Chapter Text
It’s been six months since the incident. Everyone has returned to their normal lives, almost as if nothing happened. Random shit doesn’t just fall out of the sky for no reason. “A prop plane exploded,” they claimed.
There was no explosion. There was no plane. Tyler swears there is something more than just “abnormal” going on around here.
Tyler Joseph is 29 years old and the new owner of his father’s ranch, which provides horses for film productions. He’s been working with horses since he was a preteen, while his little brother Zack could only watch from the sidelines. It wasn't until recently that he was able to get the poor boy on a horse for the first time.
It was now the third time Zack got bucked off by their youngest horse, Andre.
“We’re gonna have to get a helmet for you soon, boy. ‘Fore you get a concussion!” Tyler yells from the court fence, watching Zack stand up and brush the dirt off his jeans while Andre cantered half around the arena.
“Aight, you outta just train your damn horse better Ty,” Zack grunted. He stepped on Andre’s lead, causing the horse to fall back and halt. “He ain't ever gonna be in the movies if you can’t get ‘em to behave.”
Tyler only shook his head and wiped his forehead. They had a set they were called in for, another western movie down in Chicago. Too many of their horses were being sold off to amusement parks and fairs because they just couldn’t seem to get them to settle down.
The Joseph ranch was located in one of the most rural areas in Ohio, in fact. They were neighbors to many Amish communities, but it was the only place with enough acres being sold to even set up the place. Father Joseph thought it was an amazing idea to move from western California and settle in somewhere more quiet, not considering how much more expensive it would be to rebuild everything and send horses for film shoots. They were located in a hidden valley, too, where the reception was terrible and the electricity went out at least once every week.
“If the Amish can do it, so can we,” Tyler said. It was useless to expect more out of his little brother. “Take Andre back to the stable. I’m gonna call the studio and tell them we need to push back the shoot or we’re not gonna be able to come in.”
It was painful. Everything had become painful ever since the incident. Tyler could barely live with himself or take care of Zach. Of course, Zach was able to live on his own and do whatever he wanted if he really desired to, but this “Hollywood Horse” thing wasn’t going to last very long. Day by day, misery and grief hung over Tyler like a thundercloud. No one could make sense of their father’s death. They were getting fewer and fewer inquiries about their horses. More of them were being sold. Bills were piling up. The pain itself was piling up.
“Ty, binder, off,” Zack said from the other end of the kitchen, putting the glass jar of milk back inside the fridge.
Right. That pain too.
Tyler sat up straight in his chair, making his terrible posture look less noticeable. “Don’t need it off. It’s fine.” He grunted and kept scribbling down on his notepad at the dining table.
“It’s been over eight hours. Dad would beat your ass for biding that long,” Zach bites into a piece of buttered toast, drinking his milk simultaneously. The older sibling shakes his head.
“You’re gonna look like ol’ Bourbaki if you keep going over the limit, I’m tellin’ ya.”
Bourbaki was their father’s horse and their oldest. He was a black and white Criollo, famously known for its terrible scoliosis. For years, Tyler begged his father just to put the old horse to rest, out of its misery. But now that Dad is gone, Tyler intends to keep it forever.
The pain in Tyler’s chest definitely wasn’t from the grief anymore, and he really didn't need to take his binder off. He’ll just do it when he takes a shower. Later.
Luckily, the filming studio said that they could wait another week for the shoot. That would give them enough time to fully train Andre, and if that plan falls through, they could always use Lisden. Tyler was excited for this specific shoot; the producers said they had a star cinematographer on set who had been working on the biggest blockbusters on the scene right now. They didn't disclose the name over the phone, but Tyler had a pretty good idea of who it could be anyway.
Before Zack left the kitchen, he knocked on the wooden table to catch Tyler’s attention again. “Binder off before bed.”
“I’m literally older than you?” Tyler said, completely baffled. Zack was already gone; whatever his response to Tyler would be wasn’t important enough.
Of course, as soon as Tyler opened his phone to check his contacts, the power dipped completely out. This is the third time this week. It wasn’t unusual for it to go out, but out of the ordinary for it to be this many times. The box fans in the kitchen windows stopped, making the entire ranch house fall quiet.
“Zack!” He called up the stairs, and his brother yelled back down.
“What?”
“Go out to the shed and check the fuse box, the power’s out again!”
“Why can’t you just do it? You’re the oldest!”
Luckily, the shed with the breaker wasn’t that far. It has to not only power the house but the entire ranch in general, which is why it’s outside. As soon as Tyler stepped inside, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He opened the fuse box and flipped a few switches, but the power still didn’t turn back on.
“Son of a bitch…” He slammed the box shut and peeked out of the shed, glancing back at the horse stable. The horses were mostly calm, but some were whinnying. Before he and Zack went inside earlier, they turned on the hot walker near the arena so the horses they used today could cool off for a bit. Since the power went out, so did the walker.
