No Windows

''The following was retrieved from the home of Connor Sagen in Artesia, New Mexico by the Eddy County Police Department on July 16th, 2014. This journal was found on the hard drive of Sagen’s destroyed computer on a word document. The journal posts were not dated or numbered, but the document was last edited on the date of discovery. Sagen was discovered dead in his home that day after neighbors reported strange noises and lights coming from his house. The cause of death was determined to be radiation poisoning. Strange fissile materials emitting dangerous levels of radiation were also discovered in the home and were subsequently destroyed as low-level radioactive waste.''

Decided that I’d keep a journal of what’s been happening. I’m a private investigator and I’ve seen some stuff lately that even I don’t believe is actually happening. P.I. work isn’t what you see in movies; companies usually hire me to investigate internal theft and fraud. Not a whole lot of busting the bad guys, at least not in the way people think I do. Anyway, after a slow week, I got a phone call about this really strange job offer. This guy had a feeling he was being stalked, but didn’t have enough details to file a police report. Not usually my line of work, but I couldn’t afford to turn it down. My mortgage was about ready to have me doing birthday parties. It seemed easy enough at first, you know-- I didn’t know what I was actually getting myself into. I recorded our initial phone call and transcribed it here.

“Connor Sagen, private investigator, at your service!”

“Hey, Connor. Name’s Jeff. I’m having a bit of a problem…”

“What can I do for you, Jeff?”

“I think somebody’s following me. This car’s been tailgating me home from work every day this week. And this morning I woke up and my curtains were all open. I close my curtains every night, Connor. Somebody was in my house! Somebody was in my house, man!”

He sounded really panicked, like this was keeping him up at night. Wasn’t sure if he was alright in the head, but I kept listening.

“Alright, take it easy. I can help you figure this all out. Let’s focus on this car. What’s it look like? Get any tags or what this guy inside looks like?”

“Black cadillac, like a really old one. Had his windows tinted super dark. I couldn’t see a damn thing inside his car. No front license plate, neither.”

My heart sank. It sounded like the mob, and him being so flustered started to make a little more sense.

“You owe anyone money?”

“What?”

“If you owe somebody dangerous money, they might be after you.”

“I don’t owe nobody money!”

“Did you see something you shouldn’t have?”

“Nah, nothing like that. Only thing I’ve seen strange recently was this big light behind my house a few weeks ago. It made this awful noise, but I figure we’re so close to the air base that it’s some government aircraft.”

“Just a light?”

“Yeah, man. Like a bright, white diamond of light. Crazy shit they’re coming up with now.”

“Where do you live?”

Jeff tells me his address.

“That ain’t too far away from me. I don’t remember anything like that. You on any meds?”

“God damn, I’m not making shit up! You have to help me, man!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll be over and we can talk about payment and what I can do.”

He said something, but it was really distorted.

“What?”

More distortion.

“You’re breaking up, Jeff.”

“I said it sounds good to me, Connor!”

“See you then.”

“Bye.”

I went to Jeff’s house and we talked for awhile. I learned that he’s an auto mechanic and lives alone. The house is pretty big, so Jeff must be good at his job. He and I agreed on me following him around all day, from a distance of course, to see if I could discover anything about this guy following him. After we finished talking I asked if I could have a look around the property. I found that there’s curtains on every window of the house and also on a sliding glass door to Jeff’s backyard. Jeff’s yard is fenced in, with maybe a quarter of an acre of woods outside the fence to his name. A few trees were burned in places, and Jeff said he hadn’t noticed it before but that there were some neighborhood kids who burned and vandalized his property periodically.

Had a bad dream that night that was floating on a cloud and fell through and hit the ground. Splat! Just like a fly on a windshield. I woke up screaming-- not something that happens often to me. Met up with Jeff and followed him to work. Nothing suspicious, and Jeff’s drive isn’t too long. While he was working I waited in a parking lot across the street. Was bored out of my mind the whole day. I heard on the radio that they’re doing some celebration of the anniversary of the Trinity test, which was the first ever denotation of a nuclear bomb. Must be running out of things to celebrate.

When Jeff pulled out of his work later and started driving, a black Cadillac came around the corner and starts following him, just like he said. I went to write down his tags, but there wasn’t a front or back license plate on the damn thing. I gave Jeff a call.

“Pull over a little ways down.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Nothing’s gonna happen, Jeff! I have a gun. Nothing’s gonna hurt you."

“What if somebody does hurt me, huh?”

“I’ll shoot his ass! This has to stop.”

