Rude Awakenings

The Paranormal Investigator Book 9

by Christopher Carrolli

Several years ago, Dylan Rasche was abducted by the Green Valley UFO, otherwise known as the “Phantom in the Sky.” For years, Dylan remained unable to recall the memories of his abduction, except for a recurring dream of a strange black-eyed boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt. But months ago, Dylan remembered everything. Afterward, Dylan wrote a memoir of his abduction experience which prompted other abductees to remember and come forward. As they did, they realized they had one specific thing in common, dreams of strange black-eyed children.

Now, these odd children have claimed the abductees are their parents and have begun stalking them. But the truth is too hard to believe for those have been abducted, had their memories erased, and have now been rudely awakened. The Black-Eyed Kids have made their presences known in the worst possible way. Now, the investigators must confront them face-to-face where it all began on Eagle Rock Mountain. But when the truth about the BEK is revealed, it brings Rude Awakenings to the team and those they have sworn to help and protect.

Excerpt

Chapter One
Jamie

The dream was happening again. It was just a dream, wasn’t it? Either way, she experienced it again, and every time it happened, it was all too real. Like the other times, she lay in bed, completely rested as though she were sedated, lingering in that moment of half-sleep that occurs just before total unconsciousness. Inexplicably, her body felt paralyzed, and she glimpsed around her bedroom through half-closed eyelids. She could see her dresser and mirror, her TV, and the bed beneath her as she rolled her eyes to the side. It had to be a dream because she felt and saw herself levitating upward from the bed, rising up toward the ceiling.

Then, the great starry expanse of nighttime sky spread out before her, and she felt herself ascending up toward it. That’s when she saw Mother. Mother had been gone for two years. Cancer. Mother called out to her, her hand outstretched.

“Jamie! Give me your hand! Jamie!”

But a strong magnetic pull yanked her away from Mother. Jamie felt her body rising upward higher and higher toward a great green flood of light. The light, so green, so bright, it blinded her half-closed eyes. She glimpsed something gray and metallic within the green light, and then the green light was gone, replaced by bright white rectangular lights that moved above her. Only the lights weren’t moving; she was moving. The soft, warm plush of her bed had been crudely replaced by a cold, hard metal beneath her, a frigidness that made the dream even more vivid, if that’s what it really was.

Finally, she stopped moving. She lay on some type of gurney. Shadowy gray figures scurried around her. One of them moved his hand over a surgical lamp above her until it flooded her eyes with bright light, and like always, sent a sharp pain through her head. She tried to move, but a suctioning force pinned her back down to the cold, hard gurney.

One of the gray figures lifted the bottom of her nightgown up above her hips. This was the moment when she panicked. A soft, soothing, female voice entered her mind, assuring her that everything would be all right. Two of them stood on each side of her. She could never quite make them out, as if a shadowy veil protected them from being fully observed, but Jamie could see the wide shape of their heads and the frailty of their seemingly gaunt yet tall bodies. Black eyes pierced through the shadowy veil, eyes that appeared large with no pupils or irises.

But the one thing Jamie could clearly see was the thin, pointed needle that descended from above. She cried out as it neared her exposed stomach, the female voice once again caressing her. The needle made a whirring, drilling sound, fueling her suppressed hysteria. The needle entered through her navel, producing sharp pain and pressure inside her stomach. Jamie screamed. Then, the needle lifted out of her just as quickly as it entered. The pain disappeared, as though it had never occurred.

She was left alone for what seemed like hours. The dream had never been this long. Something was different this time. Jamie’s eyes moved to the foot of the gurney and beyond. Only feet away from her was a set of double doors. A small rectangular window was set in each door. Gazing beyond the windows, Jamie could see only shadowy dimness. Abruptly, a female face appeared in one of the windows. Jamie clearly saw the woman’s face and her auburn hair. She tried to move, to call out for help, but the invisible force continued to restrict her. The woman’s face was gone as quickly as it appeared in the window. Fear burgeoned inside her. This was the furthest the dream had ever progressed, and she wasn’t waking.

Soon, two shadowy figures returned, wheeling some type of metallic cart in front of them. Nearing the foot of the gurney, they clasped her legs and spread them apart. Two stirrup-like contraptions emerged from the sides of the gurney, and her captors locked her legs in them, one on each side. One of the shadowy figures held something up and examined it under the light. It wasn’t a needle, but an injector of some kind.

“No, no, NO!” she cried out, but the female voice shushed her once more.

She felt another pressure inside her, one that entered through her womb. She fought, but to no avail. The suctioning force suppressed her. The pressure was quick and gone, just like the pain in her stomach. The female figure stroked her forehead, and she felt herself drifting.

