Well. This was unexpected. One missed call. One voicemail, two minutes and thirty five seconds, from Dad. Really Dad? After all this time, now you are calling? Nope. Not right now, I am not in the mood. He took his sweet time deciding to contact me, I am going to take my sweet time getting back to him. In hindsight, it was actually a good thing that her Dad had called her, but right now irritation buzzed in her skull.
The day had been filled with failed expectations. It was supposed to be a fun day at work, and she was supposed to be going to hang out with her friend afterwards. She really didn't have much control over much of the universe though, so everything went to crap. Oh what fun.
Unlocking her car, she climbed in, taking another look at her cell phone. The thought to check the voicemail stayed in her mind, swirling around with all the hurt and anger that was associated with that person. Again, she decided not to. She was going to go home, and enjoy a night to herself and the millennials deity, Netflix. One thing that lifted her spirits were the heavy bulbous clouds now drizzling rain. The fresh smell of rain had soothed her once she walked out of work. For now, she was just going to focus on driving, and the rain.
Her beloved, piece of crap car squealed as the key hit the ignition. Sheepishly, the young woman glued her eyes forward, clenching the steering wheel. People stared at her, and then her car. Her car might have some… character, but simultaneously also her 007 spy car that made for a speedy get way. They rumbled away together back home.
Turning off the main road, Skylar rumbled down the 5 mile stretch of paved road to her humble abode. It was not her house, but her great-rich-aunt's summer house. They had a deal that when Aunt Amanda was away to her winter home, Skylar could live there on a discounted price just as long as she took care of the house and yard. Skylar smiled thinking about it " no roommates!" The time of stranger-communal living seemed to be over for her, but at the same time, sometimes the house was too quiet, and too dark. The attractive aspect of living alone is the freedom. You want to blast hard rock metal while cleaning? You can do that. You have a night where you sit and bawl on the couch from watching animal rescue videos on youtube? No one is going to tell you nothing. On the days when you want to share something at work, or laugh over an evening meal with a loved one? No one. Skylar missed her Aunt and Uncle, cousins and Grandparents. When she had moved out of her Father's house, she had moved around to different members of the family.. She loved them, she missed them. Their homes were bright, and not just talking about light. They were bright with love. Their homes were so different from when she was growing up as a teanager. One day her future family would be like theirs. She would make sure.
It took two seconds for Skylar to realise her car was fishtailing. It took one second to realise that she was going to crash. The impact brutally shook her bones, a snap sounded from her neck.
She kept still. So still.
"Did I just break my neck?" In shock, she checked her body, wiggling her toes, fingers and eventually moving her limbs. Finally, she moved her neck, slowly. It hurt. She stopped. Waiting a few seconds, she moved it again. It hurt, but nothing felt broken. Her chest deflated with the tense air she had been holding.
She swore, at least three times, and unblucked her seatbelt. Ah. You know what would have saved her neck from getting hurt? An airbag. Said airbag was nowhere to be seen. Her car just lost a lot of it's favor. Sylar's hands began to shake, and she got out of the car.
Just to feel her feet flip out from beneath her! Squaking her arms caught whatever part of the car they could reach, but they did a bad job, and she slid to the ground.
"What the heck?" Her butt, her legs, and now her hands were covered in a slimy, clear substance.
"Eeeww…" she said in confused disgust. She got up and saw the stupid tree that she had hit with her stupid car. She quickly checked the damage and felt slight relief when she saw that her car might have survived the incident. But what was this crap all over the ground? She could hardly see the stuff. The rain did not mix well with it.
There was a feeling of dread. It was like someone was placing rocks into her heart.
The space around her felt malicious. She briefly thought that she should get back into her car. A snap in the trees confirmed her thought and she moved to the drivers side. Not before another snap sounded. She turned around again, looking at everything to try and see any movement. Nothing.
"Is someone there?!" Her shocked voice rang through the open empty road. Her eyes were drawn to the line of trees across the road. The cars headlights were facing up the road, and all she saw was the first 20 feet of bush and trees. The only sound was her heavy breathing and the small drops of rain. Tears pricked her eyes and her insides writhed with fear. It felt so wrong.
Drawing in a shaky breath, she breathed out, "Hello?"
Nothing for a few seconds. Then a small snap sounded right behind her, making her jump and whip around. As soon as she moved loud cracks and creaking came from the trees, with branches falling to the ground. Terrified, Skylar moved back, and again, stepping onto the slime was flat on the ground before she could catch herself. Shaking hands held her abused skull amidst a grunt of pain. Her neck also shot a hard stab of pain.
