Not of This World

Four: Wren

I hear a loud thump downstairs. I realize what it is and curse myself. I forgot to let Scruffy outside for the night. Sighing, I pull my earbuds out of my ears and walk downstairs using the light from my phone. Scruffy, the victim of the name my mother gave him, runs to me. His tiny body speeds through my legs and up the stairs. I groan and start to follow him, but I hear another sound. Something is downstairs. My heart starts racing. I grab the nearest weapon I can find off the floor: a paintball gun. It's probably loaded. And the shadows make it look pretty real.

This is what you get for letting your parents go on that business-and-non-business trip for the week. A break-in.

I switch my phone off and slowly walk down the carpeted hall, holding my breath when I probably shouldn't be. I'm sure the burglar can hear my heartbeats exploding in my ears. I can't see very well, but I know this house. I hear some shuffling in the TV room. Then I curse myself again. I left the window open. Too many mistakes.

"Who is there?" the burglar calls out. I'm surprised at the voice. It's feminine. "Hello?" She's trying to be quiet.

"What are you doing in my house?"

"Sorry, I'm just running from these people..."

"What people?" I turn my phone back on and point it at her. Again, I'm surprised. She's wearing a black skintight jumpsuit, which shows off her curves amazingly well. She has medium-length brown hair that looks dirty and messy. It looks wet too.

I notice she has dirt on both her jumpsuit and her face. She also has some blood on her head. This makes me realize she's not a burglar. What thief would go to such lengths just to break into a house?

She flinches when the light shines in her eyes, which are very large and pretty. She must be wearing makeup or something.

"The people chasing me. I don't know who they are, but they intend to hurt me."

"Who are you?"

Some lights flash from the front of the house. Don't tell me I freaking forgot to close those curtains too. This is such a big house for one guy who's not used to taking care of it. I quickly run through a list of things I was supposed to do, but I'm interrupted by the girl saying, "That's them." She runs past me, faster than I can react or fire my gun, and up the stairs. I race after her. I find her just closing my closet door behind her. I fling it open to find her crouching in the back corner, the bottoms of my pants sitting on her head. "Please do not let them find me." her eyes are filled with fear. For some reason, I feel protective of her.

"Who are you?" The doorbell rings.

"Do not let them find me." She shrinks farther into the corner. I look at her suspiciously for a few seconds, but then decide to answer the second doorbell. It's rung a third time before I reach the door, remembering to throw the paintball gun away from me first. I open the door.

"Hello, sir. We need to search your house for a dangerous criminal who may be hiding in here. You will receive compensation for any items damaged."

"Don't you need a warrant or something?" I don't usually pay attention in history class, but I do know about rights to privacy.

"We're from the United Service Association. I don't need a warrant. But as the owner of this household you may oversee the inspection."

"Well, I'm not the owner of this house and my parents are gone, so I guess you can't search it." Things like this should be illegal.

He pauses, as if he's trying to determine whether I'm hiding anything or not. "This criminal is very dangerous. If you hear of anything, do not hesitate to call this number." He hands me a business card. I take it. Then he turns away and I close the door. I give myself a second to process the fact that I have a very dangerous, but very pretty, female criminal hiding in my closet. I grab the paintball gun again, knowing how painful it is at a close range. Then I head back upstairs. When I open the closet door, I find her head slumped against her knees. I nudge her with the barrel of the gun, but she doesn't respond. It takes me a few minutes to confirm that she's unconscious. I set the gun down and pull her out. In the light of my room, I can see her more clearly. Her jumpsuit is dirty (but still looks hot) and her face and hands are covered in scratches. The blood on her face is dried, but some hair is sticking to the wound. She's dripping with water. I stare at her, completely unsure of what to do. Eventually, I drape a blanket over her and set a pillow under her head.

***

When I wake up, the girl is gone. The blanket and pillow sit alone on the floor. I look in my closet and find her there. She's pointing the paintball gun at me.

"It's just a paintball gun. Not a real weapon."

"I know. But any weapon is better than no weapon," she states simply.

"Well can you put it down, please. I don't want a welt on my eyeball."

"Actually, it was aimed at your throat." She lowers the barrel and I can relax.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Okay, first of all, I need to know who you are, what you're doing here, and who those people were last night."

"I'm... I'm Captain Sya Emmerson." Her expression stays neutral even as she hesitates.

"Captain of what? How old are you?"

"I'm running from those people. I don't know who they are, but they've been chasing me ever since I..." She stops herself. "I'm the captain of a ship. How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen. My name is Wren. Ever since you what? And how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen too. Do you have some place where I can clean myself up?" It's like she expects me to do what she wants or something. Maybe it's because she's a captain. At age seventeen.

"Uh... Yeah. The bathroom."

"Where is it?"

"Um... This way." I back out of the doorway to the closet and lead her out of my room. I point to the door right next to my room.

She carries the paintball gun inside and closes the door. I hear the lock click.

What is wrong with her? Last night she looked a little scared, but now her face is blank and she's bossing me around. With my own paintball gun. I hear the shower start.

I have a girl in my bathroom. What just happened? Do I call my parents? No. They'll think I took advantage of their absence to sleep with some girl. What do I do? I guess I'll figure it out when she gets done with her shower. I remember the cut on her head. Maybe she needs a bandage. I grab some stuff from a cupboard by the bathroom and wait for her.

It's Saturday, so I don't need to go to school. My parents will be back on Monday. I should have this cleared up by then.

***
So I'm dedicating this to xXCrystalRainXx because that works. (This is Shemuel99 by the way in case you didn't notice.)