*** December 2004 ***

 

The Alamo Diner was the only place in town where I could get something that didn’t come out of a deep fryer. Alamo, Nevada had been my home ever since my wife passed away seven years ago. I had not regretted getting out of Vegas one bit. There was no way I could see the stars in Vegas with all those lights but that wasn’t a problem one hundred miles north.

Pulling my ’72 Chevy pickup in front of the restaurant, it amazed me I never got a ticket for creating a visual migraine for passersby. Even my eyes squinted at the clash of the red and peach-colored Alamo Diner behind my faded white-roofed, green seafoam truck.

Marge, who owned the diner, greeted me. “You’re a little later than usual, Tom. How are you feeling?”

“Like I need a do-over on my life. Too much alcohol, too much exposure to the sun, and too much fried food. My body tells me I spent too many years riding and crashing motorcycles, and my brain is addled by chemicals in Lucky Charms. I’m surprised you’re not visiting family.”

“My daughter and her husband are visiting specialists. I also have the diner to run.”

I was a regular. Marge knew my situation well enough.

“Didn’t you go to the doctor in Vegas yesterday, Tom?”

“Doctors don’t know diddly these days. They’re all too specialized and I swear they’re part of a medical mafia syndicate passing people back and forth amongst themselves to earn extra money.”

Marge quickly shifted topics. There was only so much of me she could take. “It’s New Year’s Eve. Are you making any resolutions?”

Her question was sobering. “Why bother? The doctors say I won’t make it past March.”

She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m sorry to hear that, Tom. Do me a favor? Give yourself a goal.”

I stared at her a few moments before letting my callous heart soften a little. “I haven’t led a good life, Marge. I think the world would be better without me. I have no family. I leave no legacy behind. So, I will make this resolution. Before I’m gone, I will make sure my life accounts for something good.”

Marge wiped the moisture from her eyes. She was in her mid-forties but still beautiful and the best person I had ever met. “I’ll bring you your usual. You’re not heading out towards Badger Mountain this late in the day, are you?”

“One of these days I’ll find a diamond the size of my fist and watch the women flock to me again like they did in the old days.”

Marge laughed. “Just be safe. It’s not good to be out there after dark.”

My excursions were nothing more than an excuse to get a little exercise, look for fossils, and sometimes stare at the stars. Geology and astronomy always held a fascination for me, and they were inexpensive hobbies. Rocks and stars were free and plentiful, especially in Alamo.

Marge came back a few minutes later with a plate of smothered green chili burrito. I could never eat the whole thing. Just as my fork came to my lips, two young men came into the diner.

“Woohoo! We’re almost there! Can we get two beers and a couple of UFO burgers? Anyone in here seen any strange sights?”

Area 51 was a ridge past Badger Mountain and these yahoos kept coming up from Vegas to sneak a peek at the facility. “Just morons looking for aliens.”

Marge came out with some beer for the two young men. “Ignore him, gentlemen. We’ve seen plenty around here. Strange lights, weird sounds…”

I couldn’t let it go. “Are you sure those strange sounds and lights weren’t your husband’s expulsion of methane gasses from eating too many beans?”

The conversation fizzled after that. Marge gave me an exasperated look, which I rightly deserved. I left her a healthy tip as my apology, got into my truck, and headed towards Badger Mountain.

My drive took less than an hour on smaller and smaller dirt roads until I came to Fox Tail Spring. Getting out of the truck, I stretched. My back was aching and sore. At seventy-nine years of age, I reminded myself that it wasn’t so much the years but the miles. I refused to submit to the fact the cancer was taking a rapid toll on me.

I puttered looking for fossils for a while, but time passed quickly, and the sun was setting. By the time I got back to the truck it was already dark.

I drove cautiously back to the main dirt road. Cactus loomed above the sage at the edge of my headlights looking like ghostly humanoid apparitions. Suddenly the engine cut out and the headlights blinked off. I skidded to a stop and tried several times to restart the engine. Nothing.

