Taken Away

Excerpt From Story:
"Don't address them Nathan," scorned Gin in his ear. "They speak French; they won't understand your tongue."
"You're kidding right?" he groaned at Gin as he continued to swing.
"I'm not. Scientific evidence shows that most Extraterrestrial beings speak French."

 Taken Away...


Nathan Lewis sighed as he sat behind the steering wheel. Glancing over to his right he looked at the house he and his best friend and roommate shared for two years. She'd called him an hour before his arrival, spouting all sorts of nonsense about JFK's assassination. He couldn't quite recall how this all had started but it needed to stop and soon. Five calls today and all pertaining to the government bugging her cellphone, which she'd used to call him. Then somehow this had come to her oh so brilliant mind that the microwave was sending out GPS signals to the government.
Realizing he had to actually exit his car, he found that he couldn't. He really didn't want to go inside and deal with anymore of her craziness.
"I have to, she's having an episode." he said to the bug plastered on his windshield. "But then again I could just not and—no you're right, what kind of friend does that?"
Maybe he was the mad one, talking to dead bugs.
The lights were off and only a few candles were lit as he entered through the front door.
"Gin?" he called out, hanging up his jacket and kicking off his shoes. "You here?" he attempted once more to get a response. "It's Nathan," though he hoped she had come to realize this already.
When she didn't reply he began to assume the worst had happened. It was hard to tell how bad things could get with Gin
Some might wonder how he had gone on living with her for two years without wanting to leave. It hadn't been so bad up until a few months ago. He still couldn't recall the first time she'd had an episode like this.
It always hurt her feelings though when he blatantly didn't believe a word she said. She'd start to ramble on about how it was all true, that an informant had told her. He thought it was her own mind playing terribly cruel tricks on her.
Finding nothing in the living room he continued on toward the kitchen. Inside there were a few burning candles sitting on the kitchen table to the left of the room. On the floor there were scattered bowls and plates along with empty rolls of aluminum foil.
Had she upgraded to supernatural paranoia already?
He didn't have long to question whoever was listening, there near the stove sat Gin in all her aluminum glory. She didn't seem to notice him at first, even though her eyes were locked upon his form standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Ginny?" he asked, adding as much affection to her name as he could. He knew what would happen if he outright started in on her ridiculous behavior.
"Nathan?" she asked. "How do I know you're the real you and not a fake you? They've been known to do that you know. You could very well be a doppelganger sent to destroy me. Who would really know though? You look like my Nathan, though frankly you don't sound like him much at this moment," she wasn't looking directly at him but at something far off in the distance.
"I am Nathan," he sighed, clearly bored already of this conversation. He entered further until he was only a few inches from her. With such little distance and the right amount of lighting he could see that she had concocted a hat and suit of armor out of all of their aluminum foil. "You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled more to himself than to her.
"I need proof good sir, or other worldly being—whichever you prefer." her bright green eyes had somehow shifted from the wall to his in a matter of seconds. They didn't look like he remembered; there was something wild living behind her irises.
"Fine," he started, lowering himself to her level so that they were eye to eye. "You remember when we were five and I broke the window of your mom's car and you told her that you had done it so I wouldn't get in trouble again?" he said it in a hurry so that there was no room for doubts.
"We said we'd never speak of it," she tilted her head to the side as her eyebrows knitted together; eyes squinting thoughtfully at him. "Only my Nathan would know of this secret promise of secret keeping forged by the shaking of the pinkies," she then nodded and smiled up at him, showing off the little gap in her teeth.
"So you believe me now?" he sighed yet again, hoping to find some trace of his best friend inside the crazed eyes of this paranoid creature before him.
"For now—try anything and I'll have to lock you in the basement." she stated and then grabbed a bunch of spoons that were lying beside her leg. "Here take some of these, you'll need them." in his hands were about five different sized spoons, all coated in some strange liquid.
"Why do I need these?"
"Don't ask questions, they'll hear you and come."
"Sort of like 'you speak its name and it comes'?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Kind of, except that they are really listening, I heard them earlier conversing over how they'll come for me. I won't be going anywhere without a fight. Will you stand with me?"
"You know I will, but can I ask you something," he waited for a moment until her eyes were back on his. "Why are all the lights off?"
She stared right at him as though she just realized he was there, even though she'd clearly just been talking to him moments ago. This was getting out of hand and he worried that soon she might do something to land herself in hot water.
She leaned even closer to him and shifted her eyes as if to check to see if the coast was clear.
"They're listening through the TV, phones, radios and even the lights. I think the stove's been sending out electronic signals to the mother ship," she whispered. "I think the government is somehow connected to all of this."
"I don't think—oh bother," he grumbled. "Come on; let's get out of this kitchen."
He lifted her up on the floor causing all the aluminum on her person to crinkle. As he prepared to lead her out of the kitchen and across the way to the living room he heard a noise. It most certainly wasn't Gin or himself as they were perfectly still.
Just what we need; robbers, he thought to himself.
He glanced over at Gin who was staring at the entrance to the kitchen with intense concentration. Whatever was coming, she expected somehow. Green eyes shifted toward him for a second and she pressed her index and middle finger to her lips, telling him quite frankly to be quiet.
