Chapter Text
September 1st, 1994
11:32 PM
The forest outside Lavender Creek, OR
It was like she was dead. Engulfed in darkness, her senses equally dead, muted, numb.
In an instant, she was alive again.
Slowly, her vision returned to her. First in shadowy blobs accompanied by a sharp ringing in her ears. Then in vague, blurry shapes. And finally, in the tall trees of the forest. Her fingers began to feel again, and she could sense the blood flowing in her limbs again. There was a piercing ringing in her ears. She looked upwards at the endless night sky, as if she was expecting the same old night sky that she had seen her entire life.
Instead, a singular, impossibly bright light beamed down on her like a searchlight. So bright it hurt her eyes, almost burned them.
Tearing herself away from the sky, onto the soil beneath her, she came to the realization that there was blood in her mouth; the inside of her cheek had been cut, like she had been chewing on it. Acid was rising from her throat, and she didn't know how she didn't vomit onto the forest dirt. Her head pounded with every seemingly endless breath she drew into her aching chest. Now that she stopped screaming, a deep and heavy humming not unlike an electric generator pulsed through the nightwind, vibrating in her bones.
Still staring at the ground, a pale hand grabbed her wrist tightly.
“We have to get out of here now !” A voice next to her shouted over the hum. She looked up, and saw Tori, jaw dropped, eyes wide and her forehead wrinkled. “What happened? Where’s Trent?”
Her lips trembled, but nothing came out of them. At that moment, she was having trouble remembering her own name, how old she was, and what she was doing there in the first place. It was a miracle she recognized Tori at all. Tori yanked her arm and started dragging her towards the shadows of the trees with speed that made her want to throw up again.
"C'mon, and don't let go!" Tori yelled to her, not slowing down a bit. "We're gonna get you out of here and then we'll all find Trent and get the hell out of here."
There was something she wanted to say to Tori, but she didn't know what. There was something blocking her thoughts, making her brain throb if she even tried thinking about anything. Even telling her body to keep running was starting to become a struggle, nearly tripping more than once as Tori kept hold of her hand and pulled her deeper into the trees.
They sped through forest, the blinding light slowly fading into the distance as they ran. Eventually she spotted the silhouette of a figure sitting crouched between the trees, and Tori slowed down and gestured for her to do the same. When they went into a complete halt, her legs gave out, and she collapsed in the dirt.
She couldn't make out the face covered in shadows, but hearing his voice (nasally, “posh”-ish) immediately made her recognize him as Atticus. "What happened to her?" He stood up on wobbly legs and narrowed his eyes on her in confusion. “Did you find Trent?”
"No," Tori said while gasping for air. "A-and there's something wrong with Mariqueen, she's bleeding…"
She - Mariqueen, that was her name wasn't it? - put her hand to her head. It was then, feeling around scalp, that she realized that her hair had been completely shaved off; somehow, this didn't faze her. Her hands wandered to the back of her head, then just above her spine. It was wet and warm. When she looked back at her hand, stained with her blood, she was so dazed that she couldn’t even mutter a simple “huh” to herself.
"I found her like this under the UFO, she hasn’t said a thing.”
"We need to get her out of here," Said Atticus. "She looks like she can barely even stand anymore."
"But what about Trent?" Tori said. "He might still be out there, we just can’t leave hi-"
Behind them, the light in the heart of the forest exploded. Everything around the kids - all of them barely into their teens, all of them scuffed and scratched, all of them with wide eyes - became clear as day. Mariqueen looked around and gazed at Tori's muddied clothes and bruises on her arms, at the cut just below her right eye. Then at Atticus and his black eye and the trail of dry blood under his nose.
Mariqueen blinked at them. What happened?
And above her, she saw the great, bright light begin to spin faster and faster as it ascended into the night sky. And as it retreated further and further into the night sky, half-formed memories began to flood back into Mariqueen's brain like water into a leaking cup. But still she could see them, the…the…
Mariqueen started shaking for reasons not even she could figure out. The other two's eyes were glued to the light - no, the spaceship - as it grew fainter to their eyes by the second. And they knew, down to their skin and to their bones and to their very souls - what had happened.
Trent was still on that ship. They took him. And he was gone.
And there wasn’t a single thing any of them could do to get him back.
–
The moment they took the shots they needed, they ran to their bikes and started to ride off down the road.
