In His Arms

Three

I had always pictured aliens to be small, blue little things with antennae sprouting from their bulbous heads. They'd run around in my imagination, chirping words that sound similar to a computer-like noise. I associated them with lovable characters like ET, that I might befriend one day.

My eyes only stay open for a second. Please let that not be what it looks like it is!

If I close my eyes hard enough, they'll disappear. I focus on trying to understand what I can without looking. With my other senses, I can pretend this is a fucked up nightmare caused by a melatonin supplement. Those little guys mess my dreams up! I've been having strangely sexual dreams anyway—maybe they were leading up to this very moment. The peak of the sexy dreams is a twisted one about being kidnapped by aliens. Yeah, that totally sounds about right!

It smells like, well, shit. I try not to move, worried that if I do I'll crawl right into a pile of feces. I'm on my butt, sitting criss-cross-applesauce like I would when I was a kid. This position is comforting, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm on an alien ship of some sorts. Am I in their bathroom? Repugnant wafts of the stench come in flows and tells me that it must be coming through the air vent or blown towards me with something like a fan.

I don't hear much going on. The alien's heavy footsteps have gotten lighter sounding. I'm guessing that the human stuck in the feces room got uninteresting and he left. Oh god, I'm really hoping that thing never returns. What if I'm here for...probing reasons? I shiver, trying not to gag at that realization. I'm obviously here for some reason.

I think I'm alone in this room now. When I opened my eyes shortly, I saw a muscular grey back of some...thing.

Just when I'm about to open my eyes, something kicks my back. "What the fuck!" I scream, scurrying away from where the impact came from. The cold metal floor has a dip and I almost fall backwards into it. I feel my torso sliding into the trench. Please don't let this be where the human-eating monster hides. My weak abs can barely keep me from tumbling, but their shaking can only hold for so long. Before I my muscle gives out, a hand grabs my ankle.

"Maia," the voice says, calm and collected while I'm panicking. "Maia you need to be quiet." I hadn't realized I was screaming this whole time, terrified of what could be below my head. I recognize the voice to be Valerie, and relax as she helps me up and back into my original spot. "The more you scream, the more they come down and watch us. So kindly, shut the fuck up, mkay?"

Was I still screaming? It's dark, I'm confused, I'm lost, I'm scared—I don't know what to feel.

"Who...who's they?"

Tessa's voice speaks up in the darkness. "Val, check on Jordan. She doesn't seem to be handling everything well. Maia, I..." she trails off, not knowing how to answer my question. "I have no idea. You're lucky you've been asleep the past few days is all I have to say."

"Asleep?" I echo. "For days? How long have we been here?"

"Dunno, time is difficult to keep track of. Don't know if you've noticed the eternal darkness yet. If I had to guess, maybe four or five days. It's been two days for certain since we got the implant."

"Im-implant?"

"Yeah, that's why I said you're fucking lucky you were asleep." She laughs, and it bounces off the walls back at us. There's nothing funny about what she said, but I can tell it's a 'I've given up' kind of laugh. "I was awake the entire time. I guess whatever they originally sedated us with works differently on everyone. I had to watch them cut me open, remove something I didn't recognize, and stitch me back together. Do you know what it's like to see your own blood pouring out of your body like that? Jordan was the only other one awake."