Chapter 12 - First Reach
After the school day was over, both Robert and Aerialus went back home. The incident in the garden area had somewhat affected the human male's mind to some degree. Thinking that he would just have to be a bit more mindful of when she was at school with him, that was the extent of his pondering. However, the event did not leave the Baklavaians' minds as easily. Both were equally trying to figure out who it could be.
While Aerialus wondered if it was the person that was scouting in the trees, she would periodically glance at any tall trees. Each time she looked, there was no small piercing blue light seen. Fiona made a guess that there was a twin or a clone of the man. Each did conjure an aspect that it was the slave masters pulling a trick. It did not last very long as both knew Primusians are not known to use high number of resources to clone another race or pull a prank.
Upon reaching the house, both exited the car. For whatever reason, Aerialus stopped and looked over to her left. Staring at the neighbor's house, a faint thought went through her mind. Not able to find a rhyme or reason to believe it, it seemed to fester in her brain. Looking down at the ground, she tried to figure out another way of communicating.
"Aerialus?" Robert spoke.
"..." she blinked and looked up. Seeing him staring at her, she rid of her thoughts.
"Sorry...was just thinking."
"The incident from earlier still bugging you?"
"...I...would be lying if I said no," the female alien answered with a small nod. "I almost made a grave mistake...I just need to reflect and remember what I am allowed and not allowed to do."
"..." he replied with his face tightening. Seeing his small reaction, she became stiff and lifted her hands up.
"I-I will not make the same error again Robert. I will listen to you next time and exercise restraint in the sensations I felt then."
"...I'm not mad at you Aerialus," he clarified and walked closer to her. Stopping in front of her, he put a hand on her shoulder.
"It is just the aspect that you can't be free to explore...without feeling that someone is watching you or monitoring your thoughts."
"...y-yes..." the Baklavaian said putting her hands down. Giving a small smile, she placed her right hand over his.
"Please...let us go inside...I can be the most free in our home."
"..." Robert gave a small smile. Turning around and walking beside her, both went up the driveway to the front doors. Entering inside and removing their shoes, Aerialus breathed out a small sigh of relief.
"Who's home?" Sue called out in a room on the ground level. There was some noise followed by footsteps getting closer to the entrance.
"It is us mom," he answered. Seeing the older human female round the corner and enter the living room, she had a half apron around her waist. Getting close to both, she gave a hug to each. The embrace made the Baklavaian's worries lessen a bit.
"How was school? Did you have fun Aerialus?"
"Overall...it was...different," she answered. A thought of the incident in the garden area came to mind, but she quickly decided to not talk about it.
"I can imagine it would be. A change of pace from being free to roam in the house to sitting through lectures without leaving."
"...y-yes...I didn't understand a lot that was instructed. But I saw many different humans and aliens amongst the students. It...has changed my perspective a bit more."
"Hopefully in a good way?" Robert asked after setting down his backpack near the front door. Seeing her look at both, she gave a small nod.
"In a good way...yes."
"That's great dear," Sue said with a smile then turned to her son. "Dear, could you go check on your father? He came home early and is in his study room continuing to work."
"Mmm," the young man responded with giving a half frown. "That usually means something happened at work to make him leave the office."
"...is...Howard troubled?" Aerialus spoke concerned. Seeing Robert head toward the family room, his mother interlaced her left arm with the young alien's right arm.
"It just means he is in a mood," the older human began. Towing the Baklavaian, they headed toward the kitchen.
"Tell me in detail about how your day went. I want to know all the experiences you had and what you grasped from it."
"...I...uh..." she began then felt caught. Walking towards the kitchen, she felt anxiety. The want to lie or hide the truth made her feel guilty. All she could do was swallow before answering.
"...okay..."
[Captain Olton speaking] the Primusian leader spoke after answering the line. His voice was ambivalent from having to stop what he was doing.
"S-1057: Fiona. Reporting."
[Ah...you do make timely report-ins slave. I appreciate your consistency...and loyalty] his voice changed to something more amused.
