Callisto: Bound to the Alien Commander |18+

Chapter 12

I'm not sure what time it is when I'm awakened by the door sliding open. I stay perfectly still in the bed, my eyes straining in the dark for a moment. I hope that it's Clarisse or maybe even Santi.

That hope is quickly dashed when a tall muscular silhouette comes into focus against the purple glowing light.

"Who's there?" My voice shakes.

All at once the figure stops moving and I hear a gasp. A woman's voice speaks rapidly into the darkness and a dim light turns on growing slowly brighter. I don't recognize the woman standing at the foot of the bed. She turns, looking out over the balcony and then back at me.

"Why are you here?" Her voice is angry and aggressive.

"I..." I don't know what to say. The hazy confusion of being ripped from sleep mixed with my nervousness has me sputtering instead of speaking.

In an angry mixture of their language and English, she starts shouting at me. I can't read between the lines enough to understand what she's trying to say. The bits of broken English aren't giving me enough context. It's apparent that she is getting more upset and more agitated with each passing minute.

"Where is-" she keeps repeating that over and over, the rest of the sentence, the most important part, I can't understand.

"I'm sorry!" I jump out of the bed and rush toward the door. All I can think is that there's been some mistake and I am sleeping in her room.

I run down the long hallway, trying to remember the way to Clarisse's room. After several minutes I come to a staircase that I don't recognize. I must have made a wrong turn somewhere. Turning back, I try to retrace my steps to the room so that I can start again but after I come to a dead-end hallway I realize I'm lost.

Wandering around in the dark I try to be as quiet as possible. I don't want to disturb anyone in the middle of the night. I find myself at the top of another staircase. This place is a gigantic labyrinth of white, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. There are no distinguishing features, art, decor...nothing.

While I contemplate whether or not I want to go down to the next level, I hear something in the distance. Footsteps in the dark.

"Nicole?" It's Olexa.

My tense shoulders slump. A friendly face.

"Are you hurt? Or ill?" She sounds concerned.

"No, I'm just looking for my friends... I think there was a mistake with my room."

"A mistake?" Her hand comes down on my shoulder, gently pulling me away from the stairs.

"She was so upset. I think I must have ended up in her room by accident..." I explain everything. At some point, she stopped walking, standing tensely while I tell her what happened. She looks angry, her shoulders hunched aggressively.

"No." With no further explanation, she turns around and pulls me after her toward the direction we just left. When we reach the staircase again, she practically runs down. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a small hallway with two doors. She opens one of them quickly and shouts something in her language.

I'm taken aback by her anger.

The dim lights grow brighter until the whole room is illuminated. The commander is sitting up in bed, his bare chest catching my attention first. He looks shocked as the two of them speak angrily at one another.

"He will fix it," Olexa finally releases her grip on me. With an indignant smirk, she leaves without looking back.

I shuffle on my feet, staring down at the ground.