MESA VERDE, COLORADO
January 3, 2019:
A pimple-faced guy with the appearance of someone who didn’t spend much time around anything other than a computer screen said, “Exactly! That’s just the proof we’ve been looking for, man! How on Earth did you find it?”
“I’m telling you, Freddie, if you just bothered to look on some of the older websites, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for,” a second person, a pretty girl who died her hair half-white and half-indigo, told him. She looked desperately as though she was trying to be a real-life anime girl, and from the sticker infestation her laptop suffered, seemed almost halfway there. “It’s like that thing I found out about Roanoke last week – that the reason they vanished wasn’t because of hostile Indians or disease but because they ran across some elves and that was their downfall.” She turned to her side. “What do you think, Tyler?”
Tyler rubbed his unshaven cheeks. He’d grown it over the winter, a change for him…just like a lot of changes. With the series of blizzards that had come through in the past few months, it had given him a lot of time to read, and not much time to do much else. And now that the drugs he used to take were clear of his system, his mind was so much clearer now. He saw things he hadn’t seen before, and it had given him a new understanding and clarity.
The elves were trying to control the world; they were the true Illuminati. Of course, there were good elves; no society or culture was a monolith. But from everything he’d read, good folks like his girlfriend and her family were as rare as water when it came to elves, and that was probably because they were raised as humans. The ones that lived in Mu, Atlantis, and the other elf nations – he couldn’t remember all the names, but apparently there were several known ones – tended to wreak havoc in the human sphere whenever they could. Perhaps that was why humanity always warred and fought with each other; because if they weren’t led to do so by the elves, they would realize the real threat that had masterminded things like the Black Plague, the Irish Famines and so much more.
“Yeah, Nancy, I agree,” he said. “The word Croatan was clearly put there by elves to have any reinforcements find, and then blame, the Croatan Indian Tribe, when they repeatedly said they had nothing to do with the disappearance of the Colony. And that makes me wonder how many other people who vanished were the result of the elves? Amelia Earheart supposedly vanished while flying over the central Pacific – but isn’t that area also where Lemuria and Mu are stated to be?”
“I think you’re all missing the real threat!” a fourth person, an overweight boy named Adrian, said. Looking at them all while standing over the table, he announced, “What about all the media that gets put out that makes elves seem like nothing more than myth at best or outright laughable at worst? We know that the Ælfenheim series is fake, and that the ‘high elves’ fighting the ‘dark elves’—” A lot of finger quotes were performed, “—when really all the elves did was take human racial issues and gave them a spin that makes anyone just dismiss it as fiction. Or, for that matter, what about the Long-Eared Nightmare series? Seriously? Elves come out of their ancestral home to repeatedly slaughter the town of Rosewood, Oregon and nobody in the outside world ever notices? In real life, the Army would have easily found that elf den and killed them all!”
Freddie rolled his eyes. “Let’s be honest: the creator made it because he wants to make elves seem so laughable that no one would take them seriously. It’s propaganda, pure, plain, and simple. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Jacob Mercer turned out to be an elf in disguise! How else could he still have a job after making so many direct-to-video dumpster fires?”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably it. We have elves around us all the time, and we don’t know it! Remember that they have magic, so it’s easy for them to hide amongst us, even with their pointy ears and long lifespans. We could even go to school with some!”
Tyler went very quiet. Sure, he wanted to expose the truth, but he owed it to his girlfriend to keep them safe. They were some of the good ones.
“Hey, I bet I know who one is!” Nancy said aloud. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we were to find out that someone like Heather Fields or Nora Wolfe turned out to be one. After all, they sleep with influential guys all the time!” She then thought about it for a second. “I’m surprised one of them didn’t go after you, Tyler, given your position as star pitcher of the baseball team.”
“Heather tried once, but my girlfriend told her to fuck off and besides, I’m not the kind of guy who cheats.” Then he put his head down and added, “Additionally, I’m not important anymore. I quit the team since we lost the State Finals to some team from Leadville two weeks ago. They wanted me to stay, but…what we’re looking up here is too important. Someday we’re going to be adults and in place to expose it.”
