My Book: Chapter 6

                As Ben walked towards me, I took a step back.  Zeke planted both of his hands on my shoulders and moved me so that I was standing in front of him.  Was it strange that I felt safer with him touching me?  No, it was just because he was the first human I had seen in years…right?

                “She’s still pretty freaked out, Ben.  She’ll calm down if you show her your neck,” Zeke told him.

                “Of course,” Ben replied, doing so.  Seeing that his neck didn’t have a scar did calm me down quite a bit.

                “She has a name,” I said to Zeke.  I held my hand out to Ben.  “Hi.  I’m Nicole.”

                Ben shook my hand.  “It’s nice to meet you.  If you would have a seat...”  He gestured towards the cots and I groaned.  “Is something wrong?” He asked, looking concerned.

                I sighed and sat down on one of the cots.  “No offence, but I’ve never really liked doctors.  Even before the aliens.  Doctors mean needles and blood and being sick.”  I shuddered.

                Zeke laughed at me and I shot him a dirty look.  Ben interrupted before I could say something I would regret.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “I doubt there’ll be any need for needles.”  He gave me a crooked smile.  “Unless you want me to put old Zeke here out…?”

                I laughed.  “No, I guess he can stay.”

                Zeke rolled his eyes.  “Gee, thanks.”

                Ben started the check-up; it was like a regular doctor’s visit.  He checked my eyes and throat with a flashlight and felt my glands. Then he started putting pressure on my arms, back, and neck asking if anything hurt.  The answer was always no.  That was, however, until he got to my ankles.  They had both felt fine, until he squeezed the left one. 

                “Does this—“ he started, but then stumbled back, his hands pressed to his nose.            

                “OW!!” I cried out, clutching my throbbing ankle.  It hadn’t hurt until he applied pressure to the sides of it, and kicking Ben in the face didn’t make it feel any better.  “Sorry, sorry, sorry!!!—Oh man, that hurts!—I’m so sorry, Ben.  I didn’t mean to…it was just…reflexes, you know?  It was a total accident!”

                “That’s alright,” he said, his nose gushing blood.  I felt myself turn green and looked away.  I knew that if I looked at the blood any longer, I would throw up.  Zeke was doubled over, laughing his head off.

                “I’m glad you find our pain amusing, Zeke,” I said as sarcastically and as venomously as I possibly could, wincing when I moved my foot.  “But, could you please go and find us some ice?  …or a towel for the blood?”  My stomach started to churn.

                “Why?” he asked, an evil grin plastering his face.  “Does blood make you feel sick?”

                “Go before I kick you in the face!” I ordered.  Why did he always have to be right?  I scowled.  Zeke left and I turned back to my still throbbing ankle.  Great, I thought.  It’s already starting to swell.  I grabbed the pillow from the cot I was on, folded it in half, and stuck it under my ankle, elevating it. 

                “How’s your nose?” I asked Ben, my eyes carefully avoiding his face. 

                “It’s stopped bleeding.  You can probably look now.”  I did.  There wasn’t any more blood on his face.  He had thrown his shirt in the corner so I guessed that he must have cleaned himself up with it. 

                “Again, sorry.” 

                “Seriously, Nicole,” he replied.  “It’s okay.  How’s your ankle doing?”

                “It’s swelling.  I just need some ice; I’ve had worse injuries than this, believe me.  I’m kind of accident-prone…”  I trailed off not wanting to get into the embarrassing details.

                “Well I’m glad that you’re okay…mostly.  Let me wrap up your ankle for you.”

                As he carefully bandaged me up, Ben told me about how he had ended up here. 

                “Jason and I were best friends.  We did everything together; we even started medical school together.  My parents had gone to a dinner party while we were staying at a neighbour’s.  While they were gone, we hid a baby monitor in the living room of my house, thinking it would be funny to make weird noises; you know, freak them out.  But when they came home, we heard them saying all kinds of weird things about ‘the invasion’ and ‘implanting when the children get here.’  I thought for sure they knew what we did and were trying to freak us out.  I grabbed Jason’s binoculars and looked through the blinds.  That’s when I saw their scars.  Me and Jason knew the stories were true, so we ran.  We’d actually first found this place when we were kids and came here on vacation.  We came back, knowing that no one else knew about it.  We were the first ones.  There you go,” he said, finishing wrapping my ankle.  It looked better already.

                “How long ago was that?” I asked.

                “Almost four years.”

                Then a thought occurred to me.  “Who’s Jason?”

                A dark look fell across Ben’s face.  Someone cleared their throat and I looked to the sound.

                Zeke had come back with ice.  “Don’t worry, Ben,” he continued.  “I’ll fill her in.”

                Ben nodded and left quickly.  I could tell that something I said bothered him.

                “What did I say?” I asked Zeke.

                “It’s not really what you said…Jason’s just…kind of a touchy subject for Ben.  He died less than a year ago; a raid gone wrong.”

                “That’s so sad,” I mumbled.  “Losing his best friend—“

                “He wasn’t just Ben’s best friend,” Zeke cut me off.  “He was his brother.”

