The road outside the cinema was by no means a calm place. Cars streamed past at green light intervals during the early evening traffic and the sound of music could be heard from further down the road. Laughter and conversations could be heard from various groups of people gathered and, whenever the doors opened, from within the cinema itself. As if seeking to add to the racket on the pathway, the cinema doors slid open to accommodate a crowd of people who all seemed to want to be the first to exit, only to mill around on the sidewalk. Amongst the crowd, three girls detached themselves from the rest and began walking down the street.
"Well I still thought that was a great movie, Kate, no matter what you say." Liz said with a smirk, while Kate rolled her eyes to the sky.
"Seeing Kylo Ren shirtless does not make a movie 'great', by any definition." Kate remarked and the third girl in the group laughed along with Liz. They reached a bus stop and sat on the bench to wait.
"That wasn't why I thought it was great, though it was a nice addition," Liz looked thoughtful for a moment, ignoring the snorts of disbelief from the other two. "Seriously though, there were just so many cool scenes in that movie. You agree with me, Lexie, don't you?" Liz looked at Alexa, as if pleading for her to take her side on the argument. Smiling, Alexa held her hands up in surrender.
"Hey, I already said I enjoyed watching it. But listening to you guys talking about it is making it less exciting. It did have some weird parts but it's still just a movie, you don't need to think about it too deeply, otherwise there's no way it will make sense or even be enjoyable." Alexa shrugged at the girls who both looked unimpressed by her statement.
"So, was she agreeing with you or me?" Liz asked Kate. Kate shrugged back.
"I think that was her way of telling us to shut up and stop arguing about this." The three girls sat in silence for several moments watching the cars go by before Liz turned to the other two and once again spoke up.
"What do you think the people in Star Wars would think of this world?" Liz looked completely serious while Kate looked back at her with raised eyebrows and Alexa let out a sneeze that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
"I think they'd get mobbed by everyone who knows about Star Wars and because of that they'd think we're all weirdos." Kate replied. Meanwhile it was becoming more difficult for Alexa to keep from laughing. "Then all the evil guys would start killing people and all the good guys would try to stop them and we'd have an all-out war on our planet."
"Wow that got dark really quick." Alexa said, no longer laughing, and looking at Kate in surprise. Kate shook her head and shrugged. Liz turned to Alexa waiting for her response. "Well I think Finn would freak out, Rosa would be fine until she realised that Finn was freaking out and then Rey would…" Alexa paused unsure of her next words, "Actually I think Rey would be alright here." Liz grinned at Alexa and Kate.
"What about Kylo Ren?"
"I think he'd start hitting everything with his lightsaber thinking that it looked cool even when it's not." Kate replied tartly. Liz raised an eyebrow at her.
"Wow you really don't like that guy, do you?" Kate shrugged again before replying.
"What can I say? He acts like a whiny, little, self-obsessed brat all the time. He's not even that intimidating really."
"He's not supposed to be. He's meant to be the misunderstood villain." Both Alexa and Kate snorted in disbelief at that. Suddenly Alexa stood, looking out down the road.
"My bus is here. I'll see you guys at work tomorrow?" She flagged the bus and flashed a smile back at the other two girls who waved and confirmed that they would be at work. Alexa, while happy to have been out with friends and see a movie, she was relieved to finally go home.
It was several days later and today had started out like most other mornings Alexa had woken up to, if not better. She started her work shift late that day, so she didn't have to quickly leap out of bed like she otherwise would have done. As a result, it was already mid-morning by the time she found the desire to get off her bed. Alexa left her room, barely looking down the hall to the room where her younger brothers would have been sleeping had they not left for school already. As she entered the bathroom for her morning routine, she noticed the toothbrush left by her older sister from her visit a few days ago.
Finally, Alexa made her way into the kitchen for breakfast, passing various family photos and an empty room where the oldest sibling, her brother, used to sleep, before he'd married and moved away. Plans to turn it into a sewing/craft room were abandoned in favour of a guest room since both of her siblings visited often enough for it to be worthwhile. Breakfast was an ordinary affair, as was the rest of her morning which consisted of creating a new song playlist, updating her social media and cleaning the main room at the request of her mother.
Even when Alexa had left for work just before midday everything was normal. Nothing special happened at the call centre where she worked. There were no out of the ordinary calls that she received and when she said goodbye to her friends and work mates she didn't feel like anything was wrong. There were no ominous clouds, no foreboding feeling, it wasn't even a full moon yet. Nothing even particularly bad or exciting or noteworthy had happened the entire day. There was nothing to give away what was about to happen on her way home.
