Yay to reviewers, Norma Jean (Omg, that is the best part other than when they run around the house, LoL. And it just says that you like to laugh! Nothing wrong with that! Haha.. Thanks for reviewing!), Arwen Evenstar Umdomiel (I'm glad you like my style of writing! And yes, I love writing Merrill and Madeline arguements, LoL. There will be more, so look for them! Thank you!), and Lone Sadie (Hi Amber! You're my little sister, LoL. And don't even! I've already told you I DON'T have heart cancer! Sheeeze! lol.. Thanks for reviewing, Munchy!)... Everybody, READ! Bwaha! LoL... Sorry, but I have a cold. And in the middle of summer, too...

x x x

Chapter Four

The announcer's comments were broken with periods of anxious silence as he reported. Multiple crop circles from all over India and surrounding countries were each being flashed on the screen briefly before moving to the next. Merrill was still standing next to me in a stupor, and I couldn't help but think that every science fiction writer who had written about aliens and other life forms on other planets were screaming 'Told you so!' together at that very moment. The little boy in front of me was watching the television with a sense of calm wonder, and the little girl, I figured, was too young to really understand what was happening. She watched regardless though.

As I stood there next to the strangers who had saved me last night (well, Graham was outside and I was stuck with the insecure lunatic brother), I felt extremely selfish. All I had been worried about when I found out we were moving was missing out on my senoir year, finally making the best choir in school, missing my friends and the days we spent together, missing my house, my room, the closeness of my relatives, and just adjusting to a new life when everything was already changing.

But aliens?

No. I never expected things to get that bad...

More and more crop circles went by ever six seconds or so. Some looked alike, some didn't. The four of us hovered motionlessly in the air as we leaned towards the TV awestruck. This had to be one of those dreams I had where everything was bad and I woke up back in my bed in my room.

If that were true, this was one long nightmare.

After an unknown ammount of time passed, Graham came back into the room without Officer Paski. He cleared his throat, and I stood up straight, taking a deep breath. I looked over at him, silently thanking him for bringing me out of my trance, but he continued looking at the others. They hadn't moved. We exchanged a look, and I was looking at the floor without a word by the time he spoke.

"Officer Paski has left," he announced as if it were very important. Still, none of them moved their eyes from the television screen. I urged him to try again with my eyes, and he nodded. "I want everybody ready to go into town in the next ten minutes," he said. "We're going to go out for a while."

Merill was now slowly leaning away from the TV as he stood up tall. The boy looked over at Graham, and the girl, Bo, stayed where she was. The way she stared at the screen sort of creeped me out. She had this eerie aura about her that sort of captivated me.

"Can we eat at the pizza parlor?" the boy asked Graham. He began to nod.

"Sure," he said. "That sounds great."

His tone sure didn't reflect the greatness of the idea. The boy ran out of the living room, and I remained quiet until Graham's eyes fell on me. I looked up, and he started talking to me now.

"Madeline, if you want, you can join us," he said. "We'll only be gone an hour or two. Or, we can drive you back up to your house on our way into town. I don't knowif you're busy or not, but it's up to you. If you wanted to get out for a while or something and relax a little..."

I pondered it for a moment. I wasn't too busy, and going to see the new town sounded all right (now that I was given the option instead of being forcefully yelled at to the point that my parents didn't want to take me). Maybe all I needed was some fresh air to calm down. I really didn't know why I wanted to go with them after last night, but it sounded better than sitting in front of the television in the new house all alone being paranoid about extraterrestrials until my family came back.

Graham was suddenly giving a stern glare over my shoulder, and I assumed it was at Merrill who was probably not happy about his brother's suggestion that I pal around with them for lunch. Now that I think about it, I wasn't dressed to go into town. As much as I didn't want to go back to my new house all alone after seeing that my neighbors had a crop circle in their backyard and watching the reports, I figured I had caused enough chaos the night before.

"Oh, I think I've been enough trouble already," I said. "I-"

"Please come with us."

