I woke up around four in the morning and was surprised that Gary was still not home. This didn't bother me, but it was out of character for him. As much as Gary liked his drink, he liked to be home and sleeping it off even more. I sat up halfway and looked around the room just to see if he had passed out on the way to the bed, nothing. I even checked downstairs, still nothing. I pushed the feeling of worry out of my head and tried to go back to sleep.
It wasn't until nine in the morning that Gary came home, looking terrified and absolutely nervous. He stumbled his way through the back door by the kitchen. He looked at me once and hurried upstairs. In any normal marriage the wife would have gone after her wayward husband probably screaming or at least asking if he was okay. I just continued making breakfast, but with a little more confusion.
I spooned the eggs, now a little brown from a lack of concentration, onto Gary's plate along with luke, warm bacon and buttered toast. I put some food on a plate for myself as well. I sat down at the table waiting for Gary to come in. As hungry as I was I knew that eating without him would be a huge mistake and would lead to a tongue-lashing. So I sat there and waited for almost ten minutes until he finally emerged from upstairs. He still had a nervous look on his face and was trying hard not to make eye contact with me.
"Good Morning, Gary." I spoke with almost too much glee. His pained expression was making me unexplainably happy.
"Uh" He cleared his throat. "Good Morning, Charlie, I hope that you slept well."
His reply almost had me choking on my piece of toast.
"Um yes. Thank you." It came out more of a question than a statement.
"Good. Good. Well, uh, I must be getting to work now. So, I will be back at four as usual I hope that you have a good day." I almost fell out of my chair when he walked over and kissed me softly on my forehead. As he turned and walked out of the house I stared after him I was sure my jaw was touching the ground.
I must have sat there looking after him like an idiot for a good twenty minutes. It was the sudden knock on the door that had me snapping out of my trance. I got up quickly, but the strange happenings of the morning had me suspicious of the visitor. So I took a quick peek out the window and saw two men, both were wearing collared button up t-shirts and khaki shorts. I wouldn't have thought twice about it except one of the men I could see had a gun holster on the back of his shorts. They didn't look like cops and they were driving a Saturn instead of a standard Crown Victoria. The whole thing just didn't seem right to me. My head told me "run" and I didn't know what else to do so I ran to the basement and hid underneath the floorboards and waited.
Upstairs I could hear what sounded like a crash and the low hum of a man's voice. They were in my house. Cops didn't just break in to your house did they? I heard the voices getting louder and I heard my name being called. "Charlie? Chaaarliee." I felt like a kitten being coaxed out of hiding. They knew my name. They broke into my house and were looking for me. My fear was rational. I curled into a ball on the floor and tried to breathe silently as the voices and footsteps drew closer. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I knew they were directly above me. The footsteps muffled quietly and I could hear them moving the furniture around. Then I heard the footsteps grow farther away and the voices grew quieter… then nothing. I was shaking by the time I leaned forward from my position. Too scared to get up and go out I stayed where I was waiting quietly and listening. Absolute silence, but I wasn't one to take any chances. So I laid down and closed my eyes…
I was down in my spot for three weeks before I started to realize what happened. I had a radio in my tiny room and thankfully I was able to get reception, fuzzy or not. And as time moved forward the newscasters started to say things like "Another territory safe from humans, the seekers have brought us peace once again." I was confused at first, but I finally started to piece everything together. Everyone was acting…good. The reports were always about people saving each other from natural disasters. There were never any reports on murders or thieves or anything bad for that matter. And the reporters were always cheery and sweet. It was terrible. I finally heard the word on the fifth week in my tiny room, "Soul". They were aliens and they had taken over our bodies. Great. Just freaking great. I didn't know anything beyond that point.
I had been surviving for three months on the cases of water and canned food that I had stocked the tiny room with. I was bored and I had only the occasional footsteps upstairs and murmured voices to entertain myself with. I wasn't sure what they were doing but they came by every so often. I didn't know what they were doing, but it always sounded like they were moving things around. I began noticing a pattern in the comings and goings. I tried to keep a document of it, because I was quickly running out of supplies. There was a portion of the room where I had to bury waste and it was starting to become unbearable. I stunk and I was starving. I made the decision that I would need to leave the room and it would have to be within the next day.
I was scared and I had no idea what to expect outside. I was sure that this area had been "colonized" and had an image in my head of little green aliens running around. Surely they had ditched our bodies when we were gone and they could come out in the open. I took what little water I had left and stuffed it in a backpack. I stayed very quiet and listened. Thanks to the calendar, I knew that it was Friday and I also knew that I only heard the voices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I slowly opened the hatch and removed the floorboards and pushed the rug back. I crouched down and walked slowly up the stairs towards. The stairs led me up to the hallway behind the kitchen and when I peeked my head around the corner I saw nothing. I slowly made my way from the kitchen to the front of the house, still nothing. Everything looked exactly the same. All of my furniture was still there along with food in the cupboards. I finished my parole of the front part of the house. I checked out the windows. It was about eight thirty p.m. and there was nobody outside, and no cars in our driveway.
I knew I was alone so I made my way upstairs. I hurried as I grabbed clothes and went into the bathroom. I used the toilet and took the advantage of a shower. I realized this might be one of my only chances to use one again. I finished up and changed into the dark gray sweat pants, black tank top, and running shoes. I stuffed a few essentials into my backpack. I had limited room so I only brought one change of clothes. Then I went downstairs and proceeded to take more water. The fridge had been cleared out but I grabbed some more canned food from the cupboards.
I didn't know where I was going or what I was looking for, but I knew I couldn't stay in that tiny room. So I took one final look around what had once been my home and said good-bye to the hopes that I had always had. Now I was the hunted and my life was hanging on the edge.