Part 4: Wanting to believe
John had agreed to be more than just friends with this girl he had just meant. When they both thought about it, the age difference didn't matter. It was only three years.
A few weeks passed, and they got to know each other more and more. They kissed and played with each other a lot, usually hanging out underneath that same tree.
However little John was able to help Samantha with her problems, it was clear to him that he was falling in love with her. He was able to listen to her problems and comfort her, even though he could do nothing to give her a better life, or expose those who did this to her. Nobody would believe him.
What John didn't know was that Samantha was also falling in love with him. He gave her the comfort and attention she had only experienced in her imagination and dreams. She never had anything else. No love.
"I am so lucky to have found you," she told him one day under the tree. "Mr. Spender has taken a break from the tests on me, for whatever reason. He finally let me go outside, and I found you. I don't know how long he'll give me freedom though. He could take me away at any time."
"Maybe there's a way I can protect you," he tried assuring her. "I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you again."
"John, you have to understand how big this is," she began. "Nobody can help me. It's the aliens. I'm glad to have found you, but you have to know that it won't last forever. The aliens will abduct me again at any time."
Samantha's stories of alien abduction always made John shutter. He didn't want them to be true.
"Do you believe me?" she asked. "About the aliens?"
"I wanna believe," he told her.
"So you don't believe me?" she demanded. "I need your trust!"
John took Samantha's hand. He held it tightly. It gave her a kind of assurance.
"I believe that some very bad things have happened to you," he stated. "I am open to the truth, but I don't want the aliens you talk about to be real."
Samantha stood up in a hurry. John didn't know what she was doing. She was in a panic, and it frightened him. Her emotional mood swings saddened him.
Startling him even more, Samantha removed her shirt from the dress she was wearing. Underneath, she had on only a small bra.
Samantha pointed to a few very noticeable scars. Her body had obviously been experimented on. It haunted John, but to him, she didn't look any less beautiful.
One of the scars on her body was a lump. Underneath the lump, there was some kind of grayish color. There appeared to be some kind of metal underneath.
"Look at this!" she screamed, more desperate than ever. "The aliens put implants inside of my body!"
John took a look. He was shocked.
"My God," he exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like this."
"So do you believe me?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe you," he said. "Don't you worry. I'll help you and I'll love you. God allowed you to find me for a reason."
John helped Samantha back into her dress. The girl was in tears, and John could tell that she regretted him seeing the scar.
"You're still beautiful," he told her. "Just as pretty as before. They're just little scars and are barely visible. Something fucked up is going on in America... I believe you that they did this, and we'll make those responsible pay."
Samantha was in distress more than ever, but just like every other night, John walked her home. At the doorstep, she kissed him goodbye. After walking through the screen door, Samantha disappeared into darkness. The lights were out.
Out of the darkness came a shadow. It wasn't Samantha. It was a man. John couldn't make out the face but he had a sure feeling of who it was. He heard the click of a lighter, and the man's face lit up with a cigarette in the mouth. The man was Mr. Spender, Samantha's "watcher".
"You're a little pig," snarled Mr. Spender. His voice echoed through the screen of the door.
John knew that Mr. Spender knew that something was going on between he and Samantha. He also knew that Mr. Spender probably had a clue of what Samantha told him and showed him.
John ignored Mr. Spender's snide remark and walked away. He didn't like being treated as a bad guy.
As he walked away, he knew that Mr. Spender was still watching him, dragging off his cigarette. His hatred for Mr. Spender was now more than more intense than ever. He made a vow never to smoke.
Later that night, an associate of Mr. Spender's met with him in his house. The associates name was Ronald, and he was around Mr. Spender's age. In the future, Ronald would later be known only as "Deep Throat". However, in 1978, he also lived near the April Air Force Base.
Ronald met with Mr. Spender in his room. Mr. Spender sat there watching television, smoking, and drinking. He had a drinking problem as well as a cocaine problem which he liked to keep hidden.
Ronald walked into the room. He knew Mr. Spender knew he was there, but he didn't bother to turn around from his chair. There in that ordinary room, they were to discuss their plans and progress of a serious and on-going project which teared their families apart.
"You don't look well," Ronald told Mr. Spender. "You still have a drug problem?"
"Yes," he admitted, turning around from his seat. His cigarette was still in his mouth.
"That can't be good for your psychosis," sneered Ronald. The two men hated each other.
"It's stressful business we have," snapped Mr. Spender. "I need something to get my mind off it. Now why did you call this meeting with me?"
"You told our Elder of the problem this John Arntzen poses to us," he stated. "I want to know what you're going to do about it?"
"He proposes no problem-," began Mr. Spender. Ronald cut him off.
"No problem?" he shouted. "He may be just a boy but I hear that Bill Mulder's daughter, Samantha, may have leaked him some classified information. He must be eliminated! Only you could be stupid enough to let her out in the open to expose us!"
Mr. Spender rose out of his seat and took a shot of whiskey. The mood in the room had changed from intense to intensely dramatic.
Mr. Spender smiled at Ronald. Both of them looked at each other as inferior. Past events had sparked their abhorrence of each other and their work.
"You presume to dictate duty to me?" snarled Mr. Spender. "Speaking of Bill Mulder, you and he both have one thing in common - both of you betrayed me. The both of you refused to give up one of your children to our invaders. However, you were smarter than he was. You hid your children so they could not find them, yet they found Bill Mulder's daughter just fine. You're lucky that I don't tell them where your children are."
Ronald stayed silent. His fears of his children's safety were too painful to speak of.
"Mr. Peskow's nephew can be broken," declared Mr. Spender. "... His spirit at least. If not, there are always other ways."
"How do you plan to do that?" asked Ronald.
"We must take away what he holds most valuable," he stated. "...That with which he cannot live without."