The summer heat was dreadful up in the Northeast. It was a dry heat that wasn't nice to anyone, leaving people with burned skin and the want for winter. In the small town of New Haven, there were only two places that could give its townspeople solace from the heat. The swimming pools were the first choice, with its chemical and piss laden water that provided only temporary relief for children who wanted to be outside and have fun. For those who couldn't stand the chlorine smell or the blinding rays of the sun, they found shelter indoors. The library was a perfect getaway for people who couldn't afford the swimming pools, a lovely and quiet air-conditioned establishment with a wide collection of books and a handful of computers. It wasn't as popular as the swimming pool, but it was the best option for a lone girl who couldn't stand the alternative option - staying at home.
Dakota Paige made sure to catch the best spot in the library every day, which was a very lonely alcove near the back where the reference books sat. No one really went there unless they were two young couples who wanted privacy to make out, otherwise, it was mostly the young woman who sat alone at a table with her own computer open, displaying whatever she was working on at the time. She was there from the opening of the library until its closing, preferring to sit and enjoy the silence than staying at home where there was no such thing.
Dakota lived alone, and one could think that by living alone you'd be allowed plenty of time to your own, except that it wasn't the case. She lived in an apartment complex with its own cast of characters that could earn its own reality TV show. The neighbors on her left that just had a brand new child, the neighbors across from her that loved to argue and then later have just as loud make up sessions, the neighbors on her right that were two old people that had their television up way too loud because they couldn't hear, and the neighbor one floor above her that loved to practice their drums all day because they were in a band. The only reason she stayed where she was because the rent was fantastic for what she earned and she felt independent living on her own.
So, when Dakota wasn't working, she found solace in the quietest place possible, with a bag that rivaled any overnight bag. She carried everything with her, her laptop, her tablet, her phone, some emergency items, and the lunch she bought on the way to the library itself.
She couldn't stand the noise, despite how much she adored her apartment. The noise muddled her thoughts and put her on the verge of panic attacks. Living in that place was hard, but it was better than nothing. Five years ago she wasn't well enough to live on her own, just barely getting through the day without breaking out into anxiety. She was a far cry from how she was, once upon a time, when she was stronger and more self-sufficient. She had big dreams back then, big wishes that she wanted to make possible. Now, however, she was lucky if she could escape the horrible reality that she was living for at least a couple of hours with a good book. There wasn't anything exciting about her reality, or anything interesting. Dakota was unhappy with how her life turned out. There wasn't any sort of adventure, nothing nearly amazing. With all the books she read, all the stories she came across, she often wondered what it meant to be a main character in an exciting story, instead of the lone twenty-something recovering from a traumatic accident with severe anxiety and depression, with a huge obsession with distracting herself from the dour reality that was her real life. Reading was her only escape from her world, taking her into better places that she craved to be a part of.
Her lamenting was interrupted by a book dropping, a voice breaking the serene silence.
"Shit." She said aloud, a punkish blonde who had faded blue hair and a healthy amount of tattoos. Who would've thought that the town librarian looked like a rockstar, but Everett never liked looking plain. She was in her thirties and wore what she wanted, successfully gathering dirty looks from the clique of soccer moms who thought that a mother of two shouldn't be outside with eyebrow piercings and a sleeve of tattoos on both arms.
Dakota liked Everett. The woman made the town a little bit more exciting just by defying the social norm. She was an activist as well as a librarian, and often tried to lure Dakota away from her job at the supermarket to work at the library. Since, according to Everett, she practically lived there anyway.
Dakota couldn't leave her job, as the employees there were like her extended family, albeit a dysfunctional one.
"You know what time it is?" Everett's voice broke Dakota out of her thoughts, the woman smiling down at her. The books that she had earlier were gone and her hands were now in her back pockets.
"Almost closing, I know." Dakota said softly, frowning a little.
"If you worked here you could actually be the last to leave, you know. Close up, maybe stay a little longer..." She smirked just slightly.
"I would move into the loft upstairs if you offered, but you know that." She said gravely, starting to reluctantly pack her things.
"Dakota, you know well as I do that the loft is unlivable. It's just a storage space, hun." Everett said sadly, which was true. The loft had no windows or electricity, was stuffy during the summer and freezing during the winter. It was for decorations and other boxes full of books. No living person could call that place a home.
