A Past with an Alien

CHAPTER 21

IRIS

My back and joints hurt. Where am I? I am still dizzy. The strong scent of acid lingers in my nostrils. I sit up in a single bed in a different bedroom. Although my armpits are sweating, I feel a chill inside. A light shines from a small window on the left wall, but it is just moonlight. When I turn, the whole room is dim. What time is it now? I am trying to understand what happened and why I ended up here.

"You're awake," a male voice startles me. I see two pairs of leather shoes near the small window where the moonlight shines. They move, and I notice someone sitting behind the dark part. It is a man in a crossed-leg position. How long has he been here? Has he been watching me while I slept? His presence is spine-chilling.

"Who are you?" I exclaim, putting my feet down from the mattress to the floor. "Where am I?" I want to approach him, but he stands up from his seat. I put my feet back on the bed and budge backward until I reach the wall. From the moonlight, I can see his body much more precisely now. When he steps closer, I recognize his face. "Crey?"

"You're right, Iris," he says, giving me a sinister grin. "Tsk tsk tsk! Such a nitpicky human girl. You're not even pretty."

I feel annoyed by what he has said. "Are you stupid? If I say no, there's nothing you can do. You can never force me to marry you." He laughs at me while his hands are on his waist now.

"What did you do to my family?" I exclaim again, standing up and wanting to slap his face. "Do you think you can get me?"

I ask myself. Sometimes I want to flip my hair to see if I am doing the right thing. Until now, I still couldn't believe I was saying this to a wealthy and handsome guy. I rejected him, dumping him like a woman who was hard to please. But honestly, what is the worth of those things if I don't have any specks of feelings towards him? Albert was the only one in my heart. The first and last man I will ever love for the rest of my life.

"You're stubborn." My body hair rises from the sudden change in his voice. It sounds demonic. "There's nothing you can do now. Like it or not, you will be mine."

I back away again, and my body begins to tremble. Crey suddenly transforms right in front of my eyes. My eyes pop wide from fear, and my breath shortens as the horrors unfold. He is expanding so much that his clothes are ripping away from his body.

In the course of events, I never follow what happens next. Crey turns into a monster in a swift, terrifying moment. The reptile-looking people who abducted me before—that's what he looks like now. But he is much more frightful. My mind goes blank, and my whole body turns into a stone.

Unexpectedly, I return to my senses, and the first thing I do is scream at the top of my lungs. Crey growls in front of my face in the most disturbing, monstrous sound I have ever heard. It is like all the beasts on Earth have come together. My mind goes blank again, and it sucks out all the energy in my body. I collapsed on the mattress and fainted.

***

ERIER

We all scattered into the woods around the perimeter of the massive house. The plan was to find Iris, and they must avoid catching us. But if they did, we must prepare for battle.

"If we bring out our mecha here, we might end this mission in just a matter of time," Mamir said.

"We got busted in no time, too," Captain Zegyr explained. "The mecha had strong energy. Now, you go there," he said, directing his finger to a tree with a wide trunk. "And you, Erier, are at my right."