THE LIGHT WE LOST: a gripping thriller

by Valera Titov

  University of Chicago gridiron football star, Bobby Bryant had dated her for a short period, but Glory had felt that she was being used more as a showpiece that he could show offto his friends at parties, rather than as a girlfriend.

  Then, there was her short fling with the university’s basketball point guard, Joe Green. Besides being a good two foot taller than her, he too seemed more interested in everything around him than a solid relationship.

  Perhaps she was too choosy, she had often thought, but then why did her friends get it right and she couldn’t make any headway when it came to relationships?

  Some of her friends from her school days had already become mothers, some even before they had become brides. Glory wanted to go through the proper route. She wanted to be married before becoming a mother.

  Even Planetology, Professor Jeff Conway, had attempted to take Glory away for a weekend to ‘teach her more’, but the black-haired student saw right through the professor’s agenda and thought up an excuse to get out of that one.

  She had begun to think that she would be single forever and in-fact, was starting to like the feeling. It meant less trouble in her life, but it brought with it a deep sense of loneliness.

  “Well if it makes you feel any better, I haven’t got a date for the prom either,” blushed Deborah.

  Glory smiled. Deborah does not have model looks like she had, but there was something about her that was attractive to men. Deborah was an innocent girl, who had joined the University of Chicago straight from a convent school. It had been quite a mind change for her, but fortunately, she had landed Glory as a friend.

  Deborah put on her sunglasses and looked towards the sky.

  “Glory, do you really believe that there is something out there?” she asked.

  “You mean like men from the moon who will come to earth and sweep us off our feet?” teased Glory.

  Deborah giggled.

  “Something like that too, but I was actually asking if you believe that there are lifeforms on the other planets?”

  “I believe that could well be the case,” replied Glory.

  “What about Unidentified Flying Objects,” asked Deborah.

  “You know what I mean. What about UFOs?’

  Deborah just shrugged.

  “I have never been to space, but some people who have been staring through telescopes longer than I have, have reported seeing some strange things floating around in the solar system.”

  Deborah pressed further on the matter.

  “What about that Malaysian Airlines Flight number 370 that disappeared off the planet on 8 March 2014? Did it really disappear down the famous Black Hole in outer space or did some military force like the Russians, accidentally shoot it down?”

  Glory shook her head. Even as a student of planetology, she did not buy into the fact that the aircraft with 227 people onboard, had been swallowed up by the Black Hole. Something earthly must have happened to it. While she was a Christian church-goer, she didn’t believe in the supernatural elements. Her mind let her believe that there had to be a logical reason for something to happen.

  Glory turned to her friend.

  “At least we will have the most stunning dresses at the prom even if we are dateless,” quipped Glory.

  Deborah teased Glory.

  “Guys drool over you no matter what you wear, so pick the guy that you want and pass one of your other contenders over to me.”

  “You went to school in Dallas, Texas, didn’t you?” asked Glory.

  Deborah nodded.

  “Yeah, that is part of the problem as most of the honest guys I know live in that part of the world,” she said.

  Glory burst out laughing.

  “So you really do believe that there is something such as an honest guy?” she questioned.

  This time, it was Deborah's turn of to nod.

  “I believe in that as much as you believe in life outside Planet Earth,” remarked Deborah.

  Deborah stopped walking which forced Glory to stop too.

  “So what about Adam Kennedy?” asked Deborah.

  “What about him?” queried Glory.

  “Come on, Glory, I have been your friend for some time now and I know there is something in the air between both of you. I have seen the way you look at each other. It’s like two teenagers who are refusing to make the first move. You had better move fast if you want to get him before someone else does.”

  Glory grinned.

  “Was it that obvious?” she said.

  “Glory, at prom night, you either go for it or else, well, you know, if you snooze you lose,” advised Deborah.

  Glory nodded intensely. Deborah was right. They were all going to leave the University of Chicago soon and the opportunity to get to know Adam Kennedy better might be lost. She wanted to live her life with no regrets. She needed to make something happen at prom night.

  The girls bid each other farewell, but instead of returning to her student accommodation, Glory went to the Planetology laboratory where she had spent most of her time as a student.

  She removed the lens cover on the Celestron CPC 1100 StarBright telescope and positioned her body behind it. Even though it was now around 13h30, the equipment was powerful enough to see much in the solar system.

  As she zoomed the lens towards the planets that could be seen, a sharp light blinded her and she pulled away from the telescope.

  Glory wiped her face and peered again through the telescope. The light ray that had stunned her was gone. Had she imagined it? It was almost like something out there was zooming in on Planet Earth? Without proof, it would be a hard story to sell to her professor.

  Glory looked again and again but she couldn’t see what it was again through the telescope. Was she going crazy? No, Glory, she thought, there is definitely something out there!

  Glory Carter had lost track of time. Her main aim in life now was not finding a man but finding the light ray that had blinded her a short while earlier.

  It was another hour and a half before another light ray tried to blind her through the telescope, but this time, it was not as powerful as the first one. It was almost as if the light rays were aimed directly at her telescope. In all her studies, she had never seen such solar system behaviour before.

