MISSING HOURS

Dear Allen,

It has been years since we last spoke, as you already know. I apologize for the long silence, but I had to wait for things to die down. I still see occasional signs... I’m being monitored. By both sides, I think. Sometimes people follow me, sometimes black cars park outside of my house and stay there all night, but nobody ever gets out of them. Occasionally I see an unmarked helicopter flying around my house. I suppose they watch my mail, which is why I have selected an alternative mail source for sending letters such as this. Indeed, it has been a long time, but I will never forget. I can still see it all when I close my eyes...

Dear Hank,

I remember it as well as you, I guess. Not so easy to forget, though. I think about it all the time. It troubles me, just knowing what I know. Even worse is knowing that no one else knows. I also see the spies, the hints left... But I’ve seen more, and I hope for your sake you don’t have to. A while back, I don’t recall how long, maybe a year and a few months, they were in my house. Don’t know what time it was... no, it was midnight. Yeah, midnight, I always get up at midnight to let Buddy out, if I don’t he messes the furniture. But that night I woke up a little before, heard a crash, figured Buddy had to go early. I got up and went to the kitchen, and this brilliant light... it just swallowed me I suppose. So much light, I couldn’t see anything at all.

Next think I knew I was in my bedroom. One of them was standing right outside my window, another was right at my bed. They about jumped out of their skin when they noticed I was awake, guess I was supposed to be out for a bit longer. The one at the window ran away. The one by the bed took out some sort of weapon, real small, just a personal defense weapon. I kicked it before I let him get a chance to show me what it could do. I chased him out of the house, gave ‘im a good scare. I was shouting and throwing just about anything I could find. He ran off, and I went to bed. But the funny thing was when I got back to bed after chasing it away, I checked my clock, two hours had gone by. Can’t remember a thing about them, but it always takes a year or two to remember anything...

Dear Allen,

That’s disturbing. I have seen markings in my yard, signs that they are around, but they haven’t entered my home before. They definitely remember us personally... But why did they wait until now to act? I guess nobody knows. Or, if someone does know, they aren’t telling us. There are a lot of things they don’t tell us, or anyone else. I think something big is going on. Spying, surveillance, markings... They are up to something, but I can’t make any sense of it all.

Dear Hank,

I’m sure you’ve watched the news recently. The words in the field just outside Stonehenge. They’re passing it off as college kids with boards and rope, just like they always do. But it’s not. I can tell. We had a team when we caught the one in Puncier, they were deciphering his writing. He was rather cooperative with showing us to write like he did. I wasn’t on the team, I just saw a session or two. But it’s the same writing. If only I knew how to read it...

Dear Allen,

I was on the team, briefly. I took a lot of notes, I probably still have them, with luck I can find out what it says. And they chose Stonehenge, too. Definitely A’s work. They write around there a lot. I investigated for a while, got an assignment to find out why they write there so often. I found it, all right. Stonehenge shares similar geometrical structures with their own circles. It’s a language of its own, the language of math. We deciphered it. They’ve been talking to us for years. For centuries. Because we spoke to them first. Some ancients, I don’t know who, they figured out the language of math. Didn’t learn it on their own, either. Someone showed them, taught them to write it. It’s the language of the stars. Best I can figure out, one of them crashed here. Met up with the smartest of the ancients, taught them. Know what Stonehenge says? it was something along the lines of, “Rescue/Crash/Rescue.” They write funny like that. So then this starman travels, goes to Nazca. He built runways for his people to use, so they could come and rescue him. Years passed and he got no answer. Then one day, he died. Don’t ask about his body, I couldn’t tell you that. maybe they buried him, maybe they burned him, I never found out. Few years passed, and he was answered, but it was too late. For a while the ancients kept in contact, but everything ends. Time went on, and eventually they forgot how to write the language. But A didn’t. I won’t tell you what the circles of today say... You’re better off not knowing.

Dear Hank,

I hope you get that writing deciphered soon. It could be the key. If we can get the word out, we could save people if it’s serious. But... Nobody would believe us. Never do. People want to think they’re safe, even if that means living lies. G knows something, something is going to happen soon, I think. I wonder if they even told the President...

Dear Allen,

I deciphered it. This may shock you, brace yourself. I got it all, tried over and over, I didn’t want to believe it. Here’s what the new writing says:

Liars/Traitors/Captors

Murderers/Killers/Monsters

You/Will/Pay

Dear Hank,

This morning I found Buddy dead outside. He was torn to pieces... massacred. There was barely enough of him left to bury. G didn’t do it, they aren’t interested in the murder of old, smelly basset hounds. it was A, for sure. I even found a tool, very sharp object. can’t figure out what the hell it’s for, there’s no blood on it, but I know they left it behind, has some of that crazy writing on it. Why kill Buddy? What’s the purpose?

I haven’t heard anything in a while. No helicopters, no cars, no spies. Not G spies, at least. I think it’s revenge for what we did at Puncier. But we had no choice... I had no choice. Guess A doesn’t see eye to eye with me on that, though.

G always knows what A is up to, same goes for the other way around. G knew A would move soon, but they didn’t stop it. They won’t even come out here and investigate it. Something bad is going on...

Dear Allen,

I haven’t seen any sign of G for days. But I see A everywhere. I get it now. A took over. G doesn’t exist anymore. Regardless of whether or not G saw it coming, they aren’t around to do anything about it now. A is now in charge of everything, they’re controlling the country now. Maybe the whole world by now. Maybe they were in control all along...

I can’t tell you what comes next.

Be prepared for the worst.

Dear Hank,

This will be the last letter you get from me, supposing you get it at all. They’re everywhere. I see them walking around all over town in their cloaks. In the stores, in back alleys, outside my windows at night. They watch me. Don’t engage, they just watch me. I don’t know if there’s anyone left who isn’t one of them. I shouldn’t have killed the crash victim. A is retaliating because of it. Killing Buddy was a warning... but why warn if they are taking over anyway? Nothing makes sense anymore, I don’t even know if you are still alive. There’s one outside the window on the side of the room. Been there a while, I don’t think he knows I know he’s there. I’ll pretend like I don’t see him, I’ll just finish writing this, and when I get up to send it, maybe he’ll just leave.

No. He knows I know.

They must have a big force ready, he isn’t afraid of me seeing him now. The look in his eyes, he seems familiar to me. Maybe he was the one in my house that night. I have one last story to tell you. It’s a shame, we could never see each other, sit down and tell these tales like normal people. G takes your life away like that.

The one that crashed, we took him to 51. During a psychic session, he flipped the table. ran off, even made it outside. I had to take him out, couldn’t risk him getting out. I shot him, wounded him pretty bad.

The one in the window took off his cloak. Never seen that before.

We put him into a truck, we were going to transfer him to a more secure area, maybe B. He started talking into his little device again, I didn’t know what he was saying. Psychic said he was blabbing on about heat. Then, he died... in mid-sentence, he just died. Guess I wounded him a bit more than I thought.

The one at the window is inside. I don’t think this piece of paper will ever leave my typewriter.

I remembered what happened during those missing hours that night. I woke up on their ship... They were chanting, and throwing things into a rectangular box. Like they were performing some sort of strange ritual. I passed out after that.

Some things aren’t meant to be trifled with.

He’s outside my door, and now I know everything.

Is that a scar on his leg? It isn’t pretty.

Some things aren’t meant to be disturbed.

Greed has caused humans the ultimate demise. If only we could’ve learned from each other. Why did I ever pull the trigg