Charles woke up to his alarm clock. Sighing and rubbing the sleep off his eyes, he shuts the alarm to get ready for his day. After getting dressed, he heads towards the kitchen to make breakfast, turning on the TV on his way.

Yet another victim of the infamous killer was found last night in an alley. Authorities are trying their best to keep up with this criminal to stop his bloody deeds. A reminder to not go out alone when it's dark, that's when he seems to strike the most and-

Charles turned off the TV, sighing in frustration. He was the detective assigned to track down the killer. Bloody Slasher. That's what the killer went by. Charles had learned this when he was investigating a scene the killer had caused. Upon looking for clues, he had found a message on the wall (Written by the victim's blood, and later that day Charles had found out, through the fingerprints marked by the blood, that Bloody Slasher also used the victim's fingers to leave the message as to not leave his own prints. How clever.) that stated: I always come back. Bloody Slasher

Whoever he was, the killer always seemed one step ahead of the law, always striking unexpectedly and leaving little to no clues behind that would solve the case and end the deaths of innocent people once and for all. The phone rang and Charles knew they were calling him to investigate this new crime scene announced in the news.

⌕ ⌕ ⌕

The crime scene was a bit hectic. There were news reporters lingering here and there and cops keeping people away from the scene as to not mess with anything that could be used as evidence to discover Bloody Slasher. The cops, recognizing Charles, quickly stepped aside and let him into the scene. The body of the victim had already been chalked and on the wall besides a dumpster was that same message written with more than likely the victim's blood. After a good amount of time spent on searching, he found no clues at all. Bloody Slasher had probably done a quick kill and instantly fled.

By the end of the day, Charles was frustrated with this killer. Like always, he found little to no clues or hints, besides the message the killer always left. Running a hand through his hair and sighing deeply, he decided to stop at the bar near his house again. Sure, drinking never solved anything, but it relieved his stress and frustrations for a while. Just one drink and I'll head home, he told himself. Like always, he ended up drinking too much and got himself drunk. Again. He payed and went on his way back home. He was feeling frustrated but forgot what was the cause of his frustrations. He passed by an abandoned alley and noticed a teen doing graffiti. Maybe it was because he was drunk, Charles decided to let out his frustrations on that kid.

Quietly approaching the unsuspecting teen, he takes out his pocketknife and quickly covers the teenager's mouth. Caught off guard, the teen could only gasp before a knife slices his throat and ends up drowning him in his own blood. Charles cuts the kid's finger off and, using it like a paintbrush, he writes down on a nearby wall: I always come back. Bloody Slasher.

I am writing on a journal I found about this messed up place. You see, it all started when I caught a glimpse inside of a psychiatric hospital because of one of my family members....

Sighing deeply, I drove towards the hospital my cousin got sent to. I couldn't believe that someone had framed her, I know my cousin doesn't need to be in a place like that, there's nothing wrong with her! She was like a sister to me, so I was determined in getting her out of there no matter what. First, I needed to talk to her and get some information on what had happened that led her here. As I parked on the driveway of the hospital, I noticed there was something odd about the atmosphere. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something didn't feel right. Or maybe it was because I was standing a few feet away from a psychiatric hospital. Either way, I went inside to see how my cousin was doing.

⚘⚘⚘

I felt uneasy. It's normal to feel this way in a place like this because I am surrounded by complete strangers, but it really felt... Off. I decided to brush the feeling away, I was probably overthinking things. I went to the receptionist to get the information on which room my cousin was at.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but Lilith cannot receive any visitors at the moment. Please come back another day." The receptionist told me in an uninterested tone.

I didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to visit my cousin, surely visiting hours can't be over, it's still way too early for that. "But why? The visiting hours aren't over yet." I replied to her.

She looked at me with bored eyes. "You know, things work differently around here, so I suggest you go and come back another day" She replied to me with a more harsh and annoyed tone in her voice. I wasn't about to give up easily. Did something bad happen to my cousin? I had to know she was okay.

Suddenly, I heard a horrible shriek coming from one of the rooms in the hallway that almost made me jump out of my skin. I gasped in horror. That was Lilith's voice. Without thinking, I ran into the direction of where I heard my cousin's scream, ignoring the yells of protest from the receptionist lady. I didn't like her either way.

It was like a maze in here, but determination kept me going. Her scream was heard again, and I was able to identify where it is they held her. I burst through the door faster than a cheetah chasing its prey and froze at the sight. The room looked more like a lab for experimentation, with various containers of all shapes containing different liquids and some I didn't even want to know what they had. Lilith was there, strapped on a chair looking like she was in the most terrible pain any human has ever been in. The doctors all stopped what they were doing and looked at my direction. "Get her!" One of them shouted. Shoot, I need to get out of here but I can't leave my cousin behind. But I'm outnumbered. I quickly bolted out of the room into the maze of hallways.

