Not Human

Lily Valerie was tired and worn to her very last bone. She trudged down the stairs of the building she worked in. The walls are a boring brown, the floor white tiles, speckled with black dots, and glass doors lining down the halls. Stairs and more stairs, elevators ( She thought why didn’t she get on one?) There were three floors, and she had to share a large room with other co-workers, and her area was separated by her desk. She had a rolling chair, pens, pencils, files, folders, etc. She worked at human resources for one whole year. She thought it paid fairly, and she didn’t think it was bad.  It was wet, cold, and smelled of a dumpster as she exited the building. Outside the sky was gray, foggy, and clouds scattered it. Lily predicted it was going to rain. Just fantastic. Her friends Cherry Morrow, Angelica Leen, and Andy Lou begged her to buy a couple of things like snacks, and, of course, beer. She only had to walk two more miles to reach her apartment. It was close to the office. It made her life a little easier. She clutched a brown bag close to her; the contents were chips, chocolate, and an eight pack of beer. She didn’t like this part-this area she had to pass to her apartment. It was vacant, no one for another mile. Strange the area was deadly silent. The rain had let up, but not for long.  It was pouring down vigorously drenching Lily in its horror. She saw silvery eyes shining back at her, and bright blond hair. It was her peering through a puddle. Her hair stuck to her forehead annoyingly drizzling rainwater onto her red tennis shoes. She kept swiping it over, but it stayed on her face. The rain didn’t help it. Why not rest? A voice in her head tempted her and she gave in to it happily. Lily sat down in front of an anemic-looking gas station, it seemed abandoned. It was old, and shaggy the windows were dim, some shattered. It gave off a haunting vibe. She kept her gaze frozen on a spot. Something moved. White eyes shot out of the blackness, glowing eerily. She slowly lifted her arms and legs to stand up off the chipped woody bench. It creaked unpleasantly as she did this. It probably hadn’t been sat on for years now. Unless people were silly enough to rest here next to what looked like a haunted gas station.  “W-who are you?” She voiced out loud. Stumbling onto her feet, without knowingly meaning to, she began drawing closer to see it. Her body was moving on its own. Curiosity had placed a spell on her body. She was close enough now. She peeked through one of the shattered windows bravely or stupidly. However, she saw nothing. The person was gone.  “Oh, well...then..” She turned to leave when suddenly she felt a large cold leathery hand on the sleeve of her black jacket. She turned her head ever so slightly, to see a glimpse of what she saw earlier but only clearer this time. Its claws dug deep into her flesh, burning her skin with pain. The creature was tall, estimating around eight feet. Its eyes were pearly white, the skin an ugly gray, and it was somewhat muscular. It looked odd, but more than odd pissing-your-pants-worthy. “..L-let me go! Y-you...monster!” She squirmed helplessly, in its grasp. It was too strong and large for her to break from it. Lily Valerie thought, well this is it...I’m going to die. Images flashed before her as the creature lifted her feet off the ground. Her heart thudding hard and fast in her chest madly. She was shaking like a person who had a few screws loose. The images were memories, memories of her loved ones. Happy memories. Losing now like this tore Lily’s heart open. She didn’t want to die yet. Its beady white eyes stared at her glassy ones. She felt her stomach just drop. Lily’s struggling, kicking, and punching made it worse. She was bleeding even more. A bright red liquid flowed out from her arm trickling into rain puddles mixing with them making red water. It sickened her. She needed to do something and fast. “...why are you doing this?” Thunder strikes loudly, ear-splitting. The monster’s eyes stared blankly back at Lily. Then she received a strange response: it was a low lion-like growl. It didn’t make Lily quiver in fear, but it puzzled her.  What was that?  Was it trying to communicate? The creature abruptly sat Lily down roughly onto the rubble. The next thing she knew glancing up, it was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Why did it let her go? What was it? Lily had too many questions swarming around in her head. She had a headache. She wobbled on her shaky limbs to stand and walk to her brown bag. It goodies in it though she lost her appetite.  