Foreword

Starting from its original airdate, 9th of October, 1993, Chris Carter's television-series, 'The X-Files' had captivated the minds of millions of viewers, all around the world. Even in Sri Lanka, we can find a lot of X-files fans. Why did this become different from the others?

The simplest and most correct answer in my point of view is, it's just because of its uniqueness. Many movies and dramas which are telecasted are mostly real-like stories or larger-than-life fantasies. 'The X-Files' gets a position somewhere between those two ends. Some may ask why didn't Chris Carter make a television series which is more 'down-to-earth'. And if he did, will it come a long way like this? Of course not!

Always, people like to think, logically. They like to believe what science can prove. But is 'Science' a complete subject? No. Science is something which depends on the questions, 'how' and 'why', based on logics and facts. And what if there are questions which haven't got any answers for those 'how' s and 'why' s?

And that's when the two FBI Special Agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully come in. They observe the unexplainable cases which the FBI had thrown away, as 'X-Files'. Agent Fox Mulder is a person that opens his mind to 'extreme possibilities' (As Agent Scully always says), like flying saucers for an instance and Agent Dana Scully is a doctor who likes to believe in firm and solid stuff, like 'gravity' as an example. Though they verbally attack each other, every time and though they always end their discussions in disagreement, they could be named as the perfect partners of FBI history of fictions. The governmental and military forces and most of all, the heads of the FBI are their worst enemies, who don't like to get the secrets, revealed. But on their journey, Assistant Director Skinner is an important character they meet, who likes to help them, under the very noses of his heads. Getting help (which are very rare) and receiving threats, (which are very common), the two agents carry on their journey, putting their lives behind.

Receiving awards, named as the 'Best TV series of the year', X-Files had come a long way, through nine seasons and with one box-office-record-winning movie, unbeatably and exceptionally successfully, for about 12 years.

'The X-Files' is my favorite TV series without a doubt and that's why I thought of creating a 'X-Files' story by my own. It's obvious that I can never reach the very high standard of Chris Carter. But still I hope that you'll take this as an innocent attempt of a 'X-files Nut'.

This is being made to turn itself into a birthday present for Ammi, because she is also a 'X-Files' fan just like me. And with this short story, I'm planning to start my brand new short story series of copycats: 'Priyan's Oops I stole it again Short Stories'. I need to press hard on the fact that these short stories are NOT created for commercial reasons (for they might harm the quality of the original movie, TV series or novel), and are made just because to fulfill the unbearably overflowing likenesses I have on the originals.

Thank you. Read and enjoy!

Priyan Jayasuriya

09.10.2005

(Did you just realize that this day is the 12th year anniversary of the X files?)

Chapter 01

Downtown

Washington D.C.

10.38 p.m.

The stars were nowhere to be seen. Because of the heavy dark clouds, the usually-bright moon wasn't there too. The cold night had an unusual silence. But for some reason, there was something like a spooky feeling in the atmosphere which was hard to interpret.

Breaking the silence, two police cars entered the scene, covering the whole place with glittering blue and red flash lights and deafening everyone nearby with the loud sirens. The speeding police cars came into a halt in front of a lonely house in a corner and five policemen got out, aiming shotguns at the house. There was no lights to be seen inside the house and it looked like there was no one in there.

"Mulder, what's going in there?" a middle aged woman with a short light brown hair and a pair of lovely eyes asked from her partner, who had a handsome body, dark brown hair and a pair of sad, but sharp eyes. The man was driving a black BMW and the woman was sitting on the front passenger's seat. "You never told me what this is about," she continued. "You just asked me to get in the car and even on our way, you never spoke anything."

"We had an anonymous phone call, saying there's something going on in this house," he said, nearing the car towards the parked police cars. "Number 72, George Street. I hope we haven't got it wrong."

"What? We just had an anonymous phone call, saying there's something going on in here and we are just going to see what it is all about, without taking serious consideration of the reliability of the caller? It could've been a drunk or some lunatic!"

