Blacken by Alandra Rankin (i love reading books txt) 📕

“I start early tomorrow, I’m so ready to get out of that motel!” Avie uttered, relieved.

“I don’t doubt it, we should celebrate when you can. I know Gerald might keep you busy as much as possible. God, he’s such a hard ass…”

“Absolutely, I wouldn’t mind the extra hours though, it would help a lot. He couldn’t be that bad overall,” she sat down, stretching out her left leg, massaging the flesh.

Owen took notice, “I hope you won’t push it, or he won’t push you, I’ll kick his ass if he does. Is your knee still giving you trouble?”

Avie heard the worry in his voice, “It’s really not that bad, I think the weather is affecting it, if I’m honest.”

He chuckled quietly, voice hardly over a whisper despite the empty building, “Oh no, now you’re sounding like one of them.”

She snorted, imitating an older voice as she leaned forward and cupped her ear, “What’s that, dearie? You’ll have to speak up!”

“I knew it, you are older than me, after all. It was only a matter of time before the change took over.” Owen gently slammed a fist on the table in an inflated manner, smirking at his friend across the painted wood with false horror in his voice.

“Oh, as if! I’m gonna be young forever,” she broke out in giggles, enjoying the playful back and forth her and Owen often did.

Eventually, the pair made their way into the geology section, picking up where they had left off. They didn’t have much luck with the topics picked to start with. What began with magnetic fields led to research about wind and light pollution, along with starlight and the sun. The information just didn’t line up consistently or couldn’t get past speculation and theory to begin experiments on.

“I don’t know if this will be much luck either. Anything else on your list?” The woman exhaled forcefully as she leaned into a book, her nose nearly touching the fold.

He pushed away his own book, sighing in much the same way, “I did have a theory. Something darker if you’re interested,” he waggled his eyebrows, “maybe the town is on top of an ancient burial ground, its victims targeting the ancestors of those who wronged them!”

She shook her head in disbelief, “Hmm, wow, incredible. And any other theories, Einstein?”

“Just the usual things; electricity, radiation… Extraterrestrial lifeforms.”

The redhead deadpanned, “I meant things that could actually have an effect!”

“We’ve looked at a few of the other variables, I’m just throwing outside-the-box options into the mix.” Owen shrugged, light-heartedly entertaining the idea.

Avie laughed once, “Yeah. Aliens. Totally plausible. Little green men wandering around, that’s why there hasn’t been anything in the news about any sightings or—” She stopped herself mid-sentence.

It just clicked in her train of thought. Missing persons, no bodies found.

Abductions.

“Holy shit. That actually makes sense…”

“You’re messing with me, right?” The blond cocked an eyebrow, his arms crossed as he leaned back in his seat.

Avie waved him off, “No, it’s actually plausible, you said that there were missing person cases in Blacken, but never a body count to go with them. What if it really were aliens doing this?”

“Drawing people in, and then taking them away?” He was intently staring at her, enamoured with the woman running with the idea of his.

She could see her reflection in his oval glasses, expressing the same look of intrigue.

“Should we abandon this part of the project and see if we can find anything more not of this world?” Avie whispered, leaning forward across the table, meeting Owen halfway.

“I don’t think we have a choice, nothing else gave us enough evidence,” also whispering back, he was mere inches away from her face.

Perhaps they were both worried about someone overhearing them, despite the dark and empty library. Skin breaking out in goose flesh across the two of them, they conversed about the paranormal, voices never cresting over a whisper. It was a far-fetched idea, but then again, the whole town’s situation was just as such.

Excitement rose as they continued to speculate, the only thing that took a hold of them enough to connect the dots was the unbelievable. Could there really be aliens visiting Blacken? And if so, why? For what purpose?

As much as they wanted to find a scientifically plausible answer, this was more captivating, breathing new life into the Dewey Decimal team and their search for answers. It was time to switch gears from searching the abnormal into researching the supernatural.

CHAPTER 4

“You were right. Gerald is being a hard ass.”

Avie slouched on the striped couch, wine being poured into her outstretched glass as she huffed.

“Wow. Not even a week in and he’s broken you,” Owen laughed before he twisted the bottle in an elegant fashion to stop the flow of liquid.

They were celebrating Avie’s new job, finally. The blond invited her over for dinner and wine, having a night off from spending time in the library to be able to enjoy the other’s company in a more comfortable setting.

“Hardly,” she scoffed, “it’s a flower shop. I don’t understand why he needs to create so much mess and hassle.”

Owen swirled the pale drink it its glass, “But all that mess and hassle got you an apartment. You’re officially a member of Blacken, welcome to the club, Avie.”

He lifted his glass to toast, Avie meeting his glass halfway with a soft clink.

“Even more reason to celebrate, good thing we’re getting them all together in one night,” she laughed before taking a sip, pulling a face, “it’s so dry, is this what you usually drink?”

“Usually, yes,” he took another swig, “I don’t like sweet things, it makes my teeth hurt. I can get you something else?”

“Oh, no, it’s good wine! I’ll still drink it. Guess I’ve been too spoiled with the sweeter stuff.” She gulped another mouthful, smiling into the wineglass as if to prove her words.

“Aww c’mon, we’re supposed to be celebrating you! I want to make sure you’re having something you like.”

Owen set his glass down on