"My parents got divorced when I was 10 years old. Actually, they skipped the entire divorce process, because I woke up one day and my mother was gone. She left a note explaining how she couldn't stand my father's drinking anymore, and that she had left me with him because she couldn't afford to raise me on my own. I think she just didn't what to have me around anymore."

Hunter paused for dramatic affect, letting the others have sympathy towards him.

"Anyway, my dad couldn't take care of the house on his own. He was too busy working during the day and drinking in the evenings so he invited his sister, my aunt, to live with us. My dad was in his early 40s at the time and my aunt was pushing 50. They were both going through a mid life crisis.

"My dad dealt with his crisis by drinking like he always did. My aunt, on the other hand, tried all kinds of things. Painting, learning to play new instruments, taking dance classes, practicing martial arts, getting tattoos, drinking wine and watching lifetime movies, all that good stuff. But there was a hobby that took up her time more than anything else, and that was joining a ufologist club.

"Every week, my aunt would invite her little club to our house. My dad was okay with it because he always passed out from the booze, so I was practically left alone with those weirdos in our house. Man, did they say some crazy shit. They talked about abductions, interstellar travel, cross species DNA and great cosmic beings of power that would one day destroy the universe as we know it."

"The judgment day theory!" The man with the colorful shirt geeked out.

"Yeah." Hunter nodded. "My aunt became obsessed with these beings, gods if you will. She wanted to know everything that there was about them: who they were, where they were, and when would their day of destruction would come.

"She must have ended up asking the wrong people about that shit, because all of a sudden she started acting paranoid. She said someone was coming for her to take her somewhere, or kill her.

"One night, I woke up with the sound of smashing glass from the kitchen. My dad was drunk, as always, so I had to go see what it was. I went there quietly, and when I got there I saw..."

The conspiracy's theorists eyes were glued to Hunter. Even Jack, who had seemed distant through out the story, now showed interest. Hunter didn't waste another second and kept going.

"I saw a being over two meters tall standing in the kitchen. It was thin, very thin, and his skin was pale and smooth. It didn't have any hair. It had a flat face. No nose, but it had two huge eyes that looked like they were piercing right through my soul."

"What was the color of his skin?" Asked the one with the ear ring.

"Gray."

The theorists gasped in delight.

"You saw a Gray!" Exclaimed the one with the colorful shirt

"No, it couldn't have been a Gray, they're short." Protested the one with the goatee.

"Yeah, but they know how to do genetic modification."

"Yeah, but not on themselves."
"Shut up, you don't know what I know!"

"I know a lot, okay?"

"Guys." Hunter said, raising his hands. "Are you going to let me finish?"

The theorists nodded in unison, feeling embarrassed for having interrupted him.

"Whatever that thing was," Hunter continued. "It was looking straight at me. It asked if my aunt was at home. I said yes. It asked if I could take it to her. I said yes.

"I led that thing to my aunt's room. When she woke up and saw it standing there, she started screaming like I'd never seen anyone scream before. She begged the thing to leave her alone, promising she would never go after the truth again.

"The thing didn't listen. It grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her out of the room. She screamed for help and begged for it to stop, but it just kept moving. It took her to the living room, where there was a bright light, and then they were gone. I never saw my aunt again."

The theorists sat in stunned silence, taking in what they had just been told.

"So yeah." Hunter added. "I want to find out who took my aunt and why."

The theorists became so thrilled by the story that they decided to share the reasons why they wanted to learn more about the supernatural. None of them had tragic stories like Hunter did, however. They were all there just because they had nothing better to do. Jack was the only one not to speak.

"What about you, quiet kid?" Hunter asked Jack. "What's your story?"

Jack lifted his sad eyes to look at Hunter, surprised by the question. He answered in a low, almost whisper like voice.

"I just think this is all really interesting."

Hunter was surprised by Jack's answer. He could have sworn that he had told the truth about his missing girlfriend to those guys, but from the looks of it, he had kept quiet about it.

"Jack's here because he wants to know more about alien influence on human history." The guy with the ear ring said. "He's just a bit shy about it."

Hunter became intrigued with this newfound discovery. If Jack hadn't told these guys about what had happened, then who had he spoken to about it?

"I like you." The guy with the goatee said to Hunter. "We should hang out more."

"Yeah." The guy with the ear ring agreed. "There's going to be a party Friday night. All the truth seekers in the county will be there. You should definitely come."

"I've gotta check my Friday plans first." Hunter said trying his best not to sound eager. "But if I'm free, I'll definitely go."