She can’t walk another mile...Lily spotted a nearby store after departing from the creepy dark area no one walked but her stupid self. She regretted it dearly. She never mentioned a short cut but that was it. The shortcut of doom. She couldn’t manage much but a dull laugh at the made-up name for the street. She was tired, her arm was bleeding still.  Oh, her arm! Lily forgot, but remembering did no good. When she did notice it she was reminded of the pain. Her arm was throbbing with unbearable pain. It was covered in these thick claw marks. She swung the door open and a smell hit her nose: gasoline. There were counters of chips, candies like milky way and Twix, and counters of other items. The one that caught her eyes was the thing she needs, bandages and ointment. She went to pay for it. A middle-aged man with his eyes on his phone screen stood there. “Hey, uh-uhm. Hi!” She said, trying to get his attention.  “Oh, yes, let me get that- and that’ll be $10.09, ma’am.” He said then added. “It’s been a long day, you know.” She took her things and hurried to the back to find a bathroom. She touched the knob and rust fell off landing on the cracked tiled floor. Gross.  Lily called Andy Lou after disinfecting her arm and wrapping it in bandages. She told her parts of what happened and said she was attacked in the dark. Didn’t know what or who she was attacked by. Andy was smart but didn’t question her any further. Probably thought she better do it in person.  Not long she waits when she hears booming voices, “Lily Valerie, where are you?” It sounded like Cherry.  The other voice Andy, “Oh, I hope she’s okay, better be, she can’t die on me yet,” She chortled. The door flew open three times, and three voices were heard and footsteps drew near. Her friends found her. “Lily, were you hiding from us?” Andy smirked. “....well you know how I do like hide and seek, “ she joked with her best friend, Andy. Andy without saying anything else entangled her in a warm hug, she squeezed tightly. “Ouch.”  “Sorry, I know how deadly my hugs can be.” Andy released her and her eyes landed on the bandages. So, did Cherry Morrow’s eyes, and Angelica Leen too. They both gasped at the same time. “What happened?” Angelica wiped a single tear from her green eye. “Oh, poor, Lily I’m sorry this happened to you.” Angelica was a very emotional person; it was just in her nature to care too much and sympathize with any living thing, animals, people, especially when those people were her best friends from high school. “You forget already?” Lily's mouth thinned in a straight line. “I told you over the phone. Do you guys have amnesia-?”  Andy smacked her hard on the head, “Yeah, you told us nothing.” Cherry joined in, “You were so vague in the details and confusing.” “I don’t understand. How could you not see them?” Angelica asked. “Okay, please, not here,” Lily begged them. So, they all nodded reluctantly, Andy being the slowest to finally accept it. They all tumbled in one by one into Andy’s car. Soon they were at Lily’s apartment.  “I’m staying with you!” Andy, Cherry, and Angelica blurted out. Lily couldn’t hide the big grin plastered on her face. She knew she felt safe with her friends around. They all asked, again and again for answers, but Lily didn’t feel like freaking them out yet. It was too late anyway.  Instead of sleeping like normal people who have work the next day, Lily and her friends order pizza and drink an eight pack of beer, watching funny videos until the digital clock of the wall reads: 3:30 am. There was no way in hell she’d watch a horror movie after feeling like she’d just walk out of one in real life.  Later, Andy is hugging a couch pillow asleep on the pink rug by the couch with Angelica and Cherry laying on the other side of it. They snore soundly, looking at peace.  Lily goes to her room with her feet wobbling, her head feeling light and dizzy from the beer and the vodka she hid under her bed and finished. She tilted over her bed thinking she’s gonna puke but doesn’t.  Soon, she doesn’t know when she finds sleep.  … The window is wide open, the white curtains flying up, and the room full of cold uncertainty. Lily daringly shuts the windowsill, with a click and locks it wondering hadn’t she already done this? She moves back to her bed when someone from behind holds her close, their cold breath on her neck, and presses a tissue to her nose. Before everything goes black she hears a hoarse voice say, “Lily Valerie, you’re the one.” … Lilly wakes up to a dark room, cold and smells of something metallic. She groans lifting her head massaging it. The floor was hard concrete, the walls brick solid and gray like the floors. It was empty, nothing but an empty shelf leaned against the wall. Lily’s feet were cold and she had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.  