The moment her head hit the pillow, she realized it would be one of those nights. Those nights were no matter how tired she was she just couldn't fall asleep. It was normally before an important test or when there was a big project she was taking part in. She really hated insomnia. She didn't suffer from it on a regular basis, but the nights that she did, it was unbearable. Mostly because her thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. Her mind kept going over and over whatever bugged her and reminded her of whatever she was trying to forget. It always seemed to strike the nights she really needed sleep, even if that was just to get away from her problems for a while. She didn't even want to know about the great job opportunity she would have to miss because of her old, useless car. As silly as it seemed, even to her, there really was no way, other than walking, to get to Pleasantview or any place for that matter, from Strangetown.
The place was completely secluded and nothing passed by, not a bus, not a train, nothing. Only idiots like her that happened to be lost. There was no airport and even if there was Mika seriously doubted that there would be any flights, either coming in or going out. People had more sense than that. Whoever was out of Strangetown, stayed away from Strangetown and whoever was in Strangetown probably wasn't able to go anywhere else; not in the state of mind they must have been in to choose to live there. Even islands were more connected to the mainland. They had boats coming and going from them and actually had phone reception. That's right, in Strangetown cell phones were completely useless. For some reason there was no signal and things like mobiles, radios and things that function like that, didn't work. People said that it was because of the electromagnetic field in the town that was a gate to another dimension or that it was because of the aliens that were trying to invade the town and other crazy stuff like that. It wasn't called Strangetown for nothing.
True, some of the wackiest things did happen here, but the people didn't seem to be any better. Proof for that were the people Mika had met while in town. The one that was closest to normal was Charles, the receptionist. All the others had something seriously strange about them. Mayor Jackson must have been either really insane either a really bad politician to have chosen to run in the elections in this town. Jebediah was….well, there was something weird about him, not anything specific, generally he seemed weird, the way he walked, the way he talked, many things. As for Trishtan, Trishtan was just to perfect to be true! Of course he had that weird "gift", being able to tell when someone needed him. Spooky, but SO convenient! That only made him even more perfect! He was more handsome than anyone and so nice, so kind, so….It was hard to find words to describe him. On a second thought, Mika realized that the only odd thing about him was that sixth sense. Other than that he was perfectly normal. Perfectly!
After about an hour alone with her thoughts, desperately trying to fall asleep, she decided that there was no use in just lying there and waiting. It was most likely that she wouldn't get to sleep at all until 5 later hours or so, so she hopped out of bed and grabbed a long, black jacket from her suitcase, wore it over her pajamas (they looked more like clothes anyway) and decided to hit town. When she reached the door, she had already buttoned her jacket all the way to the top, so that it looked more like a long-sleeved dress. She slipped the key to the room in her pocket and walked out.
The lobby was dark and Charles was nowhere to be seen. The only light in the room was coming from a wide glass door under the stairs, exactly opposite the main entrance. She followed the reflection of the light that reached up until the door. The second she opened it, she was overwhelmed by the cool, fresh air of the night. She closed her eyes and took a moment to breathe it in, enjoying the clean air of the outdoors. It was surprisingly cold too, considering the town was located in a desert.
Once she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a small wooden building that looked like a hut and was exactly opposite of where she was standing. At the top of the door it had a big sign that had "SALOON" written on it in big, obvious letters. The door was one of those western style doors that resembled a window rather than a door. Mika got closer and could now hear the music coming from inside ever so slightly. Figures were visible from the small windows and they appeared to be dancing. They must have been having a good time in there.
"This must be the saloon Charles was talking about", she thought as she entered the building.
The music was blasting from the megaphones and the disco lights were blinding. The room was jam packed and the atmosphere stuffy from the smoke. The place was overcrowded, considering the amount of people in Strangetown. Other than a few tables and the bar, there was no other place to sit at. Mika had to squeeze through the crowd to get to an empty table in the back. She was surprised that all these people could fit in the room and even more surprised that there where so many people in an almost deserted town like this one.
After a lot of struggle and almost-being-trod-on situations she got to the table, beating a young couple who had their eyes on it. As she sat down, she saw them from the corner of her eye, glaring at her. She ignored their stares, looking away as it made her feel uncomfortable. At the bar, a guy was serving drinks to thirsty customers. He seemed to be overwhelmed by the amount of work he had to deal with, as more and more people where coming to get a drink. Mika expected the saloon to be almost empty and yet they were people everywhere. People dancing, people at the bar, people playing games on the arcade machines. There were people everywhere!