With the camera hanging by the lanyard around his neck, Richard led the way. Danny followed after, and Robin at the very end. In the darkness they had to rely solely on memory to find their way, careful not to use any flashlights. Flashlights were obvious, making them easy to find. So far they hadn’t found any sign of the black vans that had been following them for weeks. All three of them hoped it would stay that way.
“Faster!” Robin yelled suddenly.
Richard peeked his head back and felt sick to his stomach - big bright headlights were catching up to them, and all too quickly. His throat tightened - how were they supposed to go any faster? They were already riding faster than they ever had in their lives. The club house was another five minutes at least.
Whatever plan Richard might have been forming last minute was demolished when he saw a second set of headlights speeding towards them. The vans stopped mere feet away from them as their doors slid open. Richard abruptly steered the bike to its side, stopping himself and lept off of it. The other two followed suit as Richard ran towards the forest. Their only choice was to lose them in the trees and hide until they were gone. It was the only option left-
“Put your hands where I can see them!”
They heard the voice before they saw who it came from. From out of both vans marched a group of men decked out in heavy body armor, up to and including their heads. Each one had a gun of some sort in his hands…and they were all pointing at the three boys. Richard felt his blood run cold when he saw them. Robin snarled. Danny, who usually couldn’t shut up, went silent.
Out of the cluster of gunmen came a tall man with pale skin, short dark hair, and a neatly kept black business suit. His face was expressionless, his eyes cold…all three boys knew they were looking at someone who perfectly fit the archetypal Man In Black.
“Repeat, put your hands where I can see them!” One of the gunmen barked.
The boys threw their arms in the air, terrified of doing anything else.
The Man In Black walked slowly towards them, all business like, not even attempting to be anything else. His hands - which Richard realized were clad in black leather gloves - carefully grabbed the lanyard around Richard’s neck. Before Richard could object (even knowing his life was on the line), The Man In Black swiftly removed the lanyard and the camera.
“We have been authorized ,” The Man In Black began, his voice both robotic and snake-like at the same time. “To remove your organization of your equipment .”
“We’re just a UFO club!” Richard said, finally finding his voice despite the terror flowing in his veins.
“Yeah, what did we do?” Robin added, still snarling.
“You government fuckheads!” Danny shouted childishly.
The Man In Black stared at the three, quietly observing them. “Please acknowledge the fact that your organization is getting off with relative ease.” He looked over Richard’s camera, his face still blank. “ Consider this a warning .” He waved his hand, and both he and the gunmen retreated back into both black vans like insects. Their engines started up again, and soon they sped off down the road, into the night like a thief.
At first, they were silent and still.
When minutes passed with no sign of them coming back to finish them off for the crime of taking a photo, Richard balled his hands into fists. “You assholes!” He shouted to no one. He ran back to his bike and stood it back up, anger and determination in his eyes.
Robin grabbed hold of Richard’s shoulder before he could start riding off in pursuit of the vans. “Forget it man! It’s over, they have the camera. You wanna get yourself killed?” Going into a whisper, he said, “We’ll try next time, but we can’t get caught again. Okay?”
Tears of frustration broke out at the corners of Richard’s eyes. They stung.
“Let’s just get back to the clubhouse.”
–
Mariqueen stared mutely at the smoldering remains of the clubhouse. Next to her, Tori and Atticus went into complete disbelief. She gingerly touched the jacket Tori had given her to shield her from the coldness of the night.
“Our notes…they were all in there…” Tori muttered to herself. “And our equipment…”
Soon they were joined by Richard, Robin, and Danny, who similarly could only react in bafflement. They spotted Mariqueen, still bleeding at the back of her neck, still looking at everything with dazed eyes, then looked around as if realizing someone else was still absent.
“You guys didn’t find Trent, did you?” Richard asked.
He was met with silence. Mariqueen gazed back up at the night sky. She could see Trent standing with her in an immaculately white cell. She could see something cornering them…she could feel a pain in her head…
And like a brick, everything hit her all at once, and she screamed.
The others looked at her in confusion and horror, not knowing why she was screaming or what to do. She collapsed onto the ground, screaming at the sky until her voice grew hoarse.
When school started the following week, Mariqueen’s family moved away, Trent’s grandparents were still looking for him without luck - and the Lavender Creek UFO Club was officially done with.