Dakota didn't really care if the place wasn't livable, she'd gladly take it over the apartment with no semblance of quiet. She nodded, smiling sadly and finally getting up with her bag in her hands. It was time to take that long walk home, fifteen minutes of a walk over to the gas station for food and back to her apartment building to turn in to the night. She bid Everett a good night and stepped out of the library, facing the clear dark skies of the last recesses of dusk, the town around her in a lull of silence. It was the time of night where the town was transitioning into the evening, wherein everyone was at home and spending time with their family or somewhere else indoors, and not a soul was outside roaming the streets.
It was a time that was perfect for admiring the night sky, and Dakota found her usual sitting place on a bench uphill to watch the stars gleam to life. The town was small enough for the constellations to shine through for anyone who wanted to gaze upon them, and the woman traced the big dipper with her fingertip with a smile on her face. Tonight there was supposed to be a meteor shower. Dakota was lost in the stars, making out the constellations surrounding the big dipper and counting the start of the falling stars. Even when her reality was boring, she was grateful for the natural beauty of the universe. With a small hum she shut her eyes, making a wish on one of the falling stars like how she used to make as a child living outside the city. Memories brought her back to the smaller girl with wide green eyes and unruly black hair, her mother pointing out the stars above her while her father told her which formations were what.
"Make a wish." Her mother said.
"What?" The girl questioned.
"The stars are for wishing." Her mother insisted, "You close your eyes and wish on the stars."
Dakota stared up above her, wide eyes full of curiosity. "What do I wish for?"
Her mother chuckled, "Anything you want."
The child looked amazed, shutting her eyes tight.
"I wish for a bike!"
"Nope." Her father laughed, "It won't come true, you told us what you wished for."
Once upon a time when she didn't know any better. Back when Dakota didn't know about the harshness of life and how it wasn't filled with magic. She still wished upon the stars, even though she was faced with the reality of those wishes falling on deaf ears. She wished because she still had hope, that one day, those small wants would be heard, and her life would change in some small way.
When she opened her eyes again, she was met with a bright star. A star that wasn't there before she shut her eyes. She smiled at that, because the star was twinkling, as if it heard her. It had to be some kind of sign, she wondered, how that star was so bright and…it just became red?
The star was getting bigger? Dakota blinked, confused. It was suddenly turning red and increasing in size. She quickly got up, because if she was right, the star was dropping right where she was. She kept her eyes on the star, trying to move away from it, she was nearly downtown when a faint sound followed the falling star, and the sound was becoming louder as it rapidly fell towards the ground. Suddenly, Dakota wasn't running away from the star, but now she was running towards it, as the red hot rock hurled a block away and collided into the empty park. Dakota ran as fast as she could to beat anyone else who heard the collision, her heart pounding the closer she got towards the smokey area.
She scrambled to grab her phone, almost dropping it as she opened the screen and quickly fumbled for the camera. She had to film this, she needed evidence. She began to record at the foot of the collision, stepping closer to the actual rock itself, the red color having died out and turned into a cobalt blue. Her hands were shaking as she stepped closer, trying to keep a good image of the rock she was filming. Her mouth went dry as she stopped at the small crater, instincts telling her to run but curiosity begging her to move forward. She used one hand to steady her as she stepped into the crater, sliding down along the edge and stopping. The rock wasn't a rock at all, as the cobalt blue was metal and not stone. In the center of the metal rock was something that reflected her and her camera flash. She leaned in to look beyond the reflection, pressing her hand over the glass and finding that it wasn't hot at all. She cried out when another noise broke through the eerie silence, the glass rolling back and exposing…
Dakota's heart was beating faster than before, and she knew that she was having a panic attack. Her head felt light and she was having trouble breathing. In front of her eyes was something green, a living being that was staring back at her with its own red eyes. When it moved she suddenly lost her footing, crying out again as she fell back against the crater walls. She dropped her phone to clutch her chest, the world becoming blurry as her panic took over. Her body decided to shut down then, and everything became black.
When Dakota came to, she thought she would be in a hospital. No, she was somewhere else, a nearly familiar room she remembers decorating, full of obscure plush toys and photos of familiar people. The one photo that stood out was a woman with blonde hair and green streaks, wearing a steampunk costume with two children on each side, both with their hair contrasting colors of orange and purple, dressed like crayons of the same color. A cute Halloween photo that Dakota had taken before.
"She's awake!" One of the children called from the door after poking her head in, her hair now an amazing pink. She was older than the Halloween photo.