-Hey there, sweet 'art! Alone tonight?
Mika literally jumped and felt her heart miss a few beats. She quickly turned to see who had scared the living lights out of her. A tall, dark-haired man was sitting exactly next to her, his arm leaning on the arm of the sofa in a very familiar manner which she had only seen in movie theatres. There was an ever so slight hint of alcohol in the air, indicating that the man next to her was drunk. He was wearing a black knitted hat and a black coat over dark coloured clothes. Her first thought after she calmed down, was that he looked like a thug. On the other hand, one creepy, weird, drunk man wasn't enough to scare her away from her table.
-Go away! This is my table! Sit else where!
-Why? Aren't you 'njoying my combany like 'am? he said as he leaned forward, probably to kiss her, but Mika got out of the way before she found out. The man, instead of pulling back, leaned until his face met the couch. In an instant, he started snoring. Mika looked at him startled, first he had the nerve to sit next to her uninvited, throw himself onto her and then fall asleep on HER seat after a failed attempt to kiss her. All that in less than 30 seconds.
A young waitress close to the bar had witnessed the whole scene and realized that interfering was necessary.
-Giuseppi, get up! The lady was here before you, now go sit somewhere else!
Mika looked at the girl standing next to her who had come to fix the situation. She was dressed casually, holding a tray in her left hand which meant she was probably a waitress and had her caramel-coloured hair in a low ponytail. Her skin was pale which made her brown eyes look darker than they were. She was just a bit shorter than Mika and appeared to be about 16 to 17 years old. Once she had finished scowling the unconscious Giuseppi, she turned to Mika, her face brightened up as she smiled.
-I'm really sorry if he bothered you. He does that when he gets drunk. We've had to kick him out three times until now for causing trouble.
-It's ok. I just wasn't expecting that.
-I know. Every night after the seventh or eighth beer he starts hitting on me. And every female he can find in this room. I'm used to it now, but I guess that's what you can expect when you work in a saloon.
The girl seemed sweet and very talkative. She couldn't help herself but wonder what was someone like her doing in a bar like this.
-So, how come you work here?
-Oh long story! said the girl while walking towards the bar, Mika following.
-You see, my dream is to go to college, but I don't have enough money and I work here so I can make enough to be able to go. I want to be a quantum mechanic!
Mika was taken by surprise at the girl's ambition to study probably the single most difficult branch of physics.
-Wow, that is a fascinating choice! I'm sure you'll make it. Also, I wanted to ask you, what's your name?
The waitress had just put her tray down and was now taking bottles of vodka out of a cabinet under the bar to make a cocktail.
-My name's Kaylen, Kaylen Swift. What's yours?
-Mika, Mika Ishida.
Kaylen was now pouring the drinks into a tall glass.
-I meant to ask you before, are you new in town? I haven't seen you around before.
-Yeah, I guess you could say that.
Kaylen looked up.
-Which one?
Mika wasn't sure she had heard the question right.
-Which what?
-Which house did you buy, of course.
-Oh no, I didn't buy a house! I'm here temporarily. You see, my car broke down in the desert, almost killing me, and I made a stop here, until it is fixed.
Kaylen smiled and nodded her head.
-I see. Here because of a broken vehicle. Yeah, most people in here right now are here because of that too. I guess if it weren't for them, we'd be out of business.
If most people in the room had a car that broke down in the desert or anywhere near Strangetown, they were too many of them for it to be just a coincidence. It was as if something was making them break down. Could the tales about electromagnetic fields be true? No, no way! Only a few hours in Strangetown and she was already going crazy.
-How come so many people break down in Strangetown?
Kaylen had now finished mixing the drink and gave it to one of the customers at the bar.
-We don't know. Probably there's some kind of field over the area that makes electric and mechanical stuff stop working. That's why cell phones don't work here. We think it's the aliens…
Mika's eyes widened in surprise.
-What? Aliens? That's ridiculous! There's no such thing as al…..
-And yet there is. Many people around here have seen them and if you haven't noticed, there's a UFO crashed outside in the desert near the town. Want a drink?
That was the most unbelievable thing she had ever heard and it was coming from a seemingly sane and reasonable person. There's no way life in outer space existed and yet remained unknown to humans.
-Um, no thanks. So you mean I crashed because of aliens?
The waitress had just taken another order and was now making another drink.