The sounds of breaking trees frighteningly fast until Skylar saw two scarlet lights in the tree line. A figure of monstrous proportions came into view, a huge black and green humanoid creature. The two lights- it's eyes- trained directly on her own. It moved fast. It's hand took up all of skylar's sight. She screamed.
The airbag then went off.
Chapter One.
Silence.
Do you know the feeling you get after crying for hours upon hours? That feeling of extreme exhaustion, of just wanting to close your eyes so sleep could come and pull a blanket over your feelings? Weary of raw emotion that lingers under a nail scrape layer of protection, of sanity. Drifting off to a depth of apathy before being jerked right back into hell because you can not escape. Worry and fear dislocate and uproot any feeling of comfort and security, tossing it to an unreachable place in your mind.
Blunt fingernails clutched the dirty fabric of what once was a pretty snazzy looking Nike jacket. Slowly but agitated they began to pull and knead into the fabric, before flinching to a stop. Skylar sighed, and yet again tried to rebuild the walls of protection protecting her now fragile mind. Many times in the last two weeks, assuming that it had been two weeks, she had reduced to a quivering sobbing mess at the mere thought about what kind of situation she was in or what her future would hold. Sniffing, the young woman stood up and began to walk in her little box. It was the size of her room back home, and dimly light, oh but they did a fantastic job decorating the place! A nice little toilet hole, and oh! She had her own metal slab bed in the corner. Real comfortable, you could barely tell it was the same material as the floor.
In a lazy manner, Skylar ran her hands across the wall as she walked back and forth in her prison. She really didn't blame herself for her mental breaks or dark thoughts. Her panic. Her worry. Anyone would if they were picked up by a giant robot and shoved in a box and then left there to their own devices. Alone.
In the time that she was there, she could only guess that it had been two weeks. Her phone had died on day two. Stupid battery. On day three, Skylar thought she was going to die. She had been not been given any water. It was when she sat on her slab waiting for any type of mercy, a shifting of metal snapped her to her senses. Four small holes had opened, and fumes filled the small space, and quickly the girl passed into unconsciousness.
When she woke up, she was on her slab. Wincing, her eyes found the inside of her elbow to be bruised and bleeding slightly. Whatever they did to her, it was keeping her alive. It hurt like hell though. Water was added to her habitat, in the form of a little water fountain like mechanism.
Skylar continued to walk back and forth, switching hands to run across the metal as she changed directions. - Mom and Dad knew Skylar loved animals, so when she was younger they had season passes to the zoo. It was every two Saturdays out of the month that they went out early in the morning. It was less crowded in the mornings, and her parents never worried about her being lost, Skylar did the same thing every time, greeting the animals like they were classmates from school. She had her favorites for sure though, and gave them more attention. It was also good to come in the early morning because the animals were far more active and playful. Except for Kuma. Skylar made sure to sit with Kuma the longest. She liked how he looked, he was HUGE! His brown fur would get poofy when he shook, and Skylar would ohh and ahh when he yawned. But Kuma was always sad, and had a habit of biting other bears. So Kuma was alone, and everyday he would pace back and forth-
Skylar deflated. Now she knew what it felt to be like Kuma. Boiling anger burned her chest. She was no animal! She had every right to know where she was and what was happening to her! Seething fury shook her body. It made her feel sick. She took a deep breath. Turning, she walked slowly to the other wall. Before her nose could touch the cool metal, she snapped around and pushed off the wall like an olympic swimmer, and slammed her 160 pound body into the wall- Warcry and all.
" LET ME OUT!" Skylar heard her voice and didn't recognise it, it was so filled with anger. Her fists pounded the wall as she screeched in raged frenzy. She didn't stop, even when her hands throbbed in pain and her voice started to crack. "I can't stay like this, I can't live like this!" Her thoughts lead her to continue even when she was giving up hope that anyone could hear her. Her head was clouded and she wiped tears that were streaming down her face and neck. Placing her hands to her eyes she wailed and howled her misery and pain. She was thrown to the floor when her box shook and jerked. An ugly, mechanical voice roared at her, it's ferocity barely stopped by the heavy walls. Flinching, Skylar shut up. Fear pierced through her anger like a needle. Something told her she didn't want to mess with that, didn't want to see it, or make it angry- "No." Snarling, Skylar sprang up.
She did want to make it angry.