I opened the door and stepped outside to check the engine but paused in awestruck wonder to look up into the vastness of the Milky Way. I couldn’t ever recall seeing so many stars but as I looked at them a circular-shaped darkness began hiding them. Perhaps it was the cancer or that my body just decided it was my time to go, but pain flared in my chest, and I fell back onto the dirt in excruciating pain. I laid there gasping for breath when suddenly a beam of light erupted from the sky. I tried to get up but could only manage lifting my head enough to see tall thin humanlike shapes. These weren’t cacti either.

 

***

 

Beep… beep… beep…

What a strange dream…

Beep… beep… beep…

Where am I? I was… Fox Tail Spring…

Beep… beep… beep…

Night… truck stalled… pain… light!

My eyes shot open.

Beep… beep… beep…

Fluorescent lights dangled from the gray cement ceiling above me. I tried turning my head, but it must have been strapped down. I could see a heartrate monitor off to the left.

I’m in some kind of hospital…

Something was obstructing my throat.

Beep… beep… beep… beep…

The heartrate increased in speed. I tried to calm myself until a face looked down on me; a face wearing a biocontainment suit.

“Calm down. Relax. You’re all right. I’m going to remove the tube in your throat.”

I could feel the tube sliding up my throat and it caused me to gag and choke.

“Relax. Just a little more…”

The tube came out and it was such a relief. “What…?”

“Slowly. Don’t try to rush speaking.”

“What? How…?” My voice sounded distinctly feminine.

“It may be hard to speak for a bit, Ava. Take your time.”

“Who is… Ava?”

“You’re Ava. Ava Moore. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Truck… Nevada.”

“Nevada? You went missing near Seattle.”

“My voice… What’s wrong with… me?”

“You’re perfectly healthy, Ava. Better than ever.”

“Up… Let me up…”

“I can release your head strap, but for your own safety and ours, the arm and leg constraints must remain in place.” He removed the head strap and hit a button to raise the back of the bed.

With my head free and the bed lifted, I looked down upon myself. The sheet and whatever they had me wearing was covering up my body; a body that was unmistakably female.

“What… did you do… to me?”

“You were found in the desert, and we brought you here for observations.”

“But I’m… a woman?”

The man looked confused. “Of course, you are.”

“My name… is Tom Anderson… from Alamo, Nevada.”

A voice came over a speaker in the room. “I’m coming in there, Roy.”

Roy looked down at me. “The director is coming in.”

“Director? Isn’t this… a hospital?”

“This is a military base, Ava.”

Another man in a biocontainment suit entered through an airlock. He carried a fancy computer tablet he handed to Roy.

“How are you doing, Ava? I’m Brad Singleton, director of this facility.”

My voice was getting smoother with each sentence. “I’m not, Ava… I’m Tom Anderson. Why am I here? What happened… to me?”

“You’ve had an alien extraterrestrial experience.”

“Sir, there is a report of a Tom Anderson going missing near Alamo, Nevada back in 2004.”

I was even more confused. “Why did you say back in 2004?”

Roy looked at the director and kept silent.

“Miss Moore, or Tom, the year is now 2025. This body belongs to Ava Moore. DNA, fingerprints, and photos confirm your identity. Ava vanished in 2023, nearly two years ago.”

“That can’t be. How… how can I be Ava?”

“Aliens have been taking people from earth for at least a hundred years. Most come back. It’s my theory, providing evidence proves you are indeed Tom Anderson, that you were taken by aliens, and somehow placed into Ava Moore’s body before your return.”

“I must be dreaming! Let me out of here!”

Brad nodded to Roy who turned the dial on an I.V. drip. Within seconds I drifted off to sleep.

 

***

 

I woke up suddenly. I had such strange dreams. I recalled flashes of light, strange tall beings hovering over me, and a military facility where I woke up as a young woman.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a cement room. I was lying on a bed with a thin mattress. There was a toilet and a sink off to the side. I sat up quickly and felt the weight on my chest shift. Long brunette hair drifted in front of my eyes. It wasn’t a dream? I’m a woman? I’m wearing a dress?