I looked down, and the little girl was tugging at my nightshirt. She was looking at me with one of those faces that was hard to say no to; big beautiful eyes and an innocent face. I was having a hard time saying no now.

"Well, if you're sure you don't mind," I said, looking up at the man who had taken me in last night.

He shook his head. "It's no trouble," he assured me. "If you need to change, we can drop you off up at your house real quick before we head into town, too."

"Well, I... don't know..."

"You can sit by me in the car," Bo said, pulling at my shirt again. I mouthed wordlessly. What if Mom had called or something? Or maybe someone was coming by to fix the windows? Pump out the septic tank?

Why am I worrying about this now? I just saw reports about aliens on TV.

"Bo, she doesn't have to come if she doesn't want to," Graham told her. The little girl looked back up at me expectantly. Merrill was probably behind me about to strangle himself, but I couldn't resist telling a girl no older than my younger brother no. I am such a softy. I finally kneeled down in front of her as the boy came back into the living room pocketing a baby monitor.

"I'll go," I said to her with a smile. "You're Bo, right?"

"Yes," she said. "That's Daddy and Morgan," she told me, pointing at each of them. Graham was smiling as she explained that Morgan was her big brother, and then she turned around pointing at Merrill. "That's Uncle Merrill," she said. "He plays baseball."

Merrill's face relaxed a little as he looked down at the girl. "Not anymore, Bo," he corrected her. Then, he left the room mumbling something I couldn't understand with an angry face. I looked over at Graham.

"Bo," he said, "you need to change. You can't go running around town in your night dress. Morgan, will you help her find something to wear, please?"

"Come on, Bo," the boy said, stepping forward and taking his little sister by the hand. They turned around and left the room, and I watched them go up the staircase out in the hall. Merrill suddenly flashed by and went outside still looking disgruntled. I looked over at Graham. He sensed my discomfort.

"Just ignore him," he said. "He'll come around."

"Maybe it'd be better if I just went home," I said quietly. "I don't want to make anybody mad."

"Nobody's mad," Graham said, taking a deep breath. "It's all of this garbage on TV." He reached over and turned the television off quickly, looking uneasy. "Just a bunch of... kids who have no lives." He now started towards the front door, and I followed. I found my shoes there as promised and began pulling them on as Graham grabbed his keys.

"Thank you for talking to Offiecer Paski with us," he said out of the blue to me. I looked up."I know it probably didn't do much, but it was nice of you to help us out."

"Oh, no problem," I said, tying my second shoe. The image of the figure on the roof flashed in my mind again. And then running through the corn. The crop circles on TV.

I let out a sigh. This stuff was insane.

"Have you ever been into town yet?" Graham asked me.

"No," I said, standing up and following out of the house. "Not yet."

"You'll like it."

He walked up to a station wagon alongside the house. Merrill was already sitting in the passanger's seat looking at his lap grumpily. I was about to open the car door hesitantly when Morgan and Bo came out of the house. Morgan stayed back to lock the door while Bo came running up to me.

"Sit with me!" she said.

I laughed. "Okay."

She moved forward and opened the door, climbing in on all fours. She started putting on the seatbelt in the middle, and I slid in next to her, putting mine on. As we waited for Morgan to get there, Graham said something to Merrill I couldn't really hear. Then Morgan got into the car, put on his seatbelt, and we began to pull out.

Yes, it was awkward. I went from trespassing to passing out to looking for passing spaceships in less than twelve hours. The crop circles really did upset me. I was feeling a little sick come to think of it. But I wasn't saying anything. I was a clam right now. I felt I could trust our new neighbors enough to ride in a car with them after what they did for me last night. It was strange, just having them take me out like this, but at least I wasn't being anti-social at the moment.

Bonus points!

Within a minute, the station wagon was pulling into Thompson's Plot. Graham stopped in the middle of a grassy patch, looking back at me in the rearview mirror.

"We'll wait right here for you," Graham said.

"I'll only be two minutes," I said.

"Can I come see your room?" Bo suddenly piped from beside me.