-That's one possibility. The other one is that there is some kind of electromagnetic field covering the whole area. Of course, that explanation is unlikely, since scientifically there is no reason for a field like that to exist. It could be justified saying that there is a gate to a parallel universe somewhere here, but if there was such a thing, we would have definitely found it already. Not once has a person gone missing from here, not without finding their body a few days later. People that have gone missing from other places have appeared here, but never the other way round. Then you'd tell me "what if this is an exit from another universe". First of all, we are talking about people from other cities and second, if this was a time-wormhole, there would be such fields in other places and nothing like that has ever been reported. It's only here. So that only leaves the alien explanation.
She felt as if her head was going to explode from all the information. Despite the fact she didn't understand most of it. Kaylen had served the drink she was mixing plus another two. Mika figured that she must have been working there for a long time to be that fast. She was interrupted from her thoughts for the millionth time that day when Kaylen spoke again.
-I'm getting off in about….oh I'm already off! she said looking at her watch. How about I show you around the town?
Mika nodded in agreement and got off the bar stool she had subconsciously sat on. The other girl took her apron off and threw it on a nearby chair. The garment landed on the still unconscious Giuseppi. Both girls laughed.
-He's going to have a really bad hangover tomorrow! said Mika once they calmed down.
Squeezing through the crowd they managed to get to the exit intact, or at least, almost intact. The door was opened and they stepped out. The door was basically two pieces of wood so the cold air could be felt from the inside, so Mika didn't expect to feel the contrast. She got goose bumps all over her body the minute her foot touched the ground outside and felt very cold. She pulled the jacket tighter around her. It must have been really stuffy in there to feel this cold right now, colder that the first time she had stepped outside. The chilly weather didn't seem to affect Kaylen who wasn't wearing any jacket or coat and her clothes didn't look particularly thick. She was casually strolling towards the town square. Mika ran to catch up to her.
-Aren't you cold?
-No, I like the cool weather. It's the heat I can't stand. One of the reasons I want to leave Strangetown.
Kaylen's voice saddened towards the end of her sentence, losing its usual cheerfulness. The till-now-failed architect looked at her with concern.
-Then why don't you leave if you want to?
-I can't. My whole family is here. I once tried to convince them to leave when I was younger, but they would have none of it. For some reason they insist on staying here. I don't get it! It's not like there's anything holding them here, they just say they want to stay. Why? Why would they want to stay, why would anyone want to stay!
At the end of her rant, the young girl looked as if she was about to cry, struggling to hold her tears back. Now she really was upset.
-I'm sorry about that.
-Don't apologize. You're obviously holding too many things inside you. I don't understand however, what has your family got to do with this? Why you don't leave without them?
The teen lowered her head, watching her feet as she walked.
-I can't. Besides the fact they won't let me, I can't.
Kaylen took her eyes off the ground and faced Mika.
-This town has been in this state for years. It's a sinking ship. It is only a matter of time before it all crashes. Besides the weird things that happen here, there's everything else to deal with. You know, economical stuff. If things keep going as they are, that's it, we're screwed! Whoever lives here, is destroyed! We've got to leave this ship to be saved. But they don't understand. I can't leave them. They need me here.
The younger girl stopped walking, her eyes fixed on the ground.
-And you see, she said looking up to Mika again, it's not only the normal problems we've got to deal with, it's the paranormal too. That's why I want to become a quantum mechanic. To solve all those problems. Of course, if it's just the aliens, there's not much I can do. But if it's an electromagnetic field or a gate to some other place like the Bermuda Triangle, which is unlikely, I could find a way to stop it. When Bella first went missing and later appeared here, I thought she had gone through a time-wormhole, but since they hasn't been any electromagnetic activity anywhere else and especially not where she went missing from I figured that since aliens do hover around our area, they must have abducted her and dropped her off here.
Mika looked at the girl in front of her questionably. Despite the fact she didn't understand half the words she had used, this was too far-gone even for Strangetown.
-Who's Bella? was the only thing she could think of saying without sounding stupid.
Kaylen looked at Mika wide-eyed, almost shocked as if she had asked the most ridiculous question ever.
-You haven't heard about the Goths?
-I have.. A few things here and there. I never understood all that fuss. What happened that was so serious?
The girl pulled Mika by the hand, dragging her to a nearby bench.
-You've never heard about Bella Goth?
-Wasn't she kidnapped or something?
