Chapter 3: The Meteor

Heidi's powers are still getting stronger. Now, for her class, she must do a project on the strange meteor that fell in her small town fifteen years ago.

I was suspended for two weeks and grounded for four. My reputation had gone from the weird chick to the psycho girl. Though, for the first time in my life, people respected me. Of course what they respected me for was, well, less than respectable. I'd keyed my name into the side of the principle's custom luxury car. I know it probably sounds crazy. That's probably because it is crazy. I had to do it. I can't stand going to school anymore. I can't go anywhere. The thoughts in my head are now constant. I can't be near anyone. They cause my head to pound in rhythm with my heart. There is no off switch. The only cure is to be alone, completely alone. During my two week suspension I spend everyday, all day, in my room. I curled up in my bed, pulled the covers over my head, and closed my eyes. Even alone though the residual thoughts raced through my brain. I wanted to die. Dying had to hurt less than what I was experiencing right now.

Eventually though it got better. By the end of the second week the volume of the thoughts had decreased drastically. They were still that incessant buzzing in the back of my head, but it wasn't enough to drive me insane. It was manageable. The headaches stopped. Even though I was stuck at home, as I was still grounded, I began to experiment with my parents. I tried to focus in on their individual thoughts; listening to one while tuning out the other. I was amazed by how well it worked. Of course all my parents thoughts revolved around me. They were worrying that I was turning into a troubled teen, that they'd done something wrong with me.

When I return to school my history teacher assigns us a project. We have to do research on the history of our town, Hidden, Ohio. Beau and I are partners, of course. No one else would be partners with me. He suggests that we do our project on the meteors.

Fifteen years ago a phenomenon too place. Six meteors entered the Earth's atmosphere. NASA predicted that they would burn up, but they didn't. They landed on six of the seven continents at the exact same time; North America, South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe. The media went wild with the stories. Everyone claimed to have seen the meteors. There were thousands of stories circulating. People came forward with stories of encounters with the meteors.

Reportedly the 'meteors' were sharp triangular objects made of some sort of metal. When you touched them they grew warm and glowed a blindingly bright shade of blue. Several people even claimed to have seen the meteors open up and small humanoid creatures emerge from them. It wasn't long before the government confiscated the meteors and no one saw them again. They disputed all the rumors and went into full damage control mode

This event was a part of our history because the meteor that fell in North America landed right here, in our tiny off the map town. It was the meteor that brought attention to Hidden. Suddenly everyone knew of our out of the way little town. It became a popular tourist destination for a while. You can still see the crater that the meteor left. The government quarantined it immediately after the crash. Eventually they realized how much money the site could bring to the country and they opened it up once they deemed it safe and barren.

I asked my parents about the crash. Their reactions were similar to when I asked them about my biological parents.

“It happened years ago and it hardly matters now.” My mother said. My father nodded in agreement and added “You shouldn't listen to all the hype. The people who say the government was trying to cover something up, hide something from us, are lying Heidi. They are conspiracy theorist; always looking for some kind of nonexistent corruption in our government. There was nothing inside those meteors.”

“Did you see the meteors?” I press. “I know you were living here at the time the meteor hit. Did you see it in the sky or investigate the site?”

“We did see what appeared to be a shooting star.” My father conceited. “We'd heard all the reports so we knew the meteor would be landing in our town. Everyone was frantic. We didn't know how large or tough it was going to be. Your mother and I took shelter underground when it got close. We were warned to stay away from the crash site; they didn't know what kind of space debris we'd come in contact with if we got near it. We didn't want to be exposed. Really all you need to know Heidi is that people made a way bigger deal out of it than it really was. The meteor did bring notoriety to Hidden, but it wasn't nearly as sinister as people chose to believe it was.”

“Heidi if you do your report on the meteor please be careful. You don't want to get any false information that could hurt your grade. You'll find a lot of stories about the subject but most of them are fabricated.” My mother warns severely. I want to roll my eyes. “Thanks,” I say. “But I think Beau and I will be just fine.”

Edward Brice was a thirty year old man who lived in an unkempt mobile home in a rundown trailer park. He'd spent the last fifteen years of his life researching alien life. He was obsessed with finding an alien here on Earth. He even started his own website, www.aliensare4real.com. Edward was vocal about his 'close encounter' with a creature stemming from the Hidden meteor incident. His website was dedicated to his search for the creature. He had fans and supporters from all over the world who threw money at him, hoping to invest in the world's first live alien exhibit. When Edward finally catches the alien he wants to put it on display.

A part of me thinks he might be insane, but since he's been studying the meteor for half his life he must know something, right? I figure it can't hurt to talk to him. Besides, I am mildly curious about the event. I don't believe in aliens, but my parents refusal to really discuss it makes me wonder. What if they know more than they're letting on? What if there's more to the story?