Young Writers Society

*This is part ten of my story “Alice and the aliens”. It’s underneath my folder titled “Alice and the aliens”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33”. This is the final part of the series but I plan to add other additional stories to add to the lore. I hope that you enjoy this and HAPPY NEW FEAR’S EVE!*

The five of them stepped foot in the room. What awaited them all was another room full of humans tied up by tubes coursing with their own blood, but at the very center of the room was a pale woman with light blue eyes in an indigo purple spacesuit that had white buttons. Her hair was as bone-white as her skin, except the ends of her hair were the purple-pink colors of the galaxy. Her blue eyes had only a faint sparkle within them, her lips were a thin, pale line.

Even if the woman wasn’t sitting on a chair made completely of tubes that overflowed with blood, there was no denying it from how her gleaming eyes that seemed to hold all of the universe etched within them that she was, in fact, Captain D9302.

“I don’t know why you even bother. You’ve already lost.” Captain D9302 said with a slight shake of her head.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw her friends, Rebecca and Muerte, tied up by the tubes. Next to Rebecca, she saw B392 and then…her little sister, Melissa. All of them were strung up by the tubes, but they were all awake, struggling against the tubes tying them down. Each one of them had hints of fear in their eyes. Small flickers that nobody would see if they didn’t really look.

But Alice could see. Alice noticed. Alice didn’t say a word, out of fear of what Captain D9302 may do next to her friends.

“They’re desperate to save what little they have left, Captain.” Evanna said with a grin, joining Captain D9302 by her tube chair.

Captain D9302 seemed to flash a look of sympathy towards Evanna for the split second where her eyes held specks of emotion, but it was gone the second she completely turned her attention towards Alice and the others.

While Alice felt mildly offended that Evanna joined Captain D9302’s side and was certain the others felt that way too, she wasn’t surprised one bit. After all, B392 did bite Evanna’s arm off and there were more pressing matters to deal with than that.

Captain D9302 clapped her hands together and said:

“Let’s see how well you’ll fare off!”

Alice’s nerves were a little out of order, but it was five against two, so it wouldn’t be that hard…right?

………………………………………………………………..

A2614 swayed his long, green, clawed fingers towards Evanna, cracking her bones and twisting her body, beams of light flowing from his fingertips. Sage and Victoria were both swaying their arms in a motion that looked much like soft, rhythmic dancing, pointing their fingers at Captain D9302, bringing her down to a similar state.

So they don’t actually fight physically. They’re dancing. I wonder why A2614 has beams of light spilling from his fingers. Does it have anything to do with how he takes in the sun as energy? Alice thought as she worked on unclasping the tubes from Melissa’s wrists. It was one loop after another, just like untying a tangle of her bracelets. Difficult, but not impossible.

Despite how wonderful A2614’s words were, Alice didn’t see how she would be of any use to fight them, so she worked on untying the tubes. Melissa watched with wide eyes, shaking a little bit with each second that stretched on. If Alice didn’t know any better, she would have thought that Melissa would have burst into pieces of flesh and bone any second.

Her heart raced a bit with each tube that she unclasped, for what if she messed up and put Melissa in even more danger? What if she put everyone in more danger? What if Captain D9302 snapped her fingers and the people she kept as prisoners died? What if-

Alice heard the crunch of bones snapping back into life. She turned her head towards the fight and found Evanna and Captain D9302 standing upright, seeming to have collected themselves after the others had twisted the bones in their bodies.

But there’s more of us than them. How is that possible? Are they just that powerful? Alice thought, her panic simmering inside of her with full force. The one hand that held Melissa’s free wrist began to hold a wrist covered in mounds of tubes that popped up out of nowhere, just like the living dead in any horror movie.

“Why do you two fight on their side? You were both taught to conquer the world, you have no purpose fighting with these people.” Evanna laughed, her glittering eyes directed at Sage and Victoria.

Sage’s eyes narrowed, Victoria’s fists curled and uncurled, back and forth, as though she were trying her best to contain all of the pent-up fury within. It was the first time that Alice had noticed Victoria’s long, claw-like nails, a sign that she wasn’t like any child on Earth, that she was a monster capable of great destruction.

Yet she chose not to kill.

“You took me from my home and made me kill for the sake of it. That’s why I ran, Evanna. That’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get by in different planets. “These people” saved my life and Victoria’s. Victoria, you ran from them, is that correct?” Sage asked, turning towards Victoria.

Victoria nodded, her green eyes pooling with tears. Again, Alice was reminded of herself and Melissa, of how they always tried to look out for one another, no matter what happened.

