Right Before Dawn

Growing up there was one rule never go out between 3 am and 6 am. Nothing ever happened before 8 am... EVER! All homes had solid shutters and most people had timed locks on their doors and windows that would not even disengage till 6:01 am. No one knew why but it started one day when over 100 homeless people were found in Time Square frozen in horror with a tablet that read "Keep in between 3 am and 6 am or more people will perish." This happened again the next night when 125 bodies were found underneath the Eiffel Tower frozen. The night after that 150 bodies were frozen in the same fear in Buckingham Palace. Then on day four, the worst happens every seat in the Football Stadium in Dallas full of people all frozen in fear. The worst thing was these people were not dead, they all had heartbeats and were all alive just frozen solid in fear.

The governments moved fast to set up windowless tailors in case people were stuck out late and set up video cameras trying to figure out what was happening. The bodies were moved to government facilities and then a child who had been frozen awoke. She had to have been eight years old and she told the tale.

She said her mom locked her in the backyard of her home because she was having a friend over. She had given her a blanket and pillow and told her to go to sleep in her playhouse.  So she went into her play house and she said her watch dinged her warning alarm. She ran up to the door and started pounding and no one answered the door. She then started to hear a sound in the yard. She hid behind the garbage can and saw a humanoid creature looking in the playhouse she was in a few min earlier. After a moment she decided to run to the front of the house and when she got to the front yard there were people running away from the humanoid creatures.  She started to look around for a place to hide when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Thats when everything went black. When she woke up she was in the government center.

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The child was understandably scared and she didn't want to be touched. They had me come in to speak with her as I was not only a para specialist but was a mother myself. The day I met her she looked at me and said, "I don't care if you believe me as long as I never have to see my mom ever again."

I sat down at the table across from her and said, "I need you to tell me what happened. But before you do that whats your name?"

"My mom didn't tell you?" She asked.

"Sweetie you were found on the sidewalk in a neighbrhood," I said. "My name is Callie whats your name?"

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, "I can't believe it she really did stick me out there on purpose. My name is Maggie Kalahan and that sidewalk you found me on was right in front of my house."

"Maggie, Listen to me I understand your scared but could you tell me what you saw?" I asked, "We want to protect others."

Maggie looked at me and she had a internal struggle, "How many people did you find on my road?"

I looked at the file and said, "Maggie sweetie you were the only person who was found in the whole area. At 6am the police were looking for people who might have gotten stuck out and you were the only person who was found."

Looking at me she said, "I think we have a big problem."

"Why Maggie," I said, "Why is there a problem?"

"Because the night I was locked outside I ran to the front of the house and tried to get in through the front of the house. I was not alone there were at least 20 people running away from there tall creatures. I saw one come out of the house across the street from my house," Maggie said. "If I was the only person who was found where did all those people go?"

The door opened and the head of the Para department walked in with a bag of Mcdonalds and a drink, "Maggie you must be starving I got you a mixture of what I get my son. So there are chicken nuggets, fries, a big mac, 2 cheeseburgers and a apple pie. Im sorry its not something home cooked and believe me I am going to have a chat with your mother and she is in huge trouble. Callie and I appreciate you talking to us and we will help you in any way we can. We have a place you can go once the military people say you can leave."

"Maggie he might talk alot, but Billy here is a good guy he is going to make sure you don't have to go anywhere you don't want to."

"Callie why did my mom do that to me? All those people disappeared from my road. I didn't think whatever they were could come inside the house," She said. She sighed and looked at Billy, "Thank you Billy I am super hungry and I love BigMacs."

Billy put her hand on her shoulder and asked, "Do you want me to say anything to your mom?"

Maggie thought about it and said, "Yeah tell her I hope she is alone forever."

Callie looked at this child and thought that she was a lot more put together than most adults would be. Then she said, "Maggie you said you saw the creatures but things didn't go black until you were touched?"

Maggie looked at her and said, "Yeah people were running from these things out of their homes and i saw the one in the backyard before I ran out front and was touched. My mom always used to tell me that if I saw them I would turn to stone. But I saw them and I was able to run so why didn't I turn to stone?"

Callie battled with herself to decide if she should tell Maggie what she was thinking. She knew she might catch hell for it later but decided to tell Maggie what she thought. "Maggie you gave us a great piece of insight about these creatures. I promise you we will figure this out. I am going to suggest that a national alert go out to have people secure their doors to keep the creatures out."

