We know that our planet has been visited by various alien species. We know they have taken our people, and that they don’t always return them. What we don’t know, is why.

  -The United States Department of Extraterrestrial Defense

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  Ross left the bathroom in a bit of a daze. The mark hadn’t been there before, he knew it hadn’t been there before, and it was too regular and clean to be some kind of bruise. A tattoo would be believable, but when would he have gotten it? And what would the meaning behind it be? A triangle with dots lined up to each point? Perhaps an image search would give him some answers.

  Or he could just accept aliens as the answer.

  “Well? See anything?” Bobby looked at him with rapt attention, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes. “Any odd markings, scars or bruises?”

  Numbly, Ross nodded and lifted his shirt to show the marking, ignoring the awkwardness as both Bobby and Theo moved in close to look at it. “It wasn’t there last I checked, and I can’t think of anything that would have left that mark.”

  Theo pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture of the mark before straightening and heading back to the table, already tapping at her phone. “It’s a pretty basic shape, but I can’t think of anything that would leave that type of mark either. The dots look like puncture wounds, but what about that triangle?”

  “Could it be a tattoo?” Bobby asked thoughtfully. He straightened, and Ross pulled his shirt back down with a sigh.

  “It’s not a tattoo. It feels like cuts.” Ross looked over the notes spread out on the table, and the white board with its list of names. He picked up a marker, drawing the symbol on the board in one corner. He didn’t like the idea of having been abducted, but sometimes the most absurd answer was the correct answer. “I’ll get back with you about any nightmares. Did either of you notice Mr. Greene’s bookstore for sale on the way here?”

  “No way, he swore he’d never sell!” Bobby hurried to his computer, starting to pull up websites. “It might not be connected, but it’s weird enough to look into.”

  The first website Bobby pulled up was the local real estate office’s site, a quick scroll finding Mr. Greene’s bookstore for sale on the main page. But the second website-

  “Bobby, how do you have access to the police stations computers?”

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  “Uhm- I, don’t?” Bobby said, his voice rising a bit as he shifted the computer slightly. As if Ross couldn’t see right over his shoulder, did Bobby think he was stupid?

  “Bobby.” There was a warning in Ross’s voice, and Theo ducked behind her own computer with a smirk.

  “I’m just looking at the most recent police reports! It’s not like I’m erasing parking tickets or anything like that.”

  “Bobby, that’s a closed system for a reason. Do you have any idea how many laws you’re breaking to get into it?”

  “Aren’t you on leave though? And we need a comprehensive list of not only the people missing but any other odd things that are going on as well. I’ll just take a peek at the police reports, and Theo can look at social media. Unless you’d rather look at the police reports?” Bobby sounded so reasonable, as if this was the type of thing he did every day. Ross sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case.

  “I’ll look at the police reports, you look at some of the social media with Theo. We’ll cross-reference what we find.” Ross sat down, taking the computer from Bobby. It was better if he looked at them than a college kid!

  Bobby pulled out his phone, starting to scroll through social media, talking with Theo about which platforms they would each cover, and what they would be looking for.

  The trio fell into a busy silence, each engrossed in their own tasks, jotting down names, dates and notes. By the time the sun started to set, they had added three more names to the list of missing people, and a list of events that might relate to aliens. Theo grabbed one of the dry erase markers, starting to write down their information.

  “So we have one confirmed sighting of an alien spacecraft, and two UFO sightings, both after Maggie disappeared. We also have the suits that showed up shortly after Maggie disappeared, but there seems to be two groups of them. One is obviously from the government, they’re working with the police and following the proper channels. But the other group are skulking around the junkyard, and asking people weird questions.” Theo said as she wrote on the board, her voice taking on the same tone she used in her news broadcasts. “We also have three more people other than the Kaye’s added to our list of missing people: Doc Zimmerman, who took a sudden sabbatical without telling anyone, Professor Hill, and Elliott Westen, who runs the junkyard.”

  “I’m not sure I’d classify Doc Zimmerman as a missing person, although the timing is odd. But Professor Hill and Elliott Westen are both legitimate missing persons. No one has seen either of them in the last 48 hours, and their families have both filed reports with the police department.” Ross looked at the few pictures they had managed to pull off the internet, the faces of the missing people, the strange men in suits that were going around the town asking questions, and the blurry pictures of things lifting up into the sky, including a shot of the RV lifting up into the sky.

  “The timing is more than odd, he cancelled appointments he’s had for months, and just up and left!” Bobby said from his spot perched on the couch. “Not only that, but his car is still in his driveway. If he went on sabbatical, why didn’t he take his car? Even if he was flying out somewhere it’s not like he could just walk to the nearest airport.”

  Theo nodded in agreement, sitting back down at the table. “Of course there’s things that could just be coincidences, and we don’t have much proof that anything fishy is going on. But I think we’re on to something here.”

  Ross studied the white board, now full of notes and pictures. He looked at the two college students, kids he had always thought were just a bit too into science fiction for their own good. “I think we’re on to something, but now what do we do with the information?”