“Or we’ll end up like Kozankaku Matsuo.” The group nodded in unison; everyone knew about the manga artist behind Those Unbelievable Elves! who committed suicide last month after spending two years in a mental institution. He ended that initial series and replaced it with another elf-based one, this one a gory horror one called They’ve Come to Feed on Us, a story about elves raising humans as livestock in another dimension. Not long after the first volume came out, he was suddenly accused of murdering his wife and her parents. He was declared criminally insane and locked up in a mental care facility, never to create again and now, was no longer to do anything since his untimely passing. It was clear that the elves had something to do with it, but that had to be proven.
Tyler’s phone went off; it was time to meet up with his girlfriend. A second alarm also went off, a reminder to take his meds, though he hadn’t taken them in ages – he left it on there in case his aunt or uncle started to wonder if he was still partaking. “Hey, I gotta go, all. I’ll catch you later.”
“Later!” Nancy said. “Keep an eye out and make sure you’re carrying plenty of yellow starthistle – I hear elves are allergic to that stuff!” She went over to her purse, pulled out a bunch and shoved it in his hands. Not knowing what to say, he took it, never mind that they’d just learned in school two weeks ago that the plant was considered an invasive weed in their state.
But what if Nancy was right and that was why it was considered that? All it took was one person in the right place to make that decision….
A sharp spike of pain suddenly jagged through his mind, and he gritted his teeth, ignoring it even as it briefly sent him staggering against a wall. It would hopefully go away in a few minutes. Although he’d had these migraines since he was a child, they seemed to be coming more and more as of late. He was pretty sure that it didn’t have much to do with his not taking his medication, since he’d had the issue his whole life, but the alternative was going back to the dullness of thought that he’d had because of those damn pills. He wouldn’t go back to that again.
No, he needed to be clear-headed. The world – and Lane – needed him to be as lucid as he could be.
=+=
“He’s been acting weird lately. I’m kinda worried,” Ghislane admitted. She’d told her friends that she wanted to meet somewhere private yet not at their home. So now, they were meeting at Tsushima Ramen, a lunch place in Redmesa, a town by the New Mexico state line. A lot of Japanese companies had cattle ranches here, so the town had a sizeable Japanese population and thus amenities to go with it. Plus, since Ghislane was a fan of okonomiyaki and this was one of the few places in Western Colorado that served it, it was best to make sure she was plied with comfort food.
“Is…is he doing anything we should be worried about?” Penelope asked. “I heard he quit the baseball team after they lost to Leadville High.”
“Well, there’s that, which I guess is enough of a shock, but…look, I’ll just spell it all out for you: he’s been getting into some strange conspiracy stuff about elves. He’s even been hanging around the Weirdo Club. And while I have nothing against them on a normal basis, the fact that I think he’s starting to believe some of the stuff they’ve been telling him is really, really worrying.” She sighed, then pulled her tablet out of her purse. “Plus, I was reading Reddit the other day and came across this.” She handed over her tablet.
Doriatessa skimmed over the article, then handed it over to the others quickly so they could read it as well. “Sis…he’s talking about us. Well, not specifically us, but our people. He’s telling the public everything you’ve told him in the past few months!”
“Well, nobody’s going to believe him,” the younger twin said somewhat defensively. “And maybe I’m wrong when I’m reading this, but it doesn’t seem as though it’s dangerous. It just means that he’s not exactly elf-friend material, though at this point even I know that. But it’s not just about this.”
“Is there something else?” Doriatessa asked, not sure she was going to like the response.
“I was tutoring his cousin Katie on some algebra problems the other day and she told me her parents are worried that he’s not taking his medication. They don’t have proof, but they kinda suspect.”
“What kind of medication?” Jessica asked.
Ghislane was quiet for the longest time and started squirming in her seat, not wanting to respond. Doriatessa took her sister’s hands in her own. “Lane, we’re twins. What happens to you happens to me.”
“Fine.” Tears started forming in her eye. “Clozapine. It’s…it’s an antipsychotic. Katie told me that the rumors about his parents are true, and that he’s taking it because he’s had the same issues as his mom.”
