There was a knock at the door.    

    ‘Mrs. Baskeyfield,’ sang a nurse in her friendly and melodic way, ‘a handsome young man is here to see you!’ 

    In walked the nurse followed by a tall and slender middle-aged man with silver hair and a matching coloured moustache. Though he had a tired look about him with cobweb wrinkles around his eyes, he wore a big hearty smile upon seeing his wife sat up in the hospital bed, looking stronger and stronger as the days passed by. 

    ‘Oh, hello Darlin’!’ beamed Mrs. Baskeyfield to her husband as he leant over to give her a kiss. ‘Are you OK without me at home, baby? You doin’ alright?’ 

    Paul nodded his head, giving that same warm smile that like a fine wine only got better through their many years of marriage.

    ‘Holla if you need anything Mrs. Baskeyfield,’ sang the nurse as she left the room.

    ‘Thank you, Joyce’

    Paul pulled up a chair close to his wife’s bed and sat next to her. He signed to her, then clutched her hand.

    ‘I’m still a little woozy,’ said Mrs. Baskeyfield, ‘but I’m OK.’ She was watching the doorway intently as she spoke. 

    Paul signed again enquiringly. 

    ‘You know what? The food’s not that bad actually. It’s nothing to write home about but…’ she trialed off. When she was sure they were alone, or at least had some kind of privacy, she lowered her voice suddenly. ‘Paul! I’ve got to tell you something amazing, it’s just amazing, Paul!’

    Her husband shifted to the end of his seat and clutched both her hands, raising his eyebrows. His wife was an excitable lady, but this was a new kind of excitement, it seemed. 

    She took a moment to organise what she was going to say.

    ‘Baby, I remembered what happened, and it was just…inconceivably incredible.’

    Paul signed animatedly.

    ‘No, no, I daren’t tell anyone else yet, I wanted to tell you first. It’s so amazing, Paul, and I kinda want to hear myself say it out loud to just make sure I’m not crazy. Though I know I’m not; I saw what I saw.’

    Paul furrowed his brow. It had been a turbulent time of late; first Mary and her car went missing for four days, then when she and the car reappeared it was in the woods not far from her home. She was found unconscious but uninjured, and she remained in a coma at Newhaven Hospital for nearly two weeks after that. Paul lost count of sleepless nights eventually. When she awoke she kept crying out, ’Pages! Pages!’ for nearly an hour straight. Thankfully, that was over a week ago, and she had been slowly returning to herself in the meantime. He’d be lying therefore if this new piece of information didn’t worry him a little; the last thing upon remembering her disappearance would be, he imagined, was exciting. He leant closer, and encouraged her to go on, albeit reluctantly.

    She dropped her voice further, so that it was barely above a whisper. ‘It’s going to sound how it sounds, but I had an otherworldly experience,’ Mary said as she over-articulated the final words. 

    Paul needed to know more. He signed. 

    ‘I don’t know, it could’ve been. But I didn’t see no spaceship. Might’ve been an angel but I didn’t see no wings. No, lemme tell you the full story.’

    

I was driving home from the pet store with two guinea pigs that I got for the girls. The nurses told me they’re dead - the pigs not the girls, perish the thought - and I remember it was real dark and cold, and I was taking care not to slip on any ice that might’ve frozen from the rain earlier that day. I remember that. I remember also having the heating on full blast as I turned up the radio to hear it better; it was blasting out some tunes let me tell you Paul, you’d have hated it. I know Country’s not your thing, but I was having a dilly of a time.

    I took the road off of the main strip, you know the one that winds its way through Cedar Grove? I must’ve got, I don’t know, maybe five minutes down it, and that’s when the car cut out. I mean completely; the lights, the fans, the engine, even Mr Denver stopped singing about his Homegrown Tomatoes — the lot. It all went dead and I near had a heart attack being plunged into the dark like that in the middle of the road.

    I managed to bring the car to a blind stop, and thankfully there were no other cars around. I tried my hazards so that no one was going to fender-bender me, but they didn’t work either. You know me with cussing, and boy let me tell you there was a lifetime’s worth of bad words as I had to push the car to the side of the road by myself. Still, I managed it.

    It was so dark, and them tall trees made everything eerie. It was quiet. The pigs were whistling away to themselves in the cage on the passenger’s seat, but that was it.    

    Well, that’s just perfect, I remember thinking to myself. I knew home was about a thirty maybe a forty minute walk away, but it was so damn cold and I didn’t like the idea of walking in the woods in the dark on my own. Plus those little pigs wouldn’t much like it neither. The sky was so damn cloudy that not a hint of moonlight was anywhere to be seen to guide my way even. Blackness. 