"...thank you sir," she replied after a brief pause.
[As much as I want to hear in detail of what you have observed and discovered...I am unfortunately busy attending different matters. Commander Utern will take your report]
"Yes sir."
[Good...just a reminder slave...my 2nd in command has just as much authority to strip your position away and throw you in a cell as I do...so do tell...accurate accounts of your findings. Understand?] he threatened in a low tone.
"...yes sir..." she repeated herself making sure to add a brief pause. Answering to quickly or not too slowly would cause red flags from previous experiences.
[Excellent...tootles!] the Captain departed sounding chipper.
'...toot...les?' Fiona repeated in her head confused. Caught off guard again by the word, the upbeat voice the Primusian leader had was odd. Hearing the line click, a recognizable voice came on. Her body immediately stiffened, and her focus sharpened.
[What is your report S-1057?] Commander Utern spoke coldly over the line. Listening to the entirety of the day's observations, the one incident that happened in the greenery area of the college grabbed the leader's attention.
[A twin you say?]
"Yes sir...that is my guess of what I saw. The other humans that were conversing with the Baklavaian seemed afraid of the twin when it was behind her. However, the host family son came out of the shop. The other humans did not ask if there was a twin. They asked if he could do...something called magic."
[...hmm...what of the twin when the human male came out of the shop?]
"As far as I know...it vanished sir. I stayed and ran scanners, but they did not read any movements or something hiding in the trees."
[Were the group of human males afraid of the one that came out of the shop?]
"They were not. Their apprehension died a little before two out of the three became unsettled."
[How so?]
"They were behaving as if something was lingering in the area still...but none of the scanners picked up anything during and after they left."
[Did S-0923 repeat any of the humans reactions?]
"When she and the human male began to leave, she looked back. I observed, but there was nothing there. I assume she felt something was there in the area."
[I see...you will continue your operation until the next report. Is there anything else?]
"...yes sir...what of the second...scout watching the host family house?"
[That individual belongs to the Primusian Council...do not interfere. Understand?]
"Yes sir."
[Dismissed]
'I think I prefer Commander Utern over the Captain,' Fiona thought with a soft sigh.
Glancing over at the two houses, she peered at the trees far beyond the homes. Seeing the faint blue light in the trees, she looked back at the buildings. Checking the time, she counted the hours till sunset and when the moon rose from the sea. Knowing the time frame of when Aerialus falls asleep, she would be able to fall asleep as well. Glancing at the neighbor's house, nothing ever stirred from gazing at it.
Opening her eyes and surveying her surroundings, Aerialus recognized that she was in her room. Getting up, her movements felt lethargic and slow. Remembrance of being submerged in tanks on the slave trader ship came which was unpleasant. Pushing the memory aside, she wondered if she was dreaming. Looking to her window, her eyes stopped at it.
'...there's...frost again...' the Baklavaian thought.
Deciding to forgo any anxiousness she had before, she got out of bed and walked towards it. The closer she got, the temperature around her began to slowly go down. Stopping in front of it, a condensation cloud exited her mouth. Seeing the faint white smoke, it slowly hovered around in the air. It did not evaporate like the previous times she watched it outside.
Focusing back at the window, the blinds were down and closed. Feeling her mouth twitch, there was no movement felt on her face. Doing a slow blink, her arm was already out grasping the tool to open the shutters. Pulling down, the drapes slowly pulled up. When it was completely open, she stared at darkness.
'...how strange...' she pondered.
Instead of feeling dread or unsettled, there was no feeling of it being a window into an abyss. Instead, it seemed like something was there. Not in the sense of something lurking in there, but a place of some kind. A thought that the same entity in her previous dream was doing this, it brought up the question if it was the neighbor.
'If this is a dream...then I won't be hurt. I can be curious without a consequence,' she reasoned in her mind.
Settled on her mental statement, she let go of the string. Moving her hand toward the window, she tried touching where the glass would have been. Instead of a solid object, her hand went through a membrane of some kind. Neither cold or hot, it was not pleasant or gross. Furrowing her eyebrows, the Baklavaian tried to figure out what the substance was. Pulling her hand back, it did not move.
