Scary ghost stories and stuff (1)

Little green men

When my brother Broden and I woke up to the first crop circle, we didn't really think much of it. I reckoned it was Jimbo Pierce having a joke, but after a few beers we were really too drunk to care. The second day it happened again and we started asking around. I called in at Ollie Roberts' place, because he knows half of New South Wales if I'm honest, but he didn't have a clue.

That night we set up on the roof with a couple of floodlights and a few tinnies, and took turns keeping watch. Broden woke me up about 2 and there was another bloody circle in the field. Broden said he hadn't seen anyone, the wheat had just fall down on its own. I told him it must have been the tinnie elves.

We bunked down again the next night, and I borrowed Peter Foster's thermocam to finally catch what was going on. 2am again and I'm watching through the cam, with Broden on the lights. There's this rising heat circle across the field, and then the wheat goes again. We hiked it down there but didn't find anyone, just some little holes in the ground.

Broden went off like a frog in a sock. He was bloody fuming. That final night he hunkered down in the field with a rifle, but I couldn't be fucked anymore and stayed in. I regret doing that. I found Broden's body the next morning, in the middle of another circle. He was stone dead, covered in tiny red marks. Docs said it was allergies, I claim bullshit. I saw Jimbo Pierce at the funeral and he made a joke about 'little green men'. After I sparked him out I got to thinking; he wasn't right, but maybe he wasn't far wrong.

We always look to the sky when we see a crop circle, but maybe that's what they want us to do. We try to see the bigger picture, but then we miss the little things. You can lurk in the gutter as long as you like if everyone else is looking at the stars, and by the time they notice what you're up to, you've already got them by the balls.