by Craig Groff-Folsom (he/him)

Facing my parents after my adventures in Oregon had been difficult. They had made their opinions about my podcast quite clear before, and me running off to Oregon just reinforced their convictions. To be fair maybe I shouldn’t have been tangling with a coven but I didn’t know that when I left.

Still, the draw of the unknown was still undeniable. I loved listening to the late-night talk shows about the unexplained. When a report came in about a falling streak of fire outside of Eagle Creek, Idaho, the temptation was too much to ignore. I jumped in the car and set off to investigate.

***

Following the descriptions provided by the caller on the radio show, I parked on a roadside and headed into the forest. I found the crash site easily, a mangled bed of charred foliage. From outside the newly-created clearing, a deer watched me inquisitively. Aren’t they usually afraid of humans?

The tire tracks left on the scene suggested heavy machinery, so I searched the Internet for a nearby industrial site. Only a few miles away there was a yard full of machinery. I slipped through the fence and walked the grounds carefully. At the back of the property there was freshly turned soil. Did they bury someone here? Human or… alien? Not having the stomach to dig deep, I kicked at the dirt slightly and turned up a USB stick.

Taking the stick back to the diner, I carefully scanned it for data. It contained security footage of the salvage team! Although I could not see through the smoke of the smoldering wreckage what had landed, I could see the salvage team point at the camera.

I went back to the crash site for another look. Triangulating the position of the camera from the footage, I discovered a secret facility buried deep in the woods. Before I could find my way in, I heard an explosion emanating from a short distance away!

I ran back to the car and drove in the direction of the smoke. Trying to dodge the emergency crews responding, I walked around the back of the Eagle Creek Veterinary Clinic next door. The explosion had occurred in the parking lot next door. Lurking in the shadows, I overheard two people exiting the clinic, saying “no one will find the evidence now”. My phone rang, thankfully on vibrate. I obscured the sound long enough to slip away. My parents knew I was on another investigation, and they weren’t happy. I told them I was wrapping things up and coming back home soon, but I didn’t define what ‘soon’ meant. I still had work to do.

Heading back to the diner to further analyze what I had found, the owner had left me a note. Someone wanted to meet me at the abandoned sawmill at midnight. I drove over cautiously, hoping it wasn’t a trap.

The person waiting for me at the sawmill agreed to speak to me off the record. I can’t say much about how they discovered what they knew, but they explained that the deer I saw at the crash site wasn’t a coincidence. Someone is experimenting on deer in the forest! They handed me a strange device and told me it was related to the experiments. After they left, I knew I had to go back to the facility.

Shortly after walking back through the forest, I approached the facility but could see flashing lights. The sheriff! Did my parents call him? I stepped back into the cover of the woods and waited patiently while he walked the perimeter. I guess he decided I wasn’t there, and left.

I did my own circle around the perimeter. The few entries were all secure, but a torn piece of clothing nearby was soaked in blood. Something was definitely up.

Acting on a hunch, I pulled out the device that my source had handed me and walked into the forest. “I only seek information,” I said calmly as I spoke into the darkness.

The deer I saw earlier emerged and approached me carefully. A soft voice echoed inside my head. “I have been instructed to only share information with the others.”

“Do you mean the ones that fly in large metal circles?” The deer nodded, confirming my suspicion. “What information do you share with them?” I asked, possibly pushing my luck.

“Information about your kind,” the voice in my head said. The tone was pretty clear that this was the end of the conversation. I bowed my head in gratitude and walked away, returning to my car for the long drive home.

***

While I drove, I recorded my thoughts. I wanted to get it all documented while it was fresh in my mind. After returning home, I texted my parents to let them know I was safe before setting to work editing my stream-of-consciousness into episodes.

The entire series was scheduled to release at once. I braced myself for the comments, calls, and texts that would come from this revelation.

Nothing.

Okay, maybe not nothing. I had a few decent download numbers. However it seemed like my audience passed this off as a work of fiction. Who would believe this, anyway? Why would aliens enlist the local deer population as spies against humanity? To what end? Perhaps I had missed something that would’ve turned the story on its head and given it a stronger appeal. Maybe I didn’t have the access to find that part anyway.

Sometimes you can only find the truth, even if you can’t explain why it is that way.

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by shib71

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