Before she could try again, wispy tentacles came out of the blackness of the window. Not moving very fast, they snaked around her. Feeling very alarmed and frightened, the protrusions lifted her effortlessly. Pulling her, Aerialus entered the void looking portal. Upon passing through, the tentacles evaporated. Falling a couple of feet, her feet landed on a floor.
'...!?' the alien female blinked rapidly.
Moving her head and looking around, it seemed she had sped up. Seeing that she was in a family room of sorts, her frightened sensations seemed amplified. It was as if she was repeating the experience in this hypered stated of being. Beginning to feel disoriented and confused, she turned around way too quickly. Falling backwards, the environment seemed to vibrate a little from her impact on the ground.
'What-whatishappening?Whyisthisoccurring?WhyamItalkingsofast!?' Aerailus thought out loud.
Her voice was higher in pitch and her mouth moved rapidly. Shaking her head that felt like a whiplash, she tried getting up in slow motion. Feeling like she was moving in normal speed, she was straining herself to continue slowing down. With her mind thinking too fast to even concentrate, she turned around. Jumping from fright, she froze like a statue.
Standing behind her was Robert; however, his eyes were not the same color. Piercing, sapphire-colored irises with pitch black scleras stared back at her. Wondering if this was supposed to be who was behind her in the garden area, the clone's right eye did something that made her lean backwards. A wispy tentacle slowly came out of it and continued to grow. Getting as long as 3 feet, it hovered in front of her barely breaching her personal space.
Feeling herself hyperventilate twice as fast, she felt pressure building inside of her. Along with the fear that this was evolving into a terror vision, the altered human clone opened its mouth. Seeing nothing inside, it gave the impression that it was a gaping hole into some unknown dark matter. Without it speaking, artic temperature air breezed forward. Feeling it caused her already goosebump skin to flare again to make her look pale.
'...s...A...n...C...t...u...R...a...Y...' the being spoke.
'...!?' Aerailus felt her faint skin hairs spike up. Its voice sounded everywhere and enveloping. But what caused her fear to fester more, the male's mouth never moved from its open position.
'...S...i...L...e...N...t...?' it asked slowly.
Tilting its head to the left, objects in the family room began to mimic the movement. Seeing every fixture bend to the same degree, it distorted the Baklavaian's sense of control of the dream. Taking a fast shuffle back, the extended tentacle began to mimic slithering to the left and right. Thinking it became agitated, her mind was filled horror of it attacking her and killing her.
'WAKEUP!WAKEUP!WAKEUP!WAKEUP!WAKEUP!' she rapidly shouted in her head.
Seeing the creature move, the flexible protrusion from its eye dashed at her. Unable to scream, it wrapped itself around her head. Only wide enough to cover her mouth, she shook staring at the monstrosity. Without even moving, it got in front of her like a ghost. Still in the same head position and its void mouth open, it bored at her with brutal, cold intensity.
'...N...o...C...a...L...a...M...i...T...y...' it voiced in deep distortion. Moving even closer to her scared face, its non-tentacle eye moved to be directing in line with her right eye.
'...a...S...y...L...u...M...'
"NO!" Aerailus spoke.
Darting herself up and turning, she fell off her bed. Hitting the carpeted floor, she glanced around herself frantically. Driven by fright, she saw that she was in her room. There was nobody with her and it was still dark. Shifting her eyes quickly to her window, the blinds were down and closed. Staring at it as if something dire would explode from it, she stayed knelt at the ground and waited.
After 5 minutes went by, nothing had stirred. Thankful that the noises she made had not caused the family to awaken, she gingerly stood up. Still watching the window, she clasped her hands together. Feeling them shaking, it was difficult to get herself to calm down. Not even wanting to contemplate the dream or the images in it, her mind wanted confirmation.