The trip home was smooth as it was late enough that most people would be at home but early enough for the people partying to still be out at their venues. In fact, it wasn't until she was nearly home that anything happened. Alexa turned down a side street in her suburb. The street was deserted until the black figure appeared from nowhere. It wasn't like he appeared on the sidewalk or behind a tree. It literally appeared in the middle of the road and there wasn't much Alexa could do.
Alexa slammed her foot on the brakes and closed her eyes as she let out a scream. She heard the squeal of the brakes in the car and the shudder of the wheel as the car wobbled at the unfair treatment. Her body was thrown against the seat belt and she heard a slight thud right as the car came to a stop.
For a moment Alexa sat there stunned then she panicked and struggled for a moment with her seat belt to get out of the car to check on the person. Only when she was out did she realise that the person was still standing though they were holding their leg. At least she hadn't been the cause of vehicular homicide.
"Oh gosh! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Are you alright? I should call an ambulance to make sure you're okay. You just came up out of nowhere, I didn't know what to do…" Alexa trailed off as the man turned towards her, still obviously in pain. He wore a completely black outfit with a cape and, for some reason, a helmet. Perhaps he was some sort of bikie. Without his bike. However, when she saw the front of his helmet, she immediately recognised it. Alexa felt her jaw drop. He decided to take her moment of surprise to straighten up and speak.
"What happened to me? Where have you brought me? I demand that you tell me this instant." The voice coming through the helmet sounded as though it had been modified. Alexa needed to take several moments to try and comprehend what was going on.
"Oh, I get it now, you're a cosplayer for Kylo Ren. Well your costume is great and you even sound like him. That's awesome. Is there a Star Wars convention around here or something?" Relieved that she had deduced why this random man had suddenly appeared dressed as he was Alexa could finally address his questions. He seemed to have other ideas as he quickly slammed a fist onto the bonnet of her car. Alexa couldn't help but jump in fright.
"Don't play games with me. Tell me what you've done!" He was nearly shouting at this point and part of Alexa was wondering if his role playing wasn't getting out of hand. After all there was no real reason for him to stay in character right then. Costumed or not this seemed like a very aggressive man. Alexa could feel the nervousness building up inside her and it showed in the wobble of her voice.
"I-I'm so sorry I almost hit you with my car, b-but you are wearing black at night, so it was hard to see you. B-but I guess it must have shaken you, I have to tell you it scared the heck out of me too. D-do you need some help? Did you w-want me to call an ambulance?" Even as she said this Alexa was starting to back away from him to put some more space between her and the strange man and to get closer to her still open car door.
"Tell me where I am this instant?!" The man shouted as he closed the between them before Alexa could even move. Alexa's heart leapt to her mouth and her eyes widened in fright.
"Sunnybank! That's where you are, Sunnybank! On Corby Street! Please don't hurt me!" At this point Alexa was really wishing that someone would come out of their house to help her, but the surrounding houses were dark and silent. Her answer didn't improve the mood of her assailant either.
"I wouldn't lie if I were you! There is no 'Sunnybank' system. Now this is your last chance tell me where I am, or I cut you down where you now stand." Alexa felt tears of terror and confusion spring to her eyes. She had no idea what to do or what was going on. This man had evidently lost his mind and was speaking gibberish. Perhaps he really thought he was Kylo Ren and was acting the part. Either way for some reason he didn't believe her and was planning on killing her if he didn't hear what he wanted to hear. Alexa didn't dare reach for her phone, which she'd left in her car, to call the police in case that angered him further.
"I swear it's the truth! I have no idea who you are or what you want, but just take my wallet or my keys or my phone. Just please let me go." The figure before her blurred as tears overflowed and spilled onto her face. She felt like it was hard to breath. The man in black paused for a moment before letting out an animalistic roar. He turned pulled something from his side and turned it on.
Alexa would swear that her heart stopped beating for several moments as the red beams of light extended from the man's hand. As he slashed at the road surface in anger sparks and bits of molten bitumen flew out in sprays. Alexa's breathing doubled, and her feet moved on their own accord backing away from the angry man. However, when her back hit the side of her car that's as far as they would take her. This was no cosplayer. That was a real lightsaber and she was in very real danger. Unfortunately, her response was not fight or flight, it was stay still and hope that he would lose interest in her.
"Since you refuse to give up information freely, I will force it out of you." The man turned away from the newly formed slashes in the road surface to face her. Alexa momentarily forgot how to breath. If the lightsaber was real, then that must mean that this man in front of her was in fact really Kylo Ren! Then that would mean that he could really use the Force. What was he planning on doing? Torture her? He still had a helmet on, so she couldn't see any expression, but he slowly raised his hand, the one not holding the still lit lightsaber, towards her and almost immediately she felt a stinging pain behind her eyes.