Jamie awoke in her bed, like always, throwing the covers from her and glancing around her bedroom. It was just a dream, or was it? The dreams began two years ago, only a few months after Mother died. Each time, the dream progressed further. She’d experienced the needle before in these strange and sporadic dreams, but this time, she was invaded. She knew it; she’d felt it. She’d often wondered if the dreams were some sort of psychological response to her mother’s death, but she was no longer convinced of that. The dreams were unlike any other; they were real, so real she could recall the cold touch of the metal gurney beneath her.

The most disturbing part of the dream was seeing Mother. Mother had tried to intervene. Mother had tried to stop what was happening, but some unearthly force pulled Jamie away from her, as if it held dominion over not only the Earth but the Heavens as well. She sat up in bed, still reeling from the trauma the dream inflicted. She felt like she was losing her mind. Maybe she should see someone about this recurring dream that had turned nightmarish, a psychiatrist maybe, but who? Jamie felt less and less convinced that the whole thing was a dream. Some odd notion churned inside her, one she felt ashamed and afraid to confront or even articulate.

That had been nearly three months ago. She hadn’t dreamed since. This morning, she ran her fingers through her shoulder-length dark hair and looked around her room, thankful to be in her own bed, just as she was when she slipped into it the night before. She rose up out of bed and showered, then trudged downstairs to the kitchen for a light breakfast. Jamie faithfully read the morning news online as she ate, and today was no different. She read the national news first, and then the local news, where today, a special hometown item caught her eye. She stopped eating as she read the article’s headline.

Paranormal Investigator Pens Shocking Memoir of Eagle Rock Experience

Jamie recalled a local controversy regarding Eagle Rock Mountain. There were claims of a mass UFO sighting at Green Valley University. It had been in all the papers and the news. Someone had gone missing. Jamie now read how that someone was Dylan Rasche, a paranormal investigator from the university. Apparently, Dylan Rasche wrote a memoir about that event, and today was the book’s release day. Jamie sat stunned, her eyes attached to the screen. She never realized the incident occurred almost two years ago, around the same time her dreams began. She read the words Rasche told the reporter covering his book’s release.

“I was abducted by that UFO up on Eagle Rock. My memories of that night have returned.”

Jamie sat speechless, her heart pounding. Could there be someone else who might actually listen to the details of her recurring dream without deeming her crazy? She could never tell Sam about the extent of her dreams. He knew she suffered through nightmares, but she never felt comfortable going into the details. She didn’t think he would understand. After all, they’d only been seeing each other for less than a year. Sam always seemed straight-forward, not the type of guy to be chained to someone with such overbearing issues. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Sam, but she felt sure she would drive him away and declare herself a basket case in the process.

She finished reading the article. Dylan Rasche was signing copies of his book, Abduction from Eagle Rock Mountain, later today at the university. Jamie sat contemplating. The book signing began in two hours, more than enough time for her to go, get a signed copy, and read the book for herself. Jamie decided to do just that.

She arrived at Levin Hall just in time. In the reception area, a line had formed to Dylan Rasche who sat behind a long table with a stack of hardcover books in front of him. Jamie could tell by looking at the people in line that many of them were UFO enthusiasts, researchers, and possibly, Jamie thought, other abductees. She read the pamphlet-style program given to her at the door. Dylan Rasche was not only a GVU professor, but the chief-investigator of the Paranormal Research and Investigative Society. Standing in line, she leaned to the side to get a better glimpse of him. Handsome, with dark curly hair, approximately thirty-five, and he sounded polite.

Finally, she stood in front of him. He greeted her.

“Hi, Dylan, I’m Jamie Cohen.” She could hear the nervousness in her voice.

“A pleasure, Jamie,” he responded. Then, he asked how she wanted her book signed.

“To Jamie, is fine,” she said. “So, as an investigator, have you spoken with other abductees?”

She hoped her question didn’t sound out of line. He looked at her curiously.

“I hadn’t before I wrote the book,” he said. “But I have a feeling that’s about to change.”

Her heart pounded.

Dylan signed her book and handed it to her. She shook his hand and thanked him. Nervously, she turned away. Feeling the need to say more, she hesitated and turned slightly back toward him. Then she caved. Jamie quickly turned around and kept walking, paid for the book, and then left the university.

At home, she curled up on the couch with her cat, Misty, and began reading. A knot formed in her stomach as she read the inscription. It felt like a sign, a loud answer to her silent prayer.

To Dr. Susan Logan, for being instrumental in recovering my forgotten memories and helping me through this experience every step of the way.

