Over the next few weeks, she began to slowly move her belongings over to the summerhouse. She called her brother and asked if he would be able to help her to lease out her home to somebody else so that she wouldn't lose it entirely. Instead of helping her, he gave her a lecture on being self-sustainable and independent, and hung up leaving her feeling worse than ever. When she called her best friend to ask if she knew of anybody who would want to rent her house or had heard of any new job opportunities, all she could do was say that she would call back and let her know if anything came up. Kylie didn't hear anything else from her after that. She had never felt more alone in her entire life.
The summerhouse was on a lake, and it made her feel at peace to be there. She had gone many times as a child, and after her father had passed away he had left the home to her. She had been very popular there throughout her youth and every vacation she seemed to have a new boyfriend. There was something about her that had men throwing themselves at her, and yet she had settled with a guy like Carl. What was wrong with her?
Kylie studied herself in the mirror, searching for answers to her many questions. There was nothing there but her reflection. She had jet black hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back, and almond shaped and piercing blue eyes. Her figure was voluptuous and toned, and she realized suddenly that maybe Nancy's problem with her was some kind of jealousy over her appearance. Nancy was a rumpled middle-aged woman who didn't seem to have a lot of close connections in the world. Maybe she had her eye on one of the men in the office, but he had his eye on Kylie.
It wasn't particularly fair, but at least it helped Kylie to cope with the fact that she had been unfairly fired. Nancy was a miserable old woman, and if she needed to abuse her power and authority to feel better about her lack of love, Kylie supposed she could deal with that. She tore herself away from the mirror and sat outside at the patio table, suddenly smelling the distinct aroma of impending rain. There was an obnoxious amount of splashing coming from the middle of the lake, where a teenage couple were boisterously playing. Kylie could tell that they had had one too many between the two of them, and soon the wind started blowing ominously and the clouds began to darken.
She was torn between staying put and allowing the rain to begin falling on her bare skin, and being a responsible adult and getting those kids out of the water before they were killed in a storm. She made her way toward them, reluctant but resigned in her duty toward humanity. If those were her kids, she would hope that someone responsible would be looking out for them. She wasn't old enough to have teenagers yet, but still.
“Hey you two, you should get out of there. It's about to storm!" Kylie cried, waving up to the darkened sky. They didn't seem to hear her, and continued laughing loudly and splashing in the water.
“Hey!" Kylie called again, but her words were muted out by the sound of a loud whirring engine. She looked around in confusion. There weren't any roads in the area, just pathways and long, winding driveways. There was one road far out to the east of her summerhouse. She didn't see any cars or vehicles approaching, especially none that would be able to mute out her words quite so thoroughly. A bright light flashed in front of her eyes, and she looked up into the sky expecting to see lightning. Instead, there was a large craft hovering above her, and a blinding beam of light shone down and illuminated the lake.
Another bright light flashed in front of her, and Kylie felt herself being lifted. The weightlessness of her body was alarming, but she didn't have enough time to process it. Suddenly the entire world went dark and the whirring noise stopped. She blinked rapidly, but she still could not see anything. All she could hear were alarmed and panicked murmurs around her. Somebody stuck a device into her ear and soon all of the sounds around her began to make sense.
“We got the wrong person, we need to try again!" Somebody was shouting.
“We can't try again, you know that would be too risky."
“What are we supposed to do with her?! She isn't even part of a couple. How are we supposed to -”
“We should just put her back then.”
“We can't just put her back, what if she tells somebody what happened!?”
Suddenly, a loud, clear voice spoke and silenced the panic around her. Her eyes began to adjust, and she squinted toward the voice, just making out a figure of a man, or at least a humanoid being resembling a man, making his way toward her. He was handsome and authoritative. His voice was rich and masculine, and somehow made her feel safe.
“We will keep her, forget about the other two. What worth would their genes be to us anyway? They were both intoxicated and putting their own lives at risk for the sake of brief entertainment. They would be useless to us in the long run, we might as well choose someone with a little more sense.”
Kylie looked around at the people who had been chattering in a panic. They all looked vaguely similar to the handsome humanoid man, but their eyes were wide with concern. Their heads are slightly bigger in proportion than she was used to seeing, and the effect startled her deeply. Otherwise, they looked somewhat similar to normal people. Her first thought was that she had been kidnapped by a group of deformed people, but soon the leader of the group walked toward her with firm steps echoed off the metal in the room that she was in.
“Why don't you come with me," he said gently, offering his broad arm to her. “I'm sure that you have some questions."
When she didn't budge, he took her by the arm and led her away from the large group. Kylie thought to herself how impossible the situation that she was in really was, and tried to make herself believe that it was all a dream. When they stopped in front of a large metallic door and the humanoid figure opened it with a button, her heart sank. It wasn't a dream. She was in a lot of trouble.