Tyler came out of the shed and started to walk towards the stable. Of course, the moment he did, the power switched right back on.
He’s gotta call someone about this.
——
“Hey, you guys called? My name is Josh, I’m with Ned’s Electronics.”
Josh didn’t look a day over 25. Scrawny, thin looking guy with bright, soft blue hair and gauges. A dainty little ring hanging off his bottom lip. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he had a colorful tattoo of a tree on his right arm. Something that kids would probably call “alternative.” Tyler didn’t understand it.
“Wait, electronics?” Tyler watched Josh go around the back of the van and open its back doors, reading the printing on the side. Sure enough, it said TVs, phones, and computers retail. “I called for an electrician, not some underpaid electronic store employee.”
“Uh, well, we do a bit of electrical work too. Also, I’m kinda like, already here? You guys are really far out of our range, actually. I was willing to make the drive,” Josh rambled, pulling out a small bag from the back and a toolbox. “Like really far out. They don’t exactly tell you how to share the road with horse drawn carriages in driver’s Ed.”
Tyler was kind of speechless. He prayed that this guy just knew what he was doing and wasn’t wasting his time. He pinched the bridge of his nose frustratedly. “Okay…Okay, the fuse box is over here.”
He explained to Josh that this happens often, but he wants Josh to make it so that it doesn’t happen again.
“Ah, I see,” Josh crouched down and looked through the tangle of wires on the dirt floor.
“What? You know what’s wrong?”
“Oh. No.” Josh laughed as if it was funny. For some reason. Tyler didn’t find this funny in the slightest. “I mean, it’s obvious that your neighbors don’t use electricity, so the power lines are only benefiting you guys, right? But— Okay, I’m sorry for laughing. But, it looks like everything is fine though. How long was the power out for?”
Tyler sighed and sat on an empty milk crate in the corner of the shed. “I don’t know… Like a half hour?”
Josh hums and pulls out a few tools out of his box and a pair of electrical gloves from his bag. More things Tyler didn’t understand, but he silently watches Josh work. The boy unplugged and plugged back in wires, stripping them, lining them up next to each other. Rewiring. He actually seemed pretty skilled.
“I’ll be one hundred percent honest, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be fixing or looking for. I don’t know how long this will take either. Didn’t you say over the phone that the outages affect the power in batteries too?”
“Yeah, everything just goes out completely. I don’t get it. This has only been happening since a few months ago—“
“Okay, now wait,” Josh interrupted. He’s twisting some wires and snipping others, his face heavily focused. There’s already sweat beading on his forehead under his backwards employee hat, where his hair is peeking out from the hole. “Phones can’t just drop in power. The wifi is probably just dropping when the system dips. Technology has become a real crapshoot nowadays.”
Tyler looks at Josh blankly.
“Or you could be in a UFO hotspot. That would be really cool.”
“UFOs? Like aliens?”
“Actually, they’re called UAPs now, but no one knows what that even means so no one gives a shit about that kinda stuff anymore. All the footage that the government releases is always terrible, because they want to hide the fact that alien civilization is real. It’s all one big ploy, maybe to just keep people’s noses out of serious government shit. We’re living in 1984 I’m telling you.”
“You talk a lot.”
“Sorry,” Josh apologizes and stands up, opening the fuse box and flipping the switches like Tyler did earlier.
“I only talk a lot because my coworkers pretty much ignore me all the time. I’m the newest one there, and also the youngest so I guess that gives them the right to boss me around and leave me in the dark. I’m actually covering for someone today. I typically work the closing shifts but I guess getting out of the store every once in a while doesn’t hurt anyone. And, well, nothing beats the smell of fresh air and horse shit, amirite? Since there’s no pollution from the city out here, I bet you guys can actually see the stars and aurora borealis from here, huh? God, it must be so beautiful, I should check my calendar…”
It was like Josh completely ignored Tyler’s comment. His apology was meaningless.
“You must be alone a lot too.” Tyler leans forward and rests his chin in his palm. He picks the dirt out from under his nails.
“I’m not alone. No one is actually, truly ‘alone.’” Josh points up towards the ceiling, a coy smile.
Right, Tyler thinks. God is always watching.
“The extraterrestrials.” The blue hair boy’s smiled ever wider.
——
Tyler decided that it was nice to talk to someone else that wasn’t his little brother for once. When Joshua decided he was done with his work, Tyler offered for him to come inside the house for a drink.
“Yeah, that’s like, totally okay. I get paid hourly anyway, so…” Josh said as he nervously followed Tyler inside, taking off his gloves and shoving them into his back pocket.
They hung around the kitchen while Tyler poured them two cold glasses of lemonade that he had made earlier. He took down a loaf of friendship bread from the top of the fridge, cased inside a plastic container. A gift from one of their new neighbors. It felt kind of ironic at that moment.
