Here's another story for y'all! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only own Rachel, Sasha, and Sheila.
Finding Friends (And Love) Unexpectedly
Sheila stood in the living room of the cabin for a moment and sighed deeply as memories of her spending time with her grandfather filled her, making her smile as she fondly remembered him and remembered when he had passed away.
She now opened the curtains to let the light in and smiled as she looked at the view outside. Being on a mountain, she had a great view of nature and of the sunrise and sunset. The perfect place for her to work on a book she was hoping to publish soon.
Setting her things down, she went outside and lay down in the grass, gazing up at the sky and watching the clouds form their various shapes, a pastime she had loved as a child and still loved as an adult.
"There's a house," she said to herself, pointing to one of the clouds overhead. "A star. A horse. Wow, a dolphin!"
"Clouds can do that, can't they?"
The new voice made Sheila jump and she sat up to find herself surrounded by four strange monsters. One was tall and looked like a humanoid crystal, another was like a cross between an octopus and a jellyfish, one looked like green slime with legs and the other looked like a cross between a possum and a cat. Seven green eyes seemed to pierce her with the way they were glaring at her.
"Who are you?" asked the crystal monster.
Sheila, hearing the anger in his voice, clammed up and turned quickly, running to the cabin. "After her!" said a youngish voice and she ran faster, reaching the door of the cabin and rushing in, closing it and pushing the wood box in front of it as she then ran through the cabin to the bedroom and diving to the floor, breathing hard as she got up and ran to the closet, hiding in there. Thankfully, it was a big closet, which gave her enough room to move. She stayed still as she listened for her pursuers, but heard nothing. Sitting down, she took a moment to get her breath back and jumped at the sound of something hitting the wall.
"She's here," hissed a voice. "I can sense her thoughts."
A telepath? Now, Sheila was very scared. She had thought telepathy was only something that could be done with twins or in movies. Looks like she had been wrong.
Suddenly, the closet door opened and the crystal alien came in, his body lighting up like the rainbow, which gave enough light for him to see her try to hide in the shadows, but his light was too bright.
"Found you," he said, the anger in his voice still present.
Sheila was about to run again when she felt something soft, but strong, wrap around her upper body and lift her up, something covering her mouth as she was about to scream. "I have her," said that same hissing voice as the twenty-year-old girl felt her captor follow the crystal alien into the bedroom. She saw the jellyfish monster had her in his tentacles as he then placed her on the bed and the crystal monster took the rope that the smallest monster gave him and tied Sheila's wrists together and then tied her bound wrists to the headboard. Sheila whimpered as he did the same to her ankles, tying them together before tying the rope to the footboard. She now lay supine as she tried to get the tentacle off her mouth, but a sharp snap of the crystal monster's fingers made her jump and freeze in fear.
"Now that we have you," said the small monster. "Why are you here?"
Sheila's frightened mind tried to get her mouth working to answer, but she was so scared all she could do was whimper and shiver as fear showed in her light purple eyes.
"Hmm, not willing to talk?" asked the jellyfish alien.
"Leave her here," said the crystal alien. "We'll come question her later."
The slime alien was the only one who lingered back a bit and looked at her and then reached for her neck. Sheila cringed as one of his fingers touched the necklace at her throat. It was the infinity necklace that her aunt had given her long ago. He then looked at her and then, giving her arm a gentle squeeze, he left.
Drained from running and from adrenaline withdrawal, the young woman closed her eyes and fell asleep, her glasses somehow staying on her face as her head gently moved to the side.
In the living room, the other three aliens were sitting quietly when the slime alien came in. "Guys, I don't think she's with the Forever Knights," he said.
"What makes you say that?" asked the crystal alien. "You saw her necklace."
"Yeah, but since when do the Knights have girls in their order?"
"He has a point," said the jellyfish alien. "Maybe the girl isn't with the Forever Knights."
"Hey, check this out," said the smallest alien as he held up a picture. The crystal alien took a closer look at it and showed the others.
"Rachel is in the picture," he said. "As is Sasha and the girl. They must know her."
"How?" asked the slime alien.
"We'll ask the girl in the morning. Hopefully, she'll be a bit calmer."
Sheila woke up when she felt like she couldn't move and then remembered that she had been tied up to the bed and saw she was still tied up. She sighed and wondered what the monsters were going to do to her.