Dakota knew she had passed out, but she never thought she would be in Everett's house. She stayed in the bed as the woman came up the stairs with her husband, a man with dark hair and just as many tattoos. The man stayed at the door as Everett stepped in, looking relieved. "Oh, honey. You had us for a scare."
Dakota gradually sat up, "How long was I out?" She questioned.
"Two hours. Matthew found you and called me, we thought it would be better than the alternative."
Dakota didn't say anything, relieved that she wasn't at the hospital. But that was bugging her, as she should have been at the hospital...
"Why am I here?" Dakota asked quietly.
Everett pursed her lips together, looking back at Matthew. The man took a deep breath and steadied himself.
"When I found you, you weren't alone." He began, moving his hands to gesture. "Now, don't freak out, but there was this big green looking...fuck...alien? I totally think it was an alien, but Everett doesn't believe me. All I know was that it was creeping itself over your body so I grabbed my shotgun and chased it off before the rest of the hillbillies came. I thought you'd be better off explaining what you were doing there to us and not people who probably don't believe in that shit." He scratched his head for a moment, thinking. "That shit...that large UFO looking thing, that's why you were there?"
Dakota's eyes brightened, nodding quickly. "I was watching the meteor shower and one of the stars just came barreling down…and...I...I don't know, I was so excited so I ran after it."
"Yeah, I saw that coming home in my truck." He nodded.
Dakota smiled slightly, "I never...thought it would happen? So I took out my phone and filmed it, but I noticed what it really was and I think I had a massive panic attack, then I saw the green thing with the red eyes—"
"Wait!" Everett jumped, "You are shitting me! You both saw a green alien? I thought Matthew was lying about that!"
"Why would I lie about a giant green alien trying to attack Dakota?" Matthew shouted, "It was fucking huge!"
"I can show you the video!" Dakota got up quickly, "It's on my phone—" she stopped then. "My phone, where's my phone?" She looked around for her bag, "Where's…"
Matthew quickly left for a moment before dragging in her bag, "What the fuck do you carry in this thing?" He breathed.
Dakota ignored him, clamoring for her bag and taking out everything inside the bag. The only thing that wasn't in there was her phone, and she began to panic again. "It—it's not here—"
Everett was next to her in a heartbeat, "Calm down hun, there's no use in getting in a tizzy…"
Dakota forced herself to take a deep breath and think, her hands moving to her tablet quickly. "It'll be on the cloud." She said then, "Everything I film and shoot goes up to the cloud immediately."
"Thank Jesus for iPhones." Matthew commented sarcastically, stepping closer and watching her start it up.
The room fell silent as Dakota found the video, the other two watching the video that was taken before she had passed out.
The one to break the silence and have everyone jump was the second daughter, who breathed in sharply at the sight of the alien and cried out "Holy shit!"
"Holy shit indeed," Everett sighed out.
"In this fucking town. IN THIS FUCKING TOWN!" Matthew stomped his foot, looking pissed off. "Christ almighty I've been wanting something meaningful to happen in this town and now something meaningful has happened!" He grabbed Dakota's shoulders and shook her slightly. "You're so fucking lucky, kid!"
Dakota teared up then, hugging her tablet. "Yeah…" She smiled up at Matthew and Everett, and over at Abby, the second daughter with green hair.
"Dude, that could make tons of money!" The daughter said then.
"No." Matthew said quickly, "No one here is going to believe any of this, it's best for everyone," He looked directly at his child, "If we keep it to ourselves." He reached down to grab Dakota's tablet quickly, "Can I see this for a sec?"
Dakota let him grab the tablet, trusting Matthew as he took it out of the room and left her and Everett alone. Abby didn't really like her father's decision, however, looking to her mother.
"So I can't tell my friends that we saw an alien at the park?" She asked honestly.
Everett sighed, petting her daughter's head, "Sorry, sweetie. If we lived anywhere else, it'd be different, but there's people that live in this town that aren't…as progressive, as we are."
"What happened?" The first daughter popped her head back in, blinking owlishly.
"Tabby, Dakota filmed a real live alien!" Abby said aloud, "Daddy said we couldn't tell anyone."
"Well, duh." Tabby answered simply, "Not everyone will be cool with it, dork."
"Why not!" Abby went defensive, frowning at her sister.
"Dad says most of the people who live here are old hillbillies that don't know shit, that's why."
Dakota covered her mouth as she laughed, Everett grinning proudly.
"That makes sense…" Abby said eventually, looking dejected at the answer. After that, Matthew walked back in with Dakota's tablet, handing it over to her with a grin.