Zack came trotting down the stairs and into the kitchen, freezing in his tracks when he saw Josh.
“Is this the electrician?” He pointed at Josh skeptically.
“Uh—” Tyler got out, but Josh was quicker to butt in.
“No, I work with electronics. Not an actual electrician. But I fixed your little fuse problem.”
“Oh,” Zack relaxed, looking a bit disappointed. “So, Tyler just called some random guy to fix it.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Be nice. But I think it’s time for our guest to get going now.”
Zack kept following Josh’s every moment as he left and got back into his stupid little van. Tyler had to keep jabbing his shoulder to make him quit staring.
——
“Dad hated this record,” Zack commented as he took a hit from his vape. Tyler sat across from him in the large leather recliner, completely slouched, and his back awkwardly arching. He was way too out of his mind right now; his head felt as heavy as lead when he tried to look over at his brother. Tyler hasn’t smoked in ages. There was just too much to do, he never had any free time.
“I like this one,” He mumbled, humming to the song off-key. A stupid oldie. Frank Sinatra. “Summa wind…”
Zack scoffs and pours himself another shot of whiskey from the vintage glass bottle, almost slipping and shattering it. “He would be so mad at us right now. Raiding his liquor cabinet. Smoking in the house.”
“Stop. Just stop talking about him.” Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose. He tries to readjust in his seat, but his back simmers with pain as he groans sharply.
“You’re a dumbass. Take off your binder or I’ll rip it off you.”
Tyler just whines in protest. He didn't take a shower like he said he would. Nor did he take off the one thing crushing his ribs right now.
Zack twirled his electronic vape between his fingers and pranced over to the mantle over the office’s fireplace. He raises his shot glass to the mounted picture frame of their father hanging there.
“To him. To the man.”
He’s laughing as he downs the shot. Tyler pours himself his own and does the same. On the mantle, there is also a picture of their father next to a horse with a white diamond on its face.
“Man, do you remember Keons?” Zack points, and Tyler lazily squints his eyes at the picture.
“Yeah. He was a good horse. Dad’s second favorite before he had to go and sell him away. Bastard.”
“Well, Keons was supposed to be my horse. My first one. Dad just never let me train ‘em. Said I was too young.” Zack grunted.
“Okay, Zack you were like seven. You didn’t even know your times tables.”
“You don’t understand how unfair it was to just sit there and watch you train my damn horse. You got everything just because you’re the oldest.”
Tyler stares at the ceiling. “Why don’t you just leave and go do your own thing like Maddie did?”
Zack exhales loudly from his nose. “‘Cause. Don’t wanna. Jay doesn’t give a damn about any of us. You would probably kill yourself or something if I wasn’t here all the time to watch you.”
Maddison left for college the moment she graduated from school. She couldn’t stand being here, hated the heat and the smell of manure every day. “The city life is where it’s at,” She said, showing Tyler and Zack her acceptance letter into Columbia University. The last time they saw her was at their dad’s funeral. Jay stayed back in their hometown with their mother to finish high school.
Tyler has always been struggling with his mental health; it wasn’t anything new. Taking care of his younger siblings would distract him just enough, but truly spending time alone in the stable was the only thing that kept him confined. He loved horses and taking care of them more than anything in the world. If anything happened to them, that would be the final straw.
So, Tyler didn’t respond to Zack’s little comment.
“Also, what was up with you and the electrician guy earlier?” He asked suddenly.
“What are you talking about?” Tyler glared at him, his head still lolled against the back of the chair.
“You were staring at him with big ‘ol googly eyes. Like a girl.”
“Oh, please. You were the one giving him the creeps. You don’t know how to act mature whenever we have guests. When the Millers came by to give us their bread you growled at them.”
“I think you have a crush on him.”
Tyler instantly snapped his head back forward and turned red. “No, I don’t. You’re crazy for saying that.”
“Am I?” Zack taunted, drawing in closer to Tyler and wagging his finger at his brother. “You can keep pretending to be a guy all you want, but that doesn’t make you not attracted to boys anymore.”
It didn’t hurt Tyler that badly. His head was pounding and his mouth felt dry, and his chest ached only because he was stupidly high and drunk. And so was Zack. Zack didn’t know what he was saying or talking about. He was just being an asshole. It wasn’t something to get upset about. Tyler watched his brother walk back over to the window and lean against its frame.
“...Why is Andre in the arena?”
——
Tyler walks unnervingly into the arena towards Andre, who remains perfectly still as Tyler arrives at his side.
“Hey,” He reaches out, running his curled fist down the horse’s neck. “You good?”
Andre huffs. Tyler huffs back in a laugh. “Yeah.”
Suddenly, loud dance-like jazz music blasts from the house, turning Tyler towards it. Through the window, Tyler sees Zack dancing drunkenly around the office. Tyler yells, telling him to turn it down, but Zack doesn’t hear him.