    I got back in the car and tried to figure out the next step. Wait for a passer-by I guess. It was then that I remember hearing a sound. Faint, it was. Real faint, but it was there. Like a humming…

    I thought it might be car so I got out to see if I could see what the problem was. When I opened the door, the humming got louder. I then realised that it wasn’t coming from the car, but from the trees on the other side of the road. It was the strangest sound; it’s like I wasn’t hearing it but, I don’t know, feeling it. It wasn’t physical but I just knew it was there. 

    I got the willies for a second and got back in the car, closed the door and locked the door. Sure enough, the humming sounded like it was outside again. Only it wasn’t a sound. I remember being ever so confused. 

    Curiosity bubbled inside me again, and I unlocked the door and got back out.  

    I walked across the damp road, pulling my cardigan tight around me, I remember that. The humming got louder as I walked. I had no idea what it could’ve possibly been, and I felt this compulsion that I had to find out. You know me with stuff like that, Paul. 

    Now, sugar, I know how the next part is going to sound. But I want you to remember one thing; I saw what I saw. OK?

    The trees started to bend. I don’t mean like they moved on their own accord, I mean kinda like someone was putting a great big fish-eye lens right in front of them; they was bending inwards, making a great big circle right in front of my eyes! I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen, I even remember shouting ‘Merciful God!’ to no one. 

    Then, it happened.

    Some kinda bluish mist began to grow right in the centre of the circle and it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until it filled the entire circumference which must’ve been about twelve feel in diameter. And a light; a light starting getting brighter too. Greenish, bluish, purple. It was like watching a lightning in storm cloud that was growing outwards. But it stayed in the circle.

    I was as rooted to the spot as those trees, Paul - I couldn’t believe my eyes! I remember feeling small all of a sudden, like an idy-biddy life. Quite insignificant almost. I stood there watching this freakish occurrence of nature until in the Circle a figure appeared. 

    I couldn’t make out any features, it was a blurry silhouette, but it stood there and was looking at me. It must’ve been about 6 foot, and looked like a person, but it’s shape warped and changed like it might’ve been standing under ripples of water.

    ‘Hello?’ I remember calling out. ‘Hello? Who’s there?’ I had to squint from the light that was getting brighter. The humming at this point was loud but…beautiful. 

    ‘Who are you?’ I asked the figure.

    It heard me, and it replied something. It was a language I ain’t never heard before, don’t ask me to repeat it, Paul, I’ll only make a fool of myself. 

    I remember looking at the figure in that misty circle and a feeling washed over me suddenly…like I…I wasn’t afraid. It felt like that sorta ‘magic’ kinda feeling you get when you’re a kid, when there’s just a quality in the air - it’s hard to describe - or like when everything’s a wonderful dream, or when it feels like you know exactly who you are. I’m talking gibberish I know, but I just can’t put it into words; it was just sacred, I know that much. 

    I was so moved by the figure. It was the most wonderous thing I ever saw. And then a thought occurred to me; what if it was a being from another planet and I just happened to be the first thing it had encountered? In stood there before it in that swirling light and I made a decision; I needed to give it a gift, something to say that I meant no it and it’s kind no harm.

    And that’s when I parted with the flower lapel you bought me, Paul. I’m sorry, but I had to.    It was just perfect, you see. I unclipped it from my cardigan, and I held it in front of me as I walked my way to the being in the Circle.

    ‘Don’t be afraid. This is for you,’ I said as I walked as slowly as I could. Kinda reminded me of that time our cat got spooked and I tried to coax it out with those chicken treats, you remember? 

    The figure didn’t move, but I swear, I SWEAR, it cocked it’s head to one side. It watched me approach. It said something, what I wouldn’t give to know what. 

    The humming was so loud inside my head, and I felt it meant one thing; this is as far as I can approach. I was right in front of the mist that was swirling and flashing away, and only a few feet from the visitor. I held the lapel out to it.

    ‘A gift, please take it. It’s yours’

    Paul, a hand suddenly came out of the mist. A pale almost translucent hand that looked human-like came out from the mist, skin as smooth as glass. It had four fingers and one thumb just like you and me, and long dark blue nails. It took the lapel from me, so, so gently, and withdrew back into the mist. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest from such an encounter!

    Then I said probably the corniest thing I could have, don’t laugh now, I said ‘I come in peace.’ Go on then, laugh. I can see you wanna. But what else was I supposed to say? I was so giddy everything else left my mind! 

    Suddenly, to my astonishment, the hand came back out from the mist, holding something. 

    ‘For me?’ I asked, and I slowly reached out my hand. The Figure opened it’s hand and…and…it dropped what looked like a glowing pebble into my palm. 

    Gosh, Paul, pass me a tissue could you?