Standing, I moved to the sink and looked at myself in a mirror. The sight of my own reflection left me shocked and bewildered. My hands, once gnarled and worn, were now slender and graceful as I touched the mirror.

Confirming it was indeed my reflection, I gazed upon the beautiful face of a young woman with bright blue eyes that sparkled with a vitality I had long since forgotten. My hands moved to my face, touching the sensitive, smooth skin that was unblemished by the passage of time.

I took a few steps back. Steps that had once been painful and burdened by excess weight and arthritis, now graceful and light. The woman in the mirror was extraordinarily pretty, exuding a depth of innocence and purity that shattered my heart. This was the body of a person that loved life, was cherished deeply by others, and most likely greatly missed.

I grappled with the dichotomy of being an old man in this young woman’s body. I began weeping for this lost person, hoping beyond hope that they were not swapped into my wretched body.

“Miss Moore. I’m glad you’re finally awake.”

I sniffed and hastily wiped the tears from my eyes. I hadn’t noticed the plexiglass wall that sealed me in the room. Brad, the director, was standing outside in military fatigues.

“What’s going on? What happened to me? Who was this person I now inhabit? Why am I locked in a room?”

He ignored most of my questions. “We don’t know the extent of your contamination yet. Please be patient as we must make sure you are not a threat to yourself or others.”

“Me? A threat? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a young woman, a girl even. I was a cancer-riddled, ornery, seventy-nine-year-old man. I know nothing about being a girl. I’m not a threat to anyone.”

“You can still expose others to biological contamination. You said you had cancer?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting… Ava Moore had cancer and yet you are cancer free. Your DNA has been scrubbed of all disease and faults.”

“What happened to my house? My truck? My bank accounts?”

“Ava didn’t really have anything like that.”

I almost growled at the man. “Tom Anderson’s.”

“I suspect that all went to the government. It usually does when taxes don’t get paid and a person that was declared missing is presumed dead.” Brad turned to leave.

“Wait! What about me? What are you going to do about this situation I’m in?”

“What about you, Ava? What would you have us do?”

“I can’t live like this! How do we give Ava her body back?”

“All I can say is that so far, the aliens have appeared benevolent. We have seen crazy things, and this is among the top of that list. However, we don’t have a green phone we can pick up and talk to them. What’s done is done. You said you were seventy-nine years old and dying of cancer. Try to look on the bright side. You have a new lease on life.”

I glared at him. “What am I going to do? I have no home, no money, no job, no family. According to you, over twenty years have passed.”

“If you’re deemed to not be a threat, then you can figure that out when the time comes. Good day, Ava.”

“Can you at least give me something to read?”

“I’ll send Roy over with something. He’s rather… infatuated with you.”

I moved back to the mirror to stare at myself. I felt amazing. I had no pain. I wasn’t tired. I was smaller and lighter than I had been. I sat down on the bed and ran my fingers along the hem of my dress. I felt sad for the real Ava. I wished I could understand what had happened and why.

Roy appeared on the other side of the plexiglass wall. Outside of his biocontainment suit, he was a wiry, nerdy-looking fellow.

“Miss Moore?”

“Do you really need to call me Miss Moore?”

“It’s your name, sort of. What would you prefer I call you?”

“Tom.”

Roy scrunched up his nose. “That’s just wrong.”

“Fine. Call me Ava, but not Miss Moore.”

Roy smiled. “I’m Roy, by the way. I brought you some approved reading material. I have book one of Nancy Drew, or Dark Encounter, a Harlequin romance. I thought both might appeal to you.”

“Do I look like a teenage girl to you, Roy?”

“Well… yes. You do.”

“How about something modern or some recent news.”

“Anything you read must be from before you, Tom-Ava, vanished in 2004. It’s necessary so we can correlate timelines and validate who you are. So, what will it be? Nancy Drew or Dark Encounter? I’m personally fond of the latter. I mean, uhm, not that I read it or anything.”

“I’ll take the Nancy Drew book.”

Roy looked disappointed. “I’ll give them both to you, just in case.” He slid the books into a plexiglass box. I heard a whoosh of air before it opened on my side.

