“We only can stay for about an hour, we don’t know when they are going to show up again.” Marley had told Benjamin, who was lagging behind on his bike.

 

“Alright, we’ll have to make it fast,” Benjamin said.

 

They had been riding their bikes for at least thirty minutes to get to Marley’s house on Village Street. When they finally arrived, the scene was clear of T.S.I agents and Police Officers. This was their perfect chance to do their own investigation and check the house to see if there were any clues on Marley’s missing father. 

 

When they parked their bikes on the side of the house, Marley got this overwhelming feeling of dread. Memories of the night her father disappeared flooded her mind as they passed the caution tape. 

 

Benjamin opened the front door and the two of them stepped inside. 

 

“Where are the lights?” Benjamin said.

 

“Right here,” Marley turned on the living room lamp. The house lit up. It was just as she and her mother had left it. They moved out three weeks after her dad disappeared with Marley’s grandmother, Mrs. Susan.

 

“Alright, the first place we should look is my dads office,” Marley walked into the first door in the hallway.

 

There were papers everywhere on the desk. Her dads laptop was gone too. Marley began rummaging through the papers to see if she could find any important documents but all she saw were bank statements and chicken scratch written on the pieces of paper. Then she looked through her dad’s old brief cases but nothing was in there either, just some pens and sticky notes. 

 

As Marley thought about everything being so scattered in her dads office, the question arose in her mind. 

 

What is the T.S.I looking for? 

 

The T.S.I agents had shown up a day after her dad disappeared. They came before her mother even had knowledge that her dad vanished and were the first ones before the police to break the news to her. The T.S.I showed her a warrant that they had the ability to investigate the premises. They were  considered to be just like the CIA, only they were a bit more crooked when it came to certain matters. Who knew if the warrant they showed Marley’s mom was even real. Since they were a certified government organization, she had no choice but to let them in. 

 

“These six weeks the T.S.I has been searching the house and think they are looking for something. I just don't know what it could be. What was my dad doing that was so important."

 

Marley prayed that her dad wasn’t doing anything illegal.

 

Benjamin grabbed a tan envelope on the desk that Marley had missed the first time she was over there. He opened it and inside was a letter. He skimmed through it. “You might want to read this,” he told her. 

 

She grabbed it from him and began reading…

​

“Joseph Williams,

The T.S.I has sent you this letter to inform you of the property belonging to The T.S.I that you took. You have continuously dismissed our request to return what you took. This is the last and final warning to bring back T.S.I property. No further questions or letters will be sent regarding this. Thank you.

​

T.S.I, Dr. Maddison.”

​

“What did my dad take from the T.S.I?” Marley contemplated. 

​

“Marley, I think we should keep looking for more clues. Maybe the basement?” Benjamin suggested.

​

“Good idea,” Marley stuck the envelope in her back pocket.

​

Inside the basement it looked like everything had been ransacked just as it was upstairs in her dads office. Her dads gym equipment was misplaced and the carpet was rolled away. The T.S.I had looked to see if her dad had any secret holes in the wood, but they found nothing. 

​

Marley went over to the bookcase that had not been touched for some reason. She looked behind it to see if there was a “secret door”. 

​

“I don’t remember your dad being a big reader,” 

​

“He wasn’t, mom and I were confused on why he even bought this thing.”

​

Benjamin grabbed a book from the shelf out of curiosity of it’s cover. 

​

“Tesla’s Attic, ever heard of it?” 

​

Marley nodded. “Nope.”

​

Benjamin opened the book and to his surprise a picture fell out. “Look!”

​

Marley grabbed it and to both of their astonishment, it was a picture of a girl who had blue skin and wearing a sunflower dress.

​

“This is strange, it looks like some kind of alien,” Marley squinted her eyes.

​

“An alien…” Benjamin chuckled.

​

“I mean what do you think it could be then?”

​

Benjamin thought. “This isn’t you when you were a little girl? Maybe the camera was on a weird setting and made your skin look blue?”

​

“No, I don’t remember taking this picture. Even if I was too young to remember, that’s not me.”

​

“So your dad took a picture of an Alien? How?”

​

Marley’s head started to hurt as she thought of all the possibilities. Aliens? Now this was all starting to sound like her dad was involved in something very dangerous. Should she have been looking for him? Did the T.S.I know what her dad was up to and that’s why they sent him that letter? Were they the reason he vanished?