Kaylen sat on the wooden bench, indicating for Mika to do so too.
-Well, here's what happened. Years ago, the Goths, founders of Pleasantview, lived happily all together. Bella, her husband Mortimer and their children Cassandra and Alexander. One day, Bella disappeared. Just like that! No trace, no anything. As if she just vanished! Which is in fact what she did. A few months later, she appeared in Strangetown. She had no memory whatsoever of what happened. When asked, she said that her name was Isabella Bachelor. Mortimer searched all over Pleasantview for her, but to no avail. No one in Strangetown reported her appearance, most likely because she didn't remember anything and wouldn't go back home. A lot of people believe that she isn't the real Bella, just a carbon copy or some robot that the aliens left. Everyone is still searching and speculating. No one is sure. I am not sure. From all the mysteries that have taken place here, this one is by far the greatest.
The story was indeed fascinating, a modern-time legend, a child's fairytale, but by no means an actual event. Yes Bella had gone missing, yes she had appeared in Strangetown but there was surely a logical explanation for all that. Mika could hardly even bring to her mind the time when everyone was obsessed with the Goths, going on and on about Bella being kidnapped, who could have taken her and why. Of course there were many scenarios about how she could have just simply vanished, taking into account the lack of evidence after her disappearance. There were a few rumors about her having been seen in Strangetown, but then again, they were only rumors. Kaylen's story confirmed the rumors, especially since she resided there so she would know better. However, there were still a few things that made the story hard to believe. When all this happened Mika was about six, if not five. Kaylen, who was many years younger than Mika, told the story as if she had witnessed it. Of course that could be because her parents or someone older had told her and since they lived in Strangetown they would know.
-How do you know? How do you know that it's true, are you sure?
-Of course! I'd recognize Bella anywhere! My dad once showed me a picture of her in an old newspaper that came out at the time of the incident and she is exactly the same as the Bella that lives around here.
A gasp of shock escaped Mika. She couldn't help but shiver a bit as she felt slightly frightened. If Kaylen's story was true, that would mean yes, aliens did exist.
-Oh, I almost forgot, continued Kaylen, did you know that Bella Goth's maiden name was Bachelor?
She immediately felt chills running up her spine and shuddered. So it was true! She really had been abducted! Although people would now just assume that Bella had been kidnapped, instead of speculating like they did in the beginning, it wasn't positive, considering there were no requests for ransom. Her disappearance was still a mystery. No one was exactly sure about what had happened and even Bella herself couldn't tell. The question now was who had brought her to Strangetown and erased her memory. The only ones that could have done that were the aliens, if they really did exist. Kaylen's firm belief in them didn't convince Mika at all. So what if a bunch of people had seen them? Strangetown was full of crazy people. So what if there was a crashed UFO outside the town? Probably some prank. However, most people seem to believe that life in outer space was true. No one was as arrogant as to think that they were the only form of life in the whole universe. Of course Mika didn't believe that, but she surely did not believe in green or grey creatures with a big head and weird faces. When talking about life in outer space, her mind went to worms. If they were any worms living out there, indeed, aliens were 100% real. Anything more evolved than that was impossible, at least in Mika's opinion. It was probably one in a billion chances that circumstances as perfect for living as Earth's could be created allowing some form of life to evolve. It was a miracle that all that had occurred once, never mind happening again. It may have done in a far away galaxy, but nowhere near this one. Besides the fact unknown spaceships and flying discs would have been spotted hovering around space, none of the planets in the solar system were fit for living on. Also, for aliens like those in people's imagination to exist, that would mean that circumstances good enough for life should have occurred a very long time before the human race appeared. That was the only way to explain the technological advantage they were said to have over humans.
Even if it was the so-called aliens that had abducted Bella, so what? Why did it matter? It didn't change anything at all. Bella was safe and sound now. It didn't make a blind bit of difference if it had been the aliens, thugs or a bunch of dangerous flesh-eating monsters. For some reason however, the mention of aliens sent chills down her spine, weird considering she wasn't afraid. At least she wasn't until then.
-Hey, you still there? shouted Kaylen while waving her hand in front of her face.
-Yah, I'm just a little dizzy… Probably that drink I had before…
-You didn't have one, said Kaylen a bit concerned.
-Right, I need to go get one… Uh, see you around!
And with that she was gone, leaving a startled and slightly concerned Kaylen behind her.
Meanwhile, Mika was already at the doorstep of the hotel.