"First off, we want to ask you some questions," said the hissing voice, only it didn't sound like it was hissing, just a bit gruff.
She looked to her left and saw the same four aliens looking at her, only this time, their expressions had softened a bit.
"And you can't lie," said the slime alien as he pointed to the jellyfish alien. "He'll be able to tell if you're lying."
Sheila swallowed and nodded, showing them that she understood. The crystal alien gently fingered the necklace at her throat as the slime alien had done last night. "Where did you get this?" he asked in a somewhat stern voice.
She swallowed again and he felt her throat move when she did so. "My…my aunt gave it to me as a gift," she squeaked, hating how fearful her voice sounded, but she was still scared.
The jellyfish alien nodded to the others, indicating that Sheila was telling the truth on that one. "Why are you here?" asked the slime alien.
Sheila looked at him. "I came up here for vacation," she admitted. "I was hoping for some quiet to focus on my writing."
"You're a writer?" asked the smallest alien as he jumped up on the bed next to her.
She looked to the side. "Kind of," she said, her face turning a little red.
All four aliens looked at each other and nodded as one. "What is your name?" asked the crystal alien, his voice calmer and gentler than before.
She looked up at him. "Sheila," she said. "Are you monsters?"
The four shook their heads. "We're aliens," said the jellyfish one. "I'm AmpFibian, and these are my friends, Chromastone, Goop, and Ditto."
The other aliens nodded when their name was spoken and Chromastone stepped towards her supine form, reaching out and gently brushing her long black hair out of her face, his fingers gently rubbing her cheek. "Sheila, we're terribly sorry. When we saw your necklace, we assumed you were in league with our enemies who use that same symbol. That is why we reacted the way we did," he said.
"You're not hurt, are you?" asked Goop anxiously.
Sheila took a moment to think before answering. "I don't feel injured," she said after a minute. AmpFibian nodded.
"Other than being a bit shaken from our hostility, she's unharmed," he said.
"That's good," said Ditto.
The girl then squirmed a little, which they noticed. "Um…are you going to untie me?" she asked.
Goop reached for the ropes when suddenly Chromastone placed his hand on Sheila's bound wrists gently, making the others look at him.
"I see an opportunity to…convince her to trust us," he said with a chuckle.
Ditto and Goop immediately caught on. "It's been a while since we had some fun," said Ditto.
"I believe it just might work," said AmpFibian.
"What might work?" asked Sheila, wary of their faces which wore looks of…playfulness?
"A tickle torture," said Chromastone as he sat down next to her with his hands on her stomach. Ditto quickly went down to her feet while Goop moved his hands to her underarms and AmpFibian took his place by her knees, reaching down and gently rolling the lower leg part of her jeans up to just above her knees, which would make it easier for him to tickle her knees. She began shivering again as all four smiled and Ditto suddenly split into four of himself. "Let's do this!" he said excitedly.
On cue, all four aliens began tickling the young woman mercilessly.
Sheila couldn't stop her laughter as she felt her tickle spots being tortured by fingers and tentacles that masterfully worked over the sensitive skin, making the tickling sensation grab her and not let go. "AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she laughed out.
"Wow, listen to that laugh," said Ditto, unrelenting in tickling her feet as he glanced up at her face. "Should we find out which spot she's most ticklish?"
"It seems she's very ticklish in all four places we're tickling her," said Goop, stopping a moment.
"Ah, but that's because we're getting all of her spots," said AmpFibian. "Let's give her a breather and then we'll hunt for her most ticklish spot."
Nodding, they all stopped and Chromastone picked up a cold cloth nearby and gently pressed it to Sheila's cheeks and forehead, helping her to cool down a bit from the tickle torture. After a few minutes, AmpFibian came up to look her in the eye.
"So, Sheila," he said. "Where are you most ticklish, hmm?"
She looked at him with fear and horror in her face and then shook her head. "No way," she said, wondering if she was nuts to tell him that.
He chuckled. "I don't believe you're 'nuts', as you put it, but you already gave me the answer."
"What?" she asked. "How could I have? I didn't say a word."
"You did, in your mind."
Sheila froze in horror as she remembered last night how he had said he sensed her in the room. Her eyes went very wide.
"Yes, he's telepathic," said Goop. "That's how he knew you were telling the truth earlier."