'...if I look through the window...and nothing is there...or was there...then I can say...it was just a bad dream,' Aerialus thought. Thinking about walking forward, she hesitated. Shaking her head and trying again, her feet shuffled against the carpet. Stopping in front of it, the temperature felt a little colder.
'That's because...it's colder outside...at this time,' the female alien reasoned. 'That's...all it is...a constant.'
"..." she slowly reached for the blind's adjustment bar.
Grasping it, a small lump in her throat came. Swallowing, it lingered as if to signify a foreboding. Pressing her lips together and tensing herself up, she began to turn it. Watching the individual horizontal segments rotate, the window was seen. There was no frost on it. Feeling mildly relief, she stepped in front of it.
Looking to the left showed the street. With only a single lamp light in close proximity, it made the outside environment not too dark. Not seeing anyone or anything moving, she glanced to her right at the neighbor's house. Seeing nothing in particular in the front lawn, the front porch did not attract attention. Looking at one of the windows, her eyes widen with fear.
Two small colored orbs for eyes were seen staring back at her. Matching the same color in her dream, she leaped backwards. Breathing faster, she put a shaking hand on her chest. Feeling the organ beating fast, she didn't dare look away from the window. Shaking in place, she tried to figure out if she was safe knowing that she was spotted.
'Wait...wait-wait-wait-wait,' Aerialus repeated in her mind. Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, she tried to calm herself down.
'I am...still affected by that...vision,' she continued.
After a minute of trying to ease her tension, she opened her eyes. Immediately focusing on the window, nothing changed from how it looked a minute or two ago. Moving her hands to her face, she rubbed her eyes. After doing so, she pressed her face against them. Sighing out loud to no one, she turned to her bed. Looking at the clock again, it was still very early in the morning.
'I should go back to sleep...I will not function well if I stay up.'
Saying that in her mind a few times, she never moved into her bed. Blinking and turning her head, she looked over her right shoulder. Glancing at the window, the blinds were still closed. They did not sway or look to be frosted. Looking back to the furniture to sleep in, she shook her head. Thinking that would get rid of the anxiety and trepidation, it lingered in the back of her mind.
'...Howard did state...' the female alien spoke in her mind. At the same time, she grabbed the top cover and pulled it off the bed.
'He would sleep on one of the couches on restless nights...maybe I should try that?'
Grabbing hold of the heavy blanket, she went to her door. Quietly opening it and peering into the hallway, there was not much light seen. Already adjusted to the amount of darkness, there was enough spills of light elsewhere in the house to navigate. Leaving her room, she walked slowly to the staircase. Looking around the corner and down, there was nothing seen in the living room.
Making sure she wouldn't step on the cover, she began to descend the stairs. Perking her ears, the sounds she was making seemed amplified. There were a couple of spots on the steps that were not firm which made wood bending sounds. Despite knowing that would happen, she cringed from how much noise it created in the house. Continuing down, she reached the first floor.
Seeing that nothing stirred, she looked at the couch in the living room. With the TV nearby, it could also help her take her mind off things if she continued cycling her anxiety and trepidation repetitively. Thinking about the other one, she softly walked to the family room. Upon entering, the space felt more enclosed than the previous area. The only visible window was the sliding glass door that led to the backyard.
Deciding to reside here until otherwise, she moved a couple of the couch pillows. Lying down and putting the top cover over her, she stared at the ceiling. Adjusting herself and continuing to look at the ceiling in silence, only the house made a couple of creeks and mild pops. After a short period of time, her eye lids began to get heavy. Rubbing her eyes a little, she yawned at the same time. Closing her eyes, she did a slow inhale and exhale.
"..." Aerialus opened her eyes. Cringing from seeing bright illumination, she looked down. The sliding glass door showed that there was natural light outside. Confused, she looked for the clock that was on the wall.
'A few hours have passed...and I only felt like I just closed my eyes,' she thought. Sitting up and rubbing her face, her mind was still in a fog. Putting her hands down, she looked around. Her eyes stopped seeing someone standing close by. Looking up, her instincts made her tense up quickly. Resisting the urge to jump from fright, she willed herself to calm down quickly.