“And here I thought our secret was problematic,” Doriatessa responded. “We need to tell Mom about this, Lane.”
“No! She’ll make me break up with him! He doesn’t mean us any harm, Tessa! He loves me! You know that!”
Doriatessa held up her sister’s tablet. “Lane! He told them everything! It doesn’t matter if he named us or not, it puts us in danger! All those weirdo friends of his are going to believe this stuff – they’ll eat it right up! And God forbid, what if someone takes it seriously?”
“I didn’t…I didn’t mean to!” She began to cry, and her older sister embraced her.
“I’m going to take her home, girls,” Doriatessa replied softly. “I’ll see you later.” Grabbing her and her sister’s things, they made their way out of the building.
After they left, Penelope looked at Jessica. “We need to tell their mother. That’s what we’re supposed to do as elf-friends, and Lane could be in danger. We could even be in danger, if they find out about us and our status with elves.”
“Honestly, I think we need to do more than just tell Ms. Corvus,” Jessica replied. “We need to let James know as well. They’re still friends, and maybe if they talk, James can straighten things out. There’s probably a good explanation for all of this and maybe this is all just blown out of proportion.” A sad look crossed her face. “I just don’t like going behind Lane’s back.”
“Better having her mad at us than her being in trouble, right? Don’t worry, I’m sure this will all blow over.”
=+=
SAN LUIS, COLORADO
February 10, 2019:
The headaches were intense now, and they almost felt like they were happening all the time.
But now he knew why.
He was being affected by dark magic, because his girlfriend and her family were a part of the conspiracy. Well, that wasn’t entirely correct: at this point, he was certain that Lane, Tessa and their mother had been taken by evil elves and were now prisoners of whomever had taken their place. That had to be it; that was the only explanation.
Almost a month ago she told him that her mother had insisted they stop seeing each other. Because of his lying about the medication and because of what he’d put online. He never told her about the medication nor his condition because he didn’t want her to worry, but somehow, she found out – and he knew no one who really had her back would ever tell her and make her worry like that. Then there was the other thing: she claimed that he’d spilled all their secrets online, but he’d never done that. Sure, he wrote the stuff down in case there was a situation where he had to protect her, but he would never put it online! And yet, there it was in /r/areelvesreal, under the name of TylerThaMann420.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
He didn’t even recall having an account by that name; his account ID was FastballTyler. And yet, when they looked at his computer, there it was.
He’d been framed.
And now, no one believed him. Worse, Tessa (Lane’s sister, and someone who he completely trusted) told him flat out to stay away from them. He was no longer safe as far as she was concerned. And that’s when he realized what had happened. The real Tessa would never say anything like that to him. The real Tessa had once told him she was glad he was dating her sister, as opposed to some creep at school. And now suddenly Lane and Tessa and their friends treated him like shit.
Those weren’t the people he knew; at this point, he knew they were in danger, but he wasn’t sure of where they’d been taken to. He needed to capture the fake Lane to interrogate her and find out where his real girl was. All that mattered was that his real girlfriend was in danger. He had to save her, had to do something. As for the others, they were likely real as well, but he knew them well enough that they were probably brainwashed, not part of the conspiracy. He would have to be careful around them, but he wasn’t going to hurt them. But that also meant that he was going to have to do this alone.
Fortunately, he did have some means of taking care of this, thanks to other friends and, frankly, something a little illegal, but something he knew he had to do even if it meant facing some consequences.
So here he was, in San Luis, visiting his buddy Carlos, who was a catcher on the baseball team. Tyler had lied and said he was thinking of coming back, that it had been the frustration of losing to Leadville that had made him bounce, but he needed someone to talk to the coach and convince him Tyler was serious. And Carlos was more than happy to do that. So, the two talked all night, and eventually Carlos fell asleep, which allowed Tyler to really do what he came here for: a desperation move.