"I know…"

"I know that you know. But this is Federal Bureau of Investigation!"

"That's how things go around in here, Scully. The mysterious actions which the Bureau always takes, makes me go crazy. They believe in anonymous callers who call in the middle of the night. But they never like to believe about the little green men from the UFOs, even if we get hard evidence, every time. It's either they are completely crazy or they are afraid to believe in the 'X files'. Considering on all of their behaviors, I don't see any reason for them, not to shut the X files as they just did, two weeks ago. Now we are working with their usual stupid work, chasing imaginary callers for instance."

The BMW parked behind the parked police cars and the two FBI agents got out and walked towards one of the policemen.

"Agent Mulder and Agent Scully," Mulder said, as they were showing their badges and IDs. "Did you find anything?" he asked, looking at the opened door at the front. They heard voices from inside the house. "…or are we just wasting our time?"

"Come with me, sir," the policeman said, leading them towards the house. "And you'll realize that we are definitely not wasting our time."

Scully saw the already-broken front door and there was a broken lock and pieces of wood on the floor. There were four policemen inside the house, searching everything and there was a cameraman, photographing evidence.

The interior of the house was a complete mess. There was a broken lampshade and a broken stool and there were books and papers, thrown everywhere. There were bloodstains and bloody hand-prints on the dining table and on the glass panels on one of the windows too. And you don't have to be a FBI special agent to realize that they were obvious marks for some kind of a deadly struggle.

"Did I hear something?" Mulder asked, looking at the cop.

"You did sir," he said and asking them to follow him, he led them to the upstairs and they stopped in front of a closed bedroom door. Mulder came, behind them, looking at the bloodstains which led upstairs. Then they heard it clearer. It was an unmistakable voice of a crying baby!

Opening the door, they went inside. The room was obviously the baby's room. The walls were covered with wallpapers of 'Mickey' and 'Minnie' mice's pictures and there were some soft-toys in a corner too. But it was not what their minds were attracted by; it was the cot which was in the middle of the room. In the cradle, there was a sweet-looking baby which was about six or seven months old. He was still crying like a little noisy cricket! And he had the most beautiful pair of eyes which Mulder had ever seen.

There was a huge bloodstain on the carpet, near the cot. Mulder sighed with relief, seeing the baby was okay.

"Oh…!" stretching his arms forward, as if to get the baby, he leaned himself towards the baby. And suddenly, one of his legs slipped and he fell on the floor.

"Oh Mulder! Are you all right?" Scully asked, kneeing beside him.

"Yeah," he said. "I think I slipped…" he said.

"You slipped when there's a thick carpet? Anyway, did you hurt your head?" she asked, looking him touching the back of his head.

"No, no. I'm okay," just help me to get up.

Scully gave him a hand and he was back on his feet once again.

"Oh, how sweet is he?" Scully said and took the baby. Just as when she took it, miraculously, it stopped crying.

"Oh, you seem like a professional," Mulder said, smiling.

"I'm planning to be one…someday…" she said, smiling.

"Oh… who's the lucky guy?" looking rather hurt, Mulder asked.

And they were distracted by the police officer. "Sir, we just got information about the suspected victim," he gave Mulder a photograph. It was a picture of an attractive young lady with blond hair, thin lips and unusual light blue eyes. She looked like a woman that one can remember from the very first sight.

"Sir, we believe that the victim is Shelia Johnson. Age thirty two. Divorced. No previous criminal record. Occupation: a waitress in McCarthy's food centre. Lives alone in the house with her son, Vincent."

"Did you check the blood marks?" Scully asked.

"Yes ma'am, we just sent a sample to our laboratories."

"What do you think what happened in here?"

"Sir, she's a waitress and she can't possibly have anything worth stealing. But there's an empty jewelry box on the next door's bed and we believe that a VHS or a DVD player and the small TV set is gone. Many drawers had been opened and we have no idea about what is being stolen. The glass panel of the kitchen door is broken with a brick and nobody in their right mind would do such a thing in the silence of the night. This is probably some young poor drunk's work; or it's probably a drug addict."

