Take Me To Your Reader: An Otherworld Anthology

by Amy A. Bartol

  I didn't stop to argue because even without the strange noise, an abandoned alley in the middle of the night still gave me the creeps. Tate's hand slipped into mine and he began to lead me out of the alley. We didn't make it ten steps before the wail sounded again, louder and more frightening. And this time, a small orange glow emanated from behind us, lighting our path. We stopped dead in our tracks, frozen by the grating and pained sound of the wail.

  Tate cocked the rifle and pointed it down the alley as we slowly pivoted toward the sound, curiosity winning out over fear this once. A figure was huddled beside the dumpster. It was small, maybe a child, but the glow silhouetted him or her, and I couldn't make out much more than the vague, hunched-over shape.

  "Oh my God, it's a kid. We have to help them!"

  The glow disappeared, shrouding us in darkness once again. Tate passed the gun to me, but it fumbled in my shaking hands and I dropped it as Tate opened his cell, turning on the flashlight app so we could see. I shrugged out of Tate's hold and we both stepped toward the child, but as I approached I realized it wasn't a child at all. Although she was built like a child, she stood no more than three-and-a-half or four feet but had the features were those of an adult woman, full of wrinkles, grey hair, and all.

  "Are…are you okay?" The woman-child's face was scrunched and her eyes were closed in agony, but I could see no obvious injuries.

  The woman stilled, surprised as if I'd scared her somehow. When her eyes opened, they glowed bright orange.

  *****

  Tate

  I'd never seen anything like it. Not in real life, not on TV, and not in any sci-fi movie I'd ever watched. I blinked repeatedly and rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was hallucinating. The creature's eyes—I wasn't sure I could call it a human—burned so bright they lit the entire area. I was simultaneously intrigued by their beauty and freaked out of my mind. What the hell was this thing?

  With her eyes open and illuminating the area, I could now make out the extent of her injuries. She had been beaten, badly. I could see heinous purple bruises up and down her small arms and legs: several lacerations oozed thick trails of blood, and given her labored breathing and hunched position, I guessed she had a couple of broken ribs too.

  "Ppp…please. Help me," the woman spoke, pausing to cough up blood.

  Krissy didn't hesitate, leaving the safety of my side and rushing toward the creature. "You need a doctor. Should we call 911?"

  "I don't need a doctor," the creature spoke. "My name is Anusha. I come from…" She paused for a coughing fit again before laying her head gently back against the wall. "It's not important. I need you—" Anusha sunk back to the ground, grabbing her head in agony. Her eyes closed and immersed us in blackness before she opened them again.

  I stepped up, no longer afraid. No matter who—or more aptly what—this woman was, she was severely hurt, maybe even dying, and I couldn't stand back and not do something to help. "What do you need? We can help, or at least try to."

  The woman-creature smiled. "I need you to keep safe…"

  "Keep you safe? From what?" Krissy asked, taking off her scarf she was using as a belt and gently wiping the blood from Anusha's mouth. It wasn't red like human blood, but more of a deep purple that beaded on the cloth like water on a duck's back.

  "Not…me," the creature wheezed. "This."

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, silver dagger with an ivory-embellished handle. "Shit," I whispered, pushing Krissy safely behind me. She bristled and moved beside me, not nearly as concerned with the knife-wielding non-human as I was.

  "Don't be afraid. I intend you no harm." As if to prove her point, the creature pointed the blade of the knife away from us and toward herself. What the hell is going on? I opened my mouth to voice my question when Anusha plunged the knife into her own gut.

  We stood in horror, not believing our eyes. Why did this creature say she wanted our help, only to take her own life? It made no sense. We were motionless for only a few moments before we sprang into action. I shrugged out of my shirt to apply pressure to the wound while Krissy fumbled with the phone.

  "It's password protected, Tate. I need your password!"

  "One two three four," I told her.

  "Seriously?"

