In my dreams, I was galloping away with Phillip on a white stallion to a palace in the clouds. In real life, I was asleep.
A creak. Or was I hearing things? I wasn't asleep anymore. A whisper. It was my name.
"Veranika."
It came again. Urgent, breathless. My window? Don't be silly, I told myself. Windows don't talk.
Or was it Phillip? My heart jumped with hope, then fluttered back down again to thump in my chest. What on earth would he be doing here in the middle of the night?
"Veranika."
I sat up. I remembered having a book light under my pillow. Slowly, silently, I slid my hand under my pillow and pulled it out. I felt along it and found the switch.
Just as the voice began to say my name again, I flicked the light on.
A thin, wiry man who had been standing near my window jumped away from the brightness. I froze. My heart beat out the rhythm of fear. Slowly and softly, the man pronounced:
"Phillip sent me."
My eyes narrowed.
"And why would Phillip have sent you?"
"You'll just have to come with me and see."
I shook my head. No way was I going with a complete stranger.
I wondered why I wasn't screaming for help or trying to knock the man unconscious like they do in the movies. Damn my curiosity.
The man looked at me pleadingly.
"Please?"
"No."
He looked at me for a while and sighed.
"I didn't want to have to do it this way."
He climbed out of the window and disappeared.
I lay in bed for a long time, imagining scenarios that ended differently. What if he'd attacked me?
I shuddered, but eventually my thoughts drifted back to the white stallion and I fell asleep.
_______________
Fear. Panic. Confusion. I couldn't move. Why couldn't I move? My thoughts faded away, and a calmness fell over me. I panicked again. I didn't want to be calm. Why was I calm?
Memories came flooding back to me and I remembered what the man had said: 'I didn't want to have to do it this way.' I know I was right not to trust him, although I probably would've been a lot more at ease if I had gone willingly. Not being able to move, or talk, or see anything was agony. Something soft was pressed to my nose and everything started to fade into black again, but before I lost consciousness, I felt something caress my cheek.
_______________
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry - like waking up from anesthetic. Soft colours slowly gained shape, and I found myself looking at Phillip. Phillip in the news, Phillip playing as a child in a framed photo in the other wall, Phillip on a poster, advertising something. Then the real Phillip entered the room, walking backwards, talking to someone behind him. He closed the door and turned to me.
"You'll need to work on your trust."
He said with a sad smile.
No greeting? Not even a simple hello?
I sat up. Or tried to, realising too late that I was still tied to something.
"It's no use."
Phillip said, watching my struggles with amusement.
I opened my mouth to ask him something, but he beat me to it.
"Do you know why you're here?"
"I'm pretty sure that you're the one I should be asking that question, Phillip."
I spat out the last word.
"Obviously I know, since I sent someone to get you. But do you know why you are here?"
"Because use you wanted me to be here."
I said, mimicking him.
He smiled. "Wow. A smartass with a great sense of humour."
And he's an insane teenage boy with a great sense of sarcasm, I thought.
"So."
Phillip pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed I was on.
"When I met you yesterday, I thought you would be perfect for our next experiment."
Experiment? My eyes widened.
Noticing my horror, Phillip chuckled.
'Not that type of experiment. But very closely related.'
He sighed before continuing.
"When I met you last night, I realised I had found-"
I turned him out and wondered- who the heck gave him permission to kidnap me for an experiment?!
"- exactly what we need."
"Who's we?"
"Me and my science crew. Veranika, I'm not a teen like you. I'm from another planet."
"Wow. My life dream just came true. To meet an alien."
'That was a joke.' Said Phillip, not appreciating my terrible attempt at humour.
"I'm a normal person. Or, as normal as you can be when you have a rich dad and homeschooling, so I'm allowed to do whatever I want. So I decided to set up a little experiment."
Phillip's last statement creeped me out. Was I going to be put into different ecosystems with tubes coming out of me?
Phillip walked around the room, and as I turned my head to follow him, I noticed lots of details that I had missed earlier. What had at first seemed like a normal room turned out to be a very cosy lab. Workbenches lined the walls, and they were covered in random piles if paper as well as pens and measuring tools.
I heard the clinking of glass, and assumed that the bench behind me was covered in actual science equipment.
Phillip came back to the side of the bed, and pressed a glass to my lips.
"Drink," came the order, but I didn't open my mouth. What if it was poison?
"Veranika."
I remained still, my lips pressed together against the cold glass.
"It's not going to kill you."
I shook my head in silent protest.
Phillip sighed and took the glass away.
"Untie me."
"Not yet."
"Then I'm not cooperating."
Not like I'm going to anyway.
Phillip examined my face, his look disapproving.
"Fine. But you have to promise you won't try to run away."
"I don't need to try, I'll just run away."
Phillip smiled and rolled his eyes, but he moved to my feet and began to fiddle with something.
My feet were freed. I stayed still. Then my hands were free. I stayed still. Phillip went back around the bed. I took my chance, and sprang up.
"Veranika-"
"That's me." I replied, hands on my hips. Phillip started to approach me, but I moved with him, staying on the opposite side of the bed.
"You need to chill. Nobody wants to hurt you."
My eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"I can't trust you."
"Why not? You don't exactly have a choice anyways."
I was silent. He was right, but I couldn't stop now. Especially since I was the one who started the half-argument in the first place. Sort of.
"You wanna know why not? Ok. I'll tell you why not. Because I only met you yesterday, and it hasn't even been 24 hours, and you've kidnapped me. Why would I trust you?"
"Um... Because you like me?"
I snorted.
"Your ego is working overtime, darling."
"So you're that nice to all guests that you let them dance with you, darling?"
"Not all guests are teenage boys my age."
"Agreed."
Phillip grinned.
"You're blushing."
"No I'm not." I said, blushing even more and hoping I didn't look like a tomato.
"You look cute when you're blushing."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Oh, I'm not. Hmm... I wonder if you would like me if I did this..."
"If you did what?"
"Curiosity killed the cat, Veranika."
"You're gonna kill a cat?"
Unexpectedly, Phillip jumped onto the bed and reached me in two strides. Crouching on the bed, he grabbed me by the arms and leaned in so our foreheads were almost touching.
"If you try to run away, attack someone, break something, or do anything harmful in general, you will receive consequences, which I will demonstrate now."
Phillip looked me straight in the eye. I was paralysed with anticipation. Suddenly he moved forwards and kissed me. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, I only knew that there was a boy who had violated my personal space and expected me to like it.
When he pulled away, I blinked a few times to return to the real world.
"Did you like the consequence?"
"Not in the least."
I watched Phillip's smile fall with grim satisfaction, already knowing what my friend would say when I told her about this: "Oh damn, you friendzoned him hard, V."
"Oh."
"Yes. Oh."
Phillip's eyes sparked, and he grimaced.
"Playing hard to get, I see." Phillip paused, still recovering from the rejection. "Been there, done that. I'll get you- easy."
Lighting and thunder were all he needed to sound like an evil sorcerer.
"Fat chance."
"No worries. I'm an expert in the diet industry."
"Ha. Ha. Ha." I even did a little round of applause. And he was saying I was a smartass?
Phillip turned his back to me, and the way it was hunched told me that he was hurt. Why are you feeling sorry for him? You shouldn't be. He did kidnap you after all.
Even so, I couldn't help wishing that I had been just the tiniest bit kinder.
