This story was originally posted as part of the Summer Season (2015) of the same name.
Michael paced in the kitchen, his eyes flicking back and forth from the knife, Dylan, and myself. I almost felt like he thought I was going to murder Dylan and hide his body, but that was nowhere near what I was going to do. I would never hurt a human.
"What are you doing?" Michael asked as I knelt down next to Dylan. His whole body was wet with sweat and he shivered as though he was in the middle of a snowstorm. His vibrating eyelids opened up to dilated pupils staring me down. I grabbed his head and stared into them, taking in everything he was feeling.
"Just breath and open your mind. I'll fix this." I stared into Dylan, his whole life connecting with mine for a brief second before I found the recent memory of his abduction. I pressed my hands against his skin, taking on his shivering as we began to share feeling and emotion. Closing my eyes and opening my mouth, I left Cody's body and jumped to Dylan's open mouth. I detached from Cody and flicked around Dylan's lips as he eagerly accepted me, suddenly snapping out of his suffering. I felt like I was being submerged in poison as I slithered farther inside of him and I was careful as I moved around, knowingly avoiding anything that might send him into convulsions. The human brain is something special - it's basically an emotional computer and a very fascinating organ to discover. It essentially contained the whole life force of this human and without it, the body is nothing. When I melded with Dylan's the first time, it was fresh and new, but now it felt as though I was swimming in darkness and helplessness. None of this was my intention and I didn't know the extent of the effects my body had on humans.
I blinked as Dylan for a moment, his whole body mine as I selected the memories to be removed from his mind. I forced him to forget and replaced those memories with false ones that would keep him safe. I made him forget Michael's face, which was hard for me to do because I felt it disappear. That was something I never wanted to happen to me. Dylan's head twitched and I quickly slithered out of his body, leaving through his mouth and back into Cody who had left his mouth gaping open for me. Swallowing inside of Cody, I felt myself combining with every particle and once again I was looking at Dylan who was now sleeping soundly on the sofa.
"Is he like this too?" Michael placed his hand on my shoulder and his voice was shaky. Without looking up at him I nodded knowing that the silence that followed meant he was disgusted.
“I can just make him forget like I did with Dylan, but there is a point of no return and I am afraid I've crossed it.”
“But why? You could kill him!” I was startled. I had never seen him so sad. Or was it angry?
"I swear I didn't know. I had no idea." I was desperate.
"I just don't get it." Michael shook his head and stared at Dylan who was, despite peacefully sleeping, was in quite a bit of pain.
“I did it because you wanted me to! Because I wanted to. For you.” I felt the rage building up inside of me and I blurted this out with such force that Michael took a step back.
“For me?” I could see the tears falling down his face as he shook his head. I could see his heart tearing in front of me and I wanted to take it back, “I don’t know whether or not to be thankful that an alien would kill another species to love or to be afraid of what you can do to someone like me. Maybe you should make me forget.” He grabbed his bag and held it as his side, too tired to sling it over his shoulder. I tried to stop him as he left, but as I grabbed his arm he pulled away.
"Michael, wait."
“Don’t touch me!” He turned towards me and his eyes were puffy from the crying, “I need some time to think.”
He left me alone in the apartment with Dylan who was now heavily breathing. He would still go through the symptoms of withdrawal without knowing why they were there, and they would not last as long as they would since he would be asleep for most of it. He would be safe here while he healed and forgot. Unfortunately, since he has never met me, I would have to think of a reason for his presence in a stranger's apartment. Michael was really good at making up stories, but I was beginning to think that I might have just lost him.
As I stood there in the living room, staring at the cracked open doorway, I started to cry.
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