“What is today’s date, Roy?”

“September 7, 2025.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“We have almost completed analyzing your bloodwork and scans and are awaiting results to determine if you are alien, been corrupted by alien DNA, or have any other contagion. Once we complete that, we can move you to better sleeping arrangements and begin the interrogation process. That’s followed by reintegration training.”

“Reintegration?”

“In your case, we can’t just drop off an eighteen-year-old girl at the nearest town with no money or identification. We also need to know you won’t go to the media. We’ve kept the existence of aliens a secret for nearly a century. The average person can’t handle that sort of information.”

“Where am I?”

“You are in an airtight biocontainment holding cell. I thought that would be obvious.”

“I didn’t think it was possible for humanity to decline so rapidly. In twenty years, people have become idiots. I will ask again as clearly as possible. This cell I am in is inside a building. Where is this building located?”

“In the desert. It’s top secret. I can’t tell you where we are.”

“How many abductees do you have here?”

“Thirteen, but none are as beautiful as you.”

“Thirteen?  How many were swapped like I was?”

“You’re the first, but we have yet to determine you were swapped. That would require some serious technology to do that. I should go. I’m not supposed to flirt with the abductees.”

“You were flirting?”

Roy blushed. “Pretty good, huh? See you soon, Ava.”

I grabbed the books and sat down on the bed. I caught my reflection in the plexiglass wall. I was sitting with my legs crossed just like any other woman I had seen. I leaned back against the cool cement wall and pondered my fate.

 

***

 

I was being wheeled up to a blue and white Craftsman house. I tried to reach for my mom’s hand as I passed her but was too weak. Mom held back, straightened her dress, and wiped the tears from her face as she thanked the men that had brought me home.

The scene shimmered and shifted. I was now lying in a bed, struggling to breathe. Mom was sleeping in a chair next to me. It was New Year’s Eve, 2023. I had promised Mom, I would make it to 2024, but I knew that would not happen. My voice was scratchy as I whispered. “I only wish I had more time with you all. Perhaps I will be swept into the clouds only to come back and watch after you all.”

The room lit up with light and I was pulled from my bed.

 

***

 

I was shaking when I woke and stared at my hands expecting to see them emaciated. The dreams felt so real. It was as if I had been Ava in her final days of life. I felt a loss for her family. Ava’s family never had closure. My heart ached with an increasing burden to somehow make things right. I wiped some tears from my cheek just as Roy showed up.

“Oh… You’re crying. Dark Encounter does that to me as well.”

“Tell me about Ava.”

“I’m not allowed to, but I am here to let you out. You received a clean bill of health. I have a new room set up for you.”

The door opened with a swish of air.

“Welcome to Earth, Ava. Don’t forget your books.”

I followed Roy into an elevator, up ten stories, then we walked outside. I breathed in the fresh air and put my face towards the sun. “We’re at Area 51? I recognize the building layout and the airstrip.”

“That’s supposed to be a secret, Ava.”

“I used to live twenty miles that way. I wonder if the Alamo Diner is still open. Best burritos ever.”

“Here we are. These are the main barracks. You will have a room with your own bathroom, a common area, and conference rooms for us to interview you.”

The building was heavily guarded with man traps and steel bars on the windows. It looked more like a prison.

“Roy… I want to go home.”

Roy stopped. “You seem more adjusted than others. Some were missing for over forty years and the world has changed a lot for them. We need a week at the very minimum to debrief you. You have gone through a major change. This is far better than it looks and there is a full cafeteria and room of free clothes.”

I looked east towards my old home. “A week. But not a day more.”

 

***

 

My room was comfortable with a soft bed and an actual window. Even if it had thick steel bars on the outside, at least I could see the stars at night. The bathroom gave me my first hint of desperately needed privacy.

I was not allowed to interact with other abductees until my private interviews were completed. However, I was allowed, under escort, to select my food from the cafeteria, and to go look for clothing. I managed to find a pair of jeans and a blouse that fit well.