"You found any news about the woman?"

"No sir. But we're working on it…"

"Good." Mulder said, looking back at the photograph in his hands and the policeman walked away.

"Oh… Poor little thing…" Scully said, kissing the baby's cheek.

Chapter 02

FBI Headquarters

Washington D.C.

07.12 a.m.

"Good morning, Scully!" Mulder said, looking at his partner who just came into the office. There weren't many people in the office at the time.

"Morning, Mulder!" she said, putting some files on her desk.

"You are early…"

"And you are earlier…"

"I know," said Mulder. "I have something that you'd love to see…" said Mulder, showing a CD case which was in his hands.

"Then let's watch it."

Mulder inserted the CD to his personal Desktop computer.

"Have a seat, Scully," he said, showing a comfortable chair.

"Thanks. But I prefer standing."

"Okay…" he said, fast-forwarding the video clip. And suddenly, he stopped the tape and pressed the play-button. The scene in the video looked like a baby room in a hospital. There were about twenty to thirty cots in the scene. And there were babies in many of them.

"This is taken from a security camera inside 'St. John's Infant Care Centre'," said Mulder. "I've got it today morning. Keep a closer look and you'll see something exciting."

"Isn't that the place we gave little Vincent to?"

"Yes. And there he is," he said, pointing the cot numbered, 23. "And there she is…" he said once again, showing a person who was walking among the lines and rows of cots. It was obviously a woman with blond hair who wore a thick brown coat. Her hair looked messed up. She looked like she was searching for someone. And she stopped near number 23 and waited, near the cot, leaning herself towards the baby. With the back of her palm, she wiped her eyes as she was staring at the baby.

"You know who she is?" he asked.

"Is that someone who I supposed to know of? Can you zoom it on her?"

"That's what I was going to do," Mulder said and by giving some commands to the computer with the keyboard, he zoomed it on her.

"Oh my!"

"It seems like you've recognized Mrs. Shelia Johnson…" Mulder said, looking at her.

Chapter 03

St. John's Infant Care Centre

Washington D.C.

11.43 p.m.

Mulder and Scully parked the car in front of St. John's Infant Care Centre and both of them got out. There were only two other cars parked in the parking lot and both of them had the sticker which doctors' cars usually has. So, there were no visitors that night. At least, there were no visitors who had cars.

"Mulder, what makes you think that Mrs. Johnson's going to come back today at the same time?"

"When a security guard had gone to who the interferer was, after seeing her in the security camera, he had seen no one. She had escaped! That means, for some reason, she doesn't want us to know that she's alive. But she can't wait without seeing her baby which she had loved so much and that's why she had sneaked into the place. And that's what makes me think that she's going to come today too."

Chapter 04

St. John's Infant Care Centre

Washington D.C.

12.55 a.m.

"Mulder, I think that your theory has just gone wrong…" Scully said. They were waiting in the room with monitors connected with security cameras. There was one fat security guard to operate the systems and it seemed like that the three of them were the only ones in the deserted building, except for the babies. The babies seemed to be sleeping well and there was no one there.

"She's not going to come today," said Scully.

"Last time, she came here around one o'clock, ma'am," said the security guard, checking his wristwatch. "I don't know who she is and what she's doing here and neither I am very eager to know about it. But I'd like to know how the hell she got in under security. That's what bothers me."

"I'm going to have a cup of coffee. Where do you have a coffee machine?" she asked from the guard.

"We don't have a coffee machine," he said, shortly.

"Coke?"

"No."

"Pepsi?"

"No."

"Any cool drink?"

"Sorry."

"Do you at least have water?"

"There's a water-filter right behind you."

Scully rolled her eyes and walked towards the filter.

"There she is!" Mulder shouted and putting the plastic cup back, which she had taken to her hand and Scully came back to them. This time, Shelia came straightly to cot number 23 and stayed, leaning on the baby.

"Zoom it on her!" Scully said and the security guard did something with the computer connected.