“Zack! Ugh…”
Tyler turns back to the valley that stretches beyond the farmland just as Andre leaps over the arena’s fence and gallops into the darkness. He curses under his breath.
“Hey! Where’s he goin’?” Zack is shouting out the window. Tyler shakes his head and tries to whistle for Andre. There’s no response. Goddamn it.
Powering on the ATV, Tyler drives down the perimeter of the farm and stops by the end of the wired fence. He whistles for Andre, but all he gets back is the echo from the dark gulch. Three distant cellphone towers each appear as two red lights in the far distance.
The farthest tower turns off… Tyler just barely notices.
The next turns off, then the closest. Odd.
Then the stadium lights that illuminate that privately-owned theme park down south are the only lights Tyler can see. He’s noticed that every Friday night that park always has some sort of event going on, and he can even hear the loudspeaker booming from over here.
The Josephs have known the Ryans since they moved here, and that was back when their park was called “Gold Rush” before the remodel. It’s been called “Enna’s Claim” for three years now, and Tyler can tell they’re already going bankrupt. But he’s not going to say anything.
Even then, the lights go down over there too, and a long, panicked and distant bellow from Andre can be heard from deep in the gulch.
Tyler stops dead in his tracks. All is quiet. It’s never been this quiet before, never to hear the crickets chirping. A chilling breeze ripples through the dead grass in the canyon towards Tyler who kneels, his body trembling when he feels his binder poking him in all the wrong places.
His ATV headlights fade, and he can barely see five feet ahead of him.
Looking up, the breeze suddenly stops. A few clouds and bright stars, fairly still. Tyler looks back down at the gulch confused, but his eyes still bulge out of his skull in terror. The breeze picks up again before passing by him, feeling like it washes right through Tyler’s squeezed ribcage and continues through the valley. He can’t hear the music from the house anymore.
Tyler doesn’t move an inch. He doesn’t even dare to breathe but he can hear his heart hammering in his ears. But, the lights all turn back on and the music starts to play loudly again.
Everything seems back to normal.
A shadow passed through a lit patch in the valley along with a painful distant horse’s scream. Tyler looks up, and in a split second he catches the tail end of something huge quickly and silently hurdling a gap in the clouds.
Tyler is shook violently to his core.
——
Tyler completely scrambles out of the ATV when he gets back to the house, and his face is pale white when he sees his brother leaning out from the side porch, full of concern.
“Did you see that? The power? Your dumb electrician boy didn’t fix shit, we better get a refund,” Zack was rambling drunkenly. He notices that Tyler came back alone and the look of horror on his face.
“Where’s…? Where’s Andre?”
“I don’t know,” was all Tyler could mutter out. He held out his hands and they were shaking terribly. They haven’t shaken like that since the incident. Violent visions of it, the blood on his hands flashed before his eyes. “…I don’t know.”
“Did something happen?”
In the indoor arena is the security room. The farm was prone to having animals getting out or even people stealing the stock. A camera was set up only at the fence gate to monitor it. Tyler now stands behind Zack who rewinds the feed of a single monitor, and empty sky and field passing along. The image goes black.
“Yeah, see. The power sent out. See that…?” Zack says matter-of-factly.
“Rewind it.” Tyler squints at the screen. Zack rewinds. “Stop.”
His brother presses play just moments before Andre leaps over the fence. Tyler’s tall figure is in the image as well.
“This fucking horse, man. Talking about ‘look at me; I ain’t trained. I do whatever the fuck I want.’ Bastard.” Zack scoffed and leaned back in the office chair.
Tyler only shifts uneasy and bites the inside of his cheek. He knows he saw something, something that no mankind has ever seen. Zack looks at his eyes.
“Bro, what’d you see?”
They had to go back outside for this. Maybe it would show up again. Maybe Tyler is just drunk. Out on the porch now, Zack pulls hit after hit from his vape, white smoke billowing through the night air. Tyler sits back in shook wonder for a bit, anxiously thumping his foot against the floor. He watches the sky and the horizon. Zack watches his brother.
“Something like a bad miracle. There’s gotta be a word for that,” Tyler’s voice shakes.
Zack thinks and then shakes his head. “Nope.”
“It wasn’t a fucking prop plane that killed dad. That doesn’t make any sense. And, and then down in the gulch. I heard Andre make a sound I ain't never heard a horse make.”
“Okay, but what did you see?”
Tyler shrugs and looks at him. “I dunno. It was… big.”
“How big?”
“Big.”
“What did it look like though?”
“I dunno, Zack. It was so fuckin’ fast— too fast. Too quiet to be a plane.”
“Bullshit,” Zack scored at first, but then saw how serious Tyler was. “There’s no way, man. There’s no fucking way… Are you sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’?”
Without hesitation, Tyler nods.