"Bo, I don't think-"

"Can I go, too?" Morgan suddenly asked. He was already undoing his seatbelt and opening the car door before Graham could say anything though. "Okay. We'll only be two minutes. Come on, guys," he said to me and Bo. He didn't wait for us, though. He just walked up to the house and went inside.

I looked at Graham uncertainly, and he just shook his head hopelessly.

"He's been on about this plantation being haunted since he was seven," Graham said. He shot Merrill a look. Merrill looked at his lap. I sighed in amusement.

"Is Bo allowed to come?" I asked.

"Yeah, go on," he said to us in defeat."Behave yourself, Bo. That's not your house."

The little girl took my hand without a reply, and we went into my house. She looked around curiously, and I let go of her hand, looking around for the boy. I heard a creak upstairs, so I started up the staircase.

"Come on, Bo," I said. She followed.

At the top, I saw Morgan open the hallway closet and look around with interest.

"That's just a closet," I pointed out. "The light doesn't work in there either."

He paid no attention to me; he just kept looking. I went over into me and my sister's room with Bo. A breeze met us as we went in. I looked over at Hattie's window, realizing I had left it open last night. Bo ran over to Hattie's bed giggling, and she flopped onto it. I figured she would like the big pink and orange flowers on the comforter. Hattie loved bright things.I started pulling an outift out of the dresser quickly for myself.

I ran out of the room passed Morgan and the hallway closet into the bathroom to change into fresher jeans and a long-sleeved green shirt. I was done in a little over half a minute, so I grabbed a clip and started pulling half of my light brown curls up as I came out of the bathroom. Morgan was now in the closet, and a pile of clean bath towels had fallen on the floor. I sighed.

"Morgan, pick those up for me," I said, going back into my room. Bo was admiring my sister's porcelin carousel on the nightstand as it spun slowly and played a soft tune. I was picking up my purse off of my bed when my cell phone rang. I dug through it quickly and finally retrieved it, pressing the green button.

"Hello?"

"Why haven't you been answering the phone?"

It was my dad, and he didn't sound too happy with me. I walked out of the bedroom quickly and leaned over the railing of the staircase. I couldn't see Morgan in the closet anymore; even more towels were on the floor now. My eyes widened as I tried to concentrate on my angry father.

"I was outside, Dad," I lied (sort of). "I can't hear the phone from clear in the house when I'm out here."

"What are you doing outside?"

"Just looking around for a place to sit and read. I was bored."

Right. He's gonna buy that...

"Well why didn't you take the phone with you?"

The carousel music in the bedroom died down, but it started up again. Another bundle of towels flew out onto the hallway floor. I groaned, going over to start picking them up.

"What's wrong?" my dad asked before I could answer his first question.

"Nothing," I hesisated as I picked up the first armload. "I just... dropped some laundry."

"Do you know how many times we've tried to call you?" he went on as I walked into the closet. I rolled my eyes."I called the house at least twenty times, and then we started calling your cell phone because we thought you might've decided to up and run around."

"I didn't go anywhere," I half-laughed. "Where am I gonna go around here? The local Boonie General Store for chicken wire and feed?"

"I don't know; I couldn't get hold of you," he said.

"I'm sorry," I said, setting the towels on their proper shelf. I headed out of the closet to get another armful, and Bo suddenly appeared, going around me and into the closet calling for Morgan.

"Who's that?" Dad asked impatiently.

"I... met the new neighbors," I said smoothly as possible, going back into the closet. Bo was standing next to Morgan on the other side of the closet looking at something on the wall. "They have the huge plantation of corn crops behind us."

"And they're at our house?" he asked.

Oh boy... How was I gonna get out of this one?

"They were out working on their crops when their two kids came into our yard still thinking it was deserted," I tried quickly. "Then I came outside, they saw me, we exchanged hellos, and we're just playing in the yard now. It's a little boy and girl. The boy Morgan is about ten, and Bo is four."

"Do their parents know where they are?" my dad asked.

