Lights in the sky

Jonathanwas staring at the landscape outside his apartment window, the coffeecup felt heavy in his hand. The air was thick and it made him tired,a walk would do him good. He scanned the landscape for shadows.

For monthshe had had this feeling that someone was following him around, and hehad seen dark shades in the periphery of his vision. When he turnedto look they always disappeared. When he walked near the park he wassure that he could see shrouded shapes hiding in the darkness, whichleft him with this constant feeling that someone was watching himfrom a distance. These feelings haunted him all day.

Jonathanput down his cup and looked around. The apartment was a mess, hestarted searching through the piles of paper that hid his couch fromview. He knew that his keys were somewhere inside of the apartment,the big question was: where?

Whilerummaging through a pile of worn out books, he couldn't shake thefeeling that someone else had been searching through his stuff whenhe wasn't around. If this feeling was accurate it would be related tothe people following him around. He wondered who these people wereand why they were taking an interest in him. He had his theories, ithad to be either the government or someone worse. This thoughtfrightened him.

He foundsomething, he felt something cold and metallic between his fingers,he looked at it with his worn out eyes, it was his keys. He tried tosmile to the best of his abilities, the results were terrifying.

But nomatter who they were and what they wanted with him, he had an edge,for the past year he had been observing all the strange things thathappened around him and he had taken notes and tried to figure ifthere were any patterns in his observations. This had only increasedthe number of sightings, luckily Jonathan knew it would be wise tocover his tracks.

With hiskeys in hand he went out the door, and locked it behind him, thoughhe was unsure what good it would do, considering how often they brokein without him noticing.

So youfound a pattern?

Peteasked, he extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray and leanedforward with his arms crossed.

Jonathanwas silent for a while, reflecting on how to put his findings intowords.

Yeah,I've marked all the places where there have been sightings onto amap. I was hoping to find a connection between all these weirdhappenings.

Jonathanpaused for a moment.

It's allhappening in a circle...

Petelifted one of his eyebrows, thinking things over.

Sosomething is in the centre?

Petehad a feeling that Jonathan was struggling to say something that wasweighing him down.

Jonathandidn't respond, he seemed to be lost in thought.

Peteleaned forward.

Isn't itrisky to leave stuff like that in your apartment? If, and this is abig if, there are people searching the place on a regular basis?

Hewas staring Jonathan straight in the eyes.

Jonathangot nervous, Pete was right, what if these people found his research?But he had also taken his precautions.

It ishidden, I don't think they are aware of where it is. I think they'vebeen at my place several times already but they obviously haven'tfound what they were looking for. I'm trying to find a new place tohide the stuff.

Peteseemed to be less worried by this answer.

Maybe Icould take a look at it, my place seems secure, I've never beenfollowed by suspicious people as you claim to have. And frankly Ihave my doubts about this whole thing.