They waited for a few seconds until they saw a bright green light bouncing off the walls in the living room. They stopped for a moment and Gin held up all her spoons as though they were a bunch of little swords. Humoring her he pulled out the ones she'd given him as well as a heavy object off the floor, just in case it got severe.
He heard mumbling and then a crash, causing both he and Gin to jump and drop their spoons. Pushing her behind him, he held up the cast iron frying pan and waited for whoever was intruding upon them.
As the lights from the hallway came closer and closer they stopped and flashed over their faces. With the light in his eyes he couldn't make out the holder of the object causing his blindness. It drew neared to him and he began to wildly swing the frying pan in front of him, making contact with air.
"Show yourself!" he snapped at them.
"Don't address them Nathan," scorned Gin in his ear. "They speak French; they won't understand your tongue."
"You're kidding right?" he groaned at Gin as he continued to swing.
"I'm not. Scientific evidence shows that most Extraterrestrial beings speak French."
"What sort of science have you been reading?"
"This and that," he could hear the shrug in her voice.
Before he could continue with his questions the frying pan flew from his fingers onto the floor. It was almost as though the wind itself had done it.
The next thing he knew he felt something sharp strike his temple and everything went black.
When he woke he found that he wasn't inside a dark kitchen but in a bright white room with circular windows all around him. The second thing his eyes landed on was Gin, who had her eyes inside of a microscope. She didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that they were in a strange and new location.
"Gin?" he called to her but she didn't look up.
"Huh?" she mumbled, still focused on her task.
"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, pushing his body off the cool white tiles.
"Research of course," she still remained over the microscope, while her left hand scribbled something on a weird contraption.
"Where the devil are we?" he could hear the alarm in his own voice echo off the round room.
"I have no clue." the tone of her voice was leveled and far away.
"Well then what do you know?"
She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him as if it were all so normal.
"I know a great many things, like why the ocean is blue and how the moon affects tides. I also know that this specimen is very interesting."
"That was so helpful." he replied sarcastically.
"Yes, I do believe it was." she smiled and then turned back to her research.
"I was being—clearly you don't—of bother—forget it," he walked over to her and looked down at the thing she was writing on. "What's this?" he allowed his fingers to lightly graze it.
"It's sort of like a digital notepad, except that it records my thoughts down, without a pen. How cool is that?"
"Very." he mumbled.
This whole thing was utter nonsense, he must be sleeping. That was the only explanation for all of this. They were robbed and got knocked out and he was just dreaming up all of it.
He stepped away from Gin and headed to the circular window to glance out. The sight before him caused his breath to hitch.
Off into the distance was Earth, their Earth. How was that even possible?
"G-G-G-in," he stuttered and backed away. "We're not on Earth anymore!" he yelled but she didn't look up.
"Of course not," she replied. "I told you that they were coming but you didn't listen to me."
"What do you mean?"
"The government was listening to my transmissions with extraterrestrial beings and decided to use me to trap them. I told the beings that they couldn't send me messages anymore otherwise they'd be caught. They didn't much care for me ignoring them so the threatened to come for me."
"Is that what happened then? Is that why we're in some white dome room on some planet?"
"I couldn't very well let the government find out, they would have covered it up just like the last visit," she replied in a monotone he wasn't familiar with. When had Gin become so distant from reality?
"Last visit?" he needed to calm himself down otherwise his mind might implode upon itself.
"You're familiar with Area 51, right?"
"Of course, who isn't?"
"Well they came and were killed by some moronic military personnel. The president didn't even know that it was happening and now there's a secret panic base set in Arizona."
"You're kidding right?" he allowed the shock to take over his face.
"I don't kid, Nathan, I'm beginning to think you're a doppelganger." she shot him an accusing eye as she put away whatever she was looking over.
"Sorry, this is all a bit odd."
"Extraordinary things happen everyday and people call them miracles or Gods hands at work. Why can't this be real? In what rulebook does it say that there can't be other life out there craving to interact with us?"
"It's just so strange!"
"Yes well, to them we are strange."
"So then why did you have us holding those spoons if you're fine with these creatures?"
"They warned me that their enemies were after me as well and that they don't like spoons, isn't' that funny?" she giggled.
"Why did they want you?"
"For my brilliant mind of course!" she puffed out her chest proudly. "I'm far ahead of the human race and they wanted my opinions on the way we work."
"What if they plan to use it against us?" he frowned down at her as she adjusted her lab coat.
"I hardly think so."
"How can you be so trusting of something you don't really know?"
"Trust me, I know these beings. They want to help us not hurt us. The problem is that humans are so ready to attack first and ask questions later. What would you have done if a bunch of aliens just showed up? There'd be panic in the streets! They're a peaceful race who could have at any time come down and destroyed us. They want to join together but fear that this won't become a reality."
"I'm dreaming…" he muttered. His whole body felt exhausted all of a sudden and he found himself sitting on the cold tile once more. "This is definitely a dream." his eyes stayed focused on the lines of the tile as Gin crouched down to his level.
"In time it'll feel less like a dream and more like a fantasy come to life." she patted his shoulder and then headed for a strange panel in the wall. She turned back toward him for a second. "Come, we've got to meet with the Captain."
"Captain?"
"Come." she sighed.
Her fingers pressed into the wall and then another part of it slid to the left creating an opening.
"Dreaming…" he shook his head and followed, not quite sure what he'd gotten himself into.