"Bright Lights" Prologue Northern Wisconsin 11:34 a.m. A girl ran through the woods, her younger brother chasing after her, trying to catch her. "You can't catch me!" she said. Turning to look behind her, she saw that her little brother was no longer following her. In fact, he was nowhere in sight. She ran back, calling, "Jeff! Jeff, where are you?" She heard no reply from him, so she kept running and calling to her brother. Suddenly, she felt an odd warmth. She looked upwards, toward the sky and saw a large shape directly above her with a light extending down and surrounding her. She realized the she could no longer move her body. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the ship vanished. The girl crumpled to the ground, her skin burned and charred. The boy raced into the clearing. He saw his dead sister, screamed, and ran toward home yelling for help. X X X FBI Headquarters Washington, D.C. 1:27 p.m. Special Agent Fox Mulder walked into work after his lunch break with that certain glimmer in his eye, and Dana Scully knew immediately that he had found an X-File. This was their first case back on the X-Files after Special Agent Jeffrey Spender's body had been found dead in the basement office where the investigation of the X-Files was kept. Scully knew that that in itself was an X-File, because there was no evidence at all as to who the killer was. Sure enough, when Mulder walked up to Scully, the first thing he said was,"A girl in northern Wisconsin was killed. No evidence, no suspects. Her skin was burned and scarred. Scully, this is an-" "An X-File. I know, Mulder." "You don't sound very enthusiastic, Scully," said Mulder in his typical sarcastic manner. "Mulder, I spent all of yesterday moving things in and out of this office, I got very little sleep, and all I've had to eat today is half a bagel with lite cream cheese. So I find it hard to feel enthusiastic about anything but lunch and a good, long nap." "Well, you can take a nap on the plane. I've already got our tickets." With thay, Mulder walked away. Scully sighed and knew she would regret what she was going to do. Middleinlet, Wisconsin 3:07 p.m. A rental car pulled up in front of the post office. The doors to the car opened and Fox Mulder and Dana Scully stepped out, slammed the doors, and walked inside the building. The man behind the counter said, "How can I help you?" Mulder whipped out his badge and said, "I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder and this is my partner, agent Dana Scully. We're trying to find a Ms. Anne Kitcheos. We're investigating the death of her daughter, Rose." "Ms. Kitcheos lives about a mile and a half from here. You go west on Main Street and it's the first house on the right. I hope you find out what happened to poor Rose. She was such a nice girl." Mulder and Scully thanked the man and walked back to their rental car and got in. Mulder, as usual, was behind the wheel. He started the motor and drove off. Middleinlet, Wisconsin Kitcheos Residence 3:16 p.m. Scully knocked on the door of a small but well-kept house. After a moment, a motherly middle-aged woman answered. Her face had many laugh lines on it, but now all of those were hidden by a look of sadness and worry. "Yes?" she said. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully, and this is my partner, Fox Mulder. We're with the FBI. We're here to investigate-" "I know why you're here. It's about Rose, isn't it?" when Scully nodded, she went on. "Why don't you come in and sit down. I don't know much about what happened, but I'll tell you what I do know." Mulder and Scully walked into a slightly untidy living room and sat down on the couch indicated to them by Ms. Kitcheos. "Ms. Kitcheos, will you please tell us exactly what happened on the day that your daughter was killed?" asked Scully. "Well," said Ms. Kitcheos, "Rose and her brother, Jeff, had gone out to play in the woods before lunch. I was inside in the kitchen fixing some sandwiches for them when Jeff came running into the house screaming that Rose was dead. "I didn't really believe him at first, but I let him take me to her. I was very scared when I saw her and I ran into the house and called the police." "I see," said Scully, "May we please speak to your son?" "Please, he's had enough questioning. He didn't see anything. He already told that to the po;ice," said Ms. Kitcheos. "Alright," said Mulder, and then to Scully, "Come on, let's go." Northern Wisconsin Coffee Shop 5:19 p.m. Scully and Mulder, unaccustomed to cold late winter nights in Wisconsin, sat at a table sipping hot drinks. Over their cappuccino, they were discussing this latest case. "I have a feeling that Ms. Kitcheos is protecting her son from us for some reason," said Mulder. "Mulder, lots of people