Naomi – Unidentified Flying Object

By starrymag | January 25, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The last time we saw Naomi (Kaci Walfall) she was at Dee’s (Alexander Wraith) tattoo shop trying to find some answers about her biological parents when Dee showed her he’s not entirely human by showing her his wings. He says that he is not an angel, but he is just from another planet. And Naomi probably is too, he tells the stunned teenager. To recap on Naomi’s adoption day, March 14, 2004, there was a UFO sighting in Port Oswego, the town she and her parents are currently living in. There was the sighting, a flash of light in the sky, and then there was Naomi. Dee tells the stunned teenager she has powers too.

 

Naomi is still hoping for a more grounded explanation for the strange things that’ve been happening, but she asks Dee why he didn’t clue her in sooner if this is true? Because he wasn’t sure that she’d have any powers, he explains. Also, she seemed perfectly happy with her parents. He felt it’d be wrong to disrupt her life on a maybe. But since she’s asking for answers now, he says he’ll do his best to answer her questions. But, not tonight.

 

The next morning Naomi’s having dinner with her mother (Mouzam Makkar) and father (Barry Watson) and is still a little dubious of what Dee told her. So she decides to probe a little of the details of her adoption. Her parents tell her that they understand her curiosity and it’s totally normal. But, they tell her that her adoption was closed. They were really just happy to be given a baby and all they were told was that Naomi’s birth parents died in an accident. When Naomi questions them further they admit they were never even told what kind of accident killed them. Jennifer, Naomi’s mother, seems a little upset by the conversation and insists she needs to start getting ready for work. Which leaves Naomi with Greg. He says it’s hard for them as parents to accept they can’t protect her from everything, but they’ll always be there for her.

 

Once at school Naomi is still distracted. So much so that she pretty much sleep walks through accepting her friend Anthony’s (Will Meyers) invitation to get pizza, not realizing that this isn’t a platonic invitation. After school she meets Dee on a bridge in the woods and he surprises her by asking her to jump. He tries to reassure her that she’ll be fine, because she’s not normal. Naomi points out that: 1) that’s an easy thing for a man with wings to say. 2)if he’s wrong about her she’ll get pretty hurt. Dee sees that Naomi isn’t ready for such a literal leap of faith yet, but they’ll try again when she is. He also casually mentions that he knows Superman and they fought in a war this one time. In this world people aren’t totally convinced he’s real. Dee and Naomi part ways, for now.

 

Later Naomi requests that her best friend Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones) come over. She explains that she’s trying to figure out where she came from and tells Annabelle about the UFO that flew over the town on her adoption day. But, she tells Annabelle, she’s not convinced that she’s an alien. Her money’s on a government cover-up. Annabelle is a little worried, but is willing to help however she can. This includes calling their mutual friend Jacob (Aidan Gemme) for a ride to Falls Creek, the site near the UFO sighting.

 

Elsewhere Naomi’s father is called in for a meeting with Commander Steel (Brian Brightman). He wants to talk about the Superman sighting. Dee said he staged it as a publicity stunt, but Commander Steel is less convinced and would like Greg to investigate.

 

While Naomi, Jacob, and Annabelle are searching Fall Creek for clues when Jacob and Annabelle make Naomi realize that Anthony was asking her out. They keep looking but aren’t coming up with much. Then things get strange when suddenly Naomi can hear everything. Like, can hear the fluttering of bugs’ wings, can hear everything. This gets overwhelming for her very fast, it’s her day’s theme apparently.

 

When Annabelle notices her distress Naomi explains that she thinks she has powers. Annabelle is of course shocked, but tells Naomi she knows she wouldn’t lie. So she believes her.

 

Later now with Anthony with them Naomi, Jacob and Annabelle venture to the photo lab to develop their pictures of the site. While there Anthony suggests they talk to Steve (Sean Hankinson), a friend of his father’s,  if they really want answers about the UFO sighting. Long story short, when Steve was their age he and some friends went into the woods to explore the UFO crash site. Afterwards things were…different, but Steve can explain better according to Anthony.

 

But when they drop in on Steve he’s a little hesitant to take the trip down memory lane. He explains that there was a time when he was like Naomi. He felt like he needed to understand what happened in the woods or nothing would ever make sense again. But then he realized he had to make a choice: he could forget and be a part of the town or keep obsessing and be an outcast. He chose to do the former.

 

He thinks the kids should do the same, but he relents and answers a few questions. He and his friends went exploring after the crash and then things got weird.  The woods came alive and they started hearing voices. Then there was a terrifying noise and a bright light. After the light, Steve and his friends woke up back at the car with no clue how they got there. So more questions that need to be answered, but the gang does get a clue: the real location of the UFO crash. They need to go to the mill a few miles away.

 

Naomi is determined to find the mill, but her friends are hesitant. They’re all getting kinda behind on homework. But, Naomi yells that they have to find it. Then she looks around at her friends and apologizes for snapping at them and excuses herself. But the hits keep coming. Nathan’s (Daniel Puig), another friend/boy who likes, is at her door and she realizes she forgot that she invited him over to do homework. Nathan tells her that the way she’s been forgetting about their plans and their project isn’t really fair. Naomi agrees and apologizes and then goes to another part of the house, because she still needs a minute.

 

Annabelle finds her and asks her what’s up. Naomi explains that her whole life’s been about being different. She’s an army kid, so she’s moved a lot. In some of the towns she’s lived in she’s been the only Black girl. And she’s starting to worry she’ll never have answers about her birth family. Seeing that this is really important for Naomi, Annabelle promises to help. They’re going to find the mill.

 

The group gets a ride from Jacob, at first. But then his car breaks down so Naomi calls her friend Lourdes for assistance. Lourdes (Camilla Moreno) is a girl with purple hair, who Naomi’s mother thinks has a crush on Naomi. She’s happy to give the group a lift once she’s up to speed. Using the map they put together, they find the mill and start looking around and they see strange writing on the wall. But they’re interrupted by Zumbado (Crantson Johnson). He tells the group he knows that they’re here and says he needs to speak with Naomi, privately. At first the group doesn’t like the idea, because Zumbado is acting a little menacing. But Naomi agrees, she doesn’t want her friends in trouble because of her. The compromise is that they’re going to wait for her outside.

 

Once alone Naomi and Zumbado are alone Naomi wants to know what he wants from her. Zumbado says he wants her to mind her own business. A flicker of Naomi’s powers during this conversation suggests that this very much might be her business, but Zumbado blows in her direction and Naomi goes flying. He insists that she leave and never bring her friends back to th mill. Shocked, Naomi runs to the car.

 

An unspecified amount of time later, Naomi goes back to Dee’s tattoo shop.  She’s starting to accept that there might not be a rational explanation for everything that’s been happening. Dee says he knows what it’s like to be different and he’s willing to help her find some answers. And at Naomi’s request he’s willing to think about introducing her to Superman when the time is right. But first they need to take a trip.

 

The next day Greg is sitting down with Commander Steel and learns a lot of startling info. First, aliens are real and the army considers them hostile and a threat that needs to be dealt with. Second, he wants Greg to join a special task force to deal with them. This is going to make family dinners awkward to say the least.

 

Dee and Naomi are back at the bridge. Naomi’s still a little nervous, but less certain this will only result in a broken leg. She takes a deep breath and jumps. Back at the mill Zumbado is erasing the writing on the wall.