In addition to baseball, there was another thing that Carlos loved, and that was hunting. He had a hunting license, a hunting rifle and, though it was locked up in a gun safe, an AK-47 knockoff that he said his uncle got him for his birthday last year. He was very careful with it, and truth be told, Tyler felt guilty about stealing his friend’s gun, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Plus, given that Carlos had a bad habit of using the same combination for everything, from his gym locker to his school locker to the gun safe, it would probably be a few days before he noticed; plenty of time for Tyler to return it.
Besides, he didn’t plan on shooting anyone. He figured that he could scare the fake Lane into letting him know where his real girl was. She was probably scared out of her wits, her and her family alike. He had to do something to stop the evil elves before they did something like brainwash her. Good elves like the Benison sisters and their mother were rarities. He couldn’t afford to lose them.
He would do whatever it would take to save the girl he loved.
Now, if he could only do something about these damn raging headaches.
=+=
MESA VERDE, COLORADO
February 19, 2019:
Soft beeps brought Jessica back to wakefulness. She felt exhausted, like she’d slept for days. But she wasn’t sure why. And as she opened her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar room, she wondered what was going on. It got worse as soon as she realized she was in the hospital. But which one? It wasn’t as though she had any familiarity with the local medical centers.
“You’re awake!”
A voice shouted to her side; she turned her head quickly, and regretted it, as a jag of pain shot through her body. Immediately the speaker moved to her side to make sure she didn’t fall off the bed.
“Careful, Jessie – after everything you’ve been through, I don’t want you to fall and break your neck.” She looked up and saw the face of her older brother Adam. “You just missed Mom and Dad, but I’ll call them later; they’ve been here nonstop for the past two days, and they really need to get some sleep.” He sighed. “What were you thinking, sis? You could’ve gotten yourself killed! But at the same time…I’m proud of you. Really proud of you.”
Now she was really confused. Why was she in the hospital? Why did she ache all over and for that matter, why was Adam holding onto her like he was afraid if he let go, she would shatter into a million pieces. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”
“No one really does. And I’m sure the cops are going to want to understand as well, but I’m sure they’re going to want Mom and Dad around when that happens. Probably the lawyer, too.” He paused, then smacked his forehead. “Look, that came out wrong. No one’s blaming you, Jessie. You’re a hero to everyone and the camera footage cleared you, so you’re not in trouble or anything. And frankly, if anyone even thought that, they’d have to come through me.”
She had a slight headache set in as Adam helped her to a more stable upright position. “Do you want me to call for the nurse? They’ll probably be by soon enough anyway, but I can do that if you want.”
“I could use some water,” she rasped. He handed her a nearby glass, and she downed it immediately. She then looked at him and asked, “What’s going on, Adam? Why am I here? What happened?”
He looked at her with concern. “You really don’t know?” When she shook her head, a worried look crossed his face. “Well, the doctor said there might be some temporary amnesia due to trauma, but that you needed to be checked out anyway in case it got any worse. Thankfully they did a CT scan on you and there was no concussion or anything, but there’s still some concern about your cracked ribs.”
She blinked in surprise. Cracked rib? Why would I have a cracked rib? That explained the ache at her side as well as the overall pain she was feeling. “Bro, I really don’t know – or remember – what’s going on. Just fill me in, okay?”
“Are you sure? I don’t know if I want to get you agitated.”
“I’ll be agitated if you don’t tell me,” she responded, crossing her arms somewhat petulantly, then wincing immediately due to the sudden sharp movement. Seeing the concern in his eyes, she said, “Please. I feel…I feel like I missed out on something really important.”
“You must have really been hit hard if you don’t remember,” he said, softly. He looked as though telling her was the last thing he wanted to do, then took a deep breath. “I’m going to explain this slowly, so just let me talk. If you don’t want to hear anymore, then just tell me, okay? Last thing I want to do is upset you right now, sis.”
She knew she wasn’t going to like this, whatever had happened. Especially since it meant she ended up in the hospital. But she had to know. Pursing her lips, she nodded. “Okay. Go ahead.”
