“Big ass blue, four-armed monsters that smelled like dirty socks … is what happened. You’re right, I was on my way to meet you. I was actually looking forward to it, because you were the first guy who had caught my eye since relocating to that big collegetown. Most of the guys I had met were stuck on themselves or sports addicts. You were the only one who seemed approachable … real. I tried on half a dozen outfits before I settled on the one I eventually came to hate, as it was my only piece of clothing for months and months.”
She stops talking, concentrating on what she’s doing, while my arm is bleeding all over the table. The pain from her pulling the pieces out has saliva building in my mouth as I grit my teeth on one particularly hard tug.
“Ahhh, I think I’ve got it … take a breath while I clean this once more. Ok, where was I … oh yeah, my kidnappers. I was just walking past the dog park when there was a bright flash in front of me. I remember being temporarily blinded, and I didn’t even fight the first set of hands that felt like they were leading me out of the way of something. But do you know that feeling when your hair stands up on top of your head, and your Spidey senses tell you something is wrong? Well, mine apparently were out of order because it was‘beam me up, Scotty’without even a fight from me.
I woke up in a cage, wallowing in filth with three other girls, groggy and disoriented. Before I could even ask their names, a fog entered the room, and the next thing I remember was waking up on Deapra. Mam and a few other Ruks were standing over us, trying to get us out of the failing cryopods. To say I screamed doesn’t even begin to cover it, but ironically, I was one of the calm ones. We couldn’t understand a word at first, but the more they talked to us, the more these things they put in our heads understood. It took time, but the four of us humans finally stopped feeling sorry for ourselves. Even though we were all from different locations, we became great friends along with the Ruks, who took us in. I was never a girl who liked to rough it, butman, did that way of life change. Even though we talked about it a lot, we had no way of knowing how long we were kept in stasis until Ginger crash landed, and she wasn’t sure how long she had been gone from Earth either.”
“Time is all jacked up for me too. I had just graduated when the announcement came over the TVs and cell phones about the planetary storm that was going to wipe us all out. You had already been gone for about four years by then. After you went missing, I just concentrated on school. I lost all interest in dating and girls. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I blamed myself for you being gone, and I didn’t want to push my luck again. But Tracy, you need to know something. I’m only here because of your Aunt Irene. I owe her my life.”
She stops cleaning the smaller wounds and looks up at me. “What?”
“I was packing up to try to get back home when she showed up at my dorm room with a packet in her hand. I argued with her that she should be the one to go, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Said she was too old and had lived her life to the fullest. I asked many times … how she got that packet, but she would never tell me. Just said she hadn’t been able to save you, but she did have the means to save me. She helped me redo the bag I had been packing and even drove me right up to the front door of the scientific center, where the pods were located. How she managed to get me there before people started going crazy, and the place had to be locked down, I have no clue.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was one of the lucky ones because I got to say goodbye to my loved ones, while many did not. I will say I constantly questioned my choice to stay, especially when so many were being turned away. Because of this internal conflict, I tried to leave one night. I was going tohead home so that I could at least be with my family in the end. Only, Ricky stopped me, forcibly putting me back inside the compound. He told me to think of how I got here and to consider it a blessing. That even though my mind said I was not worth it, apparently another thought I was.
There’s something else you should know. Irene whispered something as I hugged her goodbye. She said, ‘Go find my girl. The stars took her from me, but she’s out there somewhere’. It was like she knew something unthinkable had happened to you, but still believed you were alive. When I saw you earlier, I thought you were a ghost.”
“Owen, it was a path I wasn’t sure I’d survive and many times I didn’t want to. But after I stopped feeling sorry for myself, life reset me, like hitting a button. And I’ve learned to be grateful for each sunrise and sunset since.”
Tracy wipes a tear off her cheek with her shoulder as she glances up at me for a second before turning all her attention back to my arm. Because I was so wrapped up in her, the pain and my arm were almost forgotten.
“I believe I’ve gotten all the splinters and the dirt out. It should already be feeling better. I think you have a slight fracture, but the bone didn’t break all the way, so hopefully, once I get you stitched up and we wrap it well, the pain should be more tolerable. I’m glad you’re here, Owen. It’s almost like we were given a second chance.”
“You know, you do owe me a date, Tracy.”
Her pretty green eyes sparkle playfully.
“Oh, do I?
“Yeah, and if you have nowhere you need to be later, I can fix a mean replicator meal.”
“You should be resting.”
“Who better to make sure I am than my doctor?”
Tracy laughs lightly, and I think I fall a little in love right on the spot. She’s thinner than I remember; her hair isn’t styled; she has no makeup on; and her clothes aren’t glamorous. Nonetheless, I can see myself waking up to that smile for the rest of my life.
“What do you say, Trace? I know we had a slight interruption, but I feel the same way about you now as I did the first time I asked you out. Are you willing to take a chance on a poor boy from Earth?”
“Yeah, I think I just might be, but this time you’re coming to get me at the door.”
“It’s a date, beautiful.”
CHAPTER 12
KYT
A disturbance at the main entrance awakens me. Seeking what is behind it, I let my thoughts merge with the roots and the vines surrounding my mate and I, only to recognize the essence instantly as father’s as he enters my domain, his lovely mate not far behind him.
Kira’s thoughts echo throughout my space as she’s in awe over the interior of what she calls a living tree. Her small fingers drift over the inner vines as many of the newer buds open, seeking her attention.
“DaR, shouldn’t you announce yourself? It’s not nice to just enter someone’s home.”
“He already knows we are here.”
“Ahh, would you look at that bed? Lord, I’m in love. I’ll have to show this to SAGE … it’s absolutely stunning.”
I can feel father’s spike of happiness as he enjoys her constant joys with the little things. He puts his hand against the main inner membrane, seeking me out. Just as I start to reassure him that we are well, my mate starts to move, and I am distracted.
