See, if I knew I was going to get abducted that day? I would've worn a fresh change of clothes or something. New underwear maybe? At least I would've taken a shower first. Freshen up. I mean, I never knew how long I'd stay at a friend's place, especially if it took longer than thirty minutes to get there. But I always made sure to shower and take a few extra pairs of briefs. An alien abduction? I was thinking it'd be a little longer than most visits to a friend.

Of course, those fresh clothes would've been useless in a few moments anyway, so maybe it was for the best. Really, I just remember thinking I probably smelled bad. I'd had gym earlier that day. What kind of impression would that make for the first human to alien contact? Then again, there was no guarantee they even had noses.

But the alien pulled my attention back from the nonsense going through my head. The thing, the it, whatever it was, didn't seem to have a single hurry behind a thing they were doing. Their every motion was measured and careful—like a pop-and-lock dancer, they were smooth and controlled until it was almost robotic. They had paused at the doorway, and they stepped to the side and slowly began circling the two of us.

If I didn't know better, which I didn't, it almost seemed like they were wary. Frightened of us? No, of course not. We were at this thing's mercy. We'd just been floated up to an alien spaceship for crying out loud.

It was so interesting to see the thing up close though. The alien had all smooth purple-gray skin with black markings. A wraparound marking around its head reminded me of a bandit mask. The thing's wrists had black wrap-around markings that could've been tattoos. All three knees, ankles, and their waist were the same with a black wraparound mark. No clothes to speak of.

Helping each other to our feet, Jess and I stared at the alien as it continued to creep closer. We held onto each other for a moment longer, taking strength in that contact. We didn't know what was coming next. I would be lying if I wasn't scared shitless in that moment; my hands were clammy, chest tight. I could feel Jess trembling too. What do you even do when faced with some near-magical super technology creatures?

But I felt Jess squeeze my hands in hers, and I squeezed hers back. We jumped apart and I balled my fists like we were about to fistfight. Jess dropped a little lower, hands splayed like claws. She definitely had the form down pat from jujitsu classes.

Except, fists and jujitsu became useless in a breath. I felt something grab every inch of me tight. I was suddenly held completely rigid like from before, except this time it didn't have the tractor beam's heat effect. Thankfully, I could still breathe and move my eyes this time. A glance to my right revealed that Jess was also frozen in place. Hell, my own hair was frozen in place; the black curls were stuck out in the last motion of me getting ready to charge the alien asshole. Shit. We were so screwed.

The three-legged alien tilted its head and said some more of its garble-speech: "Xydwseudeaps fin qannap?" The tones sounded different, but it was still incomprehensible. "Mb. Nhmisza dehms." They waggled their double-jointed elbows.

Something whispered along my skin. It was like a gentle breeze, or you could compare it to someone brushing their fingertips along your back. It tickled, and my body would've spasmed if not for the forcefield around me.

My clothing fell to pieces. Just. Disintegrated. Little flecks of my clothing were floating to the floor. Suddenly, I was standing there completely nude. Though, at least I was still dramatically posed for a fistfight. Absurdly, I was glad of that fact. Being naked wasn't the way I thought I'd go, but at least I was still standing.

In another situation, the moment might've been kind of hot. I saw Jess get stripped naked in the same way. Just, poof. No clothes. Of course, we'd been dating for a few years by then, so it wasn't the first time I'd seen her naked, but never in such a strange situation. The lighting was bright, for one, and there was a giant fucking alien watching us. I guess it would've felt pervy in most other situations.

Now, Jess had always been gorgeous to me, so normally I would've appreciated the view, but it pissed me off to see her clothes flake away like so much ash. It wasn't right for that to happen to her. Myself? I guess I was disturbed at being stripped, but I never really cared as much about myself as I did other people.

Now, Jess looked angry too; I could see her nostrils flaring. Her jaw-muscles were bunching and straining against the invisible force holding us in place. The whole of her body was tensed, muscles straining to break free. It was like seeing her in some kind of frozen-time scenario: even her blue-tipped blonde hair was half-flipped to one side but frozen in that wavy motion. Made her look extra-scary.

Okay, so we were both pissed.

Then the alien walked to one of the countertops and tapped some kind of invisible control panel. Blue lights sprang to life on the counter. Something clicked.

Half of the wall dropped down to reveal a host of strange gadgetry. There were some things that felt somewhat familiar—some could've been a drill, maybe a hammer. Some of the stuff looked like construction equipment.

I tried to speak, "Frrrr fffff yrrr ffrrk!" Nope. I couldn't move my jaw enough to make any sense of myself. I wanted the fucker to free us, if you couldn't translate.

"Trrrrr!" came Jess' muffled voice. I think she was calling my name. Maybe she wanted me to calm down?

I guess there was some sanity to that. No need to piss off our alien captor.

The creature took a step into the wall, like, it made a faint "bloop" sound and shimmered as they reached through a translucent surface. So, the wall only looked like it had dropped down? Maybe it was just like, some kind of portal and wall-sized television in one?

Whatever it was, the alien dude stepped back full into our room with another "bloop". They had some kind of multi-jointed metal and plastic contraption in two of their hands.

Of course, here I should note that this thing's hands were not like what you and I have. I mean, assuming you're human, I guess. Now that we know there are aliens, maybe you're one too? Anyway, this alien had eight fingers. Yeah, eight.

See, we have a thumb and four fingers, right? So, this thing had two thumbs on each side of their palm and then the normal four fingers in between those. Kinda cool, right? Anyway, they were also padded like you might expect on gloves. I could see the puffy pads, and there were bits of glittery luminescent particles that looked to be embedded in the skin.

The alien turned to me with their new toy. They raised it to shoulder height. Almost like you'd see someone do with a rifle. Then the contraption glowed to life—bunch of blue highlights and glowing dots—and started giving off a high-pitched whine.

All of that interesting situational analysis stuff completely fled my mind in that moment. I felt kinda glad for the force field. My knees might've collapsed on me with the rush of fear. What the hell was this thing going to do to me?

Moving just as slow and purposeful as before, the alien approached me with the whining weapon. Several tentacle-like endpieces unfolded from the end of that rifle-like gadget. There were pieces that looked like drill bits and scalpels. A laser-light blinked to life, and I felt heat pierce my shoulder. A total of six different waggling appendages rose to life, and they were all waggling toward me. As if they sensed my presence.

Then, only half a meter away, the creature suddenly lunged at me. Just, leaned in and struck.

My vision went white.

Pain. Fuck. Oh hell, it hurt so bad. There was a rush of heat and that icy numbness like when you dive into cold water. Every muscle clenched in my back.

I felt the creature's eight-fingered hand wrap around my face. Something stung both of my temples. I felt tears in my eyes.

"Alright. How about that? Can you understand now? I do apologize that this must be so invasive, but I am running out of time." It was the same voice as before—like a running sawblade—but, the words made sense. Too much sense. I felt them vibrating in my skull.

Blinking through the tears, I gaped at the creature. I could move again. I collapsed to my knees. "I can... Understand you?" I turned to glance at Jess.

She was screaming, muffled from her still-frozen prison. Her muffled scream made my insides feel like they'd turned to jelly.

I looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood.