#jay wasley

*Investigation Day*

Stardust Ranch, Buckeye, Arizona.

I don't know how I ended up in such a peaceful looking area. There is nothing strange about it from the van. As soon as I step out of the van and onto the dirt, I feel a buzz.

"You okay?" Zak asks coming out behind me

"This place..."

"I know right? It's crazy. Dave said that it was insane, a true lucky find."

"No it's... buzzing." I say

He turns to me

"What do you mean?" He asks

"I can feel the electricity from here. It's... powerful." I say

"You think you can handle it? You can stay in the RV, I don't have a problem with that."

"I'll be fine. It's... not terrible." I say walking further down the dirt path.

"Okay. Do you want to take a walk around the property while we conduct the interview?" Zak asks

"Can I? Is that okay?" I ask

"Yeah. Do what you need, hun. Before you go though, come meet Dave Schrader. He's our researcher." Zak says

I follow him to meet the bald man standing near a church.

"Dave, What's up man. This is Faith, my daughter." Zak says

I turn to look at the cameras briefly before giving Dave a small wave.

"Hi, Faith. Nice to meet you. Zak has told me so much about you." Dave says holding out his hand for me to shake

I just look at it.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Schrader." I say politely, not shaking his hand

"She doesn't do any kind of physical greeting." Zak explains

"Oh. No worries!" Dave says

I take a few steps back to avoid being in the shots and stare out into the distance while the men talk. I can hear Zak getting excited about something but I don't pay it much concern, instead, turning my focus to the dirt under the boots Zak insisted I wear. He said that I needed them for grip in case we go hiking in the mountain. I haven't done much hiking but I didn't protest.

The buzz isn't terrible now that I've gotten used to being on it. It's not like a normal buzz that you hear when the lights are on. It's a feeling in my bones, like they're actually vibrating. It's a weird feeling that I can only compare to standing on a speaker playing on full blast.

Zak and Dave talk for a little before they start wrapping up and getting things back in the RV.

"Dave is gonna follow us to the ranch and we will go from there, okay?"

I nod and get into the bus.

It's about a two minute drive from the church to the corner where the ranch is and another three minutes to make it to the actual entrance of the ranch. There's a horse in one of the front pens by the sign. It's white and looks older. The house is further inside the fence. The guys park out front and start getting their camera's ready. Dave is already talking to the man inside the house. He's a thinner man with thin, metal rimmed glasses in his face. Dave waves to Zak and the guys in the van and Zak gives a thumbs up before jogging over. They talk for a little while and Zak jogs back to tell the guys where to set up the cameras and such. He pops his head into the RV and scans the small living area for me.

"Hey, you wanna take a walk around the place? We're gonna get started on the interviews and then shoot some B-roll before heading to our next interview. You're more than welcome to stay in the RV if you want though." Zak says

"I'll head out once you guys are inside. I don't want to be in the way." I say.

"No problem.... You sure you'll be okay?" He asks

"Yeah... Why?" I ask, sensing some unease in his voice

"I just.... I feel like we don't spend enough time together and you really need someone to just support you, someone more stable. I can cut back in filming for a while, if you want! We can go on vacation together! Anywhere you want!" He offers

"Zak, I promise, you're doing great. Don't change anything about your filming schedule just for me. We can go on vacation after we finish filming here." I say "Plus, I have Whiskey to keep me company while you guys film."

Zak looks at me and then to Whiskey, who's asleep on the floor next to me.

"Okay, kiddo. As long as you're certain." He says with a small smile.

He leaves the RV and I watch as he switches to 'Work-Zak' mode. They all move like a well oiled machine. I make up dialogue for them as they talk, it makes me laugh and keeps me entertained. I end up taking a little nap on the bed above the drivers seat to pass the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Several hours later*

I stand outside wearing my thick winter coat. It's colder in the desert at night than it is in Oregon on a normal day. I'm waiting for Zak to let me into the house. The buzzing in the ground is more intense closer to the house, I can feel it in my legs and teeth. Like I'm standing inside fluorescent lights. My teeth start to chatter as the door opens.

"Sorry, kid. We had to adjust the cameras. They're still filming, but we're gonna have you sit in the kitchen and take notes on what you feel, see, et cetera." Zak explains, practically dragging me into the slightly warmer house.

He leads me to the kitchen, where I sit down at one of the chairs around the table. They recently let Ashley, Jay's wife, out of the house to go back to the RV. I passed her on the way in. Zak continues the investigation with Jay as I sit with a little headlamp on my head, writing down what I am feeling inside the house and or what I can see, which is nothing but the occasional shadow figure. I sit there for about thirty minutes just writing and in the zone.

All of the sudden, I get the urge to get up and go outside. Notepad in hand, I stand up quietly and head towards the front door, opening it and closing it behind me. I can see Whiskey looking at me from the window of the RV, but I don't head over to her. Instead I follow my gut and wander out into the far pasture. It's fenced off and empty, obviously not used for anything except maybe stretching the horses legs.

I climb under the fence and wander right to the middle. I feel.... Calm? There's no buzzing underneath my feet. I can feel... something... above my head. I wave my hand over my head, watching for some sort of reaction. Nothing happens. My hand just feels cold. I keep staring into the sky. My hands shake as they scribble on the page. Page after page, I feel like I'm in a trance.

I can't tear my eyes away from the sky.

I can see lights flickering in the distance.

