The television is playing in the background, the volume low enough so that it is more of a background noise than a nuisance. The light from the television makes it easy for me to see Alex in the otherwise dark room, curled around himself as he struggles to get air into his lungs.
"Alex," I say, scooting closer to him but not touching his body, seeing as some people don't like the sensation of being touched when they are in such a vulnerable state. "You need to calm down and breathe."
He just shakes his head, his breathing becoming even more ragged than before. It is easy to see how terrified he is, and all from just the sight of Mayor Klarr. I know our leader is not a good person, but what could he have done to make Alex so terrified of him? My curiosity is growing, but the need to get Alex to calm down before he passes out from a lack of oxygen is stronger.
"Alex, listen to me. You need to take deep breaths." When he still doesn't say anything, I eventually cave into touching his arm. He won't calm down until I practically force him.
Placing my arms on his shoulders, I give him a gentle squeeze. His head snaps up, his bloodshot eyes wide with fear. He tries to wiggle away from his grasp, but I don't let him. We are at the same level, and with him not hiding his head, our faces are only a few inches apart.
"Breathe, like I am," I say, taking a deep breath in and holding it for a few seconds before letting it out. Alex struggle at first to copy me, but he eventually starts to calm down and take normal breaths right when I feel a cramp in my leg start up.
Alex looks away from me, his eyes flitting around the room while I collapse onto my butt so that I can release the growing tension in my legs. His eyes eventually land on the television, and he freezes completely.
Looking over at the screen, I can see that they are once again flashing a picture of the mayor while talking about him. With a tired sigh, I pull myself onto the couch, patting the cushion beside me so that Alex will get up as well. It takes him a little while, but he eventually uncurls himself from the tight ball he was in and crawls up onto the couch.
"Now," I say, voice soft as to not disturb the hesitant calm we are in. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about, or am I just going to have to guess?"
Alex doesn't say anything, his eyes still fixed on the television. Letting out a heavy sigh, I rest my head against the back of the couch, getting comfortable because I have a feeling I am going to be here a while. Once settled, my eyes fixate on the human sitting beside me.
His usually rumpled hair is even more tousled, random sections sticking up, probably from his fingers twisting in the locks. His eyes are swollen from all the crying, and his lip is caught in between his teeth, worrying it as he continues to watch the colorful pictures on the television.
Just when I think Alex isn't going to say anything at all, he breaks the silence, his voice barely audible in the still air. "I haven't seen my sister in a long time, probably a year or two.".
"What happened?" I whisper when he doesn't say anything further.
His mouth opens but no words come out. Scrunching his eyes, he looks as if he is trying to figure out what to say, forming his words carefully before speaking them aloud.
"Sarah- my sister- and I lived in a small village, no more than fifty people, hiding from the war hungry humans and the cruel hybrids who spent a lot of time hunting us down. We were there for a while, for maybe six years or so, before they finally found us."
Swallowing back the lump in my throat, I manage to ask croakily, "Who did?"
Alex looks over at me, his eyes, moving from my ears to my face. "Your scientists." He pauses for a moment, returning his eyes to the screen. "They took most of us and held us in a basement somewhere. Every week, they would come and take one of us away. Once you passed through that door that led to their workstations, you weren't coming back."
"Oh god." My heart is beating fast, and I have to hold back my tears, fearing what he may say next.
"I was the last one left, and I remember sitting in the darkest corner, praying that I would get out before they came for me. But that didn't happen. Exactly a week after they took the last person, they came for me. I couldn't really see much, since they blindfolded me before taking me to the lab. I remember the air smelling like the harsh chemicals some of the villagers used to horde in their homes for cleaning, and it had been so cold."
"They had laid me down on a table, strapping my arms and legs down so that I couldn't escape." He swallows harshly, his hand coming up to rub at his other wrist as he remembers. "And then the needles came. They were putting something into me, but I have no idea what it was, before rolling the bed I was strapped down on into another room."
His breath picks up again, and I scoot over to him, not knowing exactly how to comfort him. Hesitantly, I rest my hand on his leg. Alex flinches slightly at the contact before settling down again.
"You don't have to tell me the rest if you don't want to," I whisper. "I'm sorry I asked."
"No." He shakes his head, blonde hair swaying from the movement. "No, you deserve to know, especially since you are risking your own life by letting me stay here."
He pulls away from me just enough so that my hand falls away from his leg. "Anyway," he breaths out. "I was in that room for a while, so long that I stopped counting the days. Every day, someone would come in and check on me and the others in there, ask us questions. Then one day, someone new came in, and that person had a very distinctive voice." His eyes move over to the television, and my breath catches in my throat.