Response to Sparknotes Article: "Against Tipping"

This is in response to that very VERY wrong post about not tipping.  I'm sorry ChloeChum but you are COMPLETELY wrong about this.  I am a waitress and I have a few things to share.

1) Yes, we DO do a good job most of the time.

You don't actually know how hard it is to serve someone until you've done it.  I didn't think it would be hard at first, but there is a lot more to it than just bringing someone food.  You have to find them a place to sit, give them the menu, know that menu forwards, backwards, and sideways (in my restaurant, we have 21 different kinds of burgers AND 14 different wing sauces.  FOURTEEN!!!!!!!), treat extremely stupid questions like they are great ones (ex-"Is there any wild game in the 'Ostrich Burger'?", "Does the soup come with a spoon?", "Oh, I didn't know there was meat in the beef vegetable soup..."...These are all questions I have actually gotten!), know all of the short forms for the food to help communicate, and bring the order to the cooks.  That's not even the half of it!  If your place serves alcohol, you have to know how to mix certain drinks, what beers and wines you have, how to pour and open everything, you also have to bring drinks over without spilling them.  Next, you have to keep watching all of your tables (I have had 11 at once before and I was by myself!) and keep their drinks filled, check on them, see if they need anything, bring them their bills, and bring them their food.  Which brings me to my next point:

2) The Food

The food is obviously one of the most important aspects of the restaurant.  You are juggling big, heavy, HOT plates all over the place, remembering who is eating what, keep track of what has to come out first, what sides come with the foods, the holds (ex-no tomatoes), and do all of this without dropping anything.  

3) The Bills

The bills suck at my restaurant.  We have to do EVERYTHING by hand.  So we have to know how much everything costs, extra charges for whatever, charges for substitutions, we also have to figure out the taxes and apply them to the bills, bring the bills to the correct tables at the right time, and ring everybody out WHILE watching all of your other tables, filling drinks, and bringing food out.

5) The customers!!!!!

You do NOT know how horrible some customers are until you serve them.  Keep in mind, you are helping these people for over an hour most times.  Here is an example:

Me: Alright ma'am.  Here are your menus.  Just to let you know our special today is--

Her:I don't care about that!  Just get me this, this, this and this to drink.  only 3 ice cubes in each glass!

Me: Not a problem.  *brings drinks over*  Here you go.

Her: *orders food*  Now, with the burger, I don't want a bun.  Also, no fries, tomatoes, or lettuce.  And also give me some soup.  What was your special!?!??  You never told me!!!

Me: *getting irritated* It was this.  I'm sorry I didnt tell you earlier.

Her: Well you should be!  I dont want that anyways!  

Me: Alright.  *brings order back, food is ready, brings food out* There you all are.  Can I get you anything else for the moment?  

Her: No.  

5 mins later:

Her:  MISS!  MISS!! *flagging me down while I'm taking someone else's order.

Me: Sorry I'll be there in just a second.  I just have to finish taking someone's order.  *I finish, bring the order to the cooks, and go over to see her*  Sorry about that, how can I help you?

Her:  My daughter doesn't like this.  Bring it back.  Bring me this instead!

Me: *growling in my head* Sure.  not a problem.  It will just be a few minutes.  (keep in mind that the restaurant as packed and there are a few orders ahead of this one.

20 mins later

Her: *walks up to me* Where is my daughters food!?!?  She is hungry!!!

Me: Sorry about that.  I'll go check on it.

Her: Hurry up!!

Me: *i go check on it and it gets finished.  i bring the food out and give it to the daughter*  There you go hun.  sorry about the wait on that.

The lady: It DID take a long time!

While dealing with customers, you HAVE to smile and treat them with loads of respect!  She didn't even end up tipping on a $70 bill!!!!!  AND we gave her the meal her daughter didn't like for FREE!  You have to deal with customers like this ALL of the time and not strangle them or spit in their food.  Do you know how hard that is?  DO YOU!?!?!?!  I get it that everyone has bad days, but don't take it out on your servers.  We are your serVERS, not your serVANTS!

6) Paychecks.  

As servers, we LITERALLY live off of our tips.  We don't get paid minimum wage BECAUSE we get tips!  Where I live (Canada), minimum wage is $10.25 and I get paid $8.90.  Plus, we don't even get to keep all of our tips!  There is something called a "Tip-out" where we give a certain percentage to the cooks.  For me it's 15%.  

7) "Thank You"

After saying it all day and night, 24/7, the words "Thank you" loose their effect.  Sure it's nice to hear, but tipping says "thank you" in a much bigger way.  If you have a horrible customer, and they tip you like, 25% of what the bill was, you KNOW that they enjoyed their stay.

Sure we take pride in our work, but the "little extra something" brings MORE value to it.  It most definitely does NOT devalue it.  Ask any server and they will tell you the exact same thing.  Trust me.  Now, would you like that steak medium, rare, or well done?

stupid_nickel

Cakes

My Book: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

                “I never stayed in one place for long because I was too scared that I might be caught again.  I even spent some time in Canada.  I guess I just couldn’t stay away from my roots in Arizona, though.  I wound up here, in the desert, and that’s where you guys come in.” 

                I looked at Zeke expectantly, waiting for him to say something…anything.  But, he just stared at me, his mouth gaping. 