Before continuing, Jamie grabbed her phone and searched the internet for Dr. Susan Logan of Green Valley. Items about the UFO controversy flooded the screen. One item showed Susan Logan standing behind a lectern and speaking to the Press. Of course, Jamie thought, Susan Logan was the woman who held that press conference, the one who exposed the hidden facility at Eagle Rock. So, she was not only a psychiatrist, but a parapsychologist as well. Jamie set her phone back down on the end table and resumed reading.

She read about how a friend of Dylan’s, Ursula Masters, had witnessed a UFO and suffered radiation exposure as a result. Soon, other eyewitnesses came forward with their stories about that night. Dylan, Susan, and the team began to investigate. Even local newsman, Marv Kincaid, became involved after witnessing the strange sighting. Jamie remembered something of his involvement back then. She was astonished to read of the Men in Black and their threatening presence. Born and raised in Green Valley, Jamie heard stories of the Kecksburg UFO incident most of her life, and how the MIB became involved back then. But not long ago, they returned to this area in hopes of silencing those who saw the strange “phantom in the sky” or those who threatened to expose the secret Eagle Rock facility.

Jamie sat, turning page after page. Finally, the author detailed the night of his abduction. Devastated over the knowledge that his father had been murdered, Dylan drank heavily that evening, and then made his way to Eagle Rock Mountain to investigate on his own. At the top of the mountain, he’d seen the great metallic-shaped object and became immersed and strangely hypnotized by the green light it emanated. The next thing Dylan knew, he was wandering aimlessly at the bottom of the mountain, unsure as to what had happened.

“At first, I had assumed that I’d drunkenly passed out somewhere at the top of the mountain,” he wrote. “I assumed I walked to the bottom during a drunken blackout. That’s when I phoned Sidney to come and get me. Shortly after, I discovered how wrong I was in my assumptions. Never again will I assume.”

Sidney revealed to Dylan that he’d been missing for twenty-four hours. Jamie couldn’t take her eyes from the page as she read about Dylan’s missing time. Not only had Dylan been missing time, but his memories of those twenty-four hours were wiped out. He’d endured several hypnosis sessions with Susan Logan, all of which failed. Then, nine months ago, Dylan experienced and saw quick passing images in his mind. He began having vivid dreams. Jamie’s eyes froze upon the word “dreams.” She read the next words closely.

“I saw bits and pieces. Random pieces of a puzzle I could not remember slowly came together in my mind. In visions and dreams, I felt myself laying on a cold hard surface, a gurney of some kind. I saw bright-white rectangular lights above me. They moved, only they weren’t moving, I was moving. Faceless beings wheeled me into a shadowy sterile room, where I was experimented on.”

Holding the book, Jamie’s hands began to tremble. Her heart restarted its incessant pounding. Dylan’s description of the sterile room matched the room she dreamed of so often. He wrote about a mechanical arm with a suctioning device at the end that came down upon him and extracted from him with a caressing, flowery motion. Then he’d felt release.

Jamie closed the book and set it down on the end table next to her phone. She couldn’t read any more. Dylan’s Rasche’s memory coincided with her dreams, down to the rectangular lights that moved swiftly above him. The one terrible unspoken thought that lay buried inside her was the notion that these dreams were not dreams at all, but horrific events that were actually happening to her. Dylan’s accuracy in his descriptions was too hard to ignore.

She breathed harder and faster. Runaway breath, she was hyperventilating. Her shaking hands turned numb, along with her nose and cheeks. She was having another panic attack. In her mind, she saw the shadowy figures with misshapen heads looming over her. She heard the female voice shushing her. The sweat began to drench her.

Breathe, Jamie, she told herself, breathe. She breathed in through her nostrils and out through her mouth. She’d learned how to calm her heart rate and her rapid breathing. Those two issues, once accelerated, made her panic attacks worse. She grew calmer, fanning herself with both hands to break the sweat that slicked her face.

Calm now, she felt slightly embarrassed, as usual, even though she was alone with the exception of Misty. She overcame this latest panic attack, yet that did nothing to eliminate the fear she felt. She remained frightened at the thought that the dreams could be real and also confused at the prospect of how such a thing could be possible. Abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night? It sounded preposterous, even to her, but she’d always known the dreams were too real, too vivid, and she was able to recall everything that occurred within them, unlike most dreams.

Jamie picked the book back up from the end table. Having only fifty pages left, she would finish reading later. She had to pull herself together and get ready for work. But one thing remained certain. She needed to know the truth, and there was only one way to find out. She needed to meet with both Dylan Rasche and Susan Logan.

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