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I square my shoulders and steel myself to get out of bed and march over to the window to see what’s going on outside. Before I can completely stand up, though, another bright flash of lightning completely illuminates my bedroom.
Bright white spots dance in my vision, and I feel myself falling backwards onto the bed. My muscles are stiff and unmoving. Lying flat on my back, I rapidly blink my eyes to clear away the spots floating in my field of vision like a swarm of white flies.
Why can’t I move? Did the stress of walking in on Chad screwing his sidepiece cause me to have a stroke? My grandma had a massive stroke in her seventies and spent the last few weeks of her life bedridden. Things like that are genetic, right?
My vision finally begins to clear and that’s when I realize I’m no longer alone. Shit.
Standing in front of the window is a slender being. Being, because even though I can’t really make out many details, I instinctively know it’s not human. It’s something else. I try to open my mouth to scream for help, but my muscles are still frozen and the only thing that emerges is a muffled squeak.
At the sound, another light flashes and an excruciating pain explodes in my head. A swirl of black engulfs me as I pass into unconsciousness.
****
I jerk awake with a groan. My mouth is dry and there’s a dull throbbing behind my eyes that makes me wince. The thin mattress I’m lying on is cold against my skin and I shiver in discomfort wishing for the thousandth time that they would at least give me a blanket.
After ten days of this – at least, I think it’s been ten days – I should be used to it by now. Then again, how could anyone get used to being abducted by aliens?
That’s right. I, boring Haley Richardson, have been abducted. By freaking aliens.
Part of me is still in shock. This seriously can’t be real. It has to be some sort of really detailed prank. Maybe for some weird new reality show.
But it is real, and I feel a numbing sense of hopelessness every time I think about it. I want to curl up in bed and hide from everything, but I’ve never been the type to wallow in my despair. Sure, I give myself a little time to get over whatever is bumming me out, then I move on and try to find the silver lining. Even with the breakup with Chad, I would have gotten over it soon enough and made the best of it.
But this – being abducted by these freaky gray aliens – is beyond even my ability to find a silver lining.
A grunt emerges as I force myself to sit up and lean against the wall that lies along one side of my bed. I’m exhausted from jerking awake at every little noise during the night. My head aches with dull pain and my eyes are dry and gritty. It’s the same thing day in and day out. Sitting here, watching, and waiting. Waiting to see what the aliens are going to do with me. Waiting for the next thing to break up the never-ending monotony of the day.
The first day on board the spaceship, I woke up all alone in my cell scared to death. I shouted and banged against everything I could find. I begged them to let me go. But they ignored my pleading. All I got out of that was a sore throat.
Now, I know to wait. Soon, the lights will brighten to mimic the sunrise and it will be time for breakfast. We’re given three meals a day, and like clockwork, the first one always arrives shortly after dawn.
That’s the other thing . . . I’m not alone.
There are nine other humans locked up in here with me. I can just barely see them from my cell, but they’re there. They were brought on board on the second day of my captivity. We’ve spent our time since then whispering to each other and trying to figure out what’s going on, and they’re just as confused as I am.
The others are the only thing that has kept me sane in this place. I should feel guilty, but I don’t. Not really. When I woke up alone that first day, I thought I would go crazy. Facing whatever the aliens have planned for us is a lot easier to do with other people by my side.
The room we’re kept in is a large, cavernous cargo bay with dull metal walls and a line of cells along one wall. Each cell is equipped with a small bed that is bolted to the wall and floor and a narrow, recessed room that is like an alien version of a bathroom. The bathroom is so tiny that it’s the size of a broom closet.
Each bathroom contains a toilet and what the aliens call a cleanser. The toilet is basically just a metal bowl with a jet of warm air that acts as some type of weird space bidet. It was a shock the first time I used it and I remember jolting off the toilet with a shout.
The cleanser consists of a nozzle attached to the ceiling, and it releases a stream of warm air and bright blue light that somehow removes sweat and odor. I don’t know exactly how the cleanser works, but it always leaves me feeling clean after using it. Although, it doesn’t seem to clean my clothes quite as well. After ten days, the blue plaid flannel pajamas I was abducted in are starting to look a little worse for wear. What I wouldn’t give for a tub and a washing machine.
Hell, at this point I’d settle for taking a shower with a water hose. Anything that meant I was back home, but after this long, I have a sinking feeling I’ll never see Earth again. A feeling that is like a lead weight entrenches itself in the pit of my stomach as I think about my home. Each day that passes, Earth gets further away.
Most of us have our own cells, except Rose, Zoe, Mara, and Maddie. Rose shares a cell with Zoe, a little girl who is her student. They were both taken while waiting for someone to pick up Zoe after school. Mara and Maddie are sisters who were abducted together.
I think back to my own abduction. It still sends a shiver down my spine to remember the skinny gray alien standing in my bedroom like he had every right to be there.
I have hazy memories after that of a blindingly bright light shining in my eyes and shadowy beings standing around my prone body, observing me. Memories of a mist that smelled like antiseptic that was sprayed all over me. One of the shadows stretched a long gray hand with spindly fingers towards me, before I felt a massive amount of pain and pressure in my head. Then, more darkness.
The next time I woke up, I was sprawled on the floor of my cell drooling, and my head was sore like I had had the migraine to end all migraines.
I soon learned the aliens implanted a translation device in my head to make sure I could follow their orders – a development that I consider bittersweet. It eases some of my anxiety to be able to understand them, but at the same time, I really wish I could didn’t.
It’s obvious our captors have plans for us, though we don’t know exactly what they are, yet. We do know they refer to us as the merchandise.
I really hope it’s not experimentation. I spent entirely too many hours watching sci-fi movies with Chad, and now, my mind can all too easily conjure up horrific scenes of exactly what might await us.