    I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m just reliving it saying it out loud. The beauty of it, the sheer magnitude of it. I know I’ve gotta give statements and all sorts soon and I owe it to the being to go into detail but I know already that no-one is going to believe me. No one, Paul! And it’s not fair! I had a genuine experience with some kinda alien or angel or God knows only what and no amount of description or passionate articulation is gonna make anyone believe me! I saw what I saw!!

    

The nurse returned for a moment in the commotion.

    ‘Is everything OK in here?’ She chimed. 

    Paul, still clutching Mary’s hand, nodded his head trying to convey that yes, despite the excitement, everything was fine. He waved the nurse away gently.

    ‘Alright, we’ll I’m just outside if you need me,’ said the nurse as she retreated out of the doorway.

    Mary continued to sob uncontrollably for a short while until she was getting to be all cried out. Paul hugged her close as he sat on the edge of her bed.

    

    I’m sorry, honey, I’m so sorry. It’s just hard. You see…

    The Figure dropped that pebble into my hands, and it too was a gift. 

    ‘Thank you,’ I said, and I studied it; teal and forest green coloured, glowing, and marble-smooth. I didn’t know what it was but I instantly treasured it.

    But, Paul, it sank and disappeared into my hand. This hand right here, my palm - it went into my palm! I saw it melt like butter in a hot frying pan before my very eyes, it glowed for a moment under my skin and vanished! I should’ve been scared; if it had happened under any other circumstance I might’ve had some kind of apoplexy out of fright but I just…wasn’t. I knew in the presence of this Figure, I was safe.

     I don’t know what it meant to have that rock disappear but I have an inclining. You know my bad hip? Ever since I woke up and got familiar with the world I just had this urge to massage it with specifically this hand, now it doesn’t hurt no more. The doctors said that it’s likely because I’m resting and not aggravating it when I asked them, that there’s no weight currently on the joint, but I don’t think it’s that, Paul. You know how uncomfortable I’d get at home just sat on the couch - why should lying in a hospital bed be any different? That was whenever it was recently, and my hips been as faithful as ever since. Strange.

    Anyways, the Pebble disappeared like I said, and also like I said I wasn’t afraid. If anything, I felt like it was important; like I had been entrusted with a secret. 

    Then, the mist began to subside. It started at the edges of the Circle and began withdrawing inwards to Figure on the other side.

    ‘No!’ I shouted when I noticed, ‘No, wait! Stay with me!’ 

    The Figure said something in it’s language. Now that I think about it, it was probably saying that it couldn’t stay, or that it’s time was short or something like that. BUT, it did say something that I could understand perfectly well. It was clear as day. 

    ‘…pages…’ it said. It echoed in my mind. 

    ‘Pages? What do you mean?’ I asked I reply. I needed to know more, was it part of advice? Instructions? A warning? 

    And then there was a sudden and incredible clap of thunder, I felt like I was in the middle of a canon! And then it all went black. 

    The next thing I know is I’m coming-to here and, well, here we are.

 

Mary Baskeyfield sat up in her bed and looked her husband with large, watery eyes. There was silence between them for a few moments as Mary thought about her words carefully.

    ‘Baby, I’m scared.’ 

    Paul signed that the ordeal was over now and that she was safe.

    ‘No, that’s not what I’m scared of.’

    Paul looked, enquiringly. His wife took a heavy breath.

    ‘Honey; I’m scared to ask if you believe me, because I don’t think I could handle it if you said no. I wasn’t scared when the trees bent like that, nor when the mist started or the Figure appeared, or even when that stone disappeared into my hand, but I’m scared now. I’m terrified that if you don’t believe me, that if you think I hit my head or that it was all a dream, well, I don’t know what we’re gonna do. I’m going to say this for the last time, it was real, and I need you to believe me.’

    Paul stared deeply into Mary’s eyes, those same eyes he found himself swimming in on their very first date all those decades ago at the fairground when they were young and carefree, how they still retained the light within them that warmed his soul. He looked deeply. Deeper than ever, even, and weighed the scales in his mind thinking about his wife’s welfare, long-term. Her story sounded like moments, but she was gone for days. No one on that road in the aftermath saw her car, or her even? Not even the police whom scoured the area? Also, the car was fine. He drove it here. 

    But despite all the unanswered questions, all the given-fact that added up to naught, Paul knew who his wife was, and she was no liar. If it was real to her, then it was real. 

    He signed.

    Mary broke down in tears and hugged him tightly as she sobbed deeply. 

 

    She they broke apart and she placed her hand on his neck, resting her forehead on his.

    ‘What do I do?’ She asked. 

    ‘I don’t know, baby,’ replied Paul’s resonant, croaky voice, ‘but you’re not alone.’