasn't alone and then her voice got louder like I was earlier on speaker phone and now on direct line.
"Listen, David. I know you got stitched up at the hospital but I want to give you a few extra days to heal. I promise you by the end of the week you'll be fit and able to go back to work. That's 3-days from now. Can you hold out till then ?"
"Sure." I responded absently.
"Good. Look, I need to get back to what I was doing. We'll talk later."
With that she clicked the intercom closed.
"I need to get back too." Trudy said seeing I finished my phone conversation.
I didn't ask why and about the time I was going to, she had already left. Once again I was alone in the room, not even Susan piped in the silence.
I went over to the computer and checked the status. I had written in my code to not sound the modem if it was after 10pm or before 9am. That was still in place.
I then looked at the log of callers. My other friends were calling in and happily leaving messages to each other as usual. And - there - the mystery caller again.
The next time he or she calls, I could certainly call the phone company and see if I could get a trace. Just explain to them my situation and their wanting to hack into my system.
But for now I unpacked the remainder of the crates and boxes, and it was indeed late, after 11pm, and while I wasn't sleepy, I lay down anyways.
And my dreams - well - they were different again. And I didn't know if this actually happened or if it was just my imagination.
I was seeing one of my psychologists and I had Susan in my hands for comfort. The conversation was going pleasantly enough when out of the corner of my eye I saw some sparks appear near a bare plug outlet.
"Is there something wrong ?" my doctor offered seeing my gaze distracted.
"I - that is - I thought I saw something."
He nodded and wrote down on his pad. "Okay, what do you think you saw ?"
"Sparks." I finally said.
"Sparks ? Where ?" he looked over his shoulder for a second.
But before I could answer suddenly a big jolt of electricity shot out of the outlet and the power went out in the room. Because there were no windows to outside we were left in pitch darkness.
"It's okay David, don't panic, it's just a fuse, I can - "
But he got no further for suddenly the whole room lit up in bright blue and white electrical arcs circling around the doctor and finally slamming into both him and me.
The majority of them seemed to be absorbed by Susan, the teddy bear I was holding, and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up, there was someone slapping my face. It was the receptionist.
"What happened in here !?" she demanded of me.
"I - don't know." I really couldn't remember anything at the time.
I looked to the doctor and was horrified to see that he was burnt to a cinder from electricity. As for me, aside from some amnesia, I had only a few slight burns on the sides of my legs that were just now starting to hurt.
I also heard a mechanical whirring sound too and realized the session was being videotaped by a camera he set up earlier. Despite the electrical interference it apparently continued to record as normal.
So - perhaps by looking at the video we could see what really happened. But the biggest question on my mind in my half-sleep state was, did this actually happen ?
END
OF CHAPTER 20
prev chapter
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing
