There is a boy. He is twelve years, five months, and sixteen days old. He has a face, but it’s an ordinary face, so no one remembers it. One day he receives a box in the mail. He doesn't know who sent it. What could it be? He shakes it and it thumps, but there is no ticking so he's pretty sure it isn't a bomb. He realizes he's not important enough to get a bomb in the mail anyway.
He opens it, and inside is a telescope. It is shiny silver and black and the advertisement on the box claims it can help him to see Mars. There is a note attached. The note says You are not alone at night. You are never alone. The wait is almost over. We will come. The boy is confused as he reads the note, but his excitement outshines the confusion. He's never seen Mars before, or any planet for that matter. But he must wait for nightfall.
So, he does his homework and rides his bike and steals a corn dog from a vendor to feed to the stray cat in the alley beside his apartment. His little sister asks him to play tea party and he tells her tea parties are boring, but he'll play War with her instead. She agrees as long as she gets to be General.
His parents come home and his mom makes spaghetti for dinner. His father claims it gives him heartburn and throws his plate against the wall. Tomato sauce streaks downward. The boy wants to compare it to something cool, like blood, but it's just tomato sauce.
While his parents fight and his sister cries, the boy takes his telescope outside. He wants to see Mars. He sets it up neatly, he even reads the directions. When it's finished, it's smaller than he had imagined. It came with a paper that tells him how to find planets and he looks for Mars. He's a fast learner, so it doesn't take long.
He looks at the night sky, sprinkled with stars. He figures there has to be at least ten thousand. He likes the night sky because it's lonely, even though there are so many stars that surround each other. He likes it because people look at it and study it, but no one knows what it holds. He doesn't realize it, but it reminds him of himself.
He puts his eye to the telescope and searches for Mars. He likes Mars because it’s so close to him, and yet so far away. He finds it strange to think that one of the earth’s closest friends isn’t even close enough to touch.
When he finds it, he's amazed. He's actually looking at a planet that may have once held life. At least that’s what a documentary on television told him. He wishes it still held life, that he could see little aliens moving around, living lives similar to his. In his mind they look like people, but they aren’t people. Sadly, though, whatever life Mars once held is gone now. Or so he thinks.
It's more beautiful than he thought it would be, so he stares at it for hours, even after his parents stop screaming and his sister stops crying and they're all asleep.
Finally, he decides it's time for sleep, so he pulls away from the telescope and begins packing it back into its box. That's when he sees the light in his peripheral vision. He turns to get a better look, and barely sees the tail end of an alien space ship flying through the night skies. It leaves a trail of green light and a sense of adventure in its wake.
The boy is excited. He tells everyone he knows that he saw a space ship. He describes it in detail, making things up when he doesn't have a cool enough answer. He gets interviewed for the school newspaper, and the headline reads "Local Boy Sees Spaceship, Becomes Popular." The kids at school believe him, but the adults think he's seeking attention because his parents fight.
A week later, after his parents have gone to bed, there is a knock at the door. He answers it, and the faceless men are there; two of them. They are faceless because they don't have noses or eyes, just gaping mouths full of sharp silver teeth. Their bald white heads reflect the moonlight and they wear expensive suits as if that makes up for their appearance. Their builds are short and slight, no bigger than the boy before them.
The boy isn't afraid, it seems somehow right that they've come; the note told him the wait was almost over. One hands him a business card that says only the words "Faceless Men." The boy thinks it's funny and follows the faceless men to the black sedan parked across the street.
He climbs inside and he is never seen again.
Some people think he was kidnapped, but most assume he ran away because his parents fight.
No one thinks it has anything to do with the spaceship he saw or the telescope sitting in his room that neither parent can remember buying.
His parents stop looking for him after a year. His sister stops after five.
On the other side of the world, there is a boy. He is twelve years, five months, and sixteen days old. He has a face, but it's an ordinary face, so no one remembers it. One day he receives a box in the mail. He doesn't know who sent it.
-Payton Salmons
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