Chapter 10: Roommates and Midnight Writing
Amy walked back to the room she was staying in feeling a little better. She had ended up talking to Reuben for over an hour before he'd gotten called back to the front of the ship, and she'd been surprised at how easy talking to somebody actually was. She'd gushed about her favorite book until Reuben admitted he knew nothing about it, but it seemed interesting. He'd talked about his adventures as Galley Officer – chasing intergalactic bad guys, discovering new planets, and making more than enough sarcastic quips along the way. In fact, only one thing had really bothered her…
"Aren't ya going to finish eating that?" Reuben asked as Amy put her spoon down.
"I couldn't eat another bite, really. I'm already starting to feel a bit sick," Amy responded, looking down at the bowl. She'd eaten a lot of it, hadn't she?
"You've only eaten half of it. Are ya feeling alright?" Reuben frowned as he looked at the bowl. It wasn't even that big a bowl to begin with – about the size of a cereal bowl. Amy nodded.
"I feel fine. I guess I just don't have that big of an appetite."
"Amy, take it from somebody who knows – not eating enough is just as bad as eating too much. If ya really are full already, I think ya may wanna talk to Jumba. Not eating enough can cause all kinds of problems."
"I take a multivitamin, so shouldn't that be enough?"
Reuben shook his head. "Doesn't replace food. Seriously, just talk to Jumba. He may be crazy, but he's still a doctor. If he says you're fine, then don't worry about it."
It had been at that point that the intercom had turned on, and told Reuben to return to the front of the ship. Amy clutched her stomach as she walked – now she felt queasy. After Reuben left, Amy ended up eating the rest of the soup, and found that she was having trouble keeping it down. It wasn't even that much soup – what in the world was going on with her?
Amy approached the door and punched in the passcode to the room feeling like she was close to throwing up, but the feeling was quickly replaced with panic as the door slid open and she was met with her roommate's gaze.
If Reuben towered over Amy, then this girl towered over Reuben. She looked to be about six feet tall, with long, lean limbs that were toned with muscle and accented scale-like caps on her elbows, knees, and fingernails, which were a very dark gray and shone blue in the fluorescent light. She had skin that was a very pale shade of yellow, and short black hair, with two yellow streaks framing her face as bangs. Her arms were folded across her chest, and from the look of her Amy had absolutely no doubt that this girl could easily snap the human girl in half.
"So," the girl said, "you're the human I was told about?" Her blue eyes glinted as she said "human", and as she talked Amy saw that she had very white teeth, with very sharpcanines.
"Y-yuh-yuh…" Amy struggled to muster up enough coherence to answer. "…Yes."
Amy felt her heart stop as the girl bent over so that they were face-to-face, with Amy still having to crane her neck to loo her roommate in the eye. Without warning, the girl lifted Amy up in a crushing grip, and it took a moment to register that she was being hugged.
"Well it's about time! I was starting to go crazy without anybody to talk to!" The alien exclaimed as Amy tried to catch her breath. "Welcome aboard! My name is Asonjadoni, but you can call me Sonja!" She set Amy down before spinning around and walking back into the room. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get in here!" Amy shook herself out of her paralyzing panic and ran into the room before the door could slide shut in front of her.
"N-nice to meet you…" Amy mumbled as Sonja walked over to the dresser on the opposite side of the room. "I'm Amy."
"Nice to meet you too, Am- Amy? Huh, that's a weird name." She opened the bottom drawer. "You can put your stuff in here, just so ya know. I never use it." She shut it again, and stood up. Now that Amy saw her in the light, Sonja looked much more… cartoonish. Her entire body was very angular, and she had very large blue eyes that had several black lines through the pupils to form eight-pronged star shapes that were centered on her pupils. She also had two long, thin antennae, like an insect. As Amy walked over to the dresser, Sonja stood up and looked her over. "You sure are small. I heard humans were short, but I had no idea you'd be this short. It's like you're miniature!"
"Y-yeah…" Amy muttered, looking up at Sonja, who was now smiling from ear to ear. Even though she seemed less threatening, Amy couldn't help but feel a bit cowed in her presence.
"I mean, you're really small. I've seen pictures of humans before, and they usually aren't so… skinny."
"I know… I'm underweight…" She muttered. "Can… we talk about something else, maybe?"
"Oh, sure! This is going to be so much fun, just you wait! We're gonna be best friends!" Sonja said, before spotting the clock. "Whoo! Look at the time! I'm gonna get some shut-eye." With that, she jumped onto the higher bunk and pulled the covers over herself. "See ya in the morning, roomie!"
Amy stared at her in disbelief for a moment, trying to register what had just happened. After the initial shock passed, she shook her head and started unpacking her suitcase, setting aside a nightgown as she put away her blouses, skirts, books, and everything else she'd packed. She set her multivitamin jar on top of the dresser, and slid her suitcase under the dresser when she'd unpacked everything. Amy slipped on her nightgown – a simple garment that hung on her like a child's bed-sheet ghost costume – and folded up her dirty uniform, setting it on the opposite side of the drawer from her clean outfits. She pulled her hair out of its pigtails, and set the rubber bands next to the multivitamins. She pulled out her journal and a pen, and shut the drawer before approaching the bed and lying down on her stomach, propping herself up with her elbow. She opened her journal and turned to the first blank age she could find.
I honestly don't know where to start, she began in dark blue ink. Nothing today has gone as I had hoped, and I'm still not entirely sure if all of this is really happening. Part of me wants to believe I'm dreaming and it's still the night before the last day of school, but I doubt my brain could concoct all of this in my sleep. I feel… I don't know. It's a mix of sad and terrified and apprehensive, but mostly, I feel lost. I'm probably light-years away from Earth by now, and I can never go back. That's a scary thought – I guess this is what they mean when they say you can't go home again.
So much has happened in the past few hours, I can still feel my head spinning. I've been taken away from my home planet, knocked unconscious, experimented on, talked about, and otherwise completely discombobulated. I guess the best I can hope for now is that I won't end up living my old life of solitude… IN SPACE!
Okay. I'm tired. Good night, journal.
Amy shut the journal and secured the little latch on it, before removing the key and hiding it under her pillow. She took off her glasses, folding them and setting them on a small table in front of her bed, and allowed darkness to wash away the day's events.