                “Zeke?” I asked.  “Say something?  Please?”  But he stayed silent.  It felt like days had passed by the time he responded.

                “How did you keep your car running for three years?”

                Wow.  I rolled my eyes.  “Really?  That’s all you have to say?” 

                He nodded and I snorted.  Wasn’t the answer obvious?  “I stole gasoline and oil and topped up my car as I needed it.  My dad taught me how to do simple maintenance jobs before he—” I trailed off and quickly changed the subject.  “Is it wrong that I felt bad for stealing from the parasites?” I asked.

                “I think it just shows what a good person you are,” he replied.

                I smiled.  “So, what’s your story?”  I asked.

                He shook his head.  “Oh no, I don’t do back-stories.” 

                I frowned.  That was totally unfair!  I had told him my life story, and he wouldn’t share his?  “Fine then,” I said in a huff.  “Now what?”

                “I think it’s time I took you to see Ben,” he replied. 

                I froze.  Why did the name “Ben” sound so familiar?  Wait a minute, I thought.  Isn’t Ben the name of that guy they were going to have put another parasite in me?

                Zeke saw my panicked expression.  “Relax,” he said.  “Ben is human.  He’s pretty much our doctor.”  He noticed my face going increasingly white and quickly continued.  “We’re not going to hurt you.  I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

                I spoke quickly.  “Well, I’m fine, so I’ll pass.  There’s no need for any doctors.”

                Zeke raised one eyebrow—man, I wish I could do that—and stood up.  “Look.  Either you come with me, or I will drag you there.  You already know that I can and will.”  Damn.  He was right.

                I let out a shaky breath.  “Fine, but I swear, if you knock me out again, I’ll—“

                “You’ll what exactly?” 

                Umm…good question.  I hadn’t thought that threat completely through and I could tell, just by the expression on his face, that he knew it.

                “You don’t want to know,” I said, attempting to sound threatening.  Zeke just laughed and helped me to my feet. 

                “C’mon,” he said, grinning.  “Walk with me.”

***************

                As we walked, Zeke described where we were.  It was an underground tunnel system.  I feel like I’m in a movie! I thought in awe.  It was one of the coolest moments of my life, right next to meeting Darren Criss, that is. 

                “The room you woke up in,” he started, “we normally use as an extra storage room.  They would have put you in the infirmary, but I convinced them you would probably react better if you weren’t in a hospital setting.”

                “You were right,” I told him.  Wow, I thought.  For a complete stranger, he’s very observant.  He didn’t even know about the insertion before now.  I looked at him, trying to be as observant as he was.  By doing this, I wasn’t paying much attention to the description or the history of the tunnels that he was giving me; I was taking in his appearance.  He had shaggy, dirty blonde hair that was long enough to fall about half-way down the back of his neck, but not long enough to make me wonder if he was a hippie.  His green eyes light up as he talked about his home here in the tunnels.  He was taller than me—he had to be at least six feet—and much stronger.  He didn’t look like a weight lifter, though; rather, his muscles looked natural.  I started to wonder about his age, when something he said caught my attention.

                “Hold on,” I said, “Did you just say ‘bathroom’?”

                “Yeah, I was just saying how water runs beneath a few of the tunnels, so we were able to create a bathroom…why?”  Understanding crossed his face.  “Want me to show you where it is?”

                “Sure, why not.”  I said casually.  Meanwhile, my thoughts were screaming A BATHROOM!!  THERE’S A BATHROOM!!  OH, THANK YOU, GOD!!

                The washroom was darker than I had thought it would be, and Zeke handed me a flashlight.  “We try to save the batteries for emergencies,” he chuckled, “Sorry.  No pun intended.  You can use this to find your way though.”

                “Ha, ha, very funny.”  I turned on the flashlight and walked carefully into the washroom.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a sort of pool in the middle of the room.  I felt the water with my hand.  The water wasn’t still and it was cooler than the air, which was a nice change since I was roasting.  I wonder if they take baths in it… I thought.  I would have to find out later.

                As I left the bathroom—sweet relief—I turned off the flashlight and handed it back to Zeke. 

                I looked at him expectantly, and when he didn’t respond, I decided to get dramatic.

                “Onwards with the tour!” I exclaimed, making him roll his eyes. 

                I decided to pay more attention to what Zeke was saying.  I had almost missed the mention of a bathroom and I didn’t want to miss out on any other important features. 

                Zeke showed me where the living quarters were, saying that he would help me find somewhere to sleep other than the storage room later.  He showed me the mess hall and my stomach complained.  I vowed to stop there on the way back from the infirmary.  We passed more tunnels extending from the one we were walking in that lead to other less important areas; more storage rooms, a meeting room, the main room that everyone hung out in.  Finally, we stopped at a room at the end of the tunnel.  The lighting was very good in here.  I looked up to see that it was coming from holes in the ceiling.  There were several other cots in this room and I figured that this was the infirmary. 

                In the corner of the room, a man was sitting on the floor reading.  The light shining on his black hair gave it almost a blue tinge.  Zeke cleared his throat and the man looked up.  He smiled at Zeke and, after a moment, noticed me standing beside him.  His blue eyes were somehow mesmerizing, making it hard for me to look away from them.  He walked towards me with his hand outstretched.

                “Well,” he said, “You must be my new patient.  It’s good to meet you.  My name is Ben.”

My Super Bowl Trophy Cake :D

sorry :(

Hey guys.  Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I am going to start writing chapter 5 RIGHT now and I apologize for the lateness of it.

Menu Test

Sup interwebers?  So I am studying a menu right now.  Why?  Because I have a menu test on Friday you silly beans!  For some reason, there are 14 different wing sauces and 21 different kinds of burgers on it.  And that's not even half of the menu!  -.-'
I'm just venting right now.  I have to learn what is on everything on this menu and it sucks.  Oh well.  It will be worth it.

My Book: Chapter 4

I told Zeke everything that had happened to me.  I told him about seeing my family being taken over, the moment when I first discovered that aliens existed, and how I felt after the insertion.  Most importantly, I told him how I escaped.

                “You see,” I started, “Star had told me to disappear, like I was supposed to.  So, I knew I was already better off than I could have been.”

                “So, what did you do?” Zeke asked.

                “It’s like this.” I said. 

                And I began my story.

*************

                After the hospital, we went back to my house.  I was eager to see my family, even if they were aliens now.  As we walked, I used all of my energy to keep from revealing to Star that I had a plan that would, hopefully, get rid of her.  It wasn’t the greatest plan, but it was all I had.  If the body-snatcher knew about it, I doubted that it would work.  We walked through the front door and I was filled with relief.  There was my family, still alive and looking completely normal.  Are you sure they got taken over?  I asked myself. 

                “Hi.”  My mom said.  “You must be Star Above The Ocean.  For the moment, we are the Dean’s.  You can call us Mom, Dad, Sarah, Leo, and Katie.”  She gestured to each member of my family as she said their name.  “And of course you know that your name is Nicole.”

                “Of course.”  My body smiled.  “It’s nice to meet you all.”

                “Here,” Leo said, or at least, his body did.  “I’ll show you to your room.”  When did he get to be so polite?

                He walked with my body down the stairs and to my room…my room.

                “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here.”  He said, grinning.

                “I’m sure I will.”  Star answered, reciprocating the smile.  She closed my door and flopped down on my bed.  We were alone.  I decided  that it would be better to act now, rather than later, in case I slipped up and she found out my plan.

                You know, I thought, addressing her, living as a human isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

                Oh really?  She replied sarcastically.  What would you know?  You’re just a child.

                Well, that was insulting.  I am not!  I’m fifteen!  You know that!  Wow.  I did sound like a kid. I cleared my thoughts and tried again.  Anyways, I’ve been human all of my life.  What could you, an alien, possibly know about humanity?

                Well for starters, there’s colour, warmth, hearing, scents, taste, and best of all, sight!  What else is there to know?  She asked.

                This was going to be easier than I thought.  Well first of all, there’s war, murder, rape, school—

                What’s school? Star asked.

                How could she not know what school was?  Only six hours of hell every day.  Okay, maybe I was exaggerating…just a little.  I told her about the worst parts of school that I could think of.  I went on to list all of the horrible qualities that humanity had.  Things like as stoning people to death and racism made her feel nauseated and I knew that my plan was working.  I also shared with her the worst memories I had.  I had to relive the feelings of the moments with her, but knew that it would be worth it in the end.  Putting my dog down; feeling his heart stop beating.  The feeling of depression.  Seeing someone get hit by a car.  My aunt dying of cancer.  The pain of my jaw surgery.  Each memory I shared with her weakened her resolve to stay human.  I started to show her a part of the movie Saw V that was particularly nauseating—leaving out the fact that it was a movie—when she stopped me.

                “Enough!” she yelled out loud.  She switched back to thoughts.  Enough.  You win.  I can’t do this, I can’t be human.  It’s too…awful!  I’m going back to the hospital and I am telling them to take me out!  You can be someone else’s problem!

                The joy of victory was short lived.  Wait, someone else?  I asked.

                Yup, she replied.  They’ll take me out and put someone else in you.  Maybe they will be able to erase you.  I could feel the smugness radiating off of her.  This was not part of the plan. 

                I tried desperately to think of a way to stay human after they took Star out, but to no avail.  We reached the hospital while I was still scrambling for a plan, and my body lay down on a table.  Take me out! It directed the surgeon.

                Wait, I thought, and my eyes closed again.

**************

                “So they put another one in you?” Zeke interrupted and I gave him a look.  “Sorry,” he apologized.  “Please, continue.”

**************

                When I woke up, I was still laying on a table.  I opened my eyes and looked around.  Wait a minute, I thought.  I opened my eyes.  I did!  I sat up and took in my surroundings, ecstatic that I was in control again.  I saw that I was alone in a room; they must not have put another one in me yet.  I couldn’t hear or see anyone nearby, but I did see a window.  I ran to it and looked down.  I had to be at least three stories up so jumping was out of the question.  There was, however, a tree not too far to my right.  I decided quickly that I had a better shot of reaching the tree than making it out through the lobby, so I opened the window.  The darkness of the night blinded me at first, but my eyes soon adjusted.  I climbed out onto the sill and reached for the tree, but couldn’t quite touch it.  I would have to jump to it.  The thought didn’t appeal to me; I had never been one for heights.

                I gathered up all the courage that I could muster and jumped for the nearest branch, clamping my mouth shut so that I wouldn’t scream.  I managed to grab onto it and I swung my legs up.  I stood up and slowly made my way down the tree.  Shit, I realized.  I’m wearing a hospital gown.  I would have to go home for some clothes, and I didn’t like that idea of bringing myself to the very I was running from.

                When I reached my house, I ran to my window.  Thankfully, my window was the one had been opened from the outside the hundreds of times I forgot my key.  I opened it as quietly as I could and snuck in.  I looked at the clock on the bedside table.  2:37am.  Good, everyone should be asleep.  I changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and pulled my duffle bag out from underneath my bed.  I filled it with some clothes; sweaters, long pants, a coat, anything I thought I might need.  I knew I couldn’t pack too much though, my space and strength were limited and I wasn’t sure how long I would be on my own.  I snuck upstairs and grabbed a few water bottles, food, and some fruit. 

                That will have to do for now.  I thought.  I couldn’t push my luck and stay any longer.  I was just about out the door when I saw something silver glinting in the corner of my eye.  I looked to see my car keys hanging up beside the door.  I wasn’t legally old enough to drive yet, but my dad had taught me and I had already bought a car.  I grabbed the keys and ran out the door, closing it behind me. 

                Being outside scared me, it made me feel too exposed.  I ran to my car and threw my bag in the back.  I started my Civic and, while driving away, I looked in the rear-view mirror and felt a twinge of sadness for the home I would never return to.

My Book: Chapter 3

 As I slowly came to, I tried to clear my head and remember what had happened.  I remembered running from something…had it all been a dream?  No, I was too uncomfortable to have been sleeping in my bed.  Then, it all came flooding back to me.  It wasn’t a dream, and I had been captured by the aliens…again.  I tried to keep my breathing slow and even as I internally started to panic.  Stay calm, I thought.  Be smart this time.  Focus.  I kept my eyes shut and tried to take in my surroundings with my other senses. 

                There was something different about the heat; it was cooler, but still too hot to be inside.  I couldn’t hear anyone talking or moving, so I assumed that it was safe enough to open my eyes.  I opened them just a slit at first and, when I couldn’t see anyone, I opened them the rest of the way.  Yep, I thought, definitely no one around.  I sat up slowly and looked to see what I had been laying on.  It was a cot.  I was filled with relief as I remembered the last time I had been captured.  I had been lying on a table.  Not only that but, I could move everything willingly.  I looked around to see that the walls and ceiling were made of stone, but it looked to natural to have been made by hand.  However, my relief was quickly replaced with ice pouring through my veins.  The parasites hadn’t performed an insertion—yet, anyways—so why was I here?  I didn’t want to know the answer.  My mind was set: I had to leave, now.  I got up quietly and ran for the door, when a man I hadn’t seen stepped in front of me.

                ”You didn’t really think we would be stupid enough to leave you unsupervised again, did you?” Zeke asked.  “Sit down,” he commanded.  “We need to talk.”

***************

                As the alien in my body talked to the others, I tried to comprehend what was going on.  I knew that aliens were real.  I learned that they insert themselves into the back of the neck of a human host to take over the body.  I felt strangely relieved as I learned this.  My family wasn’t dead, just taken over by intergalactic worms…I could get them their bodies back!  This thought excited me until I realized that, in order to save them, I would have to be in control of my own body.

                I decided to start small.  I thought that if I could control at least one small thing about myself, I could eventually gain full control again.  I settled on blinking.  Surely I could make myself blink.  However, when I tried, it was like my eyes weren’t even there.  I couldn’t find the muscles to blink!  I tried harder.  No matter how hard I tried though, I couldn’t do it. 

                GET OUT OF MY BODY!  I tried to scream, even though I knew that no one could hear me.  That is, until I heard a voice so quiet that it must have been a thought.

                No, it said.  This is my body now.  Disappear like you’re supposed to.

                I was stunned.  Had I imagined it?  Or could I actually talk to the parasite through my thoughts?  I tried again.  Who are you? I asked.

                Star Above The Ocean, the voice replied.  Now, leave!

                Now that I knew I could talk to it, I had a plan on how do get rid of it.  Never, I resolved.  I will never leave.

************

                Zeke was blocking my exit, so I tried to run around him.  I was fast, but, unfortunately, he was faster.  He grabbed my arm, dragged me back to the cot, and handcuffed my wrist to it.  I tried to pull my arm free, but the handcuffs were too tight, and I just ended up with a bruise.  Where the hell had he gotten handcuffs from, anyway?  “Why am I here?” I asked.  I tried to sound threatening, but my voice was trembling.  “You didn’t perform an insertion, so why did you bring me here?”

                “Because I have to show you something,” he said, “and I needed a place where you couldn’t run.”

                My blood went cold.  A place where I couldn’t run?  This was definitely not good. 

