Page 31 of Wrong Bed Right Alien

Closing her laptop, she thought about the night before, which would hereby be known as The Hottest Night of Her Life. Everything about it had been so perfect, and he was coming over tonight, here to this hotel room, where she’d welcome him into the right bed this time. Her phone chimed, pulling her from her thoughts. She’d set up an internet news alert for the Dingle lights. Her phone got a notification anytime something new about the lights was posted online. She opened the alert to a new video posted on a popular UFO chat group.

Video of unidentified submersible object filmed off the shores of Dingle, Ireland.

The date was yesterday… the time just before ten p.m.

Pulse racing, Kimber clicked play on the video. The cell phone footage was unstable at first because of the rain, but the videographer finally got an excellent shot about ten seconds in.

“There’s going to be another one. I feel it!”

“I can’t believe what we saw, mate. I can’t believe it!”

A ball of light rose from the dark stretch at the bottom of the screen, hovered for a second and shot straight up into the night sky. The videographer and his friend whooped and laughed, and the video stopped.

Leaning closer to the screen, she watched it again, then read the brief paragraph beneath the video.

Two men camping along near Bryce’s inlet got the shock of their lives as they hurried from the shore where they’d been fishing, to their tent to escape the rain. Nathan Ferguson noticed a strange light hovering over the water, which then shot into the sky. A few seconds later, a second light followed suit.

The description gave coordinates for the sighting. Plugging them into her cellphone GPS, Kimber gasped at the result. The sighting had taken place just three miles from Pel’s castle! Running through last night’s timeline of events in her mind, she deduced the lights had appeared around the time Pel and his groupies were thrashing around in a hallucinogenic frenzy.

Was it possible… did he and the others really summon aliens?

“Of course, it’s not possible!”

Shouting the words to the wall, she got up and paced as her mind spun. It wasn’t possible. There was something going on in Dingle; that much was true. But it wasn’t explainable like this. All the stories her father had told her were as fantastical as this. His experiences were nothing more than alcohol induced hallucinations. Pel couldn’t summon aliens with toxic fish, and the campers probably saw the lights from fishing boats that got distorted in the rain.

Her insides trembled. What if he’d been telling the truth? Sinking onto the edge of the bed, she wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned over them. She’d done so much research as an adult. Read all the forums, all the stories. Studied the science and scoured the evidence but could never reconcile the information with fact.

When she’d asked Ethan what she thought of Pel’s stunt, he’d diverted from answering. But the look on his face had been telling. She hadn’t really thought about it until now, but he looked intrigued, impressed, and a little nervous. He’d said there are things that humans don’t understand… and he’d called the grays ‘parasites.’

Nervous sweat lined her hairline. It seemed like everyone she’d met in Dingle so far had a theory or experience about the aliens. Maybe there was information here on Dingle that might finally change her mind about everything. What could it hurt to poke around a little and see what she could find out? All these people were experiencing the same thing and if Pel was involved somehow, didn’t she have a reporter’s duty to find out how?

No, Kimber. No!

Her phone rang. Swearing, she took a breath and put on a smile.

“Jim, hi.”

“What the hell did you do? Why don’t I have a draft in my inbox? Oh, right, because you refused to do the interview!”

Jim’s voice rose incrementally, and her stomach sank like a brick. “What? That’s not true. I’ve been trying to get the interview, but Pel—”

“Said you’ve dodged every meeting he’s tried to set up with you. What the hell have you been doing on my dime? Your vacation doesn’t start until you get me my damn story!”

Cheeks hot, she curled her left hand into a fist. That asshole! What had he said to Jim?

“I’ve been chasing Pel Cappa, trying to nail him down for half an hour so we can talk.”

“He said he invited you to dinner, but you declined to eat.”

What the hell? “I went to his home for dinner after he invited me. I didn’t eat the food, true, and he wouldn’t–”

“He said you left without a word.”

That part was true, but she couldn’t just admit it. “We had a misunderstanding. I’ve attempted to meet with him, but he keeps blowing me off.”

Jim huffed sarcastically. “Let me get this straight. The billionaire has one side of the story, and my very green junior reporter has another. Do you want to get your facts straight and try again?”

Her chest caved, her breathing rapid. “My facts are straight, Jim. But I won’t give up.”

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