The Alien Inside Me

Chapter 12: A New Player

My night was mostly fruitless, but I started writing up everything we knew because it made me feel better. It was only after I finished with my list of information and observations that I realized my house felt too quiet. And when I made dinner for myself, no one asked me what a tomato was or why humans would waste ecological resources to raise animals when our planet was clearly dying.

"This is kind of lonely." I whispered to myself.

I shrugged it off, this is the independence I was looking for when I moved out. Plus if these aliens had anything to say about it, my friends and I would be taken as mates as soon as possible, so I needed to appreciate my freedom while I could.

It took me longer to fall asleep than normal, probably because I didn't have anyone to exhaust me, but also because I had so many thoughts in my head. Why was I chosen by some cosmic force to mate with an alien? Was I like Aryzox's soulmate or just the best biological match available in this dinky Oregon town? Could I go back to normal life given what I now knew? Did I even want to go back to normal life after knowing Aryzox?

That night I had vivid dreams where a faceless, bodiless person cuddled beside me. So vivid that when I woke up, I turned around expecting to find someone there.

I walked into the office and noticed immediately that Dawn and Becca weren't there yet. When I entered my office I jumped in fright, silently screaming. Tony sat on my chair twiddling his thumbs.

"Holy crap! You scared me!" I exclaimed, removing my hand from my heart and taking off my jacket.

"I'm really sorry, Daisy." Tony stood up and walked to sit in the seat in front of my desk, "I wanted to catch you early today."

"Oh, okay. Why though?" I settled into my seat.

"I have something I want to ask you about." He gave me a nervous smile, shaking his shaggy hair out of his face.

"Ask away, boss man." I gave him a slight grin, hoping he took it as a joke and not a personal attack.

"Yesterday, I walked by your office and I-" He shifted in his chair, "I heard you talking, to yourself."

My face suddenly felt hot and I gasped in a quick breath.

"I didn't mean to listen in, but it seemed like you weren't so much talking to yourself. More like someone that wasn't in the room."

I began coming up with excuses in my head, like I was talking to someone on the phone or I was just using a weird creative process.

"Um, Tony, I just-"

"You don't need to make an excuse I just thought that you might understand what's happening to me." He let out a sigh, "After the tree lighting ceremony, I've been hearing a voice. And I thought that might be a similar situation for you."

My eyes went wide. Not once did I consider that someone else might have the same affliction as my friends and I. It's not like we could have put out a flyer asking people to call us if they were hearing voices or getting their autonomy stolen by an alien, but it was a piece of the puzzle we should have thought about.