A Long Way Away

Alex’s eyes jerked open. He was lying in a bed.

Whew. Only a dream,” he whispered to himself, turning onto his side to look out his window.

What Alex saw shocked him…

There was no window. Alex sat upright quickly and surveyed the room. There were no windows at all. Every wall was completely bare. He looked to his feet and noticed the bed was at least three feet longer than any normal bed, it was completely flat but the most comfortable thing Alex had ever laid on. On the wall facing his feet was a knobless door, which appeared to have no way to be opened. He began to panic.

Then he noticed something else. There was another bed in the room. On the bed lay his little sister. She looked almost peaceful lying there sleeping. Alex was so confused. He slowly lay back down and stared at the bare, grey ceiling, his mind racing to find an explanation.

- - - - - - - -

After what seemed like years later, Alex heard his sister stirring. He watched as Claire’s eyes shot open, her soft skin seeming to have color rush back that Alex had not noticed was missing. She peered around the room and then looked at him, the same blank expression Alex had.

“Where are we?”

“Not a clue,” Alex answered grimly.

Claire's foot had been wrapped in a metallic boot, indicating that someone had cared to her broken ankle. Just as Alex was about to ask her if she was alright, there was a loud hiss.

The door slid open, disappearing into the heavy, bland wall. Alex and Claire’s mouth both dropped in horror.

In front of them stood another seven foot tall, lizard-like creature. The alien's scaly, smooth skin shivered, as if it was not happy to be there. The alien's eyes shimmered, the galaxy of stars appearing to float around the large, beautiful spheres. Alex could not help but notice the feminine features of the alien which made this one less threatening than the others. The alien wasn't wearing any armor either, and instead it was wearing clothing much like that of a queens mistress.

“Hello. My name is Bactara. Follow me,” the monotone voice was surprisingly soothing.

It scared Alex that, 'Bactara', knew how to speak English. He guessed that Bactara was a female though because her voice was much softer than that of the ones who had attacked them earlier. But even so he was scared out of his mind by this creature and didn't budge.

Bactara also just stood there. It was eerie, with the creature standing there not speaking, her captivating eyes boring into his mind. Alex almost felt that Bactara could feel his memories like she had lived them herself.

He finally got out of the bed, walking over to Claire’s bed to help her up. Claire protested, not wanting to follow Bactara because they had no idea what the alien would do to them. Alex managed to convince her that it was okay, even though he knew it was not.

“This way,” Bactara said, motioning for the kids to follow her.

They stepped out of the room into a hallway. Claire clung on Alex’s arm, as they saw that the hallway was filled with more of the lizard-like aliens. There were both feminine and masculine aliens, all dressed in clothing that appeared to be from medieval times, walking down the hallways in groups like you'd see in a high school. Alex studied the aliens, they all appeared to be doing the same with the two children.

A squad of armour clad aliens marched down the hall in perfect formation, their white armour reflecting the luminous light.

They continued on, turning left down another hall perpendicular to the one they had just been in. The right wall consisted of large windows that stretched the length of the hall. At the end of the hall there was another intersection where the windows ended.

“Alex, look.”

Alex was about to ask 'what' but his thoughts trailed off. Outside of the window was the earth, floating in orbit on its tilted axis. The earth was even more beautiful than when your on the wonderful surface. They stopped and stared. As they studied the marvel they could see that the earth spun a lot faster than it felt like it did back home in Charlotte, NC. They could see Europe, as it spun quickly, and now they could see the eastern tip of Asia.

Bactara kept walking, but as if she sensed something, she turned and repeated her words, “Follow me.”

Her smooth scaled hands gestured down the hall. Anger began to well up inside of Alex, so much so that he started shaking.

“Is that all you know how to say! Where’s our mom? Where are we going? Why aren't we back there?” Alex yelled pointing out the window at the earth, he could feel is blood begin to heat up pulsing quickly through his veins.

His actions were impulsive and he had a subconscious feeling that the alien would want to kill him. But he didn't care; they were probably going to be killed eventually anyways.

Bactara looked at him with her starry eyes. Alex noticed that the other aliens had stopped and were staring at him. He could hear some of them speaking to each other in a strange language consisting of clicks and grunts. Claire's grip tightened on Alex's arm until he though she might rip it off but he ignored the pain.

After what seemed like hours of staring into the beautiful Galaxies in the aliens eyes Bactara finally said, with what sounded almost like sympathy, “I’m sorry but, your questions will have to wait.”

“No! You took us away from our home, and you expect us to have no questions,” Alex was close to tears.

Bactara turned around without a word and continued walking down the hall. Alex quickly trailed behind her, tugging his sister along. His heart felt like it was beating in every extremity, causing his fingers to twitch with every heart beat.

He was a long way away from home...