Zeke saw my face turn white.  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said reassuringly.  “It’s just that whenever we try to say something to you, you either fight us or run away.  I wanted to show you this.”  Zeke turned around and pushed his tousled hair up off of his neck…his unblemished neck.  He doesn’t have a scar, I thought.  If he was a parasite, he would have had a scar from when the insertion was performed. 

“Oh my God,” I whispered as he took the handcuffs off of me.

“So now do you understand?” he asked. 

I didn’t answer.  Another human, I thought.  I’ve finally found another human.  I was so happy that I jumped up and kissed him. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking and, yes, it was stupid of me to kiss a man I had just met.  I realized this as soon as my lips touched his and I pushed myself away.

“Shit,” I said, turning multiple shades of red as I realized what I had done.  “I am so sorry.  Oh man, that was stupid.  I’m really, really, really sorry I did that.  God, I am such an idiot.”

“It’s okay,” Zeke said, chuckling.  “I get it.  First human you’ve seen in a while, I suppose?”

“Yeah,” I replied, turning a deeper shade of red.  “Three years, actually.”

His eyes widened and he whistled.  “That’s a long time to be on your own.”  I nodded.  There was an awkward silence until Zeke spoke.

“Now, since you kissed me, I believe I’m entitled to ask you a few questions.”

I grimaced.  That was so embarrassing!  But he seemed to be taking the kiss and my embarrassment a lot better than I was.  “Shoot.”

“Well to start, what’s your name?”

“Nicole Dean.  You can call me Nicole.  Or Nikki.  Either one is fine.”

“Okay then, Nicole, how have you kept yourself out of trouble for three years?  Did you have someone helping you?” 

I was a little insulted that he assumed I couldn’t watch out for myself.  I might have been 5’4” and only weighing like, a hundred and twenty pounds, but I did just fine on my own—well, except for being captured by him and Joe…twice—but I saw that he wasn’t making fun of my small size; he was genuinely curious.  Sighing, I resolved to tell him the truth.  “Well, you see,” I started, “I haven’t stayed completely out of trouble—“

He looked pretty confused, as I assumed he would be.  I sighed and pulled my hair off of my neck, revealing my scar to him.

Zeke gasped.  I looked back at him and he looked…scared.  “But, your eyes, they don’t—“

“I know.  I’m human,” I quickly assured him. 

“Then how did you get…that?  Was it self-inflicted?”

“Well, no, it’s—“ I sighed.  “It’s kind of a long story.”

He sat down next to me and smiled.  “Well you’re in luck.  I just so happen to like long stories.”

HOLY HARRY POTTER, BATMAN!

OHMYGOSHYOUGUYSIJUSTWENTTOSEEHARRYPOTTER7.2ANDITWASSOOOOOEPIC!!!!!KAHDSIKUM AQJIDFAKVJb oqvrkjfoaisv.  ok.  im done.  I saw Harry Potter 7 part 2 last night.  It was so much better than I thought it would be!  I'm really sad that it's over though.  Its the end of an era.  :(  oh well.  I just had to get that out of my system.  And FYI, I DID dress up.  I was a wizard disguised as a muggle.  Those silly muggles didn't suspect a thing....

Ferrous Fumarate

Hey guys.  So I went to the doctors a few weeks ago to get my blood checked because I was very pale all the time and always tired.  They called back--FINALLY--yesterday and told me that my iron is low.  So now I get to take these disgusting lovely-smelling iron pills called Ferrous Fumarate twice a day.  I have to take it with orange juice and avoid milk and dairy for 2 hours before AND after taking this pill.  *sigh*  This is going to be a huge pain in the ass.  Anyways I'm stocking up on Tropicana and eating raspberry pie to cheer me up.

PS- I totally JUST realized that Ferrous Fumarate sounds like a spell from HARRY POTTER!!!!  EEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Notes on Chapter 3

Hello Interwebers.  I am currently writing chapter 3 of my book and it is proving to be difficult.  So it might take some time for me to upload it, but I will as soon as I finish it.  I promise!!

My Book: Chapter 2

I didn’t get very far before Zeke caught up to me.  Even though I knew it was a stupid move, I looked behind me as I ran and realized that he was only about three feet behind me.  I put on a final burst of speed, desperately trying to put some ground between us, but, eventually, he came up behind me and grabbed me around the waist, lifting me into the air…again.  I tried to get him off of me, but he was too strong.

                “Put me down!” I hissed. 

                “Not until you hear us out,” he replied, dragging me back towards my car. 

                I was terrified.  I had survived being caught once before, but I wasn’t sure that I could do it again.  Please, I begged silently, please, God, don’t let this happen again.

                Joe sat me down against my car and, before I could try anything, both he and Zeke blocked my only path of escape.

                “Please,” I cried.  “Please don’t put another one in my head.  Please!”  I looked at both men, trying to make them understand.  I knew that my efforts were futile, though.  The parasites didn’t care if you begged, or screamed, or even cried.  They always got what they wanted.  As I realized that I was done for, I burst into tears, burying my face in my hands.

                “Come on,” Zeke groaned.  “Don’t cry.  There’s nothing to be scared of.”  Sure.  Nothing but having something else control my body, something that isn’t even human, and not being able to do a thing about it!  Or worse: ending up erased all together.