"Yeah," I said, walking out of the closet for the last time. "I think it's just their dad and his brother, though right now. I haven't seen their mom."

"What's their last name?" he asked as if he might know them.

I didn't know Graham's last name, so I went back into the closet and covered the receiver of my phone, looking to Morgan and Bo. "What's your last name?" I asked them.

"Hess," Morgan said without looking away from the wall. "Do you have a flashlight?"

"Um, yeah, second shelf right beside you," I said quickly before talking to my dad again. "Hess," I told him, putting the last of the towels back as Morgan reached for the big flashlight. I watched him and Bo now that I had nothing better to do. My dad grunted. Obviously he didn't recognize the name as he thought he might.

"Well, don't get too out of hand," he said. "I called because I wanted to remind you that the papers for the contractors when they come are on top of the fridge," he said. "They need those for insurance purposes, and without them, we can't get the house fixed."

"Okay," I said. "I doubt I'll have to worry about that, though."

"Why?" he asked, humoring me.

"Have you seen the news lately? Listened to the radio?" I asked increduously. I figured it'd be all over the world, even where I used to live.

"About the aliens?" he said boredly.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, your mother's flipping out saying we should come home, but don't worry about it. Your mom worries too much."

"You don't worry enough," I mumbled, watching Morgan take the lightswitch cover from the wall. I walked over behind them, wondering what in the world he was doing. He handed the big flashlight to Bo who held it up with some difficulty.

"It's okay, honey," my dad said. He sounded like he wanted to laugh. I didn't think it was funny. I ususally don't care about the world like my dad, but now, my mom's worry wart was catching. "We'll be home in a few days. I don't care if you do go look around during the daytime, but I better be able to get hold of you from now on on one phone or the other," he said warningly.

Morgan was twisting wires inside the wall as I half-listened.

"Okay," I said, feeling bitter about them leaving me here again. "I'm gonna go."

Suddenly, the light above us in the closet flickered on. Bo and I looked up at it in amazement while Morgan put the lightswitch cover back on. I hung up my phone as my dad said goodbye, and I looked down at him.

"You need to call an electrician," Morgan said simply.

"He's coming on Friday," I said, laughing.

A ten-year-old just fixed the closet light. Cool.

"Well, let's get back down there," I said as we left the closet. I shut the door, leading them downstairs. "I hope your dad's not mad we took more than two minutes. It was more like ten."

We went downstairs, and they went out the front door. I stayed behind and locked it before jumping over stairs to get back to the station wagon. Bo and Morgan were already buckled up in the back. Merrill looked a little less angry from the front seat, but I wasn't assuming anything. I slid into the back seat immediately shooting off apologies.

"Sorry," I said. "My dad called, and Morgan fixed the closet light-"

"I didn't see evidence of a murder, so I tried looking in the walls," Morgan told his father. Graham and I stared at him, though I think it was less of a shock to Graham. Murder?

"You looked in the walls and decided to fix their light?" Graham asked slowly.

"I couldn't see anything without it," he said before turning to me. "Can I look in your closet again sometime? The trap door must be on the other wall."

I stared at him.

"What is this about a trap door and a murder and my house being haunted?" I asked. I shook my head, but it didn't make anything more clearer. Graham started pulling out onto the road with a smile. Kids and their imaginations!

"A year after Mr. Dan Thompson built that house, him and his wife were murdered by their farmhand and thrown in the upstairs closet," Morgan said as we drove down the road. "The farmhand hid them behind a trap door so when the police came, they couldn't find the bodies. Mrs. Thompson was wearing a necklace with a silver spoon on it when she died that night. Some people say the farmhand took it, others say it's still there."

"And you want to find it?" I asked, smiling.

"Yes," Morgan answered. I looked at Graham in the review mirror. He smiled, too.

"He's been listening to you too much," he mumbled to Merrill.

Merrill, the creator of this rural legend I took it, looked back at Morgan.

"You'll find it someday," he said.

"Maybe," Morgan said whistfully, looking out the window. "It depends on what the extraterrestrials do next."