Now, she was more scared and saw them smirk in amusement. AmpFibian turned to Goop. "Untie the rope from the bed and turn her over," he said. "Ditto, arrange that pillow so that it's under her head and neck."
The small alien did so as Chromastone gently removed Sheila's glasses helped Goop turn her on her stomach and then held her in place as the polymorph retied the rope to the headboard, making sure the girl's arms were now level with her head. "Ready," he said.
"Her most ticklish spot is her shoulder blades," said the electric alien.
"Then let's get to work," said Chromastone.
"You two get her shoulder blades," said Goop as he formed two more hands so that he had four hands. "I'll get her stomach and knees."
"I'll hold her legs down and work on her feet," said Ditto as he formed four more of himself, pinning her legs down.
Unable to see them from over her shoulder, Sheila shivered a bit as she tried not to let her nervous giggles spill out. Suddenly, she felt Chromastone's fingers and AmpFibian's tentacles on her shoulder blades and she burst out laughing before they even began tickling her, surprising them.
"She's more ticklish than I thought," said AmpFibian. "This just got more fun."
Sheila felt them tickle her shoulder blades more vigorously and her laughter grew in intensity, especially with Goop slipping his hands under her stomach and tickling her there while his other two hands tickled the backs of her knees and Ditto held down her legs and tickled her feet.
"AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sheila laughed so hard she couldn't form words as she squirmed as best she could, but being tied up, she couldn't move much and her squirming amused the aliens to the point that they couldn't resist teasing her.
"Cootchie cootchie coo. You can't escape us, Sheila," crooned Chromastone in her ear and she turned her head from him as his teasing made the tickling worse.
"So ticklish and no escape," AmpFibian also teased her.
"Because we're tickle monsters and we don't let our victims go," Ditto added, pressing his fingers a bit more into Sheila's feet to increase the level of tickles she was feeling in her feet.
"Certainly not before the best part," said Goop. "Looks like she needs another breather."
The others agreed and stopped, letting Sheila regain her breath as her bindings were untied from the bed post and her wrists and ankles. She rubbed her sore wrists and ankles and the aliens felt a bit guilty for leaving her tied up last night and Chromastone got a first-aid kit out of his pack and rubbed some medicine into some bandages and handed two to Ditto and Goop, who immediately wrapped the bandages around her ankles while he and AmpFibian wrapped two other bandages around her wrists. She looked up at them as they did so, wondering what they were doing but then noticed her wrists and ankles weren't hurting anymore.
"That should do it," said Chromastone.
Sheila sat up and looked at them as she pushed the rolled up cuffs down to her ankles again, pulling her legs close so that they couldn't tickle her knees again, but they just smiled and Goop slid around her.
"We saved the best part of the tickle torture for last," he said, chuckling.
"Ah, yes. No tickle torture is complete without it," said AmpFibian in agreement as he caught on Goop's train of thought.
"Ditto, hold her down," said Chromastone.
"On it," said Ditto, jumping at Sheila and gently pinning her arms down to the bed again. AmpFibian grabbed hold of her legs and pinned them down gently as Goop took his place by Sheila's neck and Chromastone lifted up Sheila's shirt to the bottom of her rib cage, making the girl very nervous.
"What are you doing?" she asked fearfully.
"Calm down, Sheila," said Goop. "This won't hurt."
"You have our word," said Chromastone as he gently wiggled his fingers into her stomach briefly, making her jump and giggle a bit.
"She has a cute laugh," said AmpFibian, and the others agreed as Goop and Chromastone suddenly leaned down and began blowing raspberries into Sheila's neck and stomach respectively, making her jump and shriek as she tried to scrunch up her neck and pull in her stomach, but her efforts were futile as the two kept it up for a bit before stopping.
Worn out from the tickle torture, Sheila lay still for a bit and felt a tentacle gently brush her face and saw it was AmpFibian. "I think we went a bit overboard," he said, a bit worriedly.
Smiling, she shook her head. "I'm okay," she said. "Just tired."
"And it's nighttime," said Ditto, glancing out the window. The others were surprised the day had passed so quickly. Then again, they had been having fun.
Sheila looked at the stars and grew curious. "Which planets are you from?" she asked. "Can we see them from here?"
The aliens all told her of their home worlds and pointed them out in the sky. The girl was amazed that she could see the planets, although they were very far away. They even told her about the other planets nearby and the stars, which gave her some inspiration for her book.
