Sylvia unlocked her apartment door. Stepping in she turned the lights on. She wasn’t proud of her home. The living room was pretty empty, one couch with clothes scattered all over it. A small dining table with two chairs. All the kitchen cupboards were half empty. The only other two rooms were the bathroom and bedroom, and those weren’t anything to boast about either.
Not that any of that mattered. She wasn’t about to give the man threatening her life a tour around the place. Speaking of which, the hooded stranger stepped in after her lowering his head to avoid bumping into the frame of the door. “Mind if I sit down?” He asked politely.
“Would you leave if I said that I do?” Sylvia responded nervously.
“Haha.” Mr. Stranger replied, making his way to one of the two chairs, leaving a trail of blue blood behind him. Great, I don’t think I can make him clean that up later. Sylvia whined, and then she thought why she was thinking about cleaning and not more freaked out about the fact that the blood... was blue.
There was something off about the man as well, not just his blood. Sylvia made her way into the kitchen, she took off her cap letting her brown hair fall over her shoulders. Focusing on the one good knife she had, Sylvia felt the man observing her. She cleared her throat “So um, do you need like a first aid kit or something?”
“No, thank you I’ll be fine.” His voice rang with reassurance. “I just need 4-5 hours to heal.”
Of course, Sylvia thought taking her sweater off. “Does that mean,” she turned to face the him, “you plan on staying the nigh-“ Her jaw dropped. The man had taken his hoodie off. The man... was that even the right word?
His skin looked like shades of blue and gray. His eyes were wide and white. Instead of eyebrows he had what looked like a crease or line that started a little below the middle of his forehead and traveled around his face all the way down to his jaw line on both sides . It connected to the corners of his eyes and mouth. Oh, and he had no freaking nose.
Sylvia leaned back on the counter.
The creature sat their staring at her. He gave her a moment before the line above his eyes shifted slightly upwards, giving him an expectant look.
“Uhm... are- are you an ali-“
“An alien? I suppose I am to you, yes.” He answered blatantly. Almost expecting her to freak out.
“Oh.” Sylvia felt a little dizzy. “Ok cool. That’s nice, I think I’ll go to bed.”
“What?” The alien shifted in his seat, his question sounding like a chuckle of disbelief. “You’re not going to ask anything else?”
Sylvia made her way around the table, heading for her room. She didn't want to deal with this right now. Am I disassociating? Is this what disassociation feels like?
A strong gloved hand reached out and gently grabbed her arm, stopping her from reaching the bedroom door. “The least I can do is answer some questions you have.” He said looking up at her apologetically. Sylvia didn't think of breaking free from his grasp. In fact, his large palm felt comforting.
Damn he has long arms.
“I, uh-” With her free hand she reached up to the side of her head grabbing a handful of hair. Guided by the alien's long arm Sylvia sat down defeated. She wanted to sleep. Sylvia's solution to any problem was to sleep first, worry later.
They sat in silence for a moment after he let go of her arm. Sylvia took a deep breath. “So I guess... we’re not alone?” She asked her heart still hammering against her chest.
“Humanity? No, far from it.”
“How... how many?”
“I learn about new civilizations everyday. I’m not sure.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Sylvia stared at her hands. She was unsure if she could even process the information. Could she even trust this alien not to harm her? Sylvia was on the brink of panicking, wishing for her bed. He, on the other hand seemed to be waiting patiently for her next question. I guess if he was going to hurt me, he would've done it already... so she pushed her fears aside for the time being, and decided to make the most of her encounter with the alien. She continued with another question, “And you are..?”
“Ah, that might be a bit difficult to explain. Think of it as artificial intelligence that grew itself a body. Consisting of nano tech-“ Sylvia lifted a hand cutting him off.
“I was actually asking about your name.” She gave him a small, shy smile.
Surprised, he leaned back in his chair. “Denric.”
“Where’d you get it from?” She asked, seeming more interested in how he got his name than what he was made of.
“I gave it to myself.” Denric answered honestly.
"Oh..." She looked away, brushing her hair behind her ears. “I’m Sylvia, by the way.”
It was Denric’s turn to smile. “Nice to meet you.” He said and liked the way the girl chuckled in response.
“Are you sure you’re fine?” Sylvia asked looking down at Denric’s hand that was still cradling his side.
“Perfectly.” He answered without hesitation.
Sylvia sat quietly looking at his side, not fully convinced.
“The pain is a bit of a bother so if you don’t mind distracting me for a while longer...” Denric brought Sylvia’s gaze back to his own.
