Are you an open-minded person? Do you at least think it's possible that there might be more between heaven and Earth than most people assume? Would you one day want to experience the unimaginable mysteries of fate from close by?

If so, then we just might be kindred spirits. I invite you to listen to my story, and see for yourself just how fate decided to dramatically alter the course of my life in the blink of an eye. 

My name is Robert Moss, or more precise...it used to be...but we will get to that part soon enough.

I'm a thirty-two year old reporter for the Unexplained Magazine. My seemingly underrated job is all about interviewing people who claim to have experienced strange and mostly bizarre events, often emotionally scarring them for life. From people who say they have been abducted by UFOs to people who are haunted by their dead cats.
Granted, most people are just plain nutcases or they just desperately want some media attention. But I'm looking for the real gems out there, famous people or people otherwise known to be a more...uhm...credible...source of information.  

You might also be one of those people who think that my job isn't the most interesting one, but I would like to ask you to see it from my perspective. Sure it pays the bills, but my real rewards are the investigations, the mysteries, the different kinds of people I meet and of course the places my job allows me to visit. My most recent interview yielded some interesting results that are probably best described as....."different."

Which brings me back to where it all started.

Wait...you want to hear more about my past? Well, if you truly must, but only because you seem to be a fellow believer so far. Okay then, here we go. I'm more of a dog kind of guy, cats just somehow don't seem to like me. Trust me, I have some nasty scars on my arms to prove it. I would never harm them, but they somehow don't seem to return that sentiment.

I won't bother you with too many of my personal feelings, but this one is important to share with you. They are important to me, but also for you to understand my perspective while you join me.

Okay....here I go. Even though my passport shows that I'm a man, I have only recently accepted the fact that I actually think of myself as a woman. No, no, hear me out, I don't want to bore you.
Well, I'm one on the inside at least, if that makes any sense at all. Again, I promise not to bother you too much, so I will stop right there.

I can only blame one of my interview subjects, Vanessa, a self-proclaimed alien abductee, who has recently finished her long journey of self discovery to become a woman on the outside as well as on the inside. And she is more than happy to talk about it. I, however, am absolutely, definitely, without a doubt..not. 

It happened at the end of our interview session, when she flipped my world upside down by confronting me with my deepest, well-buried emotions. I thought I was the one who was supposed to be asking the questions? Anyway, she just knew I was having similar feelings as she had in her past. I don't know how she knew it, but it took some serious soul searching for me to see she was spot on with her logic. 

When I called her a few weeks later, she said "don't think about it for a while. Let things settle for now. Just change your outfit a bit, experiment with stuff. Or put some little things at home that only have a deeper meaning to you. See where things go." 

Well, that didn't work for me. The only thing I dare to wear is a necklace with a little pink dolphin on it. I don't even know if it counts, but it just feels right, even though nobody can see it. Perhaps I'm just too chicken to lose my job and start discussing my emotions, or even worse...my childhood aversion for cats, with a shrink. I simply decided to do what I have always done subconsciously before. I simply play the pretend game. I just pretend to be a guy and hope nobody notices the real me. So far I've done a pretty decent job at that, if I may say so myself. 

I think I'm now happy the way I am, so now the annoying cat is out of the equally annoying proverbial bag, would you mind if we changed subjects? No? Good, because I really, really feel uncomfortable talking about my feelings. And cats. So let's stop talking about those too, thank you very much.

Now that you have learned a little bit about a part of me that most people will never get to see, let's finally get to the point when it all started.

It all started on a cold, misty, November morning in Chicago. My next interview was about to take place in the Chicago History Museum where an elderly lady claimed to have seen some kind of apparition, or ghost if you will, in the Abraham Lincoln exhibit. Probably a real nutcase, the lady I meant, not Abraham Lincoln. But when the boss orders me to go and investigate the matter, then that's just what I'm gonna do. It's my job after all.

Little did I know that while waiting for my appointment to arrive, I was going to witness some strange events up close as well.

Moriko

Welcome to a new story! Next chapter: Chapter 1: Surprise 😊