Liberty, Kentucky

Mr. Thomas Smith

It has been two weeks since my son disappeared. The officers told me that he probably wanted to cut off all contact with us. But my son would never do that! The night before he disappeared, he told us about how he was coming back home. I know my son. He made a promise he intended to keep. Besides, it’s not like he could’ve gone anywhere else. He didn’t have many friends.

This morning was no different. My wife tried calling the police to investigate the case, but they simply told us there wasn’t much they could do. She was sitting down in his room and looking at his stuff. I, meanwhile, tried to do an investigation of my own when the case first opened. I searched near the frat house he partied at before disappearing. What I discovered was that there were some scorch marks in the backyard. There was also a piece of otherworldly metal next to the scorch marks. I personally tried to find out what material it was, but nothing came up. It was as if the metal couldn’t be found anywhere on Earth. But that was lunacy. There was no way he was abducted by aliens. I had to think of a more grounded reason.

Back to this morning, I was looking online to find any missing persons case that resembled Quentin’s. To my surprise, there were two cases. The first one was a ten-year-old girl from Georgia who disappeared fourteen years ago. The second one was an eighteen-year-old man from Birmingham, UK, who disappeared ten years ago. The case files were also similar. The otherworldly metal was near their latest sighting. They also had instances of police ditching the investigation when it yielded no fruit. But perhaps we could find the conspiracy behind their disappearances.

Before I could email them, I heard a knock on the front door. I got up and answered the door. I was surprised when I saw a middle-aged couple. It was a husband and wife who were looking at me with a faint smile. The first thing I noticed was that they were rich. The wife wore one of those dresses that only rich women wore while the husband wore a casual suit with an ascot. I looked up at the husband and asked, “How may I help you?”

“I’m sorry to intrude, but we heard about the case involving your son,” the man said with an accent befitting a Southern gentleman.

“How did you find out? And what do you want?” I asked as I glared at the man. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to sell me, but I wasn’t buying it. He was probably one of those predatory businessmen looking to cash in on our family tragedy.

“Ever since our daughter disappeared, my husband and I have searched feverously for her,” the wife said as she looked at the ground. I saw tears starting to form and prepared for the waterworks. But it wasn’t necessary. After a few sniffles, she suppressed a cry. “We just want help finding our daughter. Since a similar thing happened to you, we want some answers,” she said before extending her hand.

“I’ll help,” I replied as I shook her hand. I don’t know why, but I now felt like I could trust them. Perhaps it was her genuine sorrow that showed me that they had no ill intent. I opened the door and led both of them into the living room. I shouted, “Honey, some strangers have shown up with details of Quentin’s disappearance!”

The husband and wife seated themselves on one of the couches, allowing my wife and I to sit across from them on another couch. I looked at them and asked, “Forgive my rudeness, but we haven’t properly introduced ourselves. Why don’t the two of you start?”

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“I’m Samuel Arnold Campbell the Third,” the man replied. He was tall, blonde, and had lean musculature.

“I’m Cassandra Vaught Campbell,” the woman said. She was a short redhead that was as thin as a toothpick. Her green eyes nicely complemented her red hair and fair skin. If I wasn’t already married to the most beautiful woman in the world, I’d say she was gorgeous.

“I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Thomas Jeffrey Smith,” I said with a bow.

“And I’m Madilyn Phillips Smith,” my wife said as she tapped her fingers on the armrest.

“Now back to the topic on hand. Both of our families lost someone close to us. Their disappearances haven’t been investigated as fully as they could have. There’s one commonality. An otherworldly metal was close to the place they were last seen. Either an extraterrestrial element, artificial element, or an alloy that the public databases don’t know of yet,” I said as I placed the sliver of metal I had on the coffee table.

“At least we have a major clue,” Mr. Campbell said as he started rubbing the temples of his head. “However, I don’t know how much help that’ll be.” After he said those words, silence filled the room as we tried to figure out what to do next.

“The only idea I have is outlandish and stupid. It’s doubtlessly from watching cheesy sci-fi movies with my sons,” I said, breaking the silence. Everyone’s attention shifted to me as I took a deep breath. Once I had a little confidence, I explained, “Our children were abducted by aliens.” A spell of silence filled the room.

And it was broken by a storm of laughter. I wanted to cower away and make myself invisible. I knew it was an insane theory. Now I’m only one episode of insanity away from having my own History Channel documentary. Sometimes I wonder why I don’t keep my stupidity to myself.

“Thank you for the joke! It’s been a while since I laughed this hard!” Mr. Campbell said as he tried to contain his laughter. After twenty seconds, he managed to contain his laughter. He waited for everyone else’s laughter to die down before saying, “But on a more serious front, I have my own theory. I noticed that our cases were connected with a case in the UK. Normally, a serial offender would commit several offenses within the span of a few years and in the same general location. The widespread of these cases has me suspecting some kind of international human trafficking ring.” Our wives gasped as they heard what he said. As for me, my heart dropped as my blood ran cold. I felt goosebumps all over my skin as the possibility of it reached me. All of a sudden, alien abduction didn’t sound so bad. But there was one logic flaw.

“Why would they kidnap Quentin and the British man? Both were adult men when they were presumably kidnapped,” I questioned as it seemed unlikely my son would be trafficked. Unless there was a sudden market for STEM slaves, I doubted that they would have much use for him.

“I haven’t gotten around to that part. To be honest, it was just my suspicion. In truth, we have no leads. All we have is worthless evidence,” Mr. Campbell said as he stared at the wall. “I just hope they aren’t dead. Most people don’t survive this long after being kidnapped.”

“Don’t say that! Our Scarlett is alive! I know it!” Mrs. Campbell cried as she hugged her husband. I knew she was lying. Lying to herself. She wanted so desperately to believe her child was alive when it was obvious that she wasn’t. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what I believed. I’ll let her remain optimistic. Though I did have to wonder how they’d react if their daughter was alive and returned to them. A twenty-four-year-old woman who spent most of her life missing suddenly meeting her parents again. Would they even recognize her? Would she recognize them? At least Quentin was an adult when he disappeared.

“We’ll help you however we can,” Madilyn said as she held her hands together. “I hope your little girl is okay. If we find out anything about what happened to her, we’ll tell you.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Campbell softly cried. We then sat in silence as we tried to come to terms with what happened.

We gave each other our numbers and parted ways. Quentin, wherever you are, you are not forgotten! We still love you and wish for you to return!