7.
“The middle of the universe?” she asked in disbelief. “What does that even mean?”
“What you would think it meant,” Eli laughed. “I know it’s overwhelming, that’s one of the reasons I thought the forest would be a nice scene… something you’re used to.”
“Okay…” Chantel trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
“Not many people have been here. You’re one of the very privileged few.” He smiled as he rubbed his hands together.
“And what about those other guys? The man from the party?”
Eli sucked in a lung full of air and exhaled loudly.
“You really don’t want to know.” he scratched the back of his white blonde hair.
“No really, I do,” she said defiantly. “I want to know what the hell is going on, not just all of this cryptic stuff you keep telling me!”
“Okay,” Eli smiled as he sat down on a plush green chair and patted the space next to him.
Chantel crossed over reluctantly and sat down. Her feet were aching and she was suddenly very tired. Even after all of the rest she had had, she was exhausted. It was as if her body had been put through its paces with the travelling from dimension to dimension.
“The place where we’ve just been, it’s a very dark place indeed,” Eli sighed. “The man who had visited you in the room where you were held, he is an Alien Lord from the planet X-11… a slave planet.”
“What… the…?” Chantel’s head was spinning.
Alien Lord?
Slave Planet?
None of this made any sense to her.
“You were taken there so they could extract your eggs or use you for breeding. Humans make an ideal slave race for creatures like the ones who inhabit X-11,” Eli said it almost as if it was an apology.
“Creatures?” she asked with confusion. “But they look so… so normal…?”
“They do on the outside,” he smiled. “But inside, nothing is the same.”
“And the guy from the party?” she asked. “He looked exactly like the man back at the white room. Who is he? Is he in on it?”
Eli nodded.
“Yes, the host from the house you were taken from, he is a humanoid from X-11. His role is to group together a large number of fertile women, ready to be taken and collected. The finest are usually chosen and the other’s discarded.”
“Discarded?” Chantel felt her chest tighten.
“Yes,” Eli dropped his gaze. “Those women are usually killed.”
“Would I have been killed?” she asked with wide eyes.
“Eventually,” he said with a sigh. “You were one of the chosen ones… fertile, beautiful, strong genes… but eventually once they had used you, you would have been discarded like the others.”
Chantel felt tears well up behind her eyes. She had nearly been used for breeding by an alien race wanting to grow a planet of slaves. Earlier that day she had just been a student and a waitress and now she was travelling through time and space with the most attractive man she had ever seen, and whilst none of it made any sense, she was the happiest and felt the most alive than she had ever been.
“I don’t know what to say.” she said.
Eli nodded slowly and got to his feet. “This is a lot to take in,” he said. “If we hadn’t been intercepted during my attempt to rescue you I would have kept you in a state of sleep until I had returned you back to Earth. That way it would have felt like none of this had really ever happened.”
“Like a bad dream?” she laughed.
“Something like that,” Eli smiled.
“And you?” she asked. “Who are you, Eli?”
“I’m from a very advanced race of humans. We live here, at the center of the Universe, and recently one of our major campaigns has been to stop planets like X-11 from exploiting the human race for their own gain. We heard about what was happening… the abductions, the breeding programs, the brutality… and we have been intercepting as many abductions as we can ever since.”
“So… I was… abducted?” she asked with fear.
“Oh yes,” Eli said. “From what I saw in your case, you were gathered to a point where X-11 knew plenty of suitable women would be available, and then once the meteor shower began, they used it as a cover to spirit you away.”
“Wow.” Chantel whispered as she cast her mind back to being out in the yard alone. How she had felt so in awe of the stars above her and what she was witnessing. It had been magic, but now she knew she would never be able to look up into the night sky in the same way ever again. She had learned so much in such a short space of time, and now she knew secrets of the universe. She knew that Earth was not alone, and that people were visited and taken by aliens for experiments and breeding programs.
“Are you alright?” Eli rested a strong hand on her shoulder and she turned to him and smiled.
“I’m just trying to get my head around all of this,” she admitted. “It all seems too farfetched, but at the same time I know it’s all real.”
“As I said before, not many have been privileged as you have been, use the information wisely,”
“What do you mean?” she sat up straight and looked deep into his eyes.
“I mean, don’t return to earth and regret what you say about your experience.”
Chantel knew without asking him what he meant. She had read articles in newspapers and seen things online, men and women who claimed they had been taken by alien beings. Everyone just thought they were crazy, no one truly believed that aliens existed.
“I won’t be telling a soul,” she said.
“Not only that,” Eli smiled. “But you have a chance to be a part of something incredible.”
“I do?” she asked as she looked deep into his crystal blue eyes yet again. He smiled at her and nodded and she felt something inside of her click into place. Eli was someone she had been destined to meet, she could tell just by the way they looked at one and other.
“You must be tired,” he said, breaking her gaze and the subject. “Take the bed in the corner,” he turned and pointed to a fluffy circular bed which looked out over the mountain forest scene. “I’ll be back for you,” he said as he took her hand and led her over to the bed.
“Where are you going?” she suddenly didn’t want him to leave her. He was the only person she trusted in this crazy situation.
“I’ll be right outside,” he assured her.
Chantel climbed into the soft, warm covers and as Eli waited by the door the lights went low and the sounds of nature quietened into a comforting hum.
She watched Eli disappear through a doorway and she was once again alone. Her eyelids were heavy and it wasn’t long before yet again she was fast asleep.