Those light blue eyes, the thin red lips and the blond hair were unmistakable. It was no one other than Shelia Johnson.

"Let's go!" Mulder said and ran out of the security room and he was followed by Scully. They went inside the little hall at the same time. But there was no one to be seen in there! They heard distant footsteps. Mulder and Scully ran towards where they thought where they heard the sounds were coming from. But they didn't get lucky. The woman had escaped!

"What's with her?" Scully asked, panting. "We weren't going to do any harm to her! We were just going to help her!"

Mulder didn't say anything and he just stayed, keeping his hands on his hips.

Suddenly, Mulder's phone began to ring. He took it and answered it.

"Agent Mulder… Yeah…. Hmm… What…? Are you sure…? Did you confirm the identification…? Okay… Right…." he put his phone back in his pocket and looked at Scully. "The DCPD had found the body of Shelia Johnson in a garbage pit, twenty minutes ago. Her throat's been sliced…" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"WHAT?"

Chapter 05

FBI Headquarters

Washington D.C.

07.12 a.m.

"This is ridiculous!" said Assistant Director, Agent Skinner, a tall bold headed man who wore round spectacles. He was in his office and Agents- Dana Scully and Fox Mulder were sitting in front of his desk.

"You are right," said Mulder. "Name one single X-file case which isn't ridiculous, sir…"

"Agent Mulder, 'X-files' is being shut. And I hope that you haven't forgotten it."

"I know sir. It's you people who had forgotten that there are unexplainable incidents happening, out there! Somebody has to do something about it. I can live peacefully if I know that somebody is working on it, even it isn't me. But I'm so pissed off about shutting it down…!"

"Agent Mulder… Please lower your voice…" Skinner said.

But he didn't seem like he was not going to give up that soon.

"You told me that you closed the X-files just because you don't have anything to prove the paranormal activities. But when I'm near to find some evidence, all you do is, preventing me…"

"Agent Mulder, remember that I want to help you."

"So?"

"But there are times which I can't help you. I'm not the president of United States, Mulder. There are powerful sources which are more powerful than the President of USA and it's a different story. But now, I'm talking about the forces which force me to take some actions. If I try to go over their decisions, they'll make me, over."

"But you have to believe…"

"That the spirit of a dead woman is coming to pay a visit to her only son?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "After all the things you've told me about, I don't think I can deny that so easily. But remember, that there is no 'X files' anymore and you are out of the case. I'll put my normal detectives on the murder and…"

"You can't do that to me!"

"Yes I can, for your own sake."

"Now, to me, it seems like you are the one who's being ridiculous!"

Without saying anything, Assistant Director Skinner slowly stood up and massaged his forehead. He didn't like to be scolded by a junior agent. But he didn't have the mind to take a hard action on that. To be honest, he didn't have the mind to take any kind of an action at all, on Agent Mulder's accusable speech. Because from inside his heart, he knew that Mulder was no fool. But as he had just said, he didn't have the authority to take actions on his own.

"You can go now…" he said, finally looking at both agents.

"Sir…" Scully began to talk.

"Just go," said Skinner. "And make sure that Agent Mulder doesn't go anywhere near that Infant Care Centre…"

Chapter 06

St. John's Infant Care Centre

Washington D.C.

01.04 a.m.

"Mulder, all of this doesn't make any sense to me," said Agent Scully, sitting behind the fat security guard who observed the monitors connected to the security cameras.

"Why?" Agent Mulder asked from Scully, as if she had said the dumbest thing in the whole world. "A woman gets killed and she comes to see her only child, who she loves the most, in the whole wide world. A mother's love is the most powerful force of the world. It can… it can even change the world. So… all of it does make sense to me."

Scully rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Agent Mulder, there she is," the security guard said.

Just like the last time, they saw a woman coming towards cot number 23. To make sure, the security guard zoomed the vision on her and it was obviously the woman on the photograph, which the cop had given to Mulder. It was late Mrs. Shelia Johnson!