                He turned to Joe and said something I couldn’t hear, and the two started arguing.  That was surprising.  I’d never seen parasites yell at each other before.  The shock didn’t last long though, because, at that moment, I saw my escape.  While they fought, I crawled behind Zeke as quickly and quietly as I could.  They didn’t seem to notice me so I got up and ran. 

                “Shit!” Joe yelled.  “She’s getting away again!”

                I heard footsteps not too far behind me, so I prepared myself for another fight.  A hand grabbed my wrist and I was spun around.  At the same time, a cloth was pressed against my face.  As I gasped in surprise, I realized what had happened.  The chloroform kicked in and the world started to fade.

                Sorry, I thought.

                So sorry.

***************

                Even though I knew it had already happened, the memory of being captured brought up the same wave of emotions: terror, anger, and overwhelming despair.  I could feel myself lying down on something—a table?—and I could hear people around me, but I didn’t recognize the voices.  I felt different somehow, like, I wasn’t all there.  It was strange. 

                “When is she going to wake up?” someone asked.  They sounded impatient.

                “She will wake up when she’s ready,” a voice replied.  “This must be a very big change for her.”  This confused me.  What change could they be talking about?  Not having a family anymore?  No, that was too obvious of an answer…

                “Where did you say she came from again?”  Arizona, I reflexively thought.

                “The singing planet.”  Wait…where?!  What were these people on?  I struggled to open my eyes, but, it was as if I wasn’t in control of them.  Something was wrong.  I tried to tell the people that were around me, but I couldn’t move my lips either.  Suddenly, I groaned.  The sound terrified me, because I was positive that I hadn’t groaned, yet the sound came from me. 

                “Where am I?” I asked.  What was going on?  I didn’t ask that! I tried to shout, but no sound came out and I started to panic.

                “You are at Arrowhead Hospital.  In Glendale, Arizona.”  My eyes opened to someone else’s command.  A man—I assumed a doctor—was looking at me.  His red hair was shining in the sunlight that was streaming through the nearby window.  He had blue eyes, and his voice was oddly soothing.  “You were just inserted.”  Inserted?  I wondered.  What is he talking about?

                “Which planet am I on again?” my body asked.  Umm…Earth.  The planet you’ve always been on! 

                “Earth,” a woman answered.  I assumed this was the owner of the impatient voice.  I looked at the woman.  She was beautiful.  She had golden hair that flowed halfway down her back and eyes that were greener than grass.  She was shorter than the doctor, but her shoes—which had to be about six inches high—made them almost equal in height. 

                My body sat up slowly, and I could feel it taking in our surrounding.  I thought of what had to be memories, but I had never seen any of these places before.  They were too different to be on Earth.  First, I was somewhere cold, and my sight was in black and white.  So this is what it’s like to be a dog, I thought absent-mindedly.  Next, I was underwater, looking at seaweed.   No, scratch that.  I was the seaweed.  I looked up and saw that there were three too many suns in the sky.  Finally, I was flying in the dark.  I was completely blind, but I knew where I was going and could hear the most beautiful music.  My doubt left me and I knew that the conspiracy theories were true.  Aliens did exist, and one of them had taken control of my body.

My Book: Chapter 1

As soon as I woke up, I knew it was going to be a long day.  The sun was blinding and the heat that had built up inside my car throughout the morning was unbearable.  How could it be so hot already?  I stepped out of the car to stretch my stiff legs and, immediately, felt a warm breeze blowing through the desert.  God, I hated having to sleep in my car, especially in the desert and halfway through July, but it was the only safe place I could find.  Since the invasion, I’ve worked hard to keep a low profile.  My name is Nicole Dean and I, for the moment anyways, am human.

                The aliens arrived when I was fifteen.  The funny thing is, no one even knew that they had come.  The thing about the invaders is that, they insert themselves into the back of a human’s neck, and take control over the host body.  You would think that we would have noticed something strange about the people that were first taken over, but they acted totally normal.  People still went to school, parties, and work.  They looked, spoke, and acted the same way the human hosts had before the invasion.  Humans would go to a party or a neighbour’s house and parasites from another planet would leave.  That was three years ago.  Now, I am the only person still human…that I know of anyways.

                As I walked around, I kept an eye out for anything that might have followed me.  I didn’t think they had, but my paranoia is what kept me alive all those years.  After a few minutes, I still hadn’t seen anything, or anyone for that matter, so I headed back towards my car for some water.  That was when I saw him.  Just out of the corner of my left eye, there was a figure, and it was headed straight for me.  Shit! I thought.  How did I not notice him??  I knew that if I didn’t act fast, I would be caught and I couldn’t let that happen…not again.  So I did what I always did in a situation like this: I ran.  I raced back to my car and, when I looked back, I saw that he had started to run as well, and he was gaining on me.  I jumped into my Civic and slammed the door shut, locking it in the process.  I tried to start my car, but the keys were gone.  I always kept them in the ignition.  “What?” I exclaimed, “Did they fall…”  As I started to search the floor for them, I heard a voice.

“Looking for something?”

I froze, my eyes widening.  The voice was coming from right next to me!  I whipped my head around and saw that there was a man—not a man, a parasite—sitting in the passenger seat of my car.  This was not the one that I had been running from. 

