by W Bradley
Some noises came through the wall ahead of me. Sounded like a fight. Perhaps if I had been outside a bar at 2 am, such sounds would not have seemed particularly exciting. Certainly not in a good way. But where I was now, the place I had been for at least 10 years, these noises came as a glimmer of hope; a bright change from the torturous normality of imprisonment. ‘Bright’ was a strange word choice; it fitted the feeling perfectly but did not stand in contrast to the white walls around me. The white walls with no doors or windows nor any other form of potential exit. Just flat, plain, white walls.
I moved closer to the sound. It became louder. I made out a male voice now, calmer than before but with a certain venom in his words: “Take us back!” I heard the voice say. Then there was more mumbling I couldn’t make out. Then a different voice shouted “No!” And fresh noises of renewed fighting ensued.
I remained in the same spot for some time contemplating the situation. Had someone escaped? Or a couple of people perhaps? – There were definitely two voices, but whether or not they both belonged to escapees, I couldn’t be sure. I supposed it didn’t matter right at that moment.
The voices had been silent for some time before I had thought through the situation enough for a decision. I had never been a quick thinker, but then few among my species are. I decided yelling for help couldn’t put my current quality of life in worse danger, taking into account the bigger picture. So I did.
I shouted as loud as I was able for what could have been no less than an hour before I decided I had missed the opportunity.
More time passed, probably several hours. Then the walls shimmered slightly, like a heat haze. Then the temperature of the room dropped suddenly and an image appeared on the wall before me. It was an Earth school. In fact, it was the Earth school I had attended in my childhood. How curious. I approached the image cautiously but immediately felt something was not as it seemed; the air closer to the image was cooler and somehow thicker and there was an unsettling force pulling me towards it, each step adding waves of strength to the force. I stopped at the distance I felt I still had control of myself, but a sudden surge of energy tugged at my body causing me to lose my balance and stumble forward. I was too close to the thing then. Fear came to me for the first time in the many years of my imprisonment and a muffled noise of shock escaped my mouth before my strength against the force was overcome and I fell through the image.
I hit the ground hard. I remained as still as possible, considering the pain in my right arm, knees and chest. Uncomfortable but not broken I thought. So I slowly stood. Across the road was the school from image, where my first real memories had been created. The place held great sentimental value to me. It was an important landmark of my life; I missed the days I spent within those walls more than any others.
A scream snapped my attention away from my own thoughts to the woman standing a few metres away, her hands covering her mouth and terror filling her eyes as she stared in my direction. The realisation of my mistake hit me immediately. I had spent so long in imprisonment I had neglected to even partially cloak my natural appearance.
“I’m sorry.” I told her sincerely, “I completely forgot to conceal my… Looks… Please, I won’t harm you.”
The woman continued to stare, transfixed. I waited, to give her time to collect herself. Eventually, she spoke.
“D-don’t… Please…” She managed to stutter.
“No.” I said calmly, holding up my hands in a gesture of peace, “I am not going to harm you. But… Could you tell me the year?”
“The… Year…?”
“Yes… Please.”
“It’s… It’s 2015. Are you…? Do you… Need help?”
It was my turn to stare, but with curiosity. My natural face is human in shape, true, but there the similarities end. How could she have the bravery to offer me help? My species’ eyes are small and jet black, as is our skin. We do not have noses or nostrils, thus we have no sense of smell, something which had intrigued me about humans since my arrival on Earth as a child. Our mouths are small, lipless, toothless and are without tongues. We can hear, though not as efficiently as humans can, through small holes in either side of our heads. These holes are unprotected; our people are frequently deafened following minor accidents. I have so far had the fortune to avoid such a fate; we have the ability to heal the inner ear, but the pain in doing so is notoriously excruciating. Of course, our key characteristic as a species is the ability to change our appearance. Our skin cells can reflect wavelengths of light selectively, allowing us to appear whatever colour we choose and our bone structure can alter, but only slightly; when I arrived here on Earth, I was unable to grow an entire nose and ears from bone alone. Those required a kind of plastic makeup.
The woman approached me then. Her eyes still showed fear but her body language exuded a blind confidence.
“What… Are you?” She asked me and I considered her for a moment.
“I am… Not from here. Not from Earth. My name is Gheid. I am a Sindenian originally of the planet Kad. Who are you? You have a strange bravery.”