"Made sure to back up that video on another drive, just in case." He said then, winking. "I don't trust cloud storage for shit, so I have it on a thumb drive."
Dakota smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Drake."
"Dakota, we've been over this." The man frowned. "It's always been Matthew. I'm not your teacher anymore, besides, Mr. Drake makes me sound old."
"You are old." Tabby said then.
Matthew ignored his daughter and smiled at Abby, "You're my favorite, Abigail. You know that?"
Abby giggled, "Even if I agree with Tabitha?"
"I have no daughters." The man finally decided, folding his arms and ignoring their combined giggles.
Dakota began laughing as well, upsetting Matthew even further, the man shooing away his laughing children and his grinning wife. "How about I take you home?" He asked Dakota, patting her back. "It's been a long night and you need your rest."
Dakota nodded, "That sounds good, I just hope the guy upstairs doesn't want to practice tonight." She grimaced when she said it, groaning a little while packing her bag back up.
Matthew didn't say a word, knowing full well the woman's living arrangement and the apartment complex she lived in. It was a horrible piece of shit building with low rent for a reason. But despite Dakota's situation, she was so proud of her own apartment. She lived there for three years and was dreadfully afraid of going anywhere else. Loud as her neighbors may be, she took it in stride. Besides, Dakota already knew his opinion on her living arrangements.
Matthew lead her downstairs and grabbed his keys before leaving the house, unlocking the massive truck in the driveway and waiting for Dakota to get in and buckle up, laughing slightly when Dakota had some trouble getting into the seat.
"When did this truck get so high?" Dakota laughed, shutting the door and leaning back.
"Everett still wouldn't let me buy a monster truck, so we compromised." He said defensively, pulling out of the driveway.
Dakota turned to look outside, sighing. "I'm going to have to buy a new phone." She said dejectedly.
"I'm not taking you back to the park, the cops have probably taped up the scene about now." Matthew commented, keeping his eyes on the road.
Dakota froze slightly, looking stricken at that moment. "W-what if the cops find my phone and think that I had something to do with this? What if they think I made the entire thing?"
Matthew smiled reassuringly, "Kid, calm down. If they find your phone no one's going to think you had any hand in any of this, if anything they're going to be worried that you're a victim of a horrible accident."
"I really hope so." The young woman said quietly, staring out the window at the midnight sky. "Thank's Mr. Drake."
"Matthew." He corrected.
Dakota took a breath, "Matthew."
"Good." He praised, "Now call me if you need anything, right?"
Matthew stopped in front of the apartment building, waiting for Dakota to enter the front doors before taking off. Dakota lingered at the front, watching the massive truck go back the way it came before she turned to check her mailbox. She hummed slightly to break the eerie silence, collecting what letters were in the mailbox and ascending the stairwell until she made it up to the third floor. The key was in her hand before she stepped into the empty hallway, and Dakota could hear the muffled cries of a newborn baby not far off while its mother tiredly sang a lullaby.
Her apartment was 3C, and she was grateful that the old couple next to her slept at a pretty decent hour. The lack of drumming also meant that the neighbor above her was giving it a rest or pulling an all nighter studying or enjoying Netflix. She kept up her upbeat humming, unlocking the door to her apartment and stepping into her slightly messy home. She lacked a television, preferring to use online subscriptions on her laptop. Her apartment was a one-bedroom, the door replaced by a curtain as there wasn't a door when she first bought it. She didn't really mind, as it meant she could hear whatever went on in the main room. Her apartment wasn't as clean as it could have been, with books lying around on the floor and articles of clothing on her bed at all times, but she was used to the mess.
Dakota set her bag down next to the small kitchen, stretching out and yawning. With how the day had been, she really needed to rest. She kept humming as she retrieved her medications and took the nightly dose, drinking it from a glass she procured from the cupboard. She set down the glass after two gulps and looked at the bag, stepping over to rummage through it and grab her tablet. She turned it on and waited, hovering her finger over the video file and tapping it so she could watch it.
It was under ten minutes but she ended up on the couch replaying the video six times, coming to a stop at the alien's likeness and staring at the large eyes. There wasn't anything other than the color, red as crimson and staring at her. Or was it staring at the phone? It was impossible to tell. Somewhere in her mind she tried to make up the rest of the alien, tapping out of the video and onto Safari, putting in a search for aliens so she could browse the likeness of every photo she came across.