  I wrapped the T-shirt into a ball. "Yeah, well—"

  "No, don't," Anusha cried as I bent to apply pressure. She held up her hand, and the next thing I knew I was laying flat on my ass several yards away. How the hell did she do that? She hadn't even touched me! Krissy ran to my side and helped me up, her eyes lingering over my bare chest. She's probably just looking to make sure I'm not injured, I reasoned. She'd hated me for years, no reason for that to change now.

  "I'm sorry," Anusha whispered. "I meant you no harm."

  I nodded and she continued. "Please, take this and hide it. Show no one and keep it far, far away from the Ruscors. A time will come, another will come. Keep our hopes for survival safe until then. Trust no one but the intended."

  "What the hell is she talking about?" I murmured to Krissy.

  "Not a clue. Maybe she's delirious from her injuries."

  "Take this," Anusha repeated. She still had the dagger in her hand, so I assumed that's what she was referring to. I grasped the handle, but she pulled it away."No, not the blade."

  Anusha placed the dagger on the ground, and then to my horror she shoved her hand inside of the gaping hole she created in her chest. Beside me, Krissy blanched, going green and swaying a bit on her feet. It was a horrific sight, seeing this woman digging around her own chest cavity. I was pretty sure even Hannibal Lector would find this disturbing.

  After several long seconds of digging around, Anusha sighed happily and pulled out a goo-covered ellipsoidal object that just fit in the palm of her hand. It was solid, and deep black in color. Was it a tumor? Or some other sickness? Why would she want us to keep that?

  She reached forward, grunting in pain, and handed it to me. The object was disgusting and I didn't want anything to do with it, but it was obviously important to her and I wouldn't be disrespectful. I also didn't want Krissy to take it in case it was dangerous.

  Before she had any chance to explain what it was, Anusha took a deep, final breath and closed her eyes.

  "Anusha?" Krissy called. When we got no reply, she bent down and went closer. "She doesn't have a pulse. She's gone."

  Chapter Three

  Krissy

  I was beginning to think I was in a dream. It was the only reasonable explanation for what was going on. Only in a dream would I be perfectly okay with some otherworldly creature pulling us into a dark alley and imploring us to keep some bodily object safe from an unknown alien. Oh, and even stranger? Tate McCallister was being nice to me. Tate McCallister who dumped chocolate milk in the baggie with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the third grade. Tate McCallister who pulled my braid until I begged and pleaded with my mom to cut my hair short in the eighth grade just so he'd have nothing to pull on any more. And Tate McCallister who plagued my dreams in all of his hard-muscled shirtless glory night after night. Yep, this was a dream.

  "So what are we supposed to do now?" I tried to keep calm, but I couldn't hide the quiver in my voice.

  "I don't know. I don't think there's anything else we can do for her." Tate pocketed the black object Anusha had given us before wiping his hands on his pants. "Let's go."

  "We can't just leave her here."

  Tate wiped his hands and placed them on my shoulders and brushed them up and down. "I wish there was something else we can do, but there's not. She was obviously in some type of danger, and exposing her to others could place them in danger too. Why don't we—"

  His words were drowned out by a sudden and strong burst of wind. My hair fell out of the loose bun and whipped around my face, and obscuring my vision. My arms stretched out, reaching for something to grab on to. I ran smack into Tate's bare chest, and he pulled me down to the ground where the wind wasn't as strong. We clung to
the ground and to each other as it felt like a tornado passed by. I was terrified and couldn't stop my hands from shaking. Tate's arms held me in a vice grip, and I could just make out his whispers of "shit, shit, shit." Several minutes later, just as suddenly as it arrived, the winds disappeared and the air around us stilled.

  I slowly lifted my head and looked around. The streetlights came back on, which was a relief, but strangely nothing was out of place. All the garbage and debris from the alleyway was exactly where it was before the violent windstorm started.

  "Look!" Tate whispered. "Over there, where we left the body."

  I swung my head around to the spot where Anusha fell. Nothing was there. Nothing. No blood, no body, just…nothing. It was like she never existed.

  "Your pocket," I instructed Tate. "Is the thing she gave you still there?"

