A Familiar Interference
Case File: 11 Oakwood Drive
I opened my eyes with a jolt and immediately felt the dampness of the grass beneath me. I took a slow breath and pushed myself upright.
The backyard was still and silent. There was no movement. I listened. No voices, either. I scanned the tree line, the patio, and the house behind me. The house appeared dark and empty.
For a moment, I just sat there trying to piece together what I remembered. Lourdes coming out of the shed. The object in her hand. Claire shouting. Me bending over to pick up the object.
Then nothing.
I slowly got to my feet and walked toward the house, my balance returning with each step. Through the kitchen window, I could see the laptops still glowing on the counter, casting that faint, pinkish hue from the full-spectrum camera feeds. I saw no movement through any of the screens, suggesting that perhaps Paul, Claire, and Lourdes might not be inside.
I tried the back door but it was locked. I then circled the house, checking the front door. It, too, was locked. I knocked, then called out, but was greeted by an unsettling silence.
I returned to the backyard. My attention drifted toward where the red shed had been. It wasn’t there. I stepped closer, scanning the ground, trying to piece together the events that occurred right before I blacked out.
Then I heard something. It sounded like a faint, muffled scream coming from inside the house.
I rushed back to the kitchen door and pressed my ear against the glass. I could hear them now — both Claire and Paul. They were coming closer, but the house was still dark and empty. I couldn't see them.
Then something shifted in the leaves directly behind me. I turned but saw nothing. Then I heard a low sound, closer to me this time. Too close.
Then I felt it. It was a sudden pressure on my arm. I recoiled out of instinct and looked down. There was nothing there.
I backed toward the kitchen door, my hand hitting the glass as I shouted for Claire, Paul, anyone.
Then I heard another sound. This one was closer. Something was moving on the patio. I couldn’t see anything, but I knew something was there.
Then...a sudden, overwhelming brightness filled my vision, and the ground dropped out from under me.
When I opened my eyes again, I was half-laying on a wood floor inside a small structure. I blinked, trying to focus.
Claire was crouched over me. “Allan,” she said. “You’re okay.”
I turned my head and saw Paul guiding an older man toward the doorway. Another figure followed him, unsteady and disoriented.
“Frank… Margaret…” I managed. Claire nodded.
I pushed myself up, still trying to make sense of where I was. It was a shed. The same shed that Lourdes exited before. At least that was my assumption.
“Lourdes?” I asked.
“She’s fine,” Claire said. “She handled it well.”
I looked at her. “And the object?”
She hesitated. “It’s contained. For now. But we need to...”
Shouts rose from outside distracting her from finishing her sentence. I could hear car doors opening and closing. Clair and I stepped out into the daylight.
Paramedics helped Frank and Margaret toward an ambulance at the edge of the driveway. Mary stood nearby, watching. Paul stood off to the side holding his camera but looking agitated. His camera was trained on a black SUV at the end of the driveway.
Lourdes turned as I approached and gave me a quick, relieved smile.
“You’re back,” she said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I think so.”
Claire stepped past us toward the driveway looking from the SUV to Lourdes. “What happened?” she asked.
The SUV suddenly pulled into the road and took off. Lourdes turned to follow it with her eyes. “They took it,” she said.
The vehicle turned and disappeared around the bend at the far end of the street. Paul ran up beside me and turned his camera around.
“Take a look at this,” he said, voice tinged with frustration.
I flipped through the images he just took of the fleeing vehicle. There was frame after frame garbled static and digital noise.
“No car,” Paul said quietly. "Nothing. I fired off a couple dozen photos of it."
I flipped back through the ruined images, then looked up toward the road again. Lourdes exhaled slowly.
“They showed up right after it was contained,” she said. “They didn’t say anything. They just took it.” She glanced at me. “Like before.”
I didn’t respond. I was already thinking about that time in the desert. The bright light. The strange man who told us to leave.
Mary approached and thanked us quietly before getting into her car. She pulled out behind the ambulance. We stood there in the driveway for a moment, watching them go. Then we packed up our gear, locked the house, and left.