The skin wasn't gray, like the age-old imaginings of what aliens were perceived to be. The eyes were just as big, but with a slender head and nothing too wide. She wondered how big it was, tall or wide? Or was it her height, five foot six? Was it even smaller? The questions brought so many types of aliens into her mind, but she fixated on a certain type she already knew of. She giggled to herself afterward, tapping out of Safari and onto an app, pulling up a small obscure cartoon she grew to love and watching a few episodes. It was a fantastic cartoon, made by a macabre comic book artist and once aired on a children's television network before it was cancelled. The channel it was on was far too young for its intended audience, and the cartoon was cancelled far too early.
The comic book artist was rumored to have his own alien encounter when he was a child, and based the cartoon off of his own experiences. She never believed it, but with a cartoon that twisted she had to wonder the alternative. Not that she followed the artist, oh no, she didn't go on social media because it was bad for her mental health.
She stopped the video at the image of the leaders, tabbing back into the still image of her alien, giggling again at the sudden thought and daydreaming about a tall alien and considering the possibilities that it could be that alien. An Irken.
Because that's what they were called, Irkens. From the planet Irk. She smiled at the thought, even though it was a farfetched thought that held no weight to it at all. Irkens weren't real, they were all from the mind of the comic book artist and her alien wasn't anything like it. It didn't mean she couldn't imagine it, however, her mind painting an alternate ending to her encounter, where she didn't pass out from a panic attack and actually made contact with the being.
The tablet was quickly shut off, tucked under her couch cushions as she made her way to her room, the thought fresh in her mind while she shed herself of her clothing and tossed everything haphazardly to the side. It was time to go to bed anyway, so why not have a pleasant thought to drive her to sleep? She kept her intimate collections next to her bed, locked in a black box, something she needed after days that left her wound up with tension that could only be taken care of with a toy and her imagination. It worked fantastically to ease her mind so she could fall asleep, and it was better when she had exciting ideas that passed her mind.
Dakota sighed pleasantly, ignoring the faint whirr of her device to think about earlier, how things could have gone differently. She could have been taken away, somehow, captive to a strong alien with deep crimson eyes. His lengthy fingers exploring her body while she was restrained and unable to look away from his intense gaze. Nothing could be said between them, because whatever was said would fall away from translation. They'd have to rely on touch and emotions. Fear, curiosity, want.
She was lost in her fantasies, mewling out pleasant sounds the more she moved, unfocused on the reality that was around her and the faint sound of glass cutting. In her living room, a tall, lengthy being eased himself into the shape it made from the glass, its metal extensions retracting back into the metal pack on its back. The creature's eyes were glowing red in the darkness of the room, its antennae twitching in the direction of the pleasant noises. It reached behind itself and took something out of its pack, the black bar that was cracked.
This was the domicile of the female that escaped him, away from that large building the male had taken her to. The male with the frightening but primitive weapon. He'd get back to that male soon, but for now it was the female that he needed to take care of, the one who had evidence of his existence. He managed to capture the device before he was scared off, but no matter what he did he couldn't get past the device's security. He wanted that video, he needed that video. Because if this female had captured his likeness than it wouldn't be long until the rest of them knew about his existence.
The robes he had been wearing billowed when he moved, towards the curtain that was hiding the female. He stopped quickly, smelling something different. It was a faint smell but still strong, and if he had his equipment he could be able to figure out what it meant. No, he was stranded on a vaguely known planet, not knowing what he was encountering. If he had to guess, it was a scent to attract mates. Was the female in heat? He glanced around the room again, noting that he was alone.
Dakota was deep in her imagination, breathing heavily as she built herself up to her apex, thinking about how the alien would ravage her, conquer her, anything, the thoughts were mixing together the more she was losing control of thinking in general, reaching her own climax she gasped out, tensing up as she felt her orgasm wrack through her body. Though, when her eyes opened and caught the sight of something staring back at her, she let out a scream and the mood was replaced with instant fear, the woman dropping her still buzzing toy as she shoved herself so far back on the bed that she tumbled off of the side. The last thing she expected was that the alien from her fantasies would be standing there in her room. She breathed out a curse as she scrambled upright, cowering on the small floor between the bed and the wall and staring wide-eyed at the alien. It was tall, like she imagined, tall and green with…antennae. Was there antennae before? She didn't remember. She covered her mouth with her hands when it stepped forward, watching it look down on her bed and reach out to pick up the small vibrator.