“I don’t like blood. I don’t like seeing people hurt. You made me kill people and you thought that I would like it just because you made me?! You never really listened to me! When I saw Sage leave, I saw the chance for freedom! I was lost, but then found. You call yourself a Life Seeker, but you’re only destroying life! That’s not what I stand for. That’s not what any true Life Seeker would stand for. That’s why I stay with them.” Victoria said, her voice cracking as though she were about to cry.

For she, Sage and A2614 could not move, as plastic tubes rose out of the ground and wrapped around the three of them, the ends of the tubes swallowing up their blood. Victoria and Sage bled blue blood, A2614 bled orange blood, just like his eye color. The tubes had them trapped, had grown out of nowhere and no matter how much they struggled against them, they still couldn’t escape.

“What makes you think that you stand a chance? I don’t need their blood, but I can keep making these tubes to keep them down and soon, they’ll be nothing. Isn’t it funny? How my technology can outweigh their powers? Goes to show you how much innovations can do more than nature!“ Captain D9302 beamed.

Was that really how it was going to end? With everyone Alice loved and everyone that was loved by someone else having their blood drained of them by alien tubes? Was that what everyone would be reduced to?

What good did it do that Alice wasn’t tied up? She kept trying to untangle Melissa and with every try, more tubes and wires appeared, Melissa was breathing short breaths, her eyelids threatening to close completely, as did all of her other loved ones…

I had one job. One job and yet I couldn’t keep track of Melissa. I couldn’t even keep her safe. Alice thought, her eyes brimming with tears.

She couldn’t do it anymore.

“But you humans would know about that, wouldn’t you? You keep taking more and more because you can! Because you have the power! Because it makes you feel good, doesn’t it? To watch putrid little creatures die as you build your empire? It all started off survival, but once you realized how much power you truly held, you wanted more. You needed to do more, because it showed them all that you mattered more. So why do you try to stop me? I started stealing blood to survive, but once I tasted it, I wanted to take a whole population’s blood! Why not the entirety of Earth, since they’ve got the most life? Who knows, maybe if I keep trying, I’ll find life in more planets and then I-“

“We.” Evanna interrupted.

“We will live forever, without any worries of anything else trying to destroy us. Now, Alice. Stop being selfish and let us feel the glamour of what life has to offer. There’s nothing wrong with us wanting to be happy, is there?” Captain D9302 said with a smirk.

Seconds before, Captain D9302 had a blank expression, but at the clear sign of her winning, she had started to become more and more giddy. What could Alice do but send ghosts to the afterlife? How was that supposed to help defeat Captain D9302 and her army? Where was her army, anyway? Why was it just Captain D9302 and-

“Alice! I may take energy from the sun to survive, but I’m nothing without your light! You always know where to send the ghosts, so you can send the Captain and the others right where they belong! My sun energy holds power to break the world, but your power to lead can stitch the universe!” A2614 called out through breaths that he could somehow still breathe.

“You think your poetry will do a thing? It’s over.” Captain D9302 snickered at A2614.

But maybe his words did have meaning. Alice needed to focus all of her energy on sending the Captain and her followers to a place where they could never escape, where they could never harm a soul. She needed to reach deep inside of herself and focus on her energy.

Alice closed her eyes and took slow, deep breaths. Where would she send living creatures bent on harming others? It was easier to help the ghosts pass on because they were dead and needed to go to Heaven, but Captain D9302’s “Life Seeker” crew…

There was a black, blank space in her mind. Then, she could hear chains rattling. A spotlight circle hovered over the ground, growing bigger and bigger and bigger, until everything dark was lit up like a stage.

In the white-hazy light, Alice could see machines interlocking with chains that had spiky ends, that could pierce the flesh of all life, all vitality. She could hear screams but she couldn’t see anyone. Nothing but disembodied screams and spiked, lethal chains, that hazy white light not getting any clearer, her sense of unease festering and molding within her…

Only one thing could explain it. Where Heaven was a garden of fresh flowers and chirping birds, Hell was a void consisting only of chains and screams, with anxiety that would grow louder along with the screams and the sense that nobody would come to help.

For beings that sent ghosts out to suffer in space as though they needed to be litter to be disposed of, for beings that wanted to drain the blood of an entire species just because they could, only one place was suitable for them.

“You have a very narrow definition of humanity’s values. What, did you only skim the surface?” Alice asked, hope seeping slowly within her as she reached towards the other side, the conscious world.

She didn’t feel anything at first, but then, an ache exploded in her stomach like a million leeches were eating and her innards, then Captain D9302’s smooth, clear voice, like an eerily quiet town left behind by the world to rot with time:

“Do I? I think I know humanity pretty well.”

In Captain D9302’s voice, there were hints of assured smugness, as though she knew all there was to know about humans. Alice wished that she had more physical control in the paranormal world and more confidence in general so that she could swing a punch at the Captain.

But violence didn’t always fix everything.

