Sleeping

Chapter Eight

A few minutes later, a woman that I recognized from the Council walked through the double doors that led into the Council Room. “Miss Blanc, witnesses, the Council and the people has come to an agreement.” She said impassively and led us through the aisle to the place I had stood before. She then went back to her spot right next to Leader-Man and stood with all the other Council members. Ashley, Ashton, and Martha stood where they were before, next to the witness stand. The room was unnervingly silent.

“Miss Blanc, step forward.” Leader-Man said. I did, my entire body taut with fear and nervousness. Twenty-four hours ago, I was happy. I thought everything was perfectly fine. I was still adjusting, but I was trying to make it work. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

“You are charged with being a member of the Isarian species and of being a spy. These charges have been mutually brought up against you by the Council and the people. You have had your customary three testimonies, all in your favor. We have decided you will be allowed to stay. You may stay here safely if you follow these conditions.”

A flood of relief washed over me. “You will not be trusted. You will pull your own weight. A trusted member of our camp will be with you at all times. If you mess anything up or break any of these rules,” Leader-Man’s eyes bore into mine with so much intensity, I squirmed and looked away. “I will not hesitate to kill you myself."

My relief washed away and a chill rolled down my spine—not from the words either. No, this deep-set primal fear that settled in my stomach had to do with the way the words were said. They were spoken with the power of every single person in this room. And in that moment I knew everyone in this room would not hesitate to kill me.

My cuffs were unlocked by another guard that I hadn’t seen before. I rubbed my sore wrists while everyone left. She stood by me after unlocking my cuffs. The Ashes and Martha found me fairly quickly, though. “It’s okay Pam, I got it.” Martha said to the guard—Pam.

“I have strict orders from—”

“Why don’t you go tell Uncle Lenny your little sister told you to tell him to shove it?” Martha smiled and said to her apparent sister. Now that I knew, I could definitely see the resemblance—the same dark features and stocky, muscular builds. “I can take care of myself. And she’s—how old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?”

“Fourteen,” I said.

“Yeah. I could take her in my sleep. Now shoo.” Martha said and for some reason, Pam listened to her and we were alone with Ashley and Ashton. “Now what are we gonna do? We all just stuck up for le newly released prisoner,” Martha gestured to me and I blushed. “so a lot of people are probably pretty pissed at us.” She looked at our little group expectantly.

Ashley spoke up. “What about a tour? Len said you have to help out, but how are you gonna do that if you don’t know where anything is?”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

“But I have to be somewhere. I promised Cora I would help her with her math.” Ashley said.

“Yeah. I remember you saying something about that.” Ashton agreed. “Martha?”

“I have to get to work. Being one of only fourteen doctors is tough you know.” She said.

Ashton turned to me and smiled. “Guess it’s just you and me.” The thought raised unexpected butterflies in my stomach. I liked him. He was cute and funny and nice and caring. But the only problem is this:

I don’t want to.

I don’t want to like him. We don’t just come from different walks of life—we come from different eras, time periods. I’m from the past, he’s from the future, the now. I just found out I’m an alien for crying out loud. We’re from different planets. It just wouldn’t work.

We all left together, but eventually went our separate ways. And so began our tour.

“And here is the kitchen, where that most likely absolutely horrid breakfast you had this morning was made.” Ashton said and I laughed a bit as we stepped into the kitchen. Everyone stared at us and my smile faded from my face. It was…uncomfortable to say the least. Some were glaring with anger, others almost hatred. Most of the stares were with either simple curiosity or ambivalence, which was slightly settling to my already frazzled nerves. That, and I actually received a few slight smiles. Most people quickly returned to their work, whether it be eating or cooking.

Ashton and I awkwardly walked through the kitchen and out a door at the end. “Well that was…awkward.” I said once we were in a different hallway. We started walking.

“Don’t worry. They’ll get used to you. Most people don’t even hate the…extra-terrestrials.” It was fairly obvious he had stopped himself from saying ‘aliens’, but I let him go on. “It’s not like they invaded and took control of our bodies.”

“Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers?” I asked. He lowered his eyebrows at the pop-culture reference. “It was a movie? Came out in the 50’s but they remade it in the 70’s? Ring any bells?” he shook his head. “Huh. I’m gonna have to show you that movie sometime.”

We came to a large clearing filled with at least 500 people. It had yet another limitless ceiling and stone walls. I stopped dead in my tracks. “I’m not going through there.” I said and looked at Ashton while shaking my head. “You said not everyone hates the aliens—but I-I just can’t. The stares…” I stuttered before trailing off.

“Come on. It’ll be okay—we’ll just go along the edges. And everyone already knows you’re staying. Besides,” Ashton looked me in the eyes. “here, Len’s word is law.” He grabbed my hand and wove our fingers together. We walked along the edges as he said, but I couldn’t ignore the stares, or the wide berth everyone gave us—no, me. The wide berth everyone gave me—the alien.

I was still kind of mulling that over in my mind. I’m an alien. My ancestors were from a different planet. How crazy is that? But then I came to another realization: my whole life, my mom had told me my father had a disease that made him and me look pale and white. It was only now I realized how flimsy the lie actually was. So my mom must have known what he was. Right? But how did my father really die? Or another question:

Did he really die?

So, starting to raise some questions in that head of yours! Sound off in the comments! And that contest to see who can guess what those monster things really were is still on. And I’m upping the ante: an honest comment, a vote, and a dedication in the next chapter. And guess what? I’m gonna double it! So that’s twocomments, two votes, and two dedications. Start guessing!

And this is not part of the contest, but comment how you think I’m doing with this story, what you think will happen next, what you want to happen next, my writing style, whether or not Snow’s father is alive, and whether or not her mom knew what he was or if she truly believed he had a disease. And did he have a disease? Or did something else kill him if he is, in fact, dead? Please be honest‼

Comment, Vote, and tell others! Thanks‼  :) :) :) :) :) :)