  Tate sat up and checked his pockets, pulling out the black, still-gooey stone-like object. "Yes, I've still got it. At least I didn't imagine the last hour."

  He sat, fingering the object and flipping it over and over. Without saying a word, Tate stood, reaching down and helping me up. He never let go of my hand, instead leading me out of the alley. I followed willingly, hoping Tate had a plan. I slid into his car, silently watching him grab a towel out of his trunk and one of his game jerseys. Neither of us spoke as he drove, which was just fine with me. I needed time to wrap my head around what the hell was happening. It would take more than just a car ride to come to terms with everything, but I'd take what I could get.

  I stared out the window, but paid little attention to the scenery shrouded in darkness. I absently noted turning off Main Street and passing the high school before closing my eyes altogether. It wasn't until the car stopped that I bothered to look around. "I thought you were going to take me home."

  Tate shook his head. "We need to figure out whatever this thing is." He held out the object Aunusha gave him. "And we need to figure out that riddle she gave us as to what to do with this. My parents are on a cruise, so I figured my house would be the best place to talk for a bit."

  "Oh…yeah. Of course."

  Tate unlocked the front door and I followed him inside. He threw his keys in a large bowl by the front door before stepping out of his big boots and plopping down on the couch. "Make yourself comfortable."

  Unsure if his family had a "no shoes on the rugs" policy, I took mine off as well and sat in the arm chair opposite him. "So…" I started. I was nervous. More nervous now than I was in the alley. Being in his house, alone, was awkward. We'd had such a tumultuous relationship for so long, to suddenly act like we were long-time friends was, well weird.

  Tate seemed to be ignoring me, staring off into space. After several minutes of awkward silence, he stood up and left the room. "I'm going to wash this off. Maybe once it's clean we can figure out what in the world it is."

  "Or out of the world…" I quipped.

  If Tate heard me, he didn't reply. When he came back, he pulled the coffee table up closer to me and sat on it, straddling my legs. I tried not to focus on his nearness, and instead on the object in his hands. "Take a look. It's completely solid, like a stone, but shaped like an egg."

  "Yeah, but it's way bigger than a chicken egg. I've never seen anything like it. Plus, it's not spotted or brown or anything. It's pitch black. What kind of egg would be like that?"

  Tate shook his head slowly. "I have no idea. But I guess we can't really compare it to anything we know, since…" He paused, his next words on the edge of his tongue, but unwilling to come out. "It's not from here, right?"

  I took a moment to process that. It was one thing to live so close to Roswell and hear the rumors all my life, but seeing it in front of me? Experiencing it? I didn't quite know how to deal with that. "So what do we do with it? Should we tell someone? Our parents maybe? They might know what to do."

  "For now, I think we need to keep this between us. Anusha was pretty scared of something, or someone. Not to mention that she was beat to hell. We can't risk anyone finding out we have whatever she died protecting. It's too dangerous."

  "So what do we do now then?"

  "What was it that she said about someone coming to find it?"

  "Let me think." I closed my eyes, recalling the words she'd said. "I think she said, 'A time will come, another will come. Keep our hopes safe. Trust no one but the intended.' Or something like that."

  Tate scooted closer, his jean-clad legs brushing up against my bare ones. The brief contact heated my cheeks, and while I wanted to move away, I had nowhere to go. I swallowed hard, glancing into Tate's eyes. They were wide and the pupils dilated. He looked….turned on? Surely it couldn't have been because of me.

  "Well, there you go," he said. His voice had lowered to just above a whisper. His finger brushed my leg, tracing a pattern I didn't recognize along my skin. "We wait. We don't say a word about what happened tonight, and we wait."

  I gulped, suddenly feeling very stupid. Of course he'd want to keep quiet about tonight. It's not like he'd want to tell all his popular friends that he was stuck hanging out with me all night. He'd probably just as soon forget the whole thing. I'd been stupid to think that he was being nice to me. Or worse, that he was turned on by me. Stupid!

  "That's fine with me, Tate. We'll pretend it never happened. It's not a problem."

  "To keep it safe. And us safe. I think it's best as if we go on like nothing happened. That way we don't arouse suspicion."