"Callie," Maggie said quietly. "I want to know where my neighbors disappeared to. People don't just disappear the way they did."

"Maggie," Callie said, "We are going to do everything we can to stop this. So why don't I get some answers for where we are going to take you to be safe and sound once Billy is here with your stuff."

Callie watched Maggie as she continued to eat as they waited for Billy to come back. While they were waiting for Billy I got a text message from him saying, 'Keep Maggie close all hells is going to break lose'.

I lifted my sidearm clip and released it. Bending down I made sure Maggie had shoes on. Looking up I turned away from the camera and said, "Maggie I need you to listen to me, I just got a message from Billy and he said to keep you close as something is going to happen. Do you know where we are?"

Maggie realized I was trying to do this in secret, "No I do not."

Smiling I said, "What if I told you Aliens are real but the ones we know do not know what is causing people to freeze? Have you ever heard of Area 51."

Maggies mouth hung open as she threw her food into the bag and she said, "I knew it. So what are we going to do?"

Looking at her I said, "We are going for a walk. I told Billy where to find us."

I took her hand and opened the door. When I felt the coast was clear we headed down the hallway towards the exit doot. When we got outside I saw Billy pull up and we jumped in the back seat. Looking at us Billy said, "We need to hide Maggie. When I got to her house to speak to her mom her mom acted as if her daughter died. Maggie on the floor in the back seat is some things I thought you would want. I also grabbed what clothes I thought would fit you still."

"Callie how long was I frozen?" She asked.

Looking at her I said, "Sweetie you have been frozen for almost a year and a half."

"Whats today's date," SHe asked.

"August 13th why?" I said.

"Todays my birthday I am 13 years old today." She said. "Happy Birthday to me."

Billy and I looked at each other, "Maggie we will figure everything out."

We drove away and as we went through the gate to the restricted section alarms started to blare. I looked at Billy and said, "We need to get to no mans land fast and get Callie to the meeting hall."

Billy drove into no mans land and I turned and saw a lot of jeeps right behind us. As soon as we passed into no mans land the jeeps stopped following us. Turning around I said to Billy, "I am afraid of what they would do to her if we stayed."

As we drove we came up to a small mountain and Maggie looked at me and said, "Where are all the buildings?"

I smiled and said, "Just wait you will love it."

When we approached the small mountain a door opened on the side of the mountain. Looking into the mirror I saw Maggie's face light up. As we drove in side she looked around and said, "Wow."

When we parked one of the residents came up to us and said, "Welcome Billy. We were just informed by a contact on base they are looking for you as you took a child from base?"

Billy looked up and said, "Hello Maseria. Yes this young one is named Maggie and she woke up after being frozen."

Maseria turned to Maggie and said, "Hello Maggie and welcome. I am happy that you woke up and we will be glad to help you hide. If you will follow me Fredia would like to see you."

Maseria guided us to the council chamber and when we walked in Fredia looked up from her desk. She stood up and walked over to Maggie and said, "Welcome child. You do not have to fear me I want to help you."

Maggie looked up and said, "I am not afraid. Honestly I am mad because a year and a half I slept and I woke up on my birthday finding out my mother is denying my existance even though my belongings are in the house and she purposely tried to get rid of me."

"Well Maggie," She said. "Lets see if I can help you a bit then alright? Would you mind if I read your memories?"

"Will it hurt?" She asked.

"Not at all," She said. "What I need you to do is sit and close your eyes."

Maggie sat on a chair and Fredia sat behind her on a stool. She placed her hand lightly on the side of each of Maggies head and closed her eyes. Maggie closed her eyes and a few minutes later she opened them as Fredia said, "Done."

Maggie looked up at her and asked, "Thats its?"

She booped Maggies nose and said, "That's it. But I do need to ask Maggie do you know your father?"

Maggie was quiet and said, "No Maam my mother said she met him at a bar and when she woke in a hotel room the next morning he was gone. My mom was living with my grandparents and told her they would take care of me if my mother kept me. My Grandparents died the week before I was frozen."

Callie- Parainvestigator

Maggie Kalahan- CHild who woke up

Billy- Head of Parainvestigations

Maseria- Liason for aliens

Fredia- head of the alien conclave