“I won’t deny that this world is far from perfect. Hell, this world sucks at times. Many many MANY times! I’m certain there are more than a few people who deserve to be tied up in those tubes. But that’s not everybody. The whole world isn’t Hell, there are many out there who are fighting to do good, who are fighting to make the world better. The assumption you made about knowing all of us made me want to hurt you, but then, isn’t that what us humans struggle with each other? We make assumptions that could harm others without any thought behind it and then it leads to more harm, more hurt. But that’s not all of us. There are those of us who work to see past all vices and look at the inner good that is within, the good that makes us care for complete strangers that are in need, the good that makes me care not only for my loved ones trapped, but for the rest of the world, because they have people who love them and you…you…”

Alice trailed off, her eyes overflowing with tears that finally had the will to burst out after so much time fighting for it all to end well, fighting to get home safely, fighting for…for love.

“I let your loved ones stay awake so they could watch you die. Your speech is nothing but fanciful white noise. Goodbye, human.” Captain D9302 spat angrily, with the true hate hidden under her “all-seeing, all-knowing” exterior.

Alice could feel herself pulled deeper and deeper, towards the torturous chains that waited below. She could hear the screaming get louder and louder, the screaming so much like the funnel of orphan ghosts she had to part so they could pass on. She could feel the weight of many beings pull her further into Hell, no doubt the army of Captain D9302.

But she didn’t fight so long only to give up at the last second. She was swallowed up by fear when first stepped in, she couldn’t make that same mistake again.

In her mind, visions of corpses swam through. Corpses of humans, corpses of vaguely human shapes, corpses of things she could not put a name to at all. One thing all of the corpses had in common was the tubes: The tubes that were clipped onto their body, that kept them contained, that looked just like the tubes in a hospital that were said to help save lives, only to be there even after somebody died, to provide a false sense of serenity…

A flicker of Captain D9302 passed through her brain. It was only a brief flicker, but it was enough to show Alice that it was her standing amongst the corpses, her and Evanna and her soldiers of evil, her soldiers with little regard for the life around them.

How could she? How could she target beings who were only trying to get by? In the mess of corpses, Alice saw children. The Captain really had to stoop so low as to drain the blood of children who were still trying to figure themselves out in an already complicated world. Not only that, but it was the Captain and her army who doomed the dead to suffer in the infinite threads of the universe, the dead who were trying to find their way to the light.

What made the Captain think that she had the RIGHT?! Because of her power?! Because of how she watched and judged humans? No, it was something far deeper. She was detached. Detached from what was reality, too far caught up in what she believed was right to really see things as they were.

It was an explanation, but not an excuse. There would never be an excuse good enough for what she did.

Alice watched with satisfaction as her anguish, her disgust, her sorrow, bubbling out of her in blueberry blue smoke that stung a bit with acid anger. The poison smoke had curled out of her fingertips and flowed right towards the Captain and her army. She could feel them struggling against the bonds of her smoke, just like the others with the chains…

There was another force helping her out. No, many different powers combining with her own. She could see it and feel it. In the blueberry smoke were glowing beams of light, just like the rays of the sun, just like-

Alice was thrust back into the living world, the screams of the “Life Seekers” the last thing she heard in the paranormal world.

All around her, Alice watched as the tubes fell deep into the Earth, freeing everyone trapped by them. Captain D9302 and Evanna screamed as they were pulled into a blue-green funnel that was colored like the Northern Lights, that was coming from the wall behind them both. Alice could hear faint screams coming from the wall behind them as well, screams that she believed belonged to the Captain’s army.

She watched in amazement as they were pulled further and further into the funnel until they were gone. Until there was nothing but a gaping hole on the wall that showed the setting sun, the peach-sky landscape.

The humans all around her began to stir awake, muttering words of bewilderment as they opened their eyes. A2614, Sage, Victoria, B392, Muerte, Rebecca and Melissa all rushed to hug her, Alice far too shocked to hug them back.

“What just happened? What was that funnel? Did they just…did they go to Hell? Is that even possible? Did I just-“

“Captain D9302 and Evanna may have been in here, but the army was outside and attacking you in the paranormal world. That green funnel was the funnel to Hell, but you had some help. I connected with your mind and used some of my powers to help you send them away. My powers and your energy combined helped send them straight to Hell!” A2614 beamed.

He helped her? He connected with her mind? He could do that? Right when Alice thought that she knew everything about him, he went around and surprised her!

“My sister, Sage and Victoria would have helped if they were closer to you. But only aliens that are close with humans can connect with their minds.” A2614 said.