My first interview took several hours. I explained what I remembered. No detail was too small. They would take the information I provided and compare that to my previous life as Tom. I showered before I went to bed that night and fell asleep right away.

I was walking down the stairs in a beautiful blue dress Mom had given to me. Today was my sixteenth birthday. My parents were waiting for me in the foyer.

Mom’s hands went to her face. “Oh my. You are so beautiful, Ava.”

I smiled. “You two look like you are ready to go dancing at a fancy ballroom.”

Dad grinned and snapped a picture of me. “We had to dress up to take you to that new restaurant in town to celebrate. You look stunning, Ava.”

“I’m happy having dinner at home.”

“You are so selfless. We know you would be happy even if we ate oatmeal. That makes you special and worthy of the best meal in the city. Are you ready to go, sweetheart?”

I almost collapsed when a sharp pain tore through my stomach.

“Ava!”

I woke with the sun entering through the window. My dreams had filled in many more memories of Ava’s life. At least, I assumed they were memories. My sense of loss had only grown deeper.

I got out of bed and checked myself out in the mirror. My reflection wasn’t so startling to me anymore. I concluded that there was no way back and that this was me from here on out. Little by little, my resolve and purpose became clearer. I had been given a second chance at life and I would not squander it.

I looked at the blouse and jeans but put on the old dress. The dress just felt more like me. I was curled up on the bed and reading Dark Encounter, surprised at how the novel tugged at my emotions.

Roy arrived right on schedule. “I’m here to escort you to breakfast, then to your interviews.”

 

***

 

The interviews lasted the entire day, and I was exhausted from talking. They grilled me about current events, my time with the aliens, and anything else I could remember. After that, I found a few more clothes, ate, and showered before slipping into bed. I fell asleep quickly and once again my dreams were incredibly vivid.

It was Christmas Day. I was twelve years old. I was so excited when Mom handed me a present and I tore into it to find a fossilized megalodon tooth. I hugged her tightly.

“I know you love rocks and fossils, darling.”

“This is the best!”

Dad handed me a large box that I was more careful with. When the wrapping paper was removed and I spotted a beautiful telescope, I threw my arms around Dad.

He held me close and kissed my cheek. “Merry Christmas, Ava.”

“Here’s one more from me, Starlight.”

I turned to see the silhouette of an older woman and grinned at her use of the nickname she had given me. “Thanks, Grandma!”

 

***

 

When I woke, I was more confused than ever. Most of Ava’s memories were filled in. I assumed her body came with the memories that were unfolding day by day. She had been a wonderful daughter and had such a loving family.

My heart ached so much that she was no longer living that I curled up on my bed and cried. Ava had left a larger legacy in her eighteen years than I had in seventy-nine.

I heard a knock, then Roy’s voice. “Ava? Can I come in?”

“Go away!”

“Ava, I need to take you to the director.”

I wiped my eyes and opened the door. “You sound nervous, Roy. What’s up?”

“You just need to come with me.”

I nodded and followed Roy. As we approached the director’s office, I could overhear an argument.

“How long have you known me?” It was a woman’s voice.

“Almost forty years.”

“Why didn’t you notify me immediately when Ava was found?”

“It’s complicated. I told you that on the phone.”

Roy knocked and we stepped inside. I stopped the moment I saw the woman. It was like a cosmic convergence taking place within me. I recognized the woman from both Ava’s memories and my own. To Tom, she was Marge, now aged another twenty years. To Ava, she was Grandma. The dichotomy, the line between Tom and Ava fell apart like shards of glass. Some part of me realized I had always been Ava. My bottom lip began to quiver. I ran across the room and threw myself into her arms.

“Grandma!”

She wrapped her arms around me and stroked my long hair. “I’ve missed you so much, Starlight.” Let me get a good look at you. She held me at arm’s length and stroked my cheek. “They healed you. You look wonderful.” She hugged me again before turning to Brad. “I’m taking her home.”

They argued, but there was no denying Grandma. I was still trying to figure out what had happened as we drove to Alamo. We talked a bit, but Grandma seemed to recognize I needed time to process things.