Alexa clapped her hands to her head as pressure in her head increased. The pain increased severely, and she clenched her teeth in a desperate effort to not scream. She had no idea what he might do if she did. Unfortunately, the pain became so great that she couldn't bear it anymore and through her clenched teeth came a noise that was something between a growl and a whine. Her knees finally gave way from beneath her but whatever he was doing to her was keeping her pinned to the car.
Suddenly he released her, much to Alexa's relief, and her body immediately dropped to the ground. In the back of her mind she belatedly realised that he must have tried to read her mind or something. She figured that she had to get out of here before he wanted to kill her again. Several moments passed and Kylo Ren said nothing, so, mustering up as much courage as she could, she eventually found her voice.
"W-well, I gu-ess you know I'm tel-ling the truth, r-right?" She asked, her words were barely more than a whisper and she stumbled so much from her anxiety that the sentence was barely understandable. She was somewhat hopeful that he would just let her go and find another solution to whatever his problem was. However, while he didn't shout his next words, she could tell he was still very irritated and angry.
"I sense truth in your words, but your mind is blank. Either you are incredibly unintelligent or perhaps you are protected by something… more powerful." Kylo Ren trailed off thinking, 'perhaps the Force is protecting her.' If there was another force-sensitive threat to the First order, he needed investigate it thoroughly. Besides he still needed to find out where he was. "You insist that I am in the 'Sunnybank' system. Which sector of the galaxy is that in? What is the name of this planet?" He asked in a clipped tone.
Alexa's eyes widened at his questions. How was she supposed to answer them? Why couldn't he just call his forces to ask them? Why was he real? She opened and closed her mouth a few times before noise eventually came out.
"Ah okay, um. Well the planet is called, ah, Earth. But we call the system the Solar System, I think? Sunnybank is just the suburb right here." Alexa finished in a small voice hoping that her answer satisfied him. Apparently, it didn't.
"That tells me nothing of where I am. How was I brought from my ship to here? Was it you?" His voice grew low in suspicion. Alexa immediately shook her head to his last question her eyes flicking to his lightsaber. His next words revealed his own amusement, presumably at the ease of which he could terrify her. "Of course, it couldn't have been you personally, your mind already showed me you were dim-witted. But you know more than you have revealed to me so far" His voice quickly dropped back to sinister and terrifying. However, despite the terror Alexa felt, she couldn't help the seed of indignation from his 'dim-witted' comment; and that seed gave her courage.
"I honestly have no idea how you got here. No one here could have done it. We don't have technology like that!" Alexa could hear Kylo Ren working to breath evenly as he made some sort of effort to control his anger enough to get any useful information out of her.
"Clearly I am getting nowhere with you. Very well take me to the nearest spaceport. I will commandeer a star ship from there and find the answers I seek elsewhere." He turned his back to her and it was clear to Alexa that he felt nothing but contempt at the very sight of her.
"Uh, I'm really sorry but we don't have spaceports or spaceships. Hardly anyone goes into space at all." Alexa saw his body freeze before his head slowly turned to look at her. Still she felt obliged to finish her explanation. "No one has made it past the Moon." She instantly regretted it as he let out another roar and proceeded to slash the road again.
Alexa curled in on herself as Kylo Ren released his displeasure on the road. All she wanted to do was disappear right now. 'Please let someone see us. Please let them come help me.' Alexa repeated this until she realised, what could anyone on this street do? Kylo Ren was basically a psychotic murderer. If they came running out of their house to help someone would probably die. At best it would just be Alexa, or he could destroy the entire street. Eventually she heard the lightsaber power down as Kylo Ren turned back to Alexa. His voice was surprisingly calm for someone who had been raging a moment ago.
"I need to get in contact with my men. You must have some sort of communication with the rest of the galaxy as you evidently know my name somehow, despite your disgraceful lack of technology." Once again at the degrading comment Alexa felt her indignation and courage spark again. At that moment Alexa knew she'd have to tell him everything.
"Ok, now don't take this the wrong way, but according to this planet and everyone on it, you don't exist in real life." She knew that this sudden outburst had surprised him because he didn't more or speak. "We don't have a way to communicate through space because as far as we know there is no one to communicate with. I only know you because there are movies about you, but they aren't supposed to be real." Kylo Ren suddenly raised his hand and immediately Alexa felt her throat constrict, blocking her airway.
"Do you think I'm real now?"