"Okay let's go!" Mulder said and ran out of the office and Scully followed him.

When they went near the entrance of the hall where the babies were kept, Mulder moved his raised index finger to his lips and Scully lowered her running speed and began to walk towards him, making less-noise as possible. When Scully came near him, he went to the door and opened it slightly and tried to take a vision of her. But from the angle he stood, he couldn't see her. But he was hundred percent positive that he heard a lovely lullaby sung by a woman. He felt all the love, passion and attachment which the soft voice contained.

Suddenly, Mulder's phone began to ring and the singing stopped.

"Damn!" Mulder shouted and switching off the phone, he went inside the hall and as he had expected, he saw no one.

"Mrs. Shelia…" he called out to thin air. There wasn't anyone inside the hall except for him, Scully and the sleeping babies. "I'm Agent Mulder and she's Agent Scully form the Bureau. I know you are here and I know you can hear me. We are not here to hurt your child or you. We want to make sure that everything gets okay. We want to make sure that everything become as they should have been. We promise that we are going to make sure that your son's going to get okay. We promise that we are going to take care of him. Let me co-operate with you. Let me help you…" Mulder kept on saying.

Without wanting to hurt Mulder's feelings, Scully looked at the ceiling, as if to say, 'Oh, please God, please mercy on this man and mend his mind."

Chapter 07

St. John's Infant Care Centre

Washington D.C.

01.37 a.m.

"Did you actually believe that the dead woman was going to reply you after that charming speech?" Scully asked from Mulder, when they were walking towards the car.

"You still seem like you are afraid to believe it, don't you?"

"Mulder, I'm not afraid to believe. I'm too ashamed to believe something like that. I mean, there should be some kind of a scientific explanation for everything. Dead people just don't walk into buildings, Mulder."

"Remember one thing, Scully. Science is not a complete subject. There are some things in life, which mightn't have serious and satisfying reasons and explanations. You must widen the vision of your mind, beyond science, to extreme possibilities…"

"That is what you always say…" she said, reaching for the door of the car.

"And that's what you always don't listen to too…" Mulder said, unlocking the car with the remote.

"From whom was that previous call?" Scully asked.

"From Skinner. Somehow, he has got to know that we've come here. He said that he might have to take a serious action on us, if we don't put the case behind."

"So what did you say?" she asked, getting inside the car.

"I told him that I'd love to see him try…" he said with a sarcastic tone and got inside the car.

He inserted the key to the keyhole and started the car

"Hey, it seems like we've got a ticket!" he said, looking at the folded piece of paper, which was being stuck to the windscreen, with the left wiper-blade. He opened the door and after getting the piece of paper, he got into the car and shut the door. Scully switched on the door-light and Mulder unfolded the paper and looked at it.

It was a paper torn out of a notebook and there was something scribbled on it with a pencil. Mulder and Scully looked at it at the same time. It was like this.

Thank you for your concern, agents. I'm so pleased that you saved him and I'm glad that you gave him the best treatments. One of my cousins lives in New Jersey, living in 22, Dixon's street and her name is Zelda Johnson. She will definitely come to you just soon as she hears about me. Give Vincent to her, and tell her to take care of him. You asked whether you can help me.

Yes. You can help me. Please, leave Vincent and every other thing connected to him, behind and forget everything. Let him live a normal life as the other kids. That'll be everything which I'd be asking from you. Anyway, I'll be there by his side, until the end of time…

Mulder folded the piece of paper, biting his lower lip. He looked out through his side of glass shutter of the car and saw a figure standing in the shadows. He kept looking at the figure and took his cellular phone out. He dialed a number and after a few rings are gone, someone spoke from the other side.

"Sir, this is Agent Mulder here… Yes sir… I know sir… I just called you to say that I dropped the case… Yes sir…. Okay… I'll see you, first thing in tomorrow morning. Yes sir. G' night!"

"Mulder, what are you doing?" asked Scully. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. The unbeatable and stubborn Fox Mulder going to drop an 'X-file', behind when everything was on his side, was too hard to believe!