I managed to outrun the doctors, hiding in a random room and locking the door to be safe. I searched around the room for anything that could be used to defend myself, but I seemed to lock myself in a regular room. The scream of another person made me jump back and trip on an indoor plant. I managed to tip the pot sideways and it went rolling a few feet away. I should have hoped nobody hear the noise, but something had caught my attention. When I had tipped the pot sideways, one of the tiles sounded hollow. Curiously, I knock against the floor, trying to find that tile. Once I found it, I noticed it was a bit loose. I quickly pull the tile up and was greeted with a ladder going down into darkness. I contemplated on going down, but soon I heard someone outside the door. I quickly place the decorative plant back where it was, as if I were never there, and down the passage I went, placing the tile back above me. I climbed down and hoped nothing bad was below me.

As I reached the bottom, my eyes were already adjusted to the dark, I carefully searched the area. Unfortunately, it was still too dark, so I took out my phone and turned on the flash. I was instantly greeted by a skeleton. I jumped back, startled, but quickly regained myself and looked around. It was an underground room. It had a simple bed and a table next to the bed. On the table lay a journal. Curiously, I grab the journal and start reading it.

If you are reading this, then you have just sealed your fate in here forever. You see, I was the doctor who started this hospital. I was hoping to create a positive impact by nursing these people back to health. My plan backfired, and the patients of this hospital took over. I don't know why, but they started performing inhumane experiments on the doctors until life left their eyes. Their experiments have gotten out of hand, quickly killing almost all the doctors. Lately they've needed more people for their experiments, so they have been sending out the more normal people to frame innocent people and get them sent here for experimentation. I have been observing for some time after finding this hidden room. By finding this room, it means they know you are here, and they will keep everyone on high alert looking for you. I am afraid you cannot escape, for if you do, they will catch you before you even step three feet in the main lobby. I do not know what they are trying to accomplish, but I hope it all ends soon.

That explained why my cousin was here: one of these patients that took over had framed her. I was horrified, but determination led me to not give in to this stranger's notes easily. I will make my observations carefully and use this notebook to write down any new information I collect. Once I have figured out how things work around here, I will construct a solid plan to escape. I doubt I can escape with Lilith at this point. If you find this journal, I will have either escaped already or met my doom here. Farewell.

It was finally my day off! I decided to take it easy today from work and take my family out for a picnic. We live in the rural areas, so we live a happy and peaceful life on our farm. Most of our landscape consists of beautiful, grassy hills. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside. The birds were singing and I could detect a barely visible rainbow on the bright, blue sky. I could almost say the day was literally perfect for the family picnic. My nine year old son, William, wanted to have the picnic on the hill that's about a few minutes away from our house, mostly because it had a tree at the top of the hill and William loved to climb trees.

When we arrived, we lay the picnic blanket on the hill near the tree and my wife, Amber, started to set the sandwiches out. William, was eager to climb up the tree, my wife told him, "Eat first Will, you need energy to climb. Once you're done then you can go climb the tree okay sweetie?" Once he heard he could climb the tree after eating, he plopped himself on the blanket and began to happily munch on his sandwich.

After a while of relaxing and watching William climb the tree, I decided we should head back home already. I was about to call William when suddenly, the sky grew dark quickly. It was too quick to be clouds covering the sun, so I looked up. My eyes came across a weird ship hovering in the sky. It was a dark gray color, shaped like what seemed a mix of an airplane and some sort of weird spaceship. Could it actually be some other species like aliens that have spotted this planet and decided to invade? I had no idea, but we couldn't stay out here any longer. Amber seemed to read my mind because she immediately called after William, getting him down from the tree, and we all quickly rushed back home.

We burst through the door, quickly shutting and locking it up. "Daddy, what was that thing on the sky?" I heard William's voice ask me. I couldn't find my voice, all I could manage to respond was an almost inaudible, "I... I don't know son." Amber quickly turned the TV on, switching channels trying to search for the news. I'm sure we weren't the only ones that saw that big thing... well I hoped so anyway.

It turns out, the weird looking spaceship we saw wasn't the only one, there were more, and they were all over the news. According to the news, there were plenty of "UFO's" spread all around the earth. Nobody knew what they were planning so we were advised to lock everything and stay indoors. "You know, I have a feeling your brother is interested in this whole situation." Amber told me after tucking William on the couch, it seemed safer for us to stay in the living room. I was about to comment on my brother but the ring of my phone loudly interrupted me. I quickly answered it, thankfully, my son was a heavy sleeper, so he didn't even budge.

"Bro! You have to come over, Buddy and I have planned out something to try and communicate with those ships hovering around the planet, but we need your help." I heard my brother's voice filled with excitement. It wasn't a surprise, he was a fan of science fiction and was always fascinated in wonder, thinking there's some sort of alien species out there in space. I guess he wasn't wrong after all, huh.