  It was like something or someone, many, many miles away was targeting something sinister against Planet Earth or Glory Carter

  !

  Chapter Two

  It’s raining on Prom Night

  The University of Chicago’s famous Ratner Athletics Center is usually filled to its capacity for basketball matches involving the home team known as the ‘Maroons’. This time, the hall had an even neater look about it as it played host to Prom Night 2017.

  Not even an early evening downpour over Chicago could dampen the spirits of those in attendance as Local Organizing Committee members ushered guests into the main arena.

  The venue was already pretty full by the time Glory Carter and Deborah Summers arrived. Was it Glory’s imagination or did a sudden hush go over the arena as she stepped into it? Dressed in a pink Cliffon solid half sleeve ballroom gown, her beauty was simply too much for many in the room to handle. This applied none more so than to Professor Jeff Conway, who eyed Glory up and down, before getting a poke in the ribs from his wife, Minnie, who was standing next to him.

  Deborah Summers, dressed in a blue A-line Princess van Eck floor length dress was now almost the same height as Glory, as she wore her Royer Vivier shoes. Many in the room thought that Glory was a bit of a loner. She rarely mixed with the other girls at parties. More to the point, and she rarely went to parties. Her strategy was to rather save her cash over a year so she could look the part at prom night.

  At this point, Glory could not see Adam Kennedy in the arena. Over in the far corner, standing alone, was Alan Falcon, dressed in a Dolce and Gabbana black suit.

  He wasn’t alone for long.

  “Hi, Alan,” said Jennifer Ellis.

  Alan di
d his best to escape but soon realized that he could not achieve his goal without causing a scene.

  “Hello, Jennifer You look lovely tonight,” he said more out of routine than compliment.

  Glory and Deborah watched the goings-on from the far end. Glory immediately noticed that there was something wrong with Jennifer’s outfit – a red strapless floor length gown.

  There was way too much loose material around her waist area. Was Jennifer pregnant or fat or both? Or had she just got the measurements wrong when briefing the dress designer?

  Something made Glory look towards the main entrance and there he was. Adam Kennedy had arrived, looking as handsome as ever in his grey Hugo Boss suit.

  Glory couldn’t help but notice that Adam had arrived alone and watched on as he made his way over to the bar where a student was acting as a barman, empowered him with a Bad Light beer – Alabama’s finest.

  Glory tried not to stare at Adam, but it was hard not to do that. Deborah nudged her friend so hard in the ribs that the black haired girl nearly fell over.

  “Remember what you told me you were going to do tonight?” remarked Deborah.

  Glory thought intensely about the situation.

  “Alright, Debbie, I have got this under control. I just need the right time to do it.”

  Moving towards the bar now, was Alan with Jennifer Ellis a stride behind him.

  She suddenly saw Adam and poor Alan was history, or lucky.

  “Adam, you look even more handsome today,” said Jennifer.

  The archaeology student never reacted to the compliment as he had just noticed Glory on the other side of the room.

  As pretty as Jennifer tried to be, she couldn’t hold a candle to Glory Carter in terms of looks, sex appeal, and for that matter, personality.

  Their gazes met each other and Adam tossed his head to one side as if to point towards a vacant table where they could meet.

  Deborah pushed a glass of cola tonic, lemonade and ice into her friend’s right hand and whispered: “You go, girl”.

  Seated on plastic chairs which were covered to match the room’s red and white décor, it seemed another stalemate as both Adam and Glory waited for the other to speak first.

  Finally, Adam broke the ice.

  “You are very beautiful, I have always thought so,” he said as he touched his glass against hers in the form of a toast of remembrance for the occasion.

  Glory battled to break her glance away from Adam’s blue eyes. Everything about him just seemed so perfect to her.

  “Why didn’t you contact me sooner?” she asked.

  Adam puffed out his cheeks.

  “Life is never as simple as one makes it out to be,” he replied.

  “Now that we are finally together, we can make it big as a team, both as a couple and through what we have learnt with our studies.”

  Glory listened with interest as Adam spoke about several case studies that he had found of huge interest during his archaeology studies. She had always believed that he was no fool and his intellect display had just confirmed that he had a huge future ahead of him – a future that she hoped that she would be a part of.

  “If we don’t take a chance on us being together, I will consider myself to be a fool,” muttered Adam as he changed his glance from Glory’s eyes to the table setting of knives and forks in front of him.

  Glory wanted to scream the word ‘yes’, but even if the arena had been empty, she would have still battled to get the word out. For once, Glory Carter was lost for words. The opportunity of being with Adam was right in front of her and her body and voice seemed paralyzed and useless.

  Finally, she came to her senses and without thinking, put her left hand on top of his.

  “My God, Adam,” she said, as she felt a tear of joy begin to trickle down from her right eye.

  Adam put his right hand on top of her left.

  “It’s all good,” he remarked.

  “Things happen at a certain time in life for a reason. Perhaps the time wasn’t right previously but it is now.”

