There are amputees, children who were born with deformations, blind kids, deaf kids, club-footed people and mutes, like me.
No one knows what Kitty's abnormality is. She seemed to just not know stuff, like elementary addition. But then, once she learned, she never forgot.
Abnormal stuff started happening at the beginning of November. The weather was completely unpredictable, with sunny days and snow showers all at once.
And Kitty disappeared.
Her parents called the police, but none of them found anything besides that which we already knew: Kitty was walking by the river with Fred, her Doberman. She didn't come home by 5:30, so her parents went looking for her and discovered Fred, cowering and whimpering in the reeds.
I suppose the police should at least get credit for discovering two things: one was Kitty's shoe, and the other was five symmetrical indents in the sand, and some faint scorching. The entire thing looks like one of those staged "alien abduction" things on TV. As for us, her friends, we didn't believe a word of it.
The cops decided that nothing more could be done for Kitty: she was declared missing, assumed dead, and the case was closed.
We all handled the stress differently.
Eliza was heartbroken. She couldn't believe that Kitty was gone. Her cousin, her best friend, her idol, dead? No, she couldn't accept it.
Shamus was at the school because he had what most psychiatrists call a "delicately balanced mind". Something major, e.g., the death of his girlfriend, could drive him insane. And it did.
Carson wept. He was always so brave, courageous, stoic, etc, seeing him crying was almost as shocking as Kitty's vanishing.
Beth says she's always known of her brother's adoration of Kitty, but I'm not sure I believe her. She is an actress, after all.
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Beth was not as sad as I expected her to be. She was calm, and composed. She kept saying that we should go look for Kitty.Carson agreed with her.
Shamus–well, Shamus insisted that Kitty was sitting right next to Beth; he could see her. Everyone pointedly ignored him.
Eliza said that Kitty was gone, and then burst into tears.
Carson followed her example.
I glanced at Beth. She was the youngest member of our group, and dyslexic to boot, yet she was acting the most sensible. Eliza and Carson would not recover unless we gave them a project to focus on. Looking for Kitty was a perfect project.
Or so I thought.
Three days later, after obtaining parental agreements, camping gear, and food, we went to the river. Technically, we were camping on Thomas' land and because he was another of Kitty's fellow actors, he asked to join us. Since he was in Ninth Grade and already almost six feet tall, everyone was willing for him to come.
After all, whatever got Kitty might come back.
We had told our parents that we would be gone for a week, and that this was a trip to get over Kitty's disappearance. They had agreed to our terms: each of us had a cell phone, sleeping bags, separate tents for boys and girls, and, of course, we had Thomas.
The first and second days (and nights) were uneventful. We had figured out pretty much what had happened to Kitty.
Kitty leaves house at 4:03PM, Thursday, November 12, with Fred. Walks through secret path in the hedges, because it is faster. Arrives at river at approx. 4:17PM. Walks for approx. 15min. At approx. 4:32 she stops and Attacker/s strike. Fred hides in the rushes and parents go looking for her.
I wonder if the Police got this far.
On the third day we had a breakthrough. Shamus was walking around calling for Kitty. "Kitty, where are you? Kitty, come back!"
Everyone was happy that he had finally accepted the truth, even though the truth sucked. Everyone was equally depressed that we had gotten nowhere in our investigations.
On the third night Thomas saw something in the sky. Just a small dot of light, really, a satellite or star. Totally unremarkable.
Except that it was getting closer.
Carson immediately started filming it with his digital camera. Beth got out her mini-computer and the input cable so that she could Email the film to her parents and the local TV Station. Soon the light was so bright, we put away our flash lights. Beth emailed the video to Eugene News, then we waited.
Soon the TV crew was there, filming the asteroid and asking lots of question about who saw it, where, when, how, etc.
Beth acted as my translator. However, she edited one to many of my comments making it sound like I was saying something else entirely, so I left to help Eliza keep a screaming Shamus away from the cameras.
The light, by this time, appeared to be as large as car. Maybe an SUV. In any case, it would crush us when it landed. Everyone started to get out of the way, when suddenly-
It swerved.
The light veered out to the West, maybe over the ocean, and disappeared. Then we noticed something we couldn't see before. With the first light gone we could clearly discern several smaller lights following it. They also turned West, and all was dark once more. The TV people left, and Shamus calmed down.
"They're gone. Gone. Kitty can come back now. You can come back now, Kitty! Come back!"
He continued on this way for at least fifteen minutes. However hard he yelled, though, Kitty did not show her face. Eventually, Shamus fell asleep.
Then it was Carson's turn. He simply collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Eliza collapsed next to him. Thomas glanced around nervously. Even Beth sniffed loudly. I decided then and there that I wanted to study the human brain, since it was such an unusual subject.
Beth told me later that it was not knowing that was the worst part. If Kitty was dead, she was dead, but like this, not knowing, when Kitty might be alive, or might not be, that was what got to her, in the end.
Eventually I also lay down in the sand, and everyone just stared at the sky till they fell asleep.
I woke up to the sound of screaming.
It was Shamus, of course.
There were more lights in the sky.
Circling.
Round and round.
Getting closer.
It must have been after midnight, yet we soon heard sirens, cars, voices, and so on. Eugene was waking up early. All the citizens had seen the UFOs. They were all panicking.
The media went crazy. No one knew what to expect. Some people went on about aliens, others blamed global climate change. Still others said it was God's punishment. Shamus insisted it was Kitty, trying to come home.
After a few days people started to get used to the lights in the sky. People were still debating the cause, but since their didn't seem to be any effects, no one was panicking anymore.
On the last night of our little camping trip, something amazing and awesome happened that still surprises me when I think back on it.
One of the lights was growing nearer, even as we watched. It was growing nearer so fast I think I might have even been able to scream, despite not having a larynx. Beth did scream, as did Eliza, and Thomas fainted. Actually, I think he is narcoleptic, but I'm not certain. Carson threw up out of sheer terror. Shamus just smiled and muttered "Kitty," as he stared at the light, his face aglow.
The light plummeted down, straight into the river, and, as it arose from the murky waters, I saw that it was only about the size of a VW bug.
I also saw what I was afraid to see.
A UFO.
And I knew that Kitty was inside it, waiting for us to come in.