protect their children from traumatic experiences." "I got the feeling that they have something to hide. I think that Jeff knows what happened to his sister." "You just met her, Mulder. For all we know, she could act like that all the time. Besides, your acting on a whim is what made us lose the X-Files last time. If you screw up again, we could lose more than just the X-Files; we could lose our jobs. Dp Do you want both of us to be kicked out of the FBI?" "Scully, listen-" "You listen, Mulder. I am serious! We almost lost our jobs before and I don't think the FBI is going to be quite so understanding next time. This is our last chance!" Mulder muttered under his breath, "Boy did you mean it when you said you needed a nap," but was then smart enough to shut up and stir his cappuccino when Scully gave him a look that said that he better cut it out now. But in his head, he knew tht he could not just give up looking for the truth or he would never find his sister, Samantha. As he had said to Scully right before the bee stung her, "If I quit now, they win." Middleinlet, Wisconsin Kitcheos Residence 8:28 a.m. Ms. Anne Kitcheos sighed as the knocking on her front door grew louder. She knew she would have to let the FBI agents in eventually, but why couldn't they leave her and Jeff alone? It had been bad enough losing her husband last winter in a car crash, but losing Rose had been equally horrible. She just needed a little time to herself to recover from the death of her daughter. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Ms. Kitcheos sighed again and got up out of her easy chair, walked over to the door, and opened it. "Yes what is it?" she said impatiently. "Ms. Kitcheos, we need to speak to your son," said Mulder. "We need to question him about Rose's death," said Scully. Ms. Kitcheos frowned and reluctantly led them to her son's room where he was playing video games. "Like I said, he didn't see anything, but I guess if you need to talk to him, I can't stop you," said Ms. Kitcheos. Mulder knocked lightly on the door and when a voice replied, "Yeah, come in," the FBI agents entered. Jeff's room was cluttered, as could be expected from a ten year old. There were dirty clothes all around and toys and games and a video game system. Jeff himself was a sandy-haired average ten year old. He seemed totally unphased by the two FBI agents and said, "More police? I told you everything I know already. Why don't you leave me alone?" "We're actually FBI agents. I'm Dana Scully and this is my partner, Fox Mulder. If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a few more questions," said Scully. " Yeah, I mind, but I guess I've got to," said Jeff. "Will you tell us what happened when you sister was killed?" asked Mulder. "Yeah. We went outside to play in the woods before lunch. We were playing tag, and she ran off. I was trying to find her, and when I did, she was dead." "I see. Do you know what happened to her?" said Scully. "She looked like she got burned. Right before I found her, there was a big shadow on the ground in the clearing, but it disappeared when I got there." "Anything else strange?" asked Mulder. "No. That's it," said Jeff. "Alright," said Scully, "Thanks." Mulder and Scully left the house. As soon as the front door closed, Mulder looked at Scully and said, "A big shadow? what could have caused that but a UFO?" "I'm not going to ask you if you just said what I thought you said, because I know that it's what you said," Scully said. "Scully, I think that this girl was briefly abducted and then put back on Earth dead." "Mulder, she would've had to have been abducted for less than the minute it took her brother to find her. That is theoretically impossible!" Mulder frowned and popped a sunflower seed into his mouth. Sometimes he hated Scully for her rational, scientific ways. Then he got into the rental car and started the motor. Scully got in and they drove away. Northern Wisconsin 9:34 a.m. Carissa McDonough was walking through the woods. It was a clear day and the weather was just starting to get warmer. She loved days like this when it was clear out and not too warm but not cold, either. They were perfect for taking walks in the woods. She walked into a bright clearing and was bending down to pick a wild flower when she felt suddenly warm. She stood up and when she looked up, she saw a dark, circular shape blocking out the sky above her. A light was extending down and as it surrounded her, she could no longer move her body. Then, an instant before two FBI agents came into the clearing, the light disappeared and Carissa collapsed to the ground. Scully raced over to the body and Mulder whipped out his cellular phone and dialed 911. Scully looked up at Mulder and said, "They're dead." When the paramedics