Alice felt a smile spread across her lips. She did it! She saved humanity! With the help of A2614, she sent the Captain and her army to Hell! A2614 was right after all! He-

“What about these humans? Aren’t they going to remember what happened to them? This isn’t something they can easily forget.” Alice said, already dreading all of the headache-inducing conspiracy theories that would arise from the invasion that nearly killed all of humanity.

B392 laughed and said:

“They’ve been trapped for some time! Humans that are under any kind of imprisonment from extraterrestrials get under so much stress that when they are brought back to the real world, their minds won’t comprehend all that happened to them and they’ll end up forgetting about it entirely. Give it a few days, they’ll forget about it all.”

Really? That was what it took? Just a few days? Humans discovered so much of the absurd that they would forget about having their blood drained by space vampires?

At least she wouldn’t have to hear wild ideas of “what could have happened” on the news. That was one less thing to stress about!

………………………………………………………………..

Once all of the humans had waken up, they all seemed to rush to get out of the airport, presumably to go home. Alice didn’t know and she didn’t ask, for she was only glad that the world was full of life once again, that the dreaded blood-stealing tubes were gone!

At the moment, she and A2614 were sitting on a bench together, outside the airport. A2614 had transformed into his blond-haired, blue-eyed human self, Bryon. His sister, B392, had a human form of her own which she dubbed as “Mary” and was talking with the rest of the group. They were the only ones who needed to transform, the only ones who didn’t look entirely human in their true forms.

As Alice interlocked her brown fingers with A2614’s human pale ones, she thought about trying to make it work with him, about having a future with him. They were both young and they still had time to make other choices, but A2614 had shown such love, such deep devotion to her that she had only ever seen in movies, that to imagine a life without him felt like a life without charm bracelets. She didn’t need him, but life felt so much sweeter with him in it.

Alice scooted next to him on the bench and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling as he wrapped his arm around her. It was just like a date they had on Halloween over at Alice’s house, where they all watched a horror movie that everyone at school raved about. She wanted to try her hand at watching frightening horror movies instead of fun-filled spooky ones and instead, cried over the deaths like a child. She remembered how embarrassed she felt about her reactions, as though she wasn’t a “real teenager” for not liking the horror movie everyone else liked, but Bryon had only smiled and said:

“It’s just a movie. You don’t have to like it. Don’t feel bad for crying, that was how you felt about it. It’s not a big deal.”

It had been their third year together and Alice still loved him, but during those seconds, Alice had felt her love for him bloom even more! He had always been there for her, she had always been there for him. Everything that they went through with the space vampires and the ghosts and the world nearly ending had felt like such a rollercoaster of a horror movie that she wondered if a happy ending was attainable for her, for him, for her loved ones, for the strangers who had loved ones of their own.

The world had been saved, there was only one thing left that Alice needed to do.

“That thing you said about sewing my skin onto the square in your arm? You said it was to remember me by, in case I wouldn’t want to see you again?” Alice asked.

Bryon nodded, his blue eyes seeming to flicker with many emotions all at once.

“Why wouldn’t I want to stay with you? Because you think that this would be too much for me? That I wouldn’t want any part in your life? It’s just another part of our relationship. If you and your sister really have to leave now, then maybe you could visit me. Or I could visit you. We can make it work, Bryon. Asking me for a piece of my skin is asking a lot. I don’t feel comfortable giving you a piece of my skin now, but I don’t want to stop our relationship. I want to see you more. I want to give you a piece of my skin when I feel ready for it. Do you think that we could visit each other? That we could keep our contact with one another?” Alice asked.

Bryon twirled a strand of Alice’s hair, seeming to weigh the options in his mind. She hoped that she wasn’t asking for something completely impossible, that Bryon would be able to see her again.

“Of course. I can do that.” Bryon said after a pause, kissing the top of Alice’s head.

Alice felt her heart swirling with adoration, her head swimming with giddiness. They were going to see each other again! Maybe Bryon would sometimes bring Mary along and the two of them would get to know each other and become better friends! Would Sage and Victoria visit as well? Would they all become much closer with one another? Maybe she could invite them over to her house one day for Christmas dinner and-

Alice’s phone buzzed in her jeans pocket.

She reached for her cell phone and found fifteen missed text messages and six missed phone calls, all of them from Mom. All of the messages consisted some variation of “Where are you? Where is Melissa? Come home NOW!”

“My Mom texted me. Me and Melissa have to go home. We’ve gotta go now.” Alice said.

She let go of Bryon’s arm around her and sat up on the bench. She knew exactly which sidewalks to take in order to come home, the airport wasn’t far from her house.

Bryon smiled at her and said:

“I’ll see you later.”

“You too.” Alice beamed.

With that, she got up and walked over to Melissa, a sense of calmness settling in her over how they would both simply go home and relax. Yes, they would have to face their concerned parents, but at least everything was okay.

At least everyone was okay.