“Five days ago, on Valentine’s Day, there was a shooting at our school. Tyler Northwick – that kid that moved here from Dallas at the beginning of the year? He lost it. The cops are looking into why, but somehow, he got his hands on a bunch of guns and stole his uncle’s F-150 and drove through the school entrance. The first person he saw was you and…I hate to say this, but you got lucky. He clubbed you several times with the rifle and left you in a bloody mess before he started shooting up everything.” Adam’s voice cracked. “There were nineteen people killed that day, including your friend Abby Hoskins and….” He covered his own face, and she could hear him sob for a few minutes, before he looked up, his own eyes stained with tears. “Including my own girlfriend.” He nodded emptily. “Yeah. Scarlet’s dead. Funeral’s tomorrow and I….” He shook his head. “I need to be there for Scarlet’s family, but right now, I need to be here for you, too.”
Jessica’s jaw dropped. Tyler? A murderer? No – that can’t be true! And Scarlet? She and Adam loved each other – they were serious about one another! To say that none of that made sense was an understatement.
“Why?” was the only word that she could force out.
“We don’t know. We hoped you might. Only thing the news has really reported so far was that they found a list of girls that had refused to date him and that he was going to take revenge on them and the ‘guys that ruined his chances’. Apparently, that included his own best friend, Carlos Ramirez; as well as Carlos’ mother. They traced the AK-47 to Carlos, though apparently someone in their family said he kept it locked up. They found that somehow Tyler had broken in and stolen it. Either way, he killed both Carlos and his mom, and then at school, Carlos’ girlfriend Isabelle.”
“Why didn’t he kill me? I mean, I—”
“Don’t say that,” Adam said firmly, a little harder than he meant to, and she looked at him with fear in her eyes. He then backed off, softening his tone. “Don’t blame yourself, Jessie. The doctor told us that survivor’s guilt was going to hit you hard, especially since you ended it.”
“I what?”
He looked at her again. “Maybe I’m not the best person to tell you this, sis. Maybe I should call Mom and Dad and—”
“Adam, please.”
“During everything he did, he dropped one of the guns. You crawled over to it, maybe to stop him from picking it up, or maybe to protect yourself, I don’t know. But then he grabbed Patty and said he was going to empty the whole clip on her because she was dating someone else even though she was being a quote ‘cocktease’. But he was going to kill her – and you stopped it.”
She was silent, wondering for the longest time at his words and yet unable to process them. Finally, she rasped out, “How?”
“You raised that gun and pulled the trigger until the gun was empty, according to Detective Fuentes – he’s the cop assigned to the case. You missed with most of your shots, but three of them hit. You killed—” Seeing the sudden widening of her eyes, he said, “No. I’m not going to say anything further. You need a doctor, sis.” He went over to the intercom and immediately called for a nurse.
Meanwhile, a cold jag crawled down Jessica’s spine as the realization hit her, and she began trembling as she encircled herself with her arms, ignoring the pain in her side and the realization echoing in her mind.
Oh my God. I killed Tyler, he said. I killed Tyler! Her mind began to race with horror. What about her friends? What was Lane going to say? She and Tyler had just broken up, mainly because of Lane’s mother’s insistence, but Lane absolutely loved him. How would she react if she saw the person that supposedly killed her boyfriend? And for that matter, were Lane and Tessa okay? It didn’t matter what Lane’s opinion on it would have been if she wasn’t alive.
“Jessie!” She felt herself embraced again, this time a little more fiercely, and she looked up into freckles and blue-green eyes, one of which had the vanishing remains of a periorbital hematoma, better known as a black eye. Patience Smythe was Jessica’s cousin on her mom’s side, who also lived in town with her parents and though the two had their own circles of friends, they were close enough. Patience immediately burst into tears as she held her cousin and immediately afterwards, so did Jessica. A few seconds later, the nurse came in, summoned by the intercom call and they began to check her.
“Patty, can you watch over her?” Adam asked. “I’ve got to get a hold of my parents.”
“My parents took them out to dinner to get their minds off of everything and so they wouldn’t have to deal with the news vans at your place,” she told him. “You’re probably better off calling your grandparents.”
