An Odd Smoke

"I hope you guys have switched on your Bluetooth headsets. Can everyone hear me?"

"Yeah, you're audible, Andrea. Am I audible to you? Alisa, is your headset functioning? You are always the one to break all the electronics as soon as you get your hands on them."

"I can hear you both. Hope my headset's working fine too. Is my voice loud and clear?"

"Thank goodness that electronic equipment didn't break this time."

"Don't distract yourself, Akemi. And Alisa, the headset's working fine. Keep the pepper sprays and baseball bats ready, everyone. We only have those things for self-defense."

Christmas night had just begun. Everything still seemed too good to be true. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The atmosphere was not strange at all. It was hard to believe things were about to get worse. The playground didn't look like a place for a crime scene.

"Does anything look strange? Everything's good here. No one looks suspicious to me at all. What's happening on the other sides?"

"I see nothing here. Just kids goofing around and adults gabbing. Maybe Alisa's side has all the criminals. How's it looking over there, Alisa?"

"Yeah, nothing on my side too. Everything seems okay."

“Okay, guys, just so we are clear and if something strange starts happening, hear me out for a moment. When I was reading a few news articles related to this, I came across one that connected the orphans' abduction to aliens.”

"What's with the aliens now, Akemi?"

"A group of astronomers detected signals that looked like alien technology. These signals come around every Christmas. But not much is on the news about this."

"Why didn't you tell Alisa and me about this before?"

"I thought you guys wouldn't believe it. And there's no scientific consensus to this theory as of now."

"Alright, we'll keep this in mind. If the ones who are doing this are aliens, I don't know whether pepper sprays and bats would be enough for self-defense or not."

"You're right about that, Andrea. I'm not so sure now if the police would believe us in such a case."

There was Christmas cheer all around the playground. Happy faces loaded the place from all walks of life. Two hours passed, but Andrea, Alisa, and Akemi still couldn't catch anyone. Everything looked fine, but Alisa's glance fell on a man.

"Guys, a tall man with an enormous overcoat just walked in on my side. Is he trying to hide something? It's gigantic."

"Is there anybody around him, Alisa? Does he look like he's waiting for somebody?"

"How does his face look like? Is it like an alien?"

"Stop bombarding me with questions like that. It's not like I can hear two voices at the same time. He is standing alone, and no one's around him. His face isn't that visible, but he's wearing dark black glasses. And he has a built of a wrestler. He seems distrustful to me. Why would someone wear such a thing at night?”

"And about the alien thing…. he didn't look like an alien at the first glance, but he and his body language... yeah, they seem dubious indeed."

"Keep an eye on him, Alisa. We have to stay within this place. If something is going to happen, it'll happen here."

"He's on the move now. He's moving towards the Santa meet-and-greet event on the playground."

"I'll go to the place where Santa's event is taking place. Someone needs to keep a watch on the kids nearby."

"Alright, Akemi. I will scan the rest of the areas and reach the main entrance. I purposefully chose my position as it's close to the gate. If he's planning to do something, he needs more members to carry this out. Plus, that's where the records of the number of people attending this gathering usually are. I'll get a count of all orphans attending this gathering."

Thud.

"Sorry!"

Thwack.

"Excuse me!"

Clunk.

"So sorry!"

Alisa blurted, bumping her way through the crowds and trying to follow the mysterious man.

"He changed his route guys. He's going all over the place. Round and round in circles."

"He's trying to divert us, probably."

"It looks like he's scanning the area. He's stopping at certain places and observing everyone around."

"Guys, I've reached Santa's greeting place. There's still nothing suspicious over here."

"Stay there, Akemi. I am at the gate. If they plan to start their abduction, this is the only way in and out. They are bound to enter or exit from this gate."

"He's moving towards the end of the playground. That's where the Christmas gathering organizers keep all the extra Christmas decorations. Isn't that like a storeroom? They are probably planning to meet there."

"Be careful, Alisa. Maybe there's a group inside. Stay watchful. Don't let him catch you."

"Yeah, guys, I'm going in."

The room was dark but not too dark. Some boxes contained Christmas ornaments, while some had food items. Alisa's eyes could reach only those few boxes. The mysterious man made his way towards a corner of the room. Alisa continued to follow him, making sure not to catch his attention.

The man took something out of his outlandishly huge coat. The room suddenly became a little less dark. An odd smoke diffused across the room. Alisa went ahead a little to see what was happening.

Maybe she shouldn’t have.