Chapter Six

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Five days ago...

I had been writing like a maniac.

Attempting to drown out all the noise in my mind with the sound of my character's voices. My fingers fly across the keyboard and I am barely thinking, just drowning.

I dash angrily at the tears that blur my vision, rub my sleeve against my face and get back to what I was writing.

The rapid clicking of the keys are the only sound in the silence of my room. Where I had restricted myself to since I spoke to my father.

My phone makes a tone.

There's a knock on the door.

I ignore them both.

More tears.

I dash at them again, the skin of my face stinging at the action. When my phone makes a loud sound, frustration mounts and I lift it off the bed and stand to toss it straight at the wall.

I remember then, that I couldn't afford to break it. I freeze mid-throw and coach myself to lower my arm.
I look down at the screen.

Greg: Lanna. We're worried. Answer.

Pearl: Girl you better pick this phone right this moment or I will fry your ass sideways.

Greg: Lanna. Pick up.

Pearl: We'll bail you out. You won't have to do it. Don't do it, Alanna.

I crumble to the floor, clutching my phone to my chest and my shoulders shake as tears rush down my face. I try to heave in breaths, but ragged sounds pass my lips. I slam a hand over my mouth, phone dropping  away as I turn my panicked gaze to the door. I didn't want them to know.

It would kill them.

When I don't hear any knocks, my eyes clench shut and I surrender to the clutches of my sorrow. I had never felt anything like this, as if my bones were breaking... the skin of my soul was tearing apart and my lungs were screaming in pain.

I keep my hand over my mouth as I sob, muffling the sounds I make. My stomach spasms with the contractions of my crying and my lungs beg for air. But I'm unable to stop. The pain was more demanding.

My eyes pound and I feel faint. Tired. I lay exhausted, spread on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Everytime I think I would stop, that the pain had receded, a fresh wave of it drags me back under.

At some point, I just lay there, tears streaming, staring up at the ceiling.

Numb. But broken. Breaking.

I thought I had a few weeks. I didn't.

My wedding was in five days.

Energy I hadn't had before, rushes into my veins as my stomach heaves. I dash into the bathroom and empty the contents of my stomach. I'm crying as it happens.

When I'm done, I fall back against the wall. I don't even feel the pain of my head cracking against it. My mind teeters on the edge of consciousness.

I close my eyes.

———
——

Pain in my stomach wakes me. I blink and my head spins. I sit up slowly and recognise the pain in my stomach. I was hungry. I stand carefully, closing my eyes when the world spins.

I take a deep breath and open my eyes. I wash my mouth out and my face. But there was no hiding the look in my eyes.

This was heartbreak.

I hadn't known how intense my feelings were. I hadn't expected this.
The breakfast Bertha had brought in in the morning lay on a tray on my bed where I had left it.

I eat tasteless food to silence the pain. I drink water through numb lips to quieten the needs of my body. My lips tremble and I have to stop every few minutes to gain control over myself.

I pick my phone up from where it had fallen out of my hands. I type a single message and send it to my closest friends.

Me: It's in five days. I don't want you there. If you respect me, do this for me.

Seeing them there would bring me hope. Hope that there was a way out. And they would make a way out for me. I wanted no temptation, because I knew I didn't have the strength to resist it.

My gaze falls on my laptop once more. I press the screen on and open a new tab. A search engine appears.

YADE I type.

Pages of information rolls out. I choose the very first link.

Yade. Pronounced: Yaa-They.

Species: Alien, Unknown. Older race than humans.

Description: Dark skinned. Iris marked with patterns, unique to each. Physiology similar to human.

Food: Do not require human-like sustenance. Derive nutrition from absorbing energy released from others—especially when host experiences intense emotions.

Strengths: {unconfirmed} Superior speed. Superior resilience. Superior strength. Superior intelligence(?)

Weaknesses: Unknown.

Lore: Claim to be cursed by the Gods of their destroyed planet.

Curse: Unknown——said to be born from their destruction of the planet.

Other: Arrived on earth {approx.} one and a half centuries ago in peace. Provided earth with advancements for the betterment of planet and resources.

Integrated into human communities seven decades ago.

Live in highly secure separate  secluded communities. Never seen mingling with humans voluntarily, other than for/during business interactions. 

Family-oriented community. Self-sustaining within their community.

Children do not attend human schools.

Communities and individuals of the Yade under government protection.
Causing and creating any harm for the Yade is strictly illegal and punishable offence by law.

It was the small things that were big enough to splinter your mind. It was known that the Yade do not mingle.

They had their own world, their own space and their own businesses. They had never reached out to us for anything. We had reached out to them in need of their superior technology and services.

The government had introduced the Yade to the world in very very small doses and very very intelligently.

Showing videos of them doing normal things. Human things. Things that made us feel for them. Hugging their children. Laughing. Braiding hair. Dancing. Planting trees. Kissing. Marrying.

I had watched the footage. Done an extensive study for my thesis.

Even then, the Yade were not thrown into our societies. They had their own little corner of the world that was richer, healthier and better than ours.

And we became the outsiders, wanting to be let in.

It was a smart move on the government's part to keep riots, upheavals and chaos controlled. Any few that had irrupted had been nipped at the bud and smothered from arriving in public news.

Eventually, the Yade became just another part of our lives. A wary part, but we were hardly ever within distance of them to them to be scared.

All of this had me realizing, that I wouldn't be living in a human community anymore.

I would be wedded to a stranger and living around strangers.

Alienated.

On my own planet.

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