"M-Morning Robert."
"Morning Aerialus," the young man said with a small smile on his face. "Did you have a rough sleep last night?"
"...well...you could say so...I did have a terror vision."
"Terror vision?" he repeated with a blink. Putting a hand on his hip, he looked to be thinking.
"You mean like a nightmare?"
"Yes...an unpleasant dream."
"Gotcha...did...it replay the incident from the garden in your dream?"
"..." the Baklavaian answered with a pause. Turning to the right to be facing him, she thought about the correlation between her subconscious imagery versus what happened the previous day.
"No...it did not have anything from yesterday's event."
"Oh? A reoccurring nightmare? Or just a one off?" he asked sounding interested.
"It was one I have never seen before...I am not sure if it is a sign or it means something."
"If you believe in those dream interpretations, then it could be something," he remarked. Seeing her suddenly stop and look at him, the lost look made him want to laugh. Holding it in, he knew that look.
"Yes Aerialus...there are dream dictionaries...or vision dictionaries."
"You humans...know what your visions mean? And made documents for deciphering?" she asked astonished.
Noticing he had a mild amused face, he got out his phone. Immediately typing on it, he scrolled until he clicked something. Turning the cellphone around, it showed a digital options screen. Seeing small groupings of letters of the alphabet, she just picked one to see what it stated. When the new window loaded, she saw words with much text of what each one stated and meant. It felt like obtaining a book of knowledge that were at her fingertips.
"Is this...real? There is so much...detail for each thing?" the female remarked and looked up at him.
"Heh heh," Robert chuckled a little then stopped. Scratching the back of his head a little, he shrugged his shoulders.
"Some people believe it completely. Others think it is just made up. There are even interpretations that say everything is around some form of intimacy. Less people believe that one."
"...I see...do you believe these?" Aerialus asked feeling herself able to not be so surprise. The more she thought about this being bogus information, it allowed her to think a bit more clearly.
"I did a small stunt of keeping a dream dairy back in middle school. I journaled what I dreamt then used that website to figure out what those visions were trying to tell me. A couple of them were pretty interesting. The majority of them told me that I needed improvement in various areas."
"..." the Baklavaian blinked then looked down at the smart phone. Looking around her surrounding area, there was a pad and pen on the coffee table to the right of the couch.
"You going to write your dream down?" he asked a little interested.
"Yes...I want to see if it provides me something."
"What was your dream about...if you don't mind me asking?" the male human stated. Moving and sitting down next to her, she was already writing down a synopsis of the vision. After reading what she wrote, he grimaced a little.
"That...would be a scary dream. Getting captured by a stranger."
"...yes...it was not pleasing...especially when I was moving so quickly," she agreed. After finishing the summary, she was about to go to the phone when it suddenly started ringing. Flinching from it going off, she handed it to him. Watching him look at it, his eyebrows went up.
"Wonder why the guys would be calling this early?" he mused. Swiping the screen and standing up, he put the rectangular device to his ear.
"...hey...morning..." Robert spoke. Walking away, he went to the back sliding door. Opening it and closing it, he proceeded with his phone call.
'I guess the interpretation can wait,' she thought with a small sigh. 'I should get ready.'
Picking up the things she took from her room, she placed the pad and pen back on the small table she got them from. Taking all upstairs to her room, she got things ready. After cleansing herself and putting on fresh clothes, she headed back downstairs. Immediately going to the kitchen, she began to prepare breakfast for the family. As if on a timed schedule, each family member gravitated to the kitchen.
Sitting down and eating together, the nightmare she had was set aside. Enjoying the aspect of being in company with people that treat her like family, her worries were not on top of her mind. Watching everyone do their final part of their morning routine, each left for their occupation. Waving to the last one at the front door, their transportation vehicle rolled away onto the suburb road. Once out of sight, Aerialus went back into the house.
'If I remember their work schedules,' she thought closing and locking the entrance door. 'Sue works a half shift today and will be home close to noon.'