“Alright, I’m pulling over.”

I did in fact have a concealed carry weapon, but I had never needed to use it before. Jeff reluctantly did as I asked and I quickly caught up to him. He stayed on the line and told me the car pulled over behind him, but nobody stepped out of it. I parked behind the mysterious car, stepped out, and tapped the glass of the driver’s side door. Even up close I couldn’t see much inside-- it’s amazing anyone can drive like that. Something hit the glass hard and made a thumping noise. I nearly shit my pants. Inside the window I saw a face: a bald, pale man with a flat nose and sunglasses that were slightly angled from touching the glass. He didn’t roll down his window or say anything-- he just stared at me. I didn’t know what to do at first, motioning for him to roll his window down, but he didn’t. I scream for Jeff to call the police and he says that he said that he tried but it wouldn’t dial through. That’s not possible; 9-1-1 can’t not dial not dial through, so I tried it and couldn’t get through either. I panicked and pulled out my gun, ramming the butt into the window, but it just bounced off. The man suddenly pulled out and nearly ran me over, forcing me to jump out of the way. He sped off and I quickly lost sight of him.

I met up with Jeff back at his house after that incident, and we found that all of his curtains were open. I confirmed that before we left all of Jeff’s curtains were closed, and he told me all of his doors and windows were locked. There were no signs of forced entry anywhere. I decided that I would stake out Jeff’s house overnight. He might be in danger.

I had never witnessed anything like this before. Jeff treated me to dinner. That might seem strange, but this wasn’t a business transaction anymore. I told him he didn’t need to pay me, that this was something far out of my experiences or qualifications. I staked out on the other side of the road. Jeff didn’t have many neighbors. Most of the night was uneventful, you know, the radio kept going on about advances in radiation therapy. They even had an interview with some doctor, but I had never heard of him before. It must have been around three or four in the morning, and I was falling asleep when a flash of light blinded me for a few seconds. A large, bright diamond hovered behind Jeff’s house. I swore Jeff closed his curtains before he went to sleep, but they were open again and the light was shining through his bedroom window. Then I heard the noise. Fuck, I probably lost some hearing. The closest sound I could compare it to is a jet engine, but even louder, if that’s possible. Jeff’s trees in his backyard were alight, and as the craft moved closer I could see something latch onto his roof and burrow through the shingles. It was completely white besides two gigantic black eyes, and had four limbs that ended in giant hands. I was frozen in fear. The light intensified and I felt my watch burning into my wrist. The thing pulled Jeff out of his bed and jumped back into the craft, which vanished in nearly a blink.

I went to the hospital and was treated for second and third degree burns. I told them I fell into a campfire. I don’t know how they bought it. After I was released I went back to Jeff’s house to find that the entire block was blocked off by police. They told me that the area had been irradiated by the denotation of a small nuclear device, which was supposedly because of a terrorist attack. This had been in the news, too, which I hadn’t gotten a chance to listen to. I’m too scared to go the police and tell them what I saw. I’m worried they’ll think I’m crazy.

I’ve been feeling sick and went to the doctor today. It turns out that I have moderate radiation poisoning, which I should recover from. I told the doctor that I had been in the area of the recent “denotation” and he tells me that’s why I’ve been puking blood. Maybe I just hallucinated the whole thing. I had a terrible dream last night. The corners of my bedroom closed in on me, impaling me in four different directions. I’m afraid to sleep tonight.

I did end up falling asleep. It’s like, two in the morning now and there a light outside my window. It’s not like the craft; it’s smaller, but it’s just hovering there. I have neighbors but they all have their curtains closed. I don’t think it woke anyone else up. There was just a knock at my door. I turned my porch light on and looked out the peephole. It’s the same bald man from the Cadillac, just standing there in a suit with a black tie and sunglasses. He doesn’t look very happy. I’m not letting him in. 9-1-1 not working. It’s about three now and I hear a really bright light. The noise is back. MY DOOR bvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Police were also able to recover the following excerpt of a journal article from a piece of paper on Sagen’s desk next to his computer.

''There’s a lot that’s frightening about first contact. Some people argue that it’s already happened, that not all of those UFO sightings and abductions are photo edits and stories. But if that’s the case, why haunt us so enigmatically? Why isn’t it as simple as befriending us or destroying us? The answer is that our fear is something to prey upon, that the most useful way to learn about any species is to reduce to them to their rawest survival instinct and seeing how they react. In the grand scheme of the universe, we are weak, unintelligent savages. Why would diplomacy ever be a first resort?''