  "Got it." I stood up, no longer caring if I was being rude. I just wanted out of there. "Can you take me home now? My parents are going to flip out that I'm this late. They expected me over an hour ago."

  Tate looked startled, but he complied. "Yeah, no prob. Are you sure you're okay with this? If you have another idea, I'm all ears."

  I already had my shoes back on and was heading for the door. "Nope. It's fine. I agree, we should just pretend like this whole thing never happened." I turned the handle on the door. "I'll be in the car when you're ready."

  I didn't say anything to him on the drive to my house. He didn't ask me for directions, which I found strange, but he went straight to my house. I didn't think much about it, instead focusing on staying as physically far away from Tate as I could get. I didn't want to like him. I wanted to hate him. So staying away was the easiest way to do that. And tomorrow, I could wake up and pretend this really was all a dream.

  Chapter Four

  Tate

  I wasn't sure what I'd done, but I knew I'd somehow screwed things up with Krissy again. She practically ran out the door and gave me the silent treatment the entire way to her house. I replayed the night over and over in my head, but wasn't sure what I'd said or done to make her angry with me.

  Over the next week, I was swamped with football practice. School started soon, and our first home game was less than two weeks away. Coach was relentless with our conditioning training, and I spent the entire week either working out with the team or passed out from exhaustion. I didn't hear from Krissy once, and I didn't have the energy to call her.

  But no matter how tired I was, I always paid close attention to my surroundings, vigilant to see if anyone was watching me, or if anything was unusual in any way. With both Krissy and me in danger, I took no chances, questioning everything. But I never came across anything or anyone suspicious. I didn't even see anyone that I hadn't known since I was in Sunday School. The one good thing about living in my small town: anything out of the ordinary would stick out immediately, and everyone would be talking about it.

  I had placed the stone egg in my parents' gun safe, tucked away in a cloth handgun sleeve. No one would look there and if they did, they wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary unless they opened the sleeve. Plus, it was an added bonus that the safe locked with a five-digit combination lock, so whatever threat Anusha was worried about wouldn't be getting the object she fought so hard to save.

  Monday morning rolled around, and I flew out of bed with an abnormal amount of gusto. It was the first
day of school, and I was excited to see all my friends again. If I was being honest, I was excited to see Krissy. I hated the way we left things, and I hoped she'd give me a second chance. Well, at this point it would be like a tenth chance, but who's counting?

  I left early and headed to Krissy's house to offer her a ride to school. I knew her truck was down for the count, and no one wanted to ride the bus if at all possible. I pulled up to her house without calling first. I was afraid that if I called and told her I wanted to see her, she'd reject me. So, better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. I stepped out of the car, taking a deep breath before jogging up to her door and ringing the doorbell. Those seconds waiting for the door to open were completely nerve wracking.

  "Tate? What the hell are you doing here?"

  I looked all around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. I finally spied her in an upstairs window. "Hey! Can you come down and talk? Or I can come up?"

  "No!" She paused. "I mean, I'll come down. Just…give me a minute to put on some clothes. I just got out of the shower."

  She started to slam the window shut, muttering under her breath as she did. I stood on the stoop, rocking back and forth on my heels and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Geez. How long does it take a girl to throw some clothes on? What is she doing up there? Reshowering? Okay, I should not be thinking of Krissy showering. Naked. Wet. Soapy.

  "…without calling first? Did something happen?"

  Oh, shit. Krissy stood in front of me, talking, but I'd barely heard a word she'd said. Damnit! I'd been with her less than two minutes and I'd already screwed things up again. I needed to get on my game.

  "Hey. No, I just wanted to check in with you, make sure you were okay. You haven't had anything strange happen this week?"

  Krissy crossed her arms over her chest. God she looks good, I thought, praying I didn't start sporting wood in front of her. In barely there shorts that highlighted her tone, tan legs and a tee shirt that hung off one shoulder, leaving it exposed, she looked practically edible. "No. It's been pretty boring around here. No alien sightings. You?"