Page 21

ALICE

With every passing day, the deep ache in my chest grew in intensity. This missing him was entirely out of proportion for someone I had only met a couple of weeks ago and only known well for a few days. It was like a piece of me had been ripped out. I caught myself over and over thinking and wondering what Xyrek would say or do. It was infuriating. Why was I missing this alien so much? I hadn't even liked the man. Well, I liked his kiss. He was a good kisser. But let's be honest, you simply didn't build a relationship with someone just because they knew how to kiss.

Unless you were a lonely psychopath… And, well, some of my traits might have qualified me as such. The way I had just turned my back on my family, or how I had left my friends without regret once I scored the job in Nevada. I had always known something was wrong with me, deep inside me. I just didn't develop the kind of attachment normal people did. Or so I had thought until I began missing the freaking alien. I refused to think of his name because the moment I did, my stomach did this stupid, fluttery thing. I also missed Silla. She was by far the nicest, most genuine person I had ever met.

So, me—forming attachments. Which left me with the question of whether having been abducted by aliens might have changed my personality. Or was it the damn mating marks? I didn't think so because I was missing Silla too, not just Xy—the alien.

But then again, Ava cried when I left. Cried. Yes, I had been sad to leave her behind, kind of, but crying sad? No. What kind of person did that make me?

The kind I wouldn't want to be around.

Tired of analyzing myself, I forced my mind back to the alien . How long would it take him to get to Darlam? What would he find there? It was strange, but I felt invested in this secret around him. It was like binge-watching a show that suddenly stopped in the middle of the season or on a cliffhanger without ever making another episode.

Silla told me it would take three days to get to Rottvan. Three endless days, and it seemed I would be haunted by the alien the entire time.

The ship we were on was large and comfortable. Again, I had my own quarters with an adjoining bathroom, making me happy as a lark. Four hundred other humans and several Pandraxian crew members were aboard. I met some of the others in the breakroom—which thankfully served better food than the alien's nutrition dispenser. I sat with a group of them and listened to their stories, which all started off very similar to mine and all the others I had heard before. The Cryons came and took them bla-bla-bla; after the abduction was where most stories varied. Some people had managed to escape and make their way to Astrionis; some had been rescued by Space Guardians or even other alien species who cared enough to want to bring us all back together.

The most interesting stories were the ones that starred Space Guardians as the heroes. I learned two names, Tharaax and Zaarek. I also caught the names of the women who stayed with them; Tharaax was Hannah’s mate, and Zaarek was with Nova. Interestingly, the people I talked to didn't seem to like either Hannah or Nova very much. Which kind of reminded me of the group I had been with. Coincidence?

After a while, I left. I felt like a lurker. Like one of those fans who hang around, greedily absorbing gossip about friends or acquaintances of their idols just to feel near them. I didn't care what Xyrek—shit, I thought his name, and my stomach somersaulted—was up to or where he was. He left me behind!

He never even asked me to stay with him!

Yeah, I was salty about that. I wasn't sure what I would have picked, but it would have been nice if he had asked me. I know, totally illogical, but here we were.

To pass the time, I watched more of the streams the alien had downloaded for me. They were informative; I was learning a lot about alien tech. His sweet gesture was beginning to mean more and more to me because he had given me the means of supporting myself in a world/universe I knew nothing about.

"Hey, you alright?" a woman, who looked about twenty-four, asked.

I wasn't about to pour my heart out to a stranger, so I said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You look so sad sometimes," she observed, grating on my nerves and making me wish she would go away. I knew she was just trying to be nice. But frankly, I just wasn't in the mood to make friends or to be nice.

"Yeah, aren't we all." I tried not to sound flippant and regretted my words immediately.

"That's true. I'm Daisy, by the way." She held out her hand. I supposed manners hadn't died with the end of the world.

"Alice." I shook her hand.

"Are you looking forward to this new place?" She continued the conversation, following me as I refilled my drink.

No . "Yes, of course. New start and all." I forced a smile.

She sighed deeply. "Yeah, me too. Have you found anybody… friends, family?"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I hadn't even tried. Who would I look for? I supposed if anyone from my rotten family had survived, they'd be off their meth addiction by now, but I really hadn't felt the urge to take Silla up on her offer to search the database she was building. I had lied and told her that I had no one.

"Not even friends?" Daisy asked with pity in her eyes.

I shook my head. The only people I would have ever called friends, I left behind when I moved to Nevada. I hadn’t bothered to make new ones there. I had a job that kept me busy and coworkers to socialize with; we even went for the occasional drink. And now and then, a boyfriend. I didn't need anything else. After years of living with my chaotic family and later in a noisy dorm, I was all too happy being by myself.

"No, I didn't have anybody," I told Daisy.

"Silla is looking for my parents and brother." She confided with so much hope in her eyes that I didn't have the heart to tell her that the odds were stacked against her.

"Where were you when… the Cryons came?" Daisy continued the conversation as I made a beeline for my quarters. I obviously wanted to be alone, but she walked into my room right beside me.

Apart from kicking her out or being downright rude, I had no idea how to get rid of her, so I watched as she took a seat and resigned myself to an afternoon of girl chatter.

At least I didn't have to think about the alien while she was there. So, that was a big plus.

I quickly learned that Daisy used to be a social media influencer and that she wasn't on her way to Rottvan but to Pandrax, where she planned to restart her life.

"I don’t know anything besides reporting, finding stories, talking to people," she sighed. "It can't be that much harder here, except that these are… aliens." She reasoned.

Who was I to judge? I was going to Rottvan to pick up the pieces of my former life as well. Granted, engineering was probably a little different than building a new social media following, but then again… she might just be alien enough to the aliens to make it. Either way, I wished her luck and hoped it would work out for her.