'Which means this is a free day of no chores,' the Baklavaian continued.
Smiling a little that she still had freedom to do whatever she pleased in the house, she made sure to never lose sight of the repercussions of going out of her restrictions. Shaking her head and thinking about what to do, tending the garden came to mind. Moving towards the kitchen, she saw the opening to go into the family room. Stopping and staring at the couch she slept on, the dream came back. Right after that thought, the dream interpretation that Robert mentioned came.
Immediately deviating away from gardening, she entered the family room. Seeing another doorway, it led to a hallway. One room on the left was the guest bathroom. The room across at an angle was Howard's study room. Going to it and staring inside, she saw the computer. Knowing that she had permission to use it from the man of the house, the female always felt like she was intruding.
'Howard set up a separate login account for me to access his computer,' Aerialus mentally told herself.
Entering the chamber and moving the chair a little, she sat down on it. Looking for where she needed to turn on the unit, both the tower and monitor powered on. After a minute or two of waiting, the login page appeared. Looking at the keyboard, she finger-typed her username and password. Seeing the window change, it came to the main screen of the computer.
'If I recall how Robert searched, he just typed in...dream dictionary...in the web search,' she muttered in her mind.
Double clicking on the app, a new window appeared. Welcoming her, it showed the search engine's logo followed by a blank bar underneath. Typing in the two words and hitting the find button, the screen refreshed. Seeing the astronomical amount of search results, the alien scrolled a little. Finding what appeared to the same web page that Robert found, she clicked on it.
"I found it," she claimed with a smile.
Seeing the same page, she got up and went back into the family room. Looking for the notepad and finding it, she headed back into the computer room. Sitting down, she began researching each factor that she could find from what was in her dream. Minutes passed by as she felt a little overwhelmed from trying to absorb everything. Shaking her head and minimizing the windows, she opened up the word document program.
"I'll just copy and paste all the things I looked at so I can see all of it on one screen," Aerialus told herself. Time passed a little when she completed the task. Once completed, she began to reread all of them again.
'The person in the dream was a stranger despite disguised as Robert...stranger means things or experiences I have yet to have...it also means not having the ability to completely trust someone or a situation,' she mused then gave a nod. 'Both of those ring true to my current situation.'
'His eyes were light blue...which means sensitivity...kindness...and that something cares about you?' the Baklavaian read and blinked confused. '...but they were black...which is usually accompanied with fear of something...like the unknown.'
'I am still amazed that there is such a thing of a dictionary for dreams and visions,' the female thought then went to the next one.
'There were tentacles...feelings of being overpowered by possessiveness or clinginess,' the woman stated to herself. Furrowing her eyebrows and thinking about it, it didn't make too much sense on why it would be. Shaking her head, she looked at the next factor.
'Portal...represents feelings about how quickly your life can become different...also, may reflect feelings about how dangerous short-lived opportunities are.'
'Slow motion...represents attention to detail in waking life of a situation...also, frustrations with the degree of progress of a situation.'
'Fast motion...represents...impatience...that I need to slow down?'
"Hmm...I feel like I am missing some pieces," the female said out loud. "Maybe if relook at all the interpretations and examples, I can puzzle the dream together."
Minimizing the word document, she expanded the web page. Seeing it do a refresh and reload all the text, she was about to search one of the categories when she stopped. Looking at the screen, there were bold letters throughout the page. Thinking that was strange, they appeared to be at random places. Staring at it for a second or two, her mind clicked. It found the letters lined up diagonally downward to the right.
[...h...e...l...l...o...a...e...r...i...a...l...u...s...]
"..." the Baklavaian reacted with feeling her eyes widen.
The fear she remembered in the dream crawled through her skin again like how the tentacle did. Quickly closing all the windows, she took deep breaths in and out. Not wanting something to pop up at her, she did the proper shut down procedure for the computer. Turning the monitor off, she got up and backed up to the door. Staring at the computer tower, the lights flickered a few times before all went silent.
"...who...or what...was that?" she whispered feeling rattled.