Mulder put the phone back in his pocket and looked at Scully. "Scully, sometimes, there are much more valuable things than a 'X-file', even it's an almost-successful one…" he said and looked outside. The figure was still there. Now the outline of it was so clear and he could tell that 'it' was a 'she', for the feminine curves of her body were visible as outlines. He gave a curt nod to her and he was so positive that he also received a returning one.

"Mulder, who's in there?" asked Scully.

"No one," he said shortly and put the reverse gear.

"Let's get out of here…" he said and began to reverse the car, looking behind with the rear-view mirror.

Chapter 08

Twenty-five years later…

No. 22, Dixon's Street,

New Jersey.

10.45 a.m.

The front doorbell rang.

"Honey, could you please get it?" a young man who looked like he was in his early twenties, asked from the woman who seemed to be searching for something inside a drawer. The blond-haired young man had light-blue eyes and he was reading a novel, sitting on the bed. The woman was a young brunette with an athletic body.

"Okay…" she said and closed the drawer.

"I'll get it," they heard an older woman's voice from outside their room. After a minute, they heard a knock on their bedroom door.

"Come in, Auntie," the man said and a plump woman, who looked like she was in her late fifties, came inside the room. She had something inside a black cardboard bag and she gave it to the man who was sitting on the bed.

"What's it, aunt Zelda?" the young woman asked.

"It's something that you and Vincent had been longing to get your eyes at," she said and went away.

"What's it?" the young woman asked from the man, who was just opening the bag.

"Aha!" he made a sound, looking at it. "It's our wedding album," he said. "I thought that they told me that they'd give it by the end of this week."

"That's cool!" she said.

"Come and sit," he said, patting to the mattress, beside him. "Let's have a look at it, together."

She jumped onto the bed and after adjusting herself, comfortably, she leaned her head on his shoulder and he also leaned his head a little towards hers. Then, he began to turn the pages of the huge wedding album, which was inside a valuable case.

Smiling and laughing, they looked at the pictures, enjoying them in the maximum form. The photos included events on their wedding mass at St. Mathew's Church. They looked at the people in the photographs and tried to recognize them. Because after all, the two of them had become one and both of them had to get familiar with the spouse's relations and friends.

"There's Auntie Zelda!" said the woman, showing the fat woman who had just given the album to them. On the photograph, she looked lovelier with the dress she had chosen and she looked like she was thirty-five. She was standing in the front of a group photograph, which included the closest relations to both families. They were standing all around the 'happy couple'.

"Who's that?" the man asked, showing a young boy sitting near him.

"That's my mom's sister's son, Vincent. You've got to know him by now," she said with a made-up angry tone.

"Okay, okay, I'm still trying to remember all of them…" he said to defend himself. "Tell me who this is, if you are better than me," he said, showing a woman who was standing behind aunt Zelda.

"Mmm… that's Mrs. Helen, I guess. She's your cousin Jeff's mother. Isn't it?"

"How did you do that?" he asked, surprised.

"I just wanted to show that women are better than men…" she said, laughing.

Then they began to look at the photographs again.

"Vincent, who's this woman standing behind you?" she asked, showing a tall young woman, with blond hair.

"I thought that she's someone related to you!"

"No, she isn't. Look at her eyes, Vincent. Only a little people have those kinds of blue eyes, just like you," she said. "She must be someone related to you."

Vincent began to think for a while. "Mmm... Though I can't recognize her, when I look at her, I feel that she's someone connected to me, very closely. And it's now I remembered. Sometimes, I have the strange feeling that I'm being watched with those kinds of eyes, all the time…" he said, looking outside through the window, thinking deeply.

"You are going to freak me out!" she said, smiling.

"Oh…!" he made a sound and with a smile, he looked at her with loving eyes. "Let's turn to the other page…"

That's when a light gale of wind entered the room, through the opened window and though the winter season was coming nearer, he felt the wind against his skin as he was being touched by an embrace of warmth.

-The End-

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