Are they the mothership I head Zak talking about with Dave earlier?

Am I going to get abducted?

The notepad and pen falls from my hands as the sense of calm washes over me again.

I reach up, wanting to be closer to it. I can feel a warm light shining over me, but the sky above is dark and full of stars.

I can hear someone calling to me.

Screaming my name.

I just want to be taken into the warm embrace of this light. There's no suffering or malice to it. I just want to be held, like my mother used to hold me.

A low, demonic growl rips through the silence. My blood runs cold. Something else is here with me. I don't know any prayers, but I have a rosary, given to me by a priest, around my neck. I can't move my arms down to grab it. I can't feel my legs anymore, either. I feel cold, even with the jacket. Suddenly, I'm burning up. Hot, putrid air swirls around me and I choke. I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

Something plows into me from the side, knocking me off my feet. I land in the buzzing dirt, shivering and twitching uncontrollably. I can't control this, I need to get a fucking grip!

I hear Whiskey snarling and barking. This isn't her normal bark though. This is her protective bark. It comes from deep within her chest and she's standing in front of me in a defensive position. Her ears are back, sticking straight out behind her.

"What.... Where did you? Whiskey!" I stammer as I reach for her short lead, which is attached to her service dog harness.

She snarls and whips around as I try to grab hold of her. She snaps at the air and barks. The demonic growl rips through the air again. Whiskey stills and bares her teeth as she lunges towards something behind me. She jumps right over my head and a high pitched screeching sound pierces through my head. I cover my ears and cry out in pain. The buzzing in the ground stops.

Everything goes quiet. I grab hold of Whiskey's leash. She stopped barking, but is still growling gently. Jay, sweating, panting, and dirty, suddenly appears out of nowhere.

"Faith.... *huff* What.. are... *huff, huff* you doing?" He asks, bracing himself on his knees.

"I... I don't know. Why are you dirty?" I ask

"I was trying to get a hold of Whiskey, she slipped out of my grasp and I ate shit on the dirt." he says sitting down on the floor with me.

"Did you see what happened?" I ask after a minute.

"I just saw you standing here, arms in the air, looking up. I could.... I don't know, I could feel that you had something negative surrounding you but Whiskey distracted me by barking and opening the door to the RV." He says "Are you okay? Did you eel anything enter you? Like... possess you?"

"I didn't feeel anything like that. I just felt it around me, but I have this," I pull the rosary out from under my shirt "so I think that's why I wasn't affected too much. Other than that... it got really hot and I heard something... growl." I say

"Well... you aren't being affected. I can tell that much. I'm just glad Whiskey had some sense and reacted fast enough to get to you. Even if I tried to stop her." Jay says

He takes a deep breath before getting up and holding out his hand. i take it and he helps me up.

"Let's go back to the RV, Zak has been looking for you for about thirty minutes."

"THIRTY MINUTES?!" I screech as I put the notepad and pen in my jacket pocket.

"Yeah. How long did you think it was?" Jay asks

"I thought it was like five minutes! I swear I couldn't have been gone for longer than that." I say, feeling my face pale

"I'm kidding! It was like five minutes before he realized you weren't in the house, another five to look around and then two minutes to call me and check to see if I'd seen you. So like fifteen-ish minutes. Not too bad, I had my eye on you the whole time." Jay says gently shoving me with his elbow.

I shove him with both my hands as he laughs. He always tries to make bad situations better with me. We make it back to the RV and I climb up to the bed above the drivers seat so I can get some sleep. I sleep in the thick winter coat, still freezing despite it being warmer in the RV that it is outside. Whiskey sleeps on the floor underneath my bunk and Jay finishes the investigation with Zak and the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*three weeks later*

After the investigation, Zak and I went to the doctors to get my blood work done. He got the appointments mixed up and only realized when the doctors office called him to confirm my appointment the day before. It threw our entire schedule off, but after two weeks, we got the results in the mail. Nancy came over to watch us open it, and we're all sitting at the kitchen island, staring at the letter.

"Well.. Are you guys going to open it?" She asks

"Ummm....." Zak says

"Mmmm..." I reply

"Good lord." She says "I'll open it."

Nancy tears into the thick envelope. She unfolds all the papers and starts reading quietly.

"You're allergic to grass, don't roll around in it. You also have asthma and they prescribed you an inhaler. Don't know how.... Oh they did a breathing test. Let's see.... Hmmm.... No other major allergies, just dust and grass it looks like. No genetic diseases either... let's see..." Nancy says

She flips through the pages until she reaches something that makes her eyes go wide.

"Family history!" She says excitedly

"They found your brother obviously... hm... odd... oh.. your mom is listed here, but your biological father isn't..." She trails "Oh dear."

"What?! What is it?!" I ask worried

"Um... I don't know how to say this... uhh..."

"Spit it out mom!" Zak says

"She's... She's..."

Zak snatched the packet from her hands while apologizing for it. He reads the page while I stare on.

"What does it say?" I ask

His face goes pale and he looks up to his mom. I look at the both of them.

"What?!" I ask "Oh god, am I gonna die?!"

Zak just hands me the paper and covers his mouth with his hands.

I start reading, "The alleged father cannot be excluded as the biological father of the tested child. The probability of paternity is 99.99%, assuming a prior probability of 50%... what does that mean?"

"It.... It means that Zak is... your biological father." Nancy says quietly.