We pulled up behind the Alamo Diner and I stared in disbelief at a 1972 Chevy pickup truck parked in an old open garage. I quickly got out of the car and walked over to it. I ran my hands over the now rusty seafoam fender.

“How do you have this?”

“I need to call your parents, then we can talk.”

I followed her into her house as she made a call. On the mantle was a picture of Ava, me, on my sixteenth birthday. It was the day we never went to the restaurant because I had to go to the hospital.

“Ava’s back… I’m bringing her home… Be there in two days…” Grandma looked at me and smiled. “Not yet… She needs some time. I know you understand… Love you both.”

She hugged me again. “You probably have a thousand questions, but we need to get on the road. Your parents have lost you for two years and are anxious to see you.”

“I have so many questions.”

“I know you do. We will have lots of time to talk on the way.”

An hour later we were driving to Seattle.

“I know you’re adjusting, Ava. Reentry is disorienting. The aliens form a bond with people they abduct and tend to look out for us. I married young, and my husband and I couldn’t conceive. I was eighteen when they took my husband and me. We were returned two days later and Brad, a private at Area 51, found us. Whatever the aliens did, healed us so I could become pregnant. I have worked with Brad leading their reintegration teams for many years.

“Back in 2005, your mother and father had similar problems conceiving and they too were abducted. You were the child they could never have. As you neared your death from cancer, your mother told me how you were taken from your bed New Year’s Eve, 2023. As you can see, our family has a bit of a history with the aliens.”

“Tell me about the truck.”

“Brad told me about you claiming to be Tom Anderson.”

“I am… I’m not…”

“I can’t answer all your questions, Ava. However, now that I look back at everything, it makes sense. Tom had cancer and didn’t expect to live long. He vanished on New Year’s Eve 2004. We went out to Badger Mountain to look for you. We found your truck and no signs of anything else. The timing… You vanished, my daughter and her husband were abducted, they came back with her being pregnant.

“I just feel in my heart that they used you to give life to Ava. Ava loves the stars and rocks and fossils, just like Tom did. Her favorite meal is my smothered green chili burritos. I see Tom in you. In Ava.”

I looked out the window. “I know I’m Ava. I have all of her, but now I also have my old memories. I remember my resolution I told you. Before I’m gone, I will make sure my life accounts for something good. Maybe the aliens heard my wish and helped me live a life worth living. It’s just confusing.”

“About the truck, it was being sent for recycling, but I saved it. Not sure why I did, until now. We’ll get it cleaned up for you and when you get your driver’s license, I’ll give it to you.”

“How are Mom and Dad?”

“They put a light in your bedroom window. It has been left on for almost two years waiting for you to return. They have been hopeful for your safe return and devastated at your loss.”

 

***

 

We parked in front of a blue and white Craftsman house. I’m not sure I would ever know what really happened, but I had a chance to live with those I loved.

I stepped up to the front door. My heart pounded like a captive bird desperate for freedom. The familiar scent of home wrapped around me like a warm blanket even if it felt like a dream. My hand trembled as I went to touch the doorknob. My parents last saw me on my deathbed and now I was about to meet them after two long years. I couldn’t imagine the pain and loss they had suffered.

The door opened just as I reached for it. My parents stood silent for a second. Their hands reached for me, shaking as badly as I was, touching my face to confirm I was real. Their expressions crumbled like a waterfall. Their voices cracking with unfathomably strong emotions. Tears fell.

I was pulled into a fierce embrace. An embrace that washed away all worry and doubt. An embrace that surged upon me with a tidal wave of emotions. I belonged. I was loved. The burdens I carried were lifted away like a gentle breeze.

I was home.

 

*** End ***

 

I decided I needed to submit another story for the New Year’s Resolution Contest since my first submission, Silencing the Storm, surpassed the upper limit word count by five thousand words and should not be a part of the contest.

This story is all about living a redeemed life. Taking advantage of the time we have to make a difference in those lives around us. Tom had a good heart, even if it was callous and hard, but at the end of his life he recognized he still wanted to leave something behind. Something good.

I hope you enjoyed this story.

Avia Conner