The Truth is Out There

Ben eased himself slowly into the folding chair. It was stiff from the cold. Leaning back he gazed up at the night sky. It was a clear winter night. Not one cloud in the sky, allowing for a spectacular view of stars and planets. 

Ben brought up his camera and snapped a couple of pictures. He then set the camera down on the table beside him and poured himself a cup of hot chocolate from his thermos. After blowing on it he took a sip. He then breathed a relaxing sigh and continued to gaze in wonderment at the cosmic array before him.

Ben Cooper sat on his back porch on this windless January night, covered head to toe in winter clothing. He even wrapped himself in a blanket as he sat in the chair, a mug of hot chocolate in his gloved hands.

A shadow began to creep around the side of Ben’s house. The sound of snow crunching underfoot breaking the silence of the night. Ben didn’t seem to notice. His gaze was still fixed on the sky above. It seemed as though his mind was somewhere other than Earth.

A head followed by a body covered in winter clothing  poked around the corner into the backyard. Ben began to lift the mug of hot chocolate to take a sip. “What are you doing Mr. Cooper?” The sound of the young boy startled Ben causing him to spill some of his drink. Some of it getting into his beard where it formed chocolatey icicles. 

Ben looked down. Recognizing the boy he let out an exasperated sigh. “What am I doing!? What are you doing Tommy? It’s a school night isn’t it?” The two stared at each other for a moment. “What about your mom? Isn’t she gonna be worried?”

“She fell asleep on the couch again. I don’t think she’s going to wake up for a while.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Alright alright. Come on up.” Ben pulled up a chair for Tommy on the other side of the table as the boy made his way up the stairs. “Want some hot chocolate?”

“Yes please!” Tommy’s eyes lit up at the prospect of having a cup of the hot drink. Ben went inside to grab him a mug. When he came back out he also had a blanket in hand.

“Here. If you’re going to sit out here with me for a while this’ll help keep you warm.”

“Thanks Mr. Cooper.” Tommy happily wrapped himself in the blanket, hot chocolate in hand. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

“Star gazing. It’s such a clear night it’s perfect for  watching the night sky.”

“Watching for what?”

“Hard to say. I didn’t really come out here knowing if I’d see anything other than stars.”

“You’re just sitting out in the cold looking at stars?”

“Yep. That’s why I brought out a blanket and hot chocolate. Besides If nothing else I did get a few good photos for my blog.”

“I don’t really understand most of the stuff you talk about on there.”

“Well astronomy might be a bit above your grade level.”

“Is all you do really just look at stars?”

“There’s a bit more to the study of our universe than that.”

“Sounds boring to me.” Ben chuckled at this. “Why  are you into astronomy?”

“Ah. Now that is a long story. You see, something happened to me when I was about your age. Something I couldn’t explain.”

“What?”

“You’ll probably think I’m crazy.”

“What happened?” Tommy had turned his whole chair so he was facing Ben directly. Ben looked over at the young boy eagerly awaiting his answer.

“Alright fine, but you’re not allowed to say I'm crazy.” Tommy nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “Let’s see. When I was thirteen I had a dog. It was my job to take him out for an evening walk before bed. One night I took him out as usual. I took him along our usual route. There were some grid roads I would always walk him down. Well this one particular night I happened to look up and I saw something in the night sky. Something was moving in the skies above us. At first I thought it was an airplane, but then  I noticed that the shape was wrong.”

“You saw a UFO!” Tommy exclaimed excitedly.

“Don’t interrupt, but yes I saw a UFO. An unidentified flying object. The next thing I remember is a bright flash of light and then it was gone. We carried on our walk as usual, but when we got home we found that hours had passed. Not the singular hour I usually do the walk in, but multiple hours. It was four in the morning when I got home. My parents had called the police to report me missing. I got asked all sorts of questions about where I’d been and what happened. I didn’t know what to say. To me no time had passed. I was suddenly missing hours. I didn’t know how to explain it.”

“Did aliens abduct you or something?”

“That’s one theory. Actually that’s the theory I came to believe. Especially given what happened over the next few days. You see I found this weird mark on the back of my neck, or rather my mom found it. No idea how it got there. It looked like someone had made an incision into my neck and then sealed up the wound leaving a scar. My dog started to get sick too. That was weird because he was still young and healthy at the time. He just suddenly got sick and died a couple of weeks later.”

“So what the aliens experimented on you?”

“Maybe. Something happened to me that night. Something I can’t remember or explain. I’ve been searching for answers ever since. I got into astronomy. I wanted to know what’s out there.” Ben gestured toward the sky. “I keep looking up hoping I might see it again. Whatever ‘it’ was. Afterall.” Grinning,  Ben turned to face Tommy. “The truth is out there.” Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Hey! What’s that?” Tommy pointed to something off in the distance. Ben squinted his eyes searching for whatever it was that Tommy saw. His eyes widened when he found it. Moving toward them was a set of lights in a triangular pattern. “Is it an airplane?”

“No, an airplane would have blinking lights.” Ben brought up his camera and started taking photos. “I don’t believe it.” Ben let out a high pitched chuckle.

“What? What is it?” Tommy asked insistently. Ben never got the chance to answer. There was a flash of light. The next thing either of them knew the sun was coming up. 

Looking confused, Ben checked his watch. “Damn it’s stopped.” He poured a mug of hot chocolate from the thermos. He brought it to his lips and pulled away making a sour face. “It’s gone cold. That means a lot of time has passed by. Check your phone!” Tommy pulled out his cell phone.

“It’s dead.” Tommy looked up at Ben. A look of realization beginning to form on their faces.

“Come here for a sec.” Ben turned Tommy around and pulled the back of his jacket back exposing the boy’s neck. “Oh my God!” Ben exclaimed. There dead center on the back of Tommy’s neck was a line, slightly indented and a bit darker than the rest of his skin. Turning Tommy back around he looked the boy right in the eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t. Instead Ben stood and turned looking out onto the horizon and fading night. “Oh my God.”