“O-oh, right, of course.” Sylvia searched for her next question. “So how'd you end up in front of my door?”
“A consequence of my work.”
“Which is?”
Denric took a moment. “My work... it varies in different ways.”
“What kind of ways?”
He hesitated, “I suppose you could call me a retriever of some sort.” Denric continued. “Sometimes I bring back objects, sometimes I bring back beings.”
“And sometimes you kill them.” Sylvia added, her fears resurfacing.
Another moment of silence passed between them. The alien didn't seem to want to deny her accusation.
“Bad one’s or good one’s?” Sylvia asked.
“What?”
“Do you kill bad people... or beings.” She gave herself a moment to let that sink in. “Or do you kill good one’s?”
Denric took a long pause. “...Bad one’s.”
“That didn’t sound convincing.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to judge.”
“Judge what?”
“If they’re good or bad.”
“Should you be the one judging that at all?”
“You’re right. I don’t. The ones who hire me do.”
“So you don’t care? You just go after whoever they tell you to?”
“Are you really trying to figure out the morality of someone who threatened your life?” Denric asked half joking half serious.
Sylvia blinked a couple of times before answering, “I guess you’re right. You could’ve killed me but you didn’t.”
Denric tilted his head.
“If that’s not evidence of your moral standing I don’t know what is.” Sylvia sighed calming herself. “So...” She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to ask. “What, or...who were you after this time?”
Denric let out a heavy breath and reached into one of his pockets. He took out a small glass barrel with yellow, almost golden liquid in it.
“Drugs?” She asked unimpressed.
Denric smirked, “In a way.” Sylvia looked at him quizzically. He held the bottle up towards the light. “I don’t know much about it except the fact that they call it the essence.”
“They?”
Denric smiled, “My employers.”
“Of course.” Sylvia watched as Denric moved the glass in front of her.
“Half the galaxy is looking for this.” Denric said amused. “Would you like to hold it?”
That made her grin. “I think it’s better if I have nothing to do with that thing.” Half the galaxy, huh? Sylvia felt dizzy again. She could almost hear her bed beckoning her.
Denric put the bottle back in his pocket. “Smart girl.” He looked around. “You live alone?”
Sylvia gave him a suspicious look, “Are you asking me if I’m single?” The absurd question made him laugh, which sounded deep and comforting.
“Just wondering if I’ll have to explain my morals to someone else.” He teased.
She shook her head. "Nope, just me." Sylvia wondered if she should have lied, but she doubted that it would have made any difference.
They spent the next couple of hours talking about what’s beyond Sylvia’s world. Something about United Solar Federations for each galaxy. Giant orb entities that kept planets and solar systems hidden. They talked about how the president of the United States was in fact not a reptile alien in disguise. Apparently, other than being visited by the occasional UFO, the human race was one of the few planets in their galaxy that was still in the dark about all alien life beyond them. She wanted to know how that small glass ended up here, of all places, but she stopped herself. Leaning on her elbows she held her head in both hands.
"Too much?" Denric asked.
"Probably." She shook her head.
"I've kept you long enough, we could both use some rest." His voice almost sounded like a lullaby.
She couldn't even remember how she got to bed. Sylvia's mind was on overdrive. All she knew was that she had to stop thinking before she had a mental breakdown. And sleeping would do the trick. Sylvia tried to forget the alien in the next room. She tried to forget that her life was threatened by said alien. And of course, she tried to forget that she had work tomorrow.
Sylvia woke up to light seeping through her window.Damn I forgot to pull the blinds down. She moaned, and then sat up fast. No, wait. That wasn’t all she had forgotten about. She crept out of bed, still wearing the clothes from yesterday. Peeking out, she scanned the living room. There was no tall stranger, no alien, no Denric. Maybe it was just a dream, she thought but the damn blood stains quickly proved her wrong. Sylvia sighed in pain and decided to leave the cleaning to her future self.
She sat down with a bowl of cereal. He left without a word. No note, no thank you? Sylvia chewed angrily. Men... He was a man right? She was lost in thought when a hasty knock banged on her door. Who the hell? Sylvia checked her phone. It was 6 A.M. on a Saturday. There was no way she was opening that door, unless... it was him. She hopped up, combing her fingers through her hair. Sylvia had so much more questions to ask Denric. And she finally had the energy to ask them all.
She rushed over to open the door. As it swung open Sylvia immediatelyregretted it. A tall figure stood looming over her. Much taller than Denric. Another alien, she gasped. And this one didn’t look too friendly.
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