Sighing deeply, I tell him "Look Peter, we don't know if they're hostile or not, so I think it would be safer for you guys to just sit back and let the authority handle it." I noticed Amber look my way at my words, before she could comment, I quickly continue, "And why would you need my help anyway? I know nothing about that stuff." Whatever he was about to say was cut off, leaving me hearing static and weird nosies. "Peter? Are you there?" The static continued. Sighing, I hung up.

"You were right honey, my brother did take an interest to this situation. But why did the call get cut off?" My question was soon answered by the television.

It seems like these UFO'S are sending high frequency signals to each other, which is tampering with our communication devices. We still don't know what's going on but the government officials say they might have to get aggressive since communication with them is impossible. Some say they have come to take over, others aren't too sure. There are currently rumors spreading that the government might launch an attack against these unknown ships if-

Static. "Looks like we can't communicate with others..." Amber said worriedly. "Is your brother okay?" I froze at her words. My brother! I had forgotten about my brother. The idiot must still be planning to communicate with them. I had to go check on him. One look was all it took for her to read my thoughts. She nodded in understanding. "We'll stay here, don't worry, go check on him." This is why I loved her so much.

⌖⌖⌖

The drive to my brother's place was quick, I was there faster than I expected. Buddy, my brother's assistant, greeted me at the door. I thanked him and quickly made my way to the living room, where my brother was currently at. "Hey! I'm glad you were able to come!" I cut him off before he could greet me with a big bear hug.

"Don't do this, didn't you hear the news? The government is planning on attacking them!" The look on my brother's face told me he wasn't going to give up this once in a lifetime chance because of an uncertainty. Sighing, I said, "How do you even plan on doing this? If you haven't noticed, it's impossible to get close enough to one."

"Yeah I figured, but that's where you come in." He stated, sitting down on the couch and typing away at a laptop. I had an idea of where this was heading, and I am starting to regret even feeling worried and leaving my wife and son at home just to come over here to check on his safety.

"I will not hack into anything, Peter. I told you already, my days as a hacker are over." As soon as I finished my sentence, we heard a commotion going on outside. Both of us possesed the trait of curiosity, so of course we headed outside to see what the commotion was all about.

There were people looking at one certain direction. We both turned to look the same direction they were looking at, and I felt my blood run cold. The ship that was hovering near our house was gone. I didn't even notice the person my brother was talking to until they parted ways and Peter was at my side. "According to the man, the government decided to fire some missiles at the ships. Come on! There was one over there a few minutes ago, let's go see what we can find!" My family was over there, so of course I went along with him in the beat of a heart.

⌖⌖⌖

The ship was in pieces. There were bits of metal here and there, but thankfully Amber and William were both okay. We had gone to check on them first, then I decided to go along with my brother in case things went the wrong way. I didn't even know if there were dangerous creatures in that ship, but if they're smart enough to handle a whole fleet of ships, I'm sure they're smart enough to handle a fight. Better be safe than sorry.

There was still a good part of the ship intact, it looked like a type of big capsule. Peter excitedly rushed over to inspect the capsule and I followed closely behind. We were only a few feet away when suddenly, the capsule opens. My hand instantly fell on the dagger I kept hidden in my pocket, readied for any possible attack. Instead, we were greeted with a normal human looking creature. The only things that stood out was his eyes and skin. Green literally covered his entire eye, and there was a tiny red dot at the center of the eye. Apart from that, his skin was a dark shade of gray.

The thing looked at us with green, unblinking eyes. It seemed like we were looking at each other forever, until my brother spoke up, "Uh... Hi, hey there. Can... Can you understand us...?" I was shocked, what happened to the energetic attitude? Here he was, finally able to communicate and he suddenly loses his excitement. I swear Peter is difficult to understand sometimes. The thing slowly blinked, I noticed how his eyelids close sideways, and hopped out of the capsule, landing behind us. I quickly turned around and took out my dagger for the thing to see.

It just stared at my dagger before speaking in broken English, "I no intend harm on human."

I blinked. It knew how to speak our language.... Well, for the most part at least. Peter spoke up again with more confidence, "Wait, so you're not planning to invade our planet?" Way to go brother, I thought sarcastically, you sure know how to handle conversations. The creature, however, shook its head sideways. "We protect you. But humans attack shield. They perish soon."

"You protect us? What do you mean we attacked a shield?" My curiosity grew the more the alien spoke. This time, it was my turn to do the asking. I'm sure Peter would just ask irrelevant questions if I let him take the lead. The alien nodded and showed us a small hologram of our planet. Not too far away, a group of what looked like rocks, were slowly headed towards the earth.

"Meteors destroy planet. Our ships shield the planet from meteors. You humans attack shields. No more protection for humans. We failed mission in protecting planet from meteors."

My eyes widened at the realization of the alien's explanation. "Woah woah woah, hold on a second, you're telling me that the frequencies you guys were sending that jammed up our communications were actually a shield from the deadly meteor strike?!" To our horror, the alien nodded its head in agreement to Peter's summary of his explanation. I guess some people were right, we humans are the cause of our own extinction.