“I am Dia Thorpe. Can I help? I mean… Do you need help? Why are you here?”
“I am not sure how it is I came to be at this location. But I attended that school as a child. I was sent to Earth, along with others of my kind to learn of your nature; to establish whether or not to make formal contact with you. I do not think you will be able to aid me as I do not know why I am here. I was being held captive and had been for several years when I suddenly heard noises and a portal to this location appeared. Why to this location? That is my first question. Could it be coincidence? I believe it is too unlikely a circumstance.” At that point I remembered who I was talking to and looked into her eyes. She did not look bewildered; she seemed to have a genuine interest in the situation which had all but overcome the previous fear.
“You attended this school? How?”
“I was disguised.”
“Your whole childhood?”
“As near as makes no difference: My whole life. How is it that you seem so calm? I have never met a person on this planet who I would risk revealing myself to; nobody with the right bravery.”
“I… Don’t know. Truth is I don’t really know who I am. I woke up in an alley a year ago with no possessions and I have been piecing my life together since. So I don’t think I’m brave. I just didn’t think you were a threat and it won’t matter too much if you turn out to be.”
I studied Dia for several moments before I was distracted by a shimmering in the air on the far side of the road. Instinctively, I grabbed Dia and dragged her down behind a parked car. I motioned for her to remain silent and I maneuvered myself so I could see through the car’s side windows.
The shimmering became clearer then colours not belonging to the school gates beyond it danced in the space. Suddenly a man materialised and immediately began to walk straight towards the school. I quickly found my feet and followed him. Perhaps he could answer my questions but I would first have to ensure he was not a threat. Dia remained behind the car.
I peered through the lower windows, watching the man moving from room to room, apparently searching for someone. There was a frantic look about him which I did not care for. I continued watching him until he moved his way up to the first floor where I could no longer see him.
Deciding it was worth the potential danger, I entered the building to follow him upstairs. I found the staircase and ascended as silently as possible, listening out for the man’s footsteps. When I rounded the corner at the top I heard a door close off to my right. I followed the sound and came to a door marked: ‘Staff Room’; one of the few rooms I had never been into in the school. I put my ear hole to the door and listened. The man was in there; I could hear drawers opening and papers being thrown to the floor. Suddenly I could hear nothing. Then the door opened.
The man was skinny, with messy hair. In his right hand was a knife. I turned and attempted to run but the man grabbed my shoulder and pulled me
back to face him. On closer inspection of his expression, it was not so much frantic as it was anxious.
“Just as the writings predicted.” He said, more to himself than to me. “Only this time I have a knife. That means the prediction was just that.”
“I don’t mean you any harm.” I told him as soothingly as possible.
“What? Of course you do. I saw it. You were there, I was here and you killed me.” He brandished the knife at me and gritted his teeth, clearly he did not want to kill me and was fighting his natural urges to drop the knife and run.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. You are the one with a knife. I do not possess any weapons.” I held my hands out.
“You didn’t in the prediction. You just touched me and I died. I have to kill you or you will kill me. Simple as that…”
“Killing a person is not a simple thing. Please… I do not wish to die. I do not intend to harm you. Let me leave. I’ll walk away.” He began to shake his head and a rage spread across his face.
“You will only kill me later. It has to be now!” And the man threw himself on me, forcing me to the floor. I held up my hands attempting to fend off the knife but the man overpowered me and pushed the blade into my shoulder. The pain was terrible, unlike anything I’d felt before. I could picture the muscle fibres being sliced and torn, the bone being pierced slightly by the knife tip and the same in reverse when the man wrenched the blade back. My species is not accustomed to pain like this. I focused everything on remaining conscious. I tried to keep my eyes from closing. I heard the man muttering something. Then the sound of his footsteps grew distant. A new sound of footsteps approached and I heard a voice. It was the woman from outside, Dia. She was running. The ceiling above was swimming with darkness and the sound of each step sent nausea up and down my torso. I could see her then and she was filled with fear again. I was happy to see her face, but to see her terror caused me more pain. I tried to speak but no words came. Dia said something but I couldn’t hear and my vision had become almost completely black. My life was in Dia’s hands now.
I allowed my eyes to close.
Chapter 5
Dia Thorpe