“We’ve been watching you” he said.  I backed away from him as quickly as I could, slamming my head against the driver’s side window.  As I fumbled with the lock, the door opened from the outside and I fell, right into the arms of the parasite I had originally been running from.  He lifted me to my feet and, before I could escape, twisted my arm so far behind my back, I thought it might break.  I gasped out loud in pain.  The second one got out of my car and chuckled.

“That was easier than I thought it would be.  Next time, Zeke, we’re going to have to go after one a bit tougher.” 

Zeke laughed and slightly loosened his grip on my arm.  I used this to my advantage.  As the second alien walked towards me I twisted myself out of Zeke’s grip and did the last thing they would expect; I ran towards my attacker.  His surprise allowed me enough time to grab onto his shoulders and thrust my knee upwards, incapacitating him.  Before I could turn towards the other one, it grabbed me from behind and picked me off of the ground.  I thrashed around and tried to get one of my kicks to connect with him, but to no avail.  “Whoa,” he chuckled, “We’ve got ourselves a feisty one!”  

The second parasite stood up, groaning in pain.  “Come on man.”  It’s voice was full of venom.  “Let’s get her to Ben.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”  Zeke asked the other man.  When all he received was a confused look, Zeke continued.  “I know you’re new to this, Joe, but you can’t keep forgetting about the eyes.  It’s the only way you can know for sure!”

I froze as a chill ran through my body.  The parasites would know for sure that I was human once they saw that my eyes didn’t reflect light like a mirror.  And once they knew I was human I didn’t stand a chance.  I struggled to get away from them even harder.  “No, no, no, NO!!”  I cried, “Not again!” 

“Dude, hold her still!” Joe yelled.  Zeke adjusted himself so that one arm was holding me above the ground and the other was around my neck, cutting off my air supply.  I tried to keep my eyes shut, but the pain was too much.  They flew open and a light was shone into them.  I knew it was over.  The two men gasped and I was released.  I fell into a crouch and gasped for air, catching my breath.

“She’s human!”

“But, how is that possible?”

“We have to show the others.”

“Listen kid—“ Zeke started.  Fat chance…

“Don’t bother telling her,” Joe interrupted.  “Just show her!”  He shone the flashlight into his own eyes and I saw that the light didn’t reflect off of them.  “We’re human too, see?”

But there was no way I was going to stick around.  I jumped up and ran as far away from them as I could.  I had learned early on that the parasites lie.

***********

“Come on Nikki!” my brother called.  “We’re leaving!”

“Coming, Leo!”  I yelled back.  I finished brushing my hair and ran out of the house.  “Why are we going to Mr. and Mrs. Chase’s house again?”  I asked my parents. 

“Because they absolutely insisted that we come for dinner.”  My mom turned to me.  “I just couldn’t refuse.”

I sighed.  I wanted to spend the night in and play board games, like we always did on Saturdays.  Here we were though, walking over to the neighbours’ house.  No one ever did what I wanted to do.

We rang the doorbell and, almost immediately, Mrs. Chase answered it.  “We’re so glad you could make it tonight” She exclaimed as we walked into her house.

Dinner was insanely boring.  My parents, the Chases, and Sarah (my older sister) talked about the up-incoming voting, while Leo and Katie (my younger sister) played with their food.  The food wasn’t even that great.  Afterwards, the Chases decided to show everyone the upstairs of their house.  Great, I thought.  This night just keeps getting better and better.  I stayed behind for a few minutes, pretending to finish eating, as the rest of the family followed them up the stairs.  I really didn’t want to have to get a tour of the house, but, it had been, like, twenty minutes.  What could be taking them so long?  I went up the stairs, made a left, and screamed.

There was my family, face down on the floor, with the Chase’s and a bunch of random people—who I had never seen before—cutting their necks open!  I turned to flee, but someone grabbed me from behind.  The last thing I saw were my parents, and then everything went black.

************

I wiped a tear out of my eye as I ran.  They lie, I thought.  They always lie.

Hi there

Hey Internet!  My name is Kim and this is my very first blog.  Any Sparklers and/or Manklers reading this will know me as stupid_nickel.  I have never had a blog before and I am mainly going to use this to post chapters of the book I am writing.  However, this might end up consisting of me ranting, complaining, or a combination of the two, so bear with me.  First off, let me tell you a little about myself.  I am 18 years old and have recently graduated high school because the school system hates me I need a better mark in English.  I love animals and tea, and I work as a waitress/in a bakery.  I want to become a pastry chef some day.  I might actually end up uploading pictures of my cakes on here, but its like, 12:15am so I'm not going to do that tonight.  Why am I writing a book?  Well, my dad is always saying I should write a book, but I never had anything to write.  However, for the past little while, I have had something like a movie playing in my head and I needed to get it out, so I figured I might as well make a story of it.  It's more a fanfiction at the moment (thank you to Smeyer's The Host) but IF I were to ever get it published, I would change some things in it to make it my own.  It has kind of the same ideas as The Host but it's a totally different character, and her story.  Her story of what, you might ask.  Well, to you I say...you'll have to read it to find out ;)