You Know What You Did

It was a typical night for Derrick. He had come in from work, made a drink, and turned on the television. The news came on – nothing new there. Just more of the same old blah blah blah.

         The doorbell rang just as Derrick was making his second drink. 

         “Well, shit.” He muttered under his breath. “Now who the hell is that?”

         Derrick opened the door, completely expecting some salesperson or an annoying neighbor. Instead, there were two burly men in gray suits.

         “Can I help you?,” Derrick asked, perturbed. He hated being disturbed once he was home in the evening.

         One of the men pulled out a pair of handcuffs as the other grabbed Derrick’s arm and spun him around effortlessly.

         “You’re coming with us,” stated handcuff man in a gravelly voice.

         “What? Why? What is the meaning of this? I didn’t do anything! What do you think I did?” Derrick sputtered.

         The other man, in a gruff and grouchy voice, replied.

         “You know what you did. Now cooperate.”

         “But I don’t, I really, truly don’t.”

         “SILENCE!” yelled gravel voice, slapping on the handcuffs way too tight.

         The two men then dragged Derrick to a non-descript gray car that matched their suits perfectly. For some reason, this disturbed Derrick in a way that the rest of the encounter did not. 

         Once inside the car, Derrick again tried to ask what they thought he had done. Instead of answering, they put up a glass divider like those found in a limo.

         The drive took forever. Derrick tried to kick the glass, but only succeeded in falling on his head. They hadn’t bothered to buckle his seat belt. Once he got himself seated correctly again, he attempted yelling, but again got no response. The further into the country they drove, the more frightened Derrick became.

         At some point, Derrick became drowsy. This was a combination of his fear, the stuffiness of the car, and the alcohol he had consumed. Knowing this did nothing to help him stay awake. Before he knew what was happening, he was yanked roughly from the car and thrown on the ground.

         Now he was really afraid. They were in the middle of nowhere in some sort of field. It was too dark to tell what kind of field, but Derrick was guessing from the size of the plants that it might be a corn field.

         “Hey, guys. Please. I think you have the wrong man. Seriously. I’m begging you – tell me what you think I did.”

         They replied in unison, “You know what you did.”

         Derrick could see the path through the field where the car had come through. He was thinking that maybe he could make a run for it. Just about the time he had that thought, the two men turned to the path, pointed, and the corn or whatever it was stood straight up as though nothing had happened to it.

         Now Derrick was terrified. Not only did he have no escape, but these guys were definitely not what they seemed. For the first time, Derrick wondered if they were even human. Gravel voice came over to him and undid the handcuffs. Gruff and grumpy voice then walked over. The next thing Derrick knew, he was strapped into a straight jacket. Again, he asked what they thought he had done, and again he got no answer.

         The two men wandered off a little way and stood by the car. They were talking to one another, and Derrick strained to try and hear what they were saying. A small waft of wind sent a few words to his straining ears. The words did not comfort him, as they appeared to be trying to decide what to do with him.

         About that time, they both looked over at Derrick. Another breath of wind confirmed that they had changed languages, although they weren’t speaking any language that Derrick could recognize. As they stared at him, Derrick began to sweat uncontrollably. The next thing he knew, he woke up laying on the ground. He was still in the straight jacket, but one of the men had placed a jacket under his head for a pillow. 

         If only Derrick could find out which of them had shown him compassion, he could maybe sway that one to let him loose – or to let him go. However, both of them were missing their jackets, so again Derrick had no way of identifying the kinder of the two.

         He tried looking around, and became utterly horrified when he noticed the large, deep hole next to him. He began to talk again, stuttering as he did.

         “P – p – p – please d – don’t p – p – put me in that h – h – hole. I sw – swear I’m innocent.”

         “Shut up!” gravel voice ordered. Obviously he wasn’t the nicer of the two.

         “Since you’re awake,” said gruff and grumpy, “step carefully into that hole. Don’t worry, it just insures that you can’t run away.”

Doing as he was told, Derrick slide over to the hole and allowed himself to slide into it. It reached the top of his head. How was it they could dig a hole over six feet deep and not break a sweat or get dirty? Derrick was really getting creeped out.

         Gruff and grumpy walked over and squatted in front of Derrick.

         “It’s almost over. You will be just fine soon.”

         This was not a comforting statement for Derrick. 

         “Can I at least ask what we are waiting for?”

         “The mother ship,” gravel voice stated flatly.

         “Oh, dear God, I’m being abducted by aliens,” Derrick cried out. 

         As if they had been summoned by his cry, the sky lit up with bright lights and a huge round shape began to descend. It stopped just above the corn and hovered there. A ladder appeared from underneath the spaceship and gruff and grumpy walked over and climbed up. He came back out with a man in a white coat.

         “Derrick Jones – we are here to help you.  You know what you did.” Said the man in the white coat.

         “But that’s just it, sir, I don’t know what you guys think I did.”

         All three of the men began to chant repeatedly, “You know what you did, you know what you did, you know what you did.”

         Derrick began screaming.

         Some time later, Derrick opened his eyes. There was a doctor in a white coat, two orderlies in green scrubs, and a nurse with a needle.

         “Mr. Jones, are you going to remain calm now, or do you need another sedative?” asked the doctor.

         “I’m calm. Where am I?”

         “Mr. Jones, you are in the psychiatric ward at your local hospital.”

         “Why am I here?”

         “Don’t you remember what you did?”

         “No. I didn’t do anything.”

         “Mr. Jones,” the doctor said kindly, “I’m going to have these men remove your straight jacket since you appear to be more stable. Would you like me to tell you what you did?”

         “Oh, God, please!”

         “Mr. Jones, you accused everyone at your office of being alien life forms. You said you had to rid the world of them. You killed them all, Mr. Jones.”

         Derrick’s hair stood on end and he began to scream.