drop.avi

02

Luke was still holding the print-out of the image when the two of them hopped off the bus, ran to the front door, entered Adrian's empty house and sat down in the kitchen to discuss what they were going to do next.

Luke placed the paper in the center of the table without looking at it and turned his attention to something outside the patio doors -- two birds playing in a plastic, white birdbath while a feril cat watched them from under a nearby bush.

They sat silently for five minutes, neither one knowing what to say, an occasional nod and a sigh - but no words.

Adrian finally broke in. "So what do you think about... you know..." He gestured toward the printout with his cup of orange juice.

Luke flinched. He picked the paper up once more, reluctantly.

The kitchen was brighter than the musty light of the bus. He could see more detail now.

There was no doubt that it was a screencap of a video from the internet, but he didn't recognize the site it was playing on and all the text was in another language he couldn't read. He traced the outline of the form, it was a woman's face, but the proportions were off slightly -- only just a bit, to the point where you knew something didn't feel right, but you couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. She looked older than the two of them, but not by much. Probably in her first or second year of college.

The video framed her from the shoulders up, but you couldn't make out her surrounding environment because she was standing in total darkness. Judging by the distance and angle of view, it looked as if she was pointing the camer at herself. Her short auburn hair was blown to a frenzy by a furious wind. Some of her hair slipped around her face, which was an arm's length from the camera.

There were two oddly disturbing elements in the picture that anyone would notice almost instanty, and both sent tingly drops of acidic fear searing through Luke's core.

The first was the look on her face. Luke imagined that, had she not been staring the way she was, the girl may have been quite attractive, but it was hard to tell. Her face was completely blank, lifeless, and uncaring -- like a scary doll or manican, frozen.

This lined up with the few descriptions they'd read on message boards dedicated to the elusive drop.avi video phenomena.

falloutgirl58: Like Mona Lisa, only freaky as heck.

karangakiteman: It looks like there's nobody behind her eyes. :(

imabrony: Maybe shes blind??

If Luke believed in ghosts, this was the expression they'd wear.

"You're thinking about her face, aren't you?" Adrian leaned in. "It doesn't look real. I mean it does... but it doesn't."

"I'm wondering what she's thinking about." Luke asked, and shivered. "What's wrong with her? Something is definately wrong-"

"I don't know..." Adrian answered. "I'm actually more curious about what that is over her shoulder."

Luke's eyes drifted away from the ghostly face to something hanging 5 inches above her left shoulder. Or was it something behind her? Unlike the woman, this thing was blurry with motion, so it was difficult to tell exactly what it was. It had several tendrals or spikes or tentacles or something reaching from it's center. And the motion of it was all over, so it was difficult to tell if the thing was moving toward her or away from her. Or if she even noticed it to begin with.

karangakiteman: And that thing over her shoulder. I think it's her ghost leaving her body or something. Like she took a bunch of pills and just filmed herself die...

falloutgirl58: No way dude, it's an alien sentry! They have them watching all of us only you can't see them most the time. She just got lucky and caught it on video! The aliens send them down here and cloak them and they record everything we do.

imabrony: I think it's nice. I think it's a fairy watching over her because she is sad and maybe blind too.

falloutgirl58: Yeah, a fairy guide mother. That makes sense! :D You a trip, broney.

"Well, I'm still not sure if I believe it," Luke began, looking up at Adrian's excited face. "But it does line up with the descriptions we've read in the past."

It wasn't the full "You Were Right" that Adrian was hoping for, but it was enough for him to propose that they dig a bit deeper.

Luke nodded as he watched the stalemate continue outside. The birds were still playing. The cat was still watching.