Chapter Two

I let the lukewarm stream of water run over my tired, sandblasted skin for a few minutes, collecting my thoughts and finally pulling myself out of the ocean of unconsciousness. I thought back to the unusual report on the news. It wasn't something I usually thought about, especially not in my recent history due to being busy or asleep all hours of the day. Seeing UFO's was nothing new by any standard, there are drawings of strange beings and strange objects going back thousands of years. It seems almost every ancient culture had encounters with what we would call extraterrestrials. But it seemed like the phenomenon was blowing up again like it did after the Roswell crash. Nonetheless, I still believe the governments of the world know more about it than the people do. But that's as far as I would want to think about it, I've noticed some real crazies who take conspiracy theories too far about aliens and other topics. I smirked at the thought of the 'crazies' as I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. I quickly dried off and carelessly threw my towel onto the bed. I pulled on a fresh pair of boxers and began to pull up my old, tired khaki shorts when a loud jet wash boomed over the apartments, shaking the windows and rattling my dishes in the kitchen cabinet. I instinctively covered my head with my arms, doing little to shield my body from the sudden hurricane of plaster flecks that rained from the ceiling and stuck to my still-damp body. Without thinking, I made for the window. I immediately fell flat on my face, thanks to the shorts that were sitting around my ankles. I sat up and did what I could to ignore the pain shooting through my jaw and neck and pulled up my shorts. I dashed to the window hurriedly to see what had just very nearly collapsed my ceiling. I tore aside the cheap curtains and looked up to see several very large helicopters flying low over Richard Horbuth street.