Beyond our Earth

26: Alive

"Althazar" I whispered.

Joy and affection poured out of every pore on my body. I didn't know how I'd repay him for this. But I knew that as long as he was there I would be safe. He was here to protect me, to take me back where I belonged.

I approached him with open arms. Finally, maybe, the fear of thinking I was about to die was enough to make me accept the fact that I had feelings for him. At that moment I was fully prepared to admit it.

I hugged him gently, my arms coming up from his waist, wrapping around him. I closed my eyes and waited in a moment of pure gratefulness.

Yes. I was grateful to have him. I wouldn't push him away anymore.

"Sara," He whispered coldly.

He touched my shoulder and eased me away from his body.

I stepped back and stared at him in confusion.

He gave me a stern glare, then looked at the guards, "Thank you, it won't happen again." He said solemnly.

He took me by the arm and led me into a quiet hallway. His eyes fell heavily on me, the weight of his disappointment bearing down.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He whispered, shaking his head.

"It was really stupid, okay. I know that now."

"Do you? Do you have any idea what you just got yourself into? If I wasn't here, you would probably be dead right now." His voice was laced with anger.

He glared at me looking for some sort of a response.

I didn't know what to say. I changed the subject.

"Where are we? Are we on the ship?" I asked innocently.

His face darkened.

"This is the confinement hall. It is a dark, disgusting section of the ship where guards are left to their own devices and prisoners are often mistreated." he stated, "In our hall you have all the freedom in the world. You can leave your room at will and go wherever you want within the ship. But once you try to escape you loose all of that. You violate the trust they had for you. You are considered a flight risk and are usually confined to a five foot cell for the rest of your immortal life here. Which if you hadn't realized, is inconceivably long."

I looked up and met his eyes.

"Did you tell them I was gone?" I asked curiously.

"No. They have tracking devices in every spacecraft, radar constantly monitoring the area around the ship, and a small device embedded under the skin on your forearm that tells them your location at all times. They knew about your runaway long before I did." he said.

"Oh."

"It took all the effort I had to convince them to let you go, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't try doing that again." Althazar stated.

He started walking down the hall. I followed, not really sure what to say.

Althazar filled the silence. "You didn't even know how to fly it. Do you realize what would have happened if they didn't come get you? You wouldn't have gotten back to earth, that's for sure."

"At least I tried. I'd rather die than resign myself to a life of- of whatever the hell this is!" I shot out in defense.

There was a pause for a second. Althazar broke his straight ahead glare and turned his head to look at me.

"Honestly Sara, it's not that bad here. Maybe if you opened your eyes and actually looked at things with an open mind you'd see them differently. You've had a negative attitude since day one. It's been all, I got to get back to earth, I got to get back to earth. How come staying on this ship was never even an option? You didn't even give it a chance. You could be having an awesome adventurous life here, but it's never going to happen if you keep trying to run away."

"Excuse me, aren't you the one who almost got yourself killed trying to escape." I pointed out.

"I wasn't escaping. I was exploring another planet with full intention of coming back." He retorted.

We left the hall and tredded down a flight of stairs.

"Hey wait..." I said, a realization had suddenly dawned on me. "Whenever we stopped on a planet and went "exploring" you picked out the alien we took back to the ship," I started.

"Yeah." He said.

"Does that mean... when you came to earth... did you pick me?" I asked.

He froze like a deer caught in the headlights. There was a long pause as he thought of a response.

"It was completely random" He answered solemnly.

"But you picked me..." I asked.

He gave a guilty look.

"You're the reason I'm stuck here on this ship. Of all the people in new York city you chose to capture me. You did this to me."

He shrugged his shoulders guiltily. "Darling-" he started.

My eyebrows creases and I stormed off down the stairwell out into our hall.

That was it. That was why he had been there for me, why he had always saved me and come to my rescue. He wasn't doing it just because he was a nice guy or because he cared. It was because he felt guilty. He was the one who had ruined my life! 

I was half way down the hall when he came out of the stairwell shouting behind me, "Darling- Darling wait-"

I rushed towards my room not even looking back at him.

"I hate you!" I screamed as I ran into my room, slamming the door behind me.