"Great. We're going to the library now, if you wanna come."

"Nah, I've got some other stuff to take care of. Maybe some other time."

Hunter parted ways with the theorists, but not before taking one last look at Jack. Jack seemed disinterested in everything happening around him, including his three buddies. He walked with them to the library, keeping his head down and mouth shut as they babbled away about all kinds of crazy theories and secret government plots.

Hunter went for a stroll by himself around the campus to reflect on what he had just learned: Jack seemed to be keeping his mouth shut to people on campus. He seemed afraid of what he knew, and distrusting of everyone, not to mention the fact that he was heavily depressed.

If he wanted to learn more about Jack, Hunter would have to keep a close eye on him all week long and handle things before word got out. The more people that knew about Jack's abduction incident, the harder it would be to complete his task.

...

A few days later...

Hunter usually loathed slow burn tasks. He was the kind of agent that thrived on hit and run missions: get in, take out the target, and get out. He had a few stake out tasks before, but never one to the extent of the one he was on now. He was living the college student life, the life he once thought about having but never got. He found himself enjoying going to class, even if archaeology wasn't exactly something he wanted to study. It almost felt like a normal life if he ignored the fact that he would soon pop a bullet into the back of Jack Philips' skull and move on to another Agency task.

Just 8 more to go, Hunter thought as he walked across the campus to class on Friday morning. His backpack was heavy with books, notebooks, his trusty canteen and an essay he had written as homework. Homework! Hunter almost never did homework when he was in school, preferring to happily fork over a portion of his lunch money over to the smart kid in class and copy it from him. Yet there he was, over a decade after high school, turning his homework in on time. It felt good.

Hunter set his essay on the teacher's desk as instructed and went to his usual spot at the back of the class. Friday was lighter day, a day which many students skipped class in order to get more sleep. Rest was important when the weekends were full of nonstop partying.

Over half the class's students hadn't arrived by the time the teacher walked in. He didn't seem surprised by this at all. He went to his desk and checked which students had turned in their essays. After paging through them briefly, he frowned and looked over at Jack.

"This is the first time you skip one of my assignments Jack." The teacher said quietly, not wanting to attract the other student's attentions as they killed time on their phones.

Jack, who was also on his phone, looked up feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry." Jack said.

"I know it's been hard on you, but you can't let this bring you down. You're a great student Jack, you have to keep moving forward and get on with your life. You have a great future in front of you."

Jack nodded.

"Alright class, if you could put away your phones for a bit, I'd like to talk to you guys about Aztec pyramids."

As the teacher began his lecture, Hunter picked up his things and moved closer to the front of the class. The amount of absent students left him plenty of seats to chose from. He chose the one right next to Jack.

"Hey." Hunter whispered to Jack. "Are you going to that true believer party tonight?"

Jack looked at Hunter, feeling surprised that someone was talking to him.

"Maybe. Are you?"

"Hell yeah. I'm bringing a keg of beer. It'll be great."

Jack showed signs of a faint smile.

Hunter felt proud of himself. I'm getting to him, he thought.

"You never did say exactly why you hang out with those truth guys. I doubt it's because you're curious. Was it because you anything weird?"

Jack went pale. His mouth went dry and his hands started to shake. He shook his head, not wanting to say anything.

"Excuse me." The teacher called out from the front of the class. "It's Friday guys, the week's almost done. Could whatever you two are discussing wait until after class?"

"Sorry." Hunter said, facing forward. "It won't happen again."

"Jack, you don't look so good." The teacher said, noticing how pale Jack was. "Why don't you go outside and get some fresh air?"

Jack nodded and left the classroom, leaving behind his his phone and books behind.

Hunter discreetly took Jack's phone and copied the contents on it to his own phone, using a USB cable and a software provided to him by The Agency. He had been spying on Jack's phone all week, copying it's data every time he had an opening.

After class, Hunter sat by himself on one of the campus' many benches to search once again through the contents of Jack's phone. He checked messaging software first, like Whatsapp and Telegram, and found a single message from someone named Elementor632. The message read: 'Meet me behind the redwood trees at the party, 2 A.M. Might have some new info about your gf'.

"Who are you Mr.Elementor?" Hunter found himself asking out loud. Whoever he was, Hunter knew he was the one Jack had spoken to about the incident.

Across the campus, Jack walked quickly, heading in a brisk pace towards somewhere. Hunter saw him, but didn't make any effort to follow. He already knew where he would be later that evening.