and the police arrived at the scene, the FBI agents explained all tht they had seen and also that there had been and identical death three days ago at the same spot. The paramedics took away the body and the police left. Mulder and Scully were left at the site. "What's that over there in the grass?" asked Scully as she noticed a glimmering item on the ground. She walked towards it and bent down to examine it. "It appears to be some sort of-" She looked over at Mulder. Her partner was staring at the sky. She looked up and also noticed a shadow blocking out the sun. It was coming closer and a beam was extending from it toward her partner. She yelled "Mulder, run!" and she raced out of the clearing into the woods, dragging her partner by his arm. The UFO was still following them when Scully shoved Mulder into the passenger side of the car. For once driving as crazily as her partner, she hit the gas and took off. Suddenly, the ship disappeared from sight,and Scully got out of the car. The UFO was gone. She got back into the car shaking her head and telling herself that she needed more sleep so she wouldn't see things. Mulder, out of his trance, was just the opposite. When Scully got back into the car, he said, "Scully did you see that? It was a UFO! You saw it didn't you?" "Mulder, what I saw was induced by lack of sleep and nutrition. That was not really a UFO, it was probably just a cloud over the sun. What you saw was probably the same thing, only you convinced yourself that it was a UFO." "Yeah? Why were you running through the woods and speeding down the highway for, then?" asked Mulder. Scully's face turned a little red at the thought of her previous actions. "As I said, it was induced by lack of sleep and nutrition. It was a stupid thing to do. Now you've got me seeing imanginary flying saucers, too." She drove down the road to their hotel. "I'm going to go to bed as soon as I get to my room. I advise that you do the same so that you don't see anymore imaginary UFO's," said Scully as she got out of the car. Northern Wisconsin 11:02 a.m. Scully walked down from her room to the lower level for lunch. When she got downstairs, she saw Mulder sitting in a chair eating a sunflower seed muffin. "Are you ready to go back and do some more investigating, Scully?" asked Mulder. "Mulder, this time I am not going back to that area on an empty stomach or I might start seeing things again. I'm going to have lunch!" Scully walked up to the counter and bought a huge slice of cheese pizza and a soda. When she was done eating, she said, "Alright, let's go back to investigate that device I saw in the clearing before you started seeing UFO's." Mulder and Scully walked out to the rental car and drove to the scene of the murders. Scully walked towrds the device in the grass, snapped on a latex glove, and picked it up. She put it in a plastic evidence bag and brought it back to the car. While Mulder drove, Scully called the police on her cell phone to let them know about the evidence she had found. They told her that they would take a look at it tomorrow, as it was now midafternoon. They arrived at the hotel and Scully placed the device on her dresser. Then she went to take a shower. After her shower, Scully went to get supper. Then she came back to her hotel room and read a book until she was ready to go to bed. Northern Wisconsin 2:42 a.m. A strange light passed the window of Fox Mulder who was lying awake in bed. It was moving toward his partners hotel room to the left of him. He suspected that something strange was going on and he jumped out of bed, grabbed his gun, and ran to Scully's room. He knocked on the door, but apparently she either didn't hear or was asleep. He picked the lock on her door and entered the room to see a bright light descend through the window and retrieve the device that Scully had taken from the clearing earlier. Fox tried to move toward Scully to try to protect the still sleeping woman from this phenomenon, but found himself paralyzed. The light, UFO, and the device from the clearing then disappeared and Mulder thumped to the ground. Scully woke up and saw her partner sitting on the floor of her room. She asked, "Why are you in here at 3 a.m.? I was asleep!" Mulder stammered, "There was a light, a ship. The device... they took it." Scully looked at her dresser and saw that the device was gone. She sighed and said, "Mulder, just because the thing is gone doesn't mean it was abducted by aliens. It probably fell in the garbage and the cleaning people threw it away, or a common thief took it. Now go to bed, Mulder." With that she lay back down and fell asleep again. Mulder frowned and headed back to his own room. He would never be able to prove it to Scully, but he knew he had seen a UFO that night.