A few days later, Sheila was typing at her computer when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned in time to see AmpFibian behind her. She blushed and looked at him with a smile.
The reason she was blushing was because the night before, she and AmpFibian had been watching the night sky while laying down in the grass and she had rolled over to talk to him and had actually ended up rolling on him since he had literally been right beside her. She had been embarrassed, but he had held her in place, admitting he didn't mind.
The next thing she had known, he was kissing her and she kissed him back and they had made out for a while.
This morning, she had found a ring on the dresser and had put it on, wondering where it had come from. Now, as AmpFibian took her hand, she had a feeling she knew.
"I see you like it," he said. "On my world, after a male kisses a female, he gives her a ring. The ring signifies the promise that he will be her mate forever. Usually, they date for a bit, but we kissed before we dated."
Sheila blushed redder. "Actually, that kind of was a date, the two of us, watching the sky and making out," she said. "I didn't think it would happen to me, but I hoped it would since I've read it in a lot of books."
"Then, you're okay that you're basically betrothed to me?" AmpFibian asked her. "I guess I got a little ahead of myself."
She kissed him. "I can tell you're a good guy," she said. "And I think you already know that I really like you."
He chuckled. "You probably won't have any secrets with me reading your mind constantly," he admitted. "But I'll let you have some privacy with your mind as well."
Smiling at him, Sheila let him AmpFibian pull her into a dancing dip and kiss her deeply.
About a week later, the aliens told the young woman they needed to head back for home and she offered them a ride, explaining she was going to the Grant Mansion. When they told her they lived there, she insisted they come with her.
Rachel was reading a book on the porch when she heard a car pull up and she looked up, smiling as she got up and moved toward the car as the five occupants stepped out.
"Aunt Rachel!" Sheila said happily, running up to her and hugging her hard.
Rachel returned the hug just as firmly. "Sheila," she said, smiling. "Look at you, all grown up. I haven't seen you since we were kids."
"I know," said the younger woman. "I'm going to need to visit more often. Either that or move in with you."
The owner of the Grant Mansion chuckled at that. "Your room is ready upstairs," she said. "I had a feeling you'd want to stay permanently."
Sheila looked at her aunt in surprise, as did Goop, Chromastone, and Ditto. But AmpFibian came up to his fiancée, a smile in his eyes.
"I called Rachel and told her what had happened," he admitted. "Imagine my surprise when she told me you were her niece."
Rachel laughed out loud in amusement. "Imagine my surprise when he told me you were his fiancée," she said and then smiled. "But I'm happy for both of you."
Sheila noticed the ring on her aunt's left hand. "You're engaged too?" she asked.
Her aunt nodded and motioned to the door. "Want to see the whole family?" she asked. "It's pretty big."
Sheila looked at AmpFibian with a smile. "I've always wanted a big family," she admitted and then sobered a little. Rachel immediately sensed what her niece was thinking and hugged her again.
"I know, honey," she said softly. "I didn't really know your mom, but she was still my sister."
"Why didn't you know her?" asked Chromastone gently.
Rachel looked at him. "Some time before mom died, Dad had received word that his eldest daughter had been killed in a car crash. He was heartbroken and still struggling to cope with Mom being sick, so he arranged for Sheila to stay with some relatives. Sheila came over now and again and she, Sasha, and I would play together. But as we got older, the relatives taking care of Sheila became sick and couldn't come down anymore and Dad got sick so that we couldn't go visit them. It was during that time and as we got older that Dad told us about our older, adoptive sister," she said. "I always hoped Sheila would come back to Staybrook and find us. And she did."
That made them smile and Sheila looked up at them. "It hasn't been easy, but I really didn't know my mom well either, since she died when I was five, but now I have my family again," she said. "And I think I'll stay this time."
Rachel opened the door of the Grant Mansion. "Then welcome home," she said as the entire family of humans and aliens came out to greet Sheila and congratulate her and AmpFibian on their engagement.
Sheila had happy tears in her eyes as she remembered something her mom had always said, the one memory that was seared in her mind because she hadn't wanted to forget.
Her mom had always said: "No matter where life takes you, you can always find friends and even love unexpectedly."
"You were right, Mom," she said softly. "You were right."
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GoldGuardian2418