Where was she? There were no visible exits, well besides the heavy metal door. She moved to it, her legs wobbling like twigs on the verge of breaking. It was cold as hell in here. She had goosebumps all up to her legs and arms. Lily wanted nothing more than to get out of this horrible place. She tugged on the doorknob, twisted, and turned it multiple times, but it was futile. It wouldn’t budge. Their door was locked from the outside, of course, Lily thought gloomily to herself. Just her luck!  She noticed something the closer she was to the door. A smell, it was getting stronger the closer she moved to the door. It was a sweet, rusty smell. Almost like blood. Lily stopped sniffing the air around her when it hit her; It was blood. She tripped over her own feet, tumbling backward. As far away from the door, she could get. “Oh, Jesus!” She shrieked. On her bottom, she heard footsteps drawing nearer, her heart was banging, her breathing was growing faster. She saw a glint of something shiny and silver. It was a key! The footsteps faded and Lily took her chance. She bounced on her feet snagging the key into her clammy palms. It was a key, a silver one.  Did someone slide it under the door? If they had, should Lily honestly trust the key? No, she had no other option. She had no other way of escaping. Either stay here and wait for the kidnapper or run for it. If it was a trap she’d take her chances. Staying here wasn’t any safer. So, she made her mind up. Lily tiptoed to the door, a little closer. She slowly inserted the key waiting for a bomb to go off. She turned it again and heard a clicking sound that made her jump back a few feet. It worked, it actually worked. The heavy door was opened.  She left the room without a second thought. She was out of the room now. There was a long hallway that looked like it went on and on, multiple doors along the hall, and just across the room Lily was in,  was a  pool of something red. She instinctively moved to it, to view a pool of blood. Lily froze, paralyzed in that spot. Her heart raced, her mind blanked for a few long seconds.  She snapped out of it and turned to hurl herself down the long hallway completely clueless as to where she was going. She kept running down longer, more narrow halls and seeing blurry pictures, old paintings flashing before her eyes as she ran past them. She was panting, her head was banging hard and she was tired. She needed to find a way out of this place, and quickly. She hoped she didn’t bump into anyone, like whoever kidnapped her and brought her to this hell of a place! Lily halted, crouched down catching her breath. She spotted a tremendous room full of furniture at the corner of the hall. She entered it to see a living room, it was massive, and connected to it was a dining room with a kitchen. The living room had four large couches covered in white sheets, an expensive-looking TV hanging on the wall, in the middle a coffee table, a large fancy rug black, and white. It had paintings hanging on every inch of the wall.  One had a handsome young man sitting at what looked to be an office. He was very handsome indeed. Had mysterious dark eyes, silky black hair, and a touch of small hair on his square jaw. He looked young maybe in his twenties.  There were more pictures of him and another one he stood next to an older man who looked almost identical to him. Lily guessed he was the man’s father, no doubt. The last one she stared at in awe. It was four people, the younger man next to his father and mother and lastly a new face of another man. He looked in his twenties.  There's something off about him. He had light brown hair, friendly brown eyes, and a golden smile. But...he looked...like he was angry standing by the dark-haired guy. He didn’t look like a relative. A friend maybe. Lily stopped gawking at the painting and moved on to the next room. It had a wonderful aroma of delicious food. The table was set with fancy dishes, like wagyu beef, and saffron. The table was long and wide. It stretched out across the large dining room. She saw two glass cups next to a bottle of fine red wine. It was odd, as though someone was expecting her.  She bet it was poisoned. “You made it Lily!” A deep voice said. “Sit down, sit down, please!” A tall young man walked around her and pulled the tall wooden chair out for her. She blushed at first surprised by this act of kindness. A gentleman no doubt. But then she was back in reality, and anger pulsed through her bloodstream.  It was him, the man from the paintings. He was more handsome in real life. Lily cursed herself for thinking like this at a time. He was the man behind her k********g or the one who kidnapped her.  “Who are you? Lily asked quickly. “Why did you bring me here and what do you want from me?” She sat down reluctantly, trying not to drool over the plate of food in front of her. She needs answers. “Well, that was rather rude of me, now wasn’t it Lily-” “How do you know my name?” She interrupted. “Now, hold on, I’ll answer your questions.” He said, raising his hand for her to stop. “Just slow down, please. I can’t answer all of them at once, now can I?” He smirked. Lily agreed she wanted answers but couldn’t have them all at once. So she tried being more patient.  “I am Blade. Blade Villain. It’s nice to finally meet you, Lily Valerie.” He looked at her from across the stretched-out table and smiled. He sat across her, though from a great distance, he sat on the other side of the long dining table.  “Right,” Lily muttered. She thought maybe it’d be nice to meet you under better circumstances. Like not being kidnapped. “I had a friend of mine bring you here, Lily.” Blade said, pouring a glass of red wine. “Now, he could have brought you here, uh, more appropriately.” Blade looked almost embarrassed as he continued. “I am truly sorry if I had known he was going to...well you know-” He swallowed hard. “Kidnap me,” Lily said bluntly. “Yes, that’s correct.” He nodded slowly. “He was told to bring you here willingly. But he believed you wouldn’t come on your own. ‘Said she’d have to be crazy to come to talk to you about aliens.’ I know how it sounds.”  “Wait, aliens?!” Lily nearly fell out of her chair at this. “What aliens?” She repeated a bit more calmer.  “Yes, aliens, Lily.”  “No, you’re joking.” She sat back down, her stomach growling unexpectedly. “If you’re hungry you’re welcome to eat. After all, this food was prepared for you and me.” Lily blushed furiously, wanting to punch her stomach to tell it to shut up. She took the fork folded neatly in the napkins by the plate and mumbled “Thank you.” Then, dug in, shoving delicious pieces of wagyu beef and saffron into her mouth. Blade told her she could pour herself some wine. Lily did without question.  Her suspicions are now thrown out the window. If he wanted her dead he’d done it already. He needed her for something important and Lily knew this. So, there was no way he’d poison her. “So, you’re telling me aliens are real and that you believe I could be the key to tracking them down.” She said, finishing the second cup of wine. “Yes, I saw you, you know the other night.” He said, running a hand through his black hair. “I happened to be on a phone call near the area when I heard some struggling. I raced down the street to see you and the alien. It...it was communicating with you.” Blade looked at her with serious, watchful eyes. “Never in my life have I seen that before.” “Oh, but I couldn’t understand it at all.” She said disappointment was visible on her face. “I know, well anyway, you should get some sleep.” Blade stood up, walked to Lily’s side of the table, and stopped her hand from pouring a third cup of wine. “You need rest, I’m going to show you the lab tomorrow.” He said smoothly. “Oh, right,” she said, her ears turning red. He removed his hand from hers. She sat the fine red wine down. How embarrassing she thought. In a stranger’s house and still can’t hold off the alcohol. “Mary, clean this up, please will you?” Blade spoke to a woman in a maid attire Lily hadn’t noticed before walking out from the kitchen. She looked old and wrinkly. She had tiny blue eyes, gray hair in a braid, and she was holding a washcloth with a trey.  “Yes, sir, Villain.” She answered obediently, rushing to work right away. “Lily, follow me. I’ll show you to a room.” He said, waving a hand. So, she did follow him. He walked upstairs, turned down a hall, and stopped three doors down to a door. “Here you are, rest well.” He patted her on the back and left with that. She went into the room. It looked nothing like the cold empty, concrete room. It had wood flooring, lime green walls, a king-sized bed, two tall mirrors, a dresser, and a walk-in closet. There was a lamp next to the bed and an old clock hanging off the wall above the door frame it read: 10:09 pm. It wasn’t even midnight. Lily was used to staying up later.  She realized thinking over the day and how crazy it’d been she forgot to ask him about the bloody room across the hall. She shivered remembering it. That night was cold, though, she wrapped herself in the thick blue covers on the king-size bed. It didn’t help that the idea of aliens kept creeping back into her mind. She wondered what tomorrow had in store for her.