Dakota bit down on her tongue accidentally as it idly tasted it, shutting her eyes in the sudden realization of what the fuck was happening. She forced herself to look at him again, shaking slightly and her heart pounding as she finally got up to crawl back on the bed and grab the vibrator from the alien's hands quickly to throw it across the room, her face darkened by her own embarrassment.
"That's obscene!" She said aloud, grimacing when she still could hear it rattle against the floor.
"I was going to eat that!" The alien shouted back, offended at what she did.
The woman felt light headed, her anxiety reaching new levels and she sat back down. "Christ." She breathed, wondering if she had actually heard this or not. Was she asleep? No, her anxiety was thundering at her chest too much for this to be a dream. She was afraid to look back at the alien, because for her own sanity, this had to be a dream. A weird fucking dream.
What brought her back was the sound of her Find My iPhone ringtone, and she flinched at the sound. It couldn't be her ringtone, she lost her phone. Gradually she looked back to see the alien throw it down onto her mattress.
"This thing won't shut off, it's annoying." The alien said then, looking displeased that the black bar had began to sing again.
Dakota reached for the phone shakily, unlocking the phone quickly and confirming the signal. She didn't say anything, looking back up at the alien again.
The creature's antennae flicked forward, and he steadily stared down at the piece of technology, waiting. After a split second, he snapped forward and lunged for the phone, but Dakota recoiled away from the bed with the phone close to her chest.
"Give that to me!" He snarled.
"No!" She cried out, pressing herself against the wall as he loomed threateningly over her. He let out a low growl but Dakota carefully transferred her phone into her other hand, hiding it behind her. She wasn't going to back down, despite the hammering of her heart. She stared at him evenly, "What are you?" She questioned softly, her voice wavering.
The alien glared at her, "Nothing. Just give me that black bar and tell me how to erase it."
"I'm not letting you have it!" Dakota said again, "It's a phone and it's mine."
His antennae twitched back irritably, "Then give me the evidence." He ground out.
Dakota's heart was fluttering, and she breathed out a laugh. "You—want—" She continued to laugh, shaking her head. "I can't…"
The alien tried to look imposing, becoming taller. "You can't what?"
"The video can't be removed." She said quickly, "It went on the cloud." She could hear her conscience screaming at her, asking why she was lying when she could be killed at any moment, but a rush of adrenaline was running through her veins and she was enjoying it. She grinned at the anger that flashed through the alien's eyes, how he tried to look more dangerous. Somewhere inside her head she wondered if this was a form of suicidal action brought on by her depression. She set that aside for now.
"Then direct me to the cloud!" He demanded harshly.
She continued to laugh, shaking her head. "The cloud, once something goes there, it can't be deleted. It's not something tangible!" She was feeling hysterical, wondering if she was nearly about to die. "You can't delete anything!"
The alien's left eye twitched, and he launched himself off the bed and away from Dakota. He stalked out of the room and she could hear him raging a war on everything that was out there. She gasped out suddenly and scrambled away from the wall, rushing into the bathroom and locking it quickly. She sat in the shower and used it as her little safe haven while the alien continued to rage war on her living room, clutching her phone and curled up, nude, in the one spot. When the noise died down she checked the clock on her phone, sighing out breathily and leaning her head against the shower wall to enjoy the silence.
She didn't know when she fell asleep, but by the time she woke up she found the alien back in her personal space. He slapped his hand over her mouth before she could scream, her eyes wide and staring into his own. She was already shaking, wondering if this was her last moment alive. He was waiting for her to let her guard down and now he was going to kill her. But that didn't make sense, if he was going to kill her, he could have done it while she was asleep. Right?
"I made my decision." He said it lowly, glaring at her like she was a worm. "If you won't give me what I want, then I'm going to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't use it."
Dakota froze, staring at the alien in disbelief. She realized then that she wasn't breathing and gasped out for breath, coughing behind his hand. He didn't like that, suddenly retracting his hand in outright disgust and grimacing.
"Eugh." He stood up then and turned around, exposing his back to her. Dakota stared at his back, her eyes trailing up and freezing at the metal pack near the alien's shoulders. It looked just like the PAK in the cartoon she watched. Her mouth opened slightly, breathing out the three letter word.
The alien seemed to hear her, turning back looking even more outraged. "What did you say?" He hissed out.
Dakota felt her heart skip, "I—I—Irk. No, no that's not possible. You're Irken, are you?"
The alien's eyes widened in shock just slightly before narrowing into slits. "Just who are you? How do you know of my race?"