  Glory looked to the side as if to see which of the students were ready to gossip that she was holding hands with Adam Kennedy. She caught the eye of Deborah Summers, who was now keeping Alan Falcon company much to the annoyance of Jennifer Ellis. Deborah gave her the ‘thumbs up’ followed by a wink.

  The night belonged to Adam and Glory. For them, the time in the Ratner Athletics Center seemed endless as they laughed and danced the night away.

  The music played in the centre was divid into decades. The youngsters loved the tracks from singers such as Pitbull, Nicki Minaj, Rhianna, and more, while the teaching staffs of the university seemed to come to life on the dance floor when tracks from the 1980s musicals such as Grease and Saturday Night Fever were played.

  Once when seated during a break in dancing, Glory thought about telling Adam about what she had witnessed through the telescope in the laboratory two days before, but the timing just wasn’t right. This was Prom Night. She needed to make sure that she would see Adam Kennedy again before all of the final year students went their separate ways. This was not a time to talk about work.

  While in the queue to get dinner, Adam left Glory’s side momentarily to get another beer, and Jennifer Ellis seized the moment as she charged towards Glory.

  “Well aren’t we the little slut tonight?” quipped Jennifer.

  “I didn’t think that Adam was interested in sloppy seconds or thirds or fourths of all the guys that you have been with.”

  Glory’s eyes were raging and Deborah did well to take her friend’s drink from her in-case she attempted to toss its contents at Jennifer.

  “Just because I dated a lot of guys over the years, doesn’t mean that I slept with them,” responded Glory.

  “There is more to life than just sex, Jennifer, or didn’t your parents teach you that?”

  Deborah had to hide her smile. She knew how much Glory would have enjoyed making the last remark.

  For a moment, it looked like Jennifer was going to lunge forward to punch Glory but she thought better of it. Her university grades weren’t great but good enough to pass, and she didn’t want to get suspended over a silly girl fight on prom night.

  Jennifer turned around and saw Alan Falcon standing behind her.

  “Come on, Alan,” she quipped, as she attempted to grab the student physicist arm.

  “Let’s go.”

  Alan pulled away from her.

  “I think you should go, Jennifer,” he replied more as a command.

  Jennifer’s prom night was getting worse by the second. She turned around in a huff and headed off.

  By now, Adam had returned from the bar to join Glory in the food queue. Alan stared at him for a few seconds and then walked away without saying a word. He and Adam had never been friends. Perhaps, Adam’s bank balance wasn’t big enough to get a connection with the Falcon Empire.

  “What was the problem?” asked Adam to Glory.

  Glory thought for a moment.

  “There is no problem, Adam, everything is just fine,” she commented.

  She introduced Deborah to Adam and he mentioned that he had seen her around at the university campus before.

  Deborah giggled.

  “That is hard to believe,” she said.

  “Without these high heel shoes on, my height is pretty much close to that of a midget.”

  Adam and Glory laughed hysterically. The ice had been broken. Glory had achieved her goal.

  With the chance to date Adam, Glory’s smile looked even brighter than usual and her green eyes lit up to new proportions. She wasn’t a big eater but suddenly realized that she was hungry. The aroma of the spinach soup and roast beef at the buffet was enough to make anyone hungry.

  Glory, Adam, and Deborah were now close to the buffet and the black-haired planetology student held her plate of soup close to her chest as if it was a newborn baby.

  Once at the buffet stand, she reached forward to put a
few ladles of soup into her bowl but it didn’t work out that way. Something went wrong. Glory suddenly felt dizzy and her legs began to give way underneath her.

  Her plate fell from her hand and hit the Ratner Athletics Center floor before breaking into hundreds of pieces. Soon, Glory’s body was on the floor and concerned figures in Adam and Deborah were at her side within seconds.

  Adam asked the hordes of bystanders to give them some space while they attended to Glory.

  “Glory, what is it?” asked a worried Adam.

  Glory tried to lift her head so that she could get to a sitting position but she just didn’t have the strength and fell back to a horizontal position on the floor.

  “It’s that light, it’s here in the hall,” said a terrified Glory.

  “What light, Glory?” inquired Adam.

  “It’s, it’s… it’s here, Adam,” said Glory, with her hands placed over her face.

  “That light is following me.”

  Adam looked at Deborah who shrugge. Neither were any wiser as to what Glory was talking about.

  The university rector, Johnson Matterson called Adam to the side to try to find out what the problem was. Needless to say, Adam could share very little information with the university’s No 1.

  “Sir, I really don’t know what caused Glory to collapse and she is speaking very little sense at the moment,” explained Adam to the rector.

  “My secretary has called for the paramedics and they should be here any moment,” said Johnson Matterson.

  While Adam was gone, Glory tried to sit up straight again and succeeded this time.

  “The light has gone away, Debbie, it’s moved away. I don’t know where it came from and how it moved away. I just hope and pray that it never returns. It’s scary, Debbie. It’s a sign of immense danger to humanity.”

  Deborah thought that her friend was delusional after the fall and never revealed the latest utterings from Glory to Adam.

  Chapter Three

  Christmas Eve in Chicago