“Good idea. They’re probably easier to get a hold of right now, anyway. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.” Patience immediately turned back to Jessica. “How are you holding up?” She wiped her eyes and tried to put a smile on her face that both girls knew she really didn’t feel right now. “I know, that’s a stupid question of me to ask you. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you, Jessie.”
“Patty, I—”
“No. You aren’t to blame. You saved me. You saved a lot of people. Hell, even your friend Penny is half-joking that if you hadn’t given her the flu the last time you went over, she would have been at school that day and who knows what would have happened! But seriously, she’s worried about you. I told her you’d give her a call when you had a chance, so you might want to do that tonight.” Patience began crying again. “I’ve been crying nonstop since everything happened. And I’m a mess and….” She wiped her eyes again and closed them. “I need to be strong for you, just like you were for me.” She hugged Jessica again. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”
“Penny’s okay?” Waves of confusion partially lifted from Jessica’s shoulders. Penelope was one of the closest people in her life and if she’d been killed in the attack, then who knew what would have happened.
“Like I said, she’s been freaking out more about you than anything else. Some of the stuff they’ve been calling you on the news, well…it’s kinda weird, but weird in a good way. ‘The girl who stopped the Hallenbeck Rampage’, for one. ‘Gungirl’, for another. There was a guy on 4Chan who said he was your boyfriend and said that he taught you how to shoot, but 4Chan’s gonna 4Chan, I guess.” She wiped her eyes again. “It’s just been rough for everyone. Reporters have even tried to hit me up for stuff about you.”
It was then that Jessica noticed there was a certain way that Patience was speaking – or rather, what she wasn’t saying. She’d talked about many things, and even mentioned Penelope…but she hadn’t mentioned either Doriatessa or Ghislane. Had something happened to them? Were they still alive? Was Patience trying to talk around the issue, hoping that Jessica wouldn’t notice?
“Patty…how are the twins?”
Patience looked at her. “Who?” She thought about it for a second, as if trying to comprehend her cousin’s words. “Do you mean the Lopez twins? I didn’t know you knew them. Stacy was shot twice, but they got her to the hospital in time, so she’s gonna be okay. And Adrianna wasn’t injured at all, though needless to say, she’s freaked out.”
“No, not them. Lane and Tessa.”
“Who?”
“The Benison twins? The twins that are always with me and Penny?”
“I don’t know your social circle all that well, except for Penny and maybe Lina Perez, though she’s a flake. Are they new?”
“New? I’ve known them since I was seven, Patty!” But the look in Patience’s eyes showed a complete lack of comprehension. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“Where’s my phone?”
“I don’t know. You can use mine, though.” Patience handed it over after unlocking it. “Going to Facetime Penny?”
“No. I’m calling Tessa.” Granted, while she typically used the custom contact on her phone, she called or texted her friend often enough that she did have the number memorized: 748-555-8134. To her surprise, an old man answered, one she wasn’t familiar with.
“Yes, can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Doriatessa Benison?”
A pause. “I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong number. It’s funny, though; whoever that is must be popular. You’re the second person who’s asked for that name in days. But I’m afraid I can’t help you with that, miss. Have a good day.”
“You too, sir,” Jessica said limply. The second person in as many days? Does that mean Penny called as well? She then called Ghislane’s number – it was one off from her sister’s – but the system said the number was not in service, which set off alarm bells in Jessica’s head. She considered calling Penelope as well, but then Adam came back in.
“Hey, sis, now that you’re up, Doctor wants to give you a full checkup,” Adam told her. “Also, my grandparents are on the way; I also got a hold of my parents and yours and mine are on the way here as well, Patty.”
Patience nodded. “Well, I guess we should let the doctors do their work for now.” Taking her phone back from Jessica, she said, “I think Adam and I should grab some lunch, but we’ll be back right after that, assuming the parental types aren’t here by then.” She gave her cousin a quick hug again. “It’s going to be okay, Jessie.”
Jessica saw her cousin on the verge of tears again and felt much the same way. No, it’s not, Patty, Jessica told herself. I don’t think there’s any way that it’s going to be okay.