"Mayor Klarr?" I say, voice soft in disbelief. "He knew about this? I knew he wasn't a good person but never imagined him being this bad."
Alex nods his head but doesn't dwell on the subject long, instead choosing to continue telling his story.
"The scientists and the Mayor stopped coming, though, after a while. And that was when the noises started up." He clenches his hands together as they rest in his lap, his head shaking slightly in confusion as he continues. "I have no idea what the sounds were, but they sounded as if they belonged to a wild animal. But then one night, something happened. The electricity went out, and I just remember the creatures in the same room as me going crazy. The scientists tried to contain them, but they managed to escape somehow. I think one of the scientists opened the door, and the beasts tore him apart."
He looks up at me then, before relaxing a little more into the couch. "They must have taken out everyone, because it was silent in the room after that. I thought I was going to die there, strapped to a bed and blindfolded. But then someone came a while later. She had unstrapped my arms and took off my blindfold before telling me that I had to get out before the enforcers came."
"Was she a hybrid?" I question, curious as to who this savior could be.
Alex nods his head. "Yeah, she had tan colored ears on head, but I don't know what type."
"And you just ran after that?" He nods. "Did you happen to see where you were being held?"
"No," he says. "I just remember running down endless hallways and making it into the main room. It was completely destroyed. All the cabinets and storage containers were ripped apart, and the bed where they did the experiments was ripped off its stand and laying on the ground. Before I could look any further, though, I heard footsteps coming towards the door."
"How did you get out?"
He grimaces slightly while looking down at his leg, his finger running along the scar I know is there from when I patched him up. "There was a tiny window near the ceiling that I was able to break. Cut myself on the way out, but that didn't matter as much as the fact that I was able to get away." He looks up at me then, a small smile on his face. "And then that night I happened to stumble into your backyard, and you know the rest."
A tight smile spreads across my own face. We sit there in relative silence after that, both of us trying to absorb everything that just happened.
Conflicting emotions are running through me. To think of what my people have done to him and other humans is like a blow to my own pride. But then a hybrid rescued him from the facility and we took him in when he stumbled into our backyard, so we can't all be bad.
And then my confusion grows even more when I think about how parts of his story sound familiar, but I have no idea how. It is like I have heard it or seen it before, but I just can't put my finger on it.
Then the issue of why the scientists were experimenting on the humans anyways is highly confusing. We have always been taught that humans had gone extinct from the virus that swept the globe over thirty years ago. Apparently our government knew that some still remained, though, since they were able to find Alex's old village and take him and others unwillingly.
By why take them in the first place?
It wasn't like they just went in and slaughtered the whole village. No, they actually took them and experimented on them, tried to change them somehow.
If their experiments where a success or not is hard to tell. It isn't like Alex or anyone else knows what happened to the others, and Alex is relatively healthy, despite his anxiety and still being slightly underweight.
A headache starts to form at the back of my skull from all the questions and thoughts running through my mind. Too tired to think more on this tonight, I get up from the couch with a groan.
Alex looks over at me, wariness and question in his eyes.
"It's getting late and I feel as if my head is about to explode," I tell him. "We can try to figure out everything later when my head isn't trying to see how much pain I can take."
"Okay," he says, voice soft.
"Do you have everything you need in here?" I ask, looking around to see if there is a blanket and pillows in here somewhere. Alex has been sleeping in here lately, but the sheets and pillows are put away every morning.
"Yeah," he says, "I can find everything, don't worry."
"Alright." Rubbing my eyes, I walk out of the room, tossing a quiet, "Goodnight," over my shoulder as I go.
Thank goodness my room is only a few feet away from the sitting area, so I don't have to walk far. Being as quiet as I can, I open the door and slip inside. Braeden must already be asleep, seeing as it is completely dark in here except for the dim light we have by the bathroom door so we can see where we are going in the middle of the night.
Too tired to do put real pajamas on, I just strip out of everything but my boxer briefs before climbing onto the bed and pulling the covers over me.
Braeden rolls closer to me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me against his chest.
"You were in there for a while," he mumbles, voice laced with sleep. He must have woken up when I climbed into bed. "Is everything alright?"
Letting out a long sigh, I cuddle further into his arms, appreciating the heat radiating off of him. "No, but I'll tell you in the morning." I pat his arm before resting my hand over his, where it rests over my stomach. "Go back to sleep."
"Alright," he whispers. "But you need to get some sleep as well. Try not to let your mind take over like it usually does."
He places a gentle kiss on the back of my head before settling down once more. My eyes adjust to the dark and start to wander around the room, reassuring myself that nothing is hiding in the darkness, waiting for me to drop my guard. "I don't think I can, tonight."