Alone

by Sean-Paul Thomas

  'What? Who? You're Ian.' Anna said still smiling. I glanced anxiously all around the kitchen and dining area.

  'No! Ian was just...' I said in a daze. Anna slyly squirted me again with her water, right in the face too. I felt really annoyed.

  'Anna, stop it!' I shouted angrily. 'There was someone just...'

  'You started it.' Anna replied playfully, squirting me again while giggling. I couldn't believe her cheekiness. And where the hell was Ian?

  'Anna, stop it, please!' I said more angrily. Anna paused giving me a bewildered look.

  'Who's... Anna?'

  'You're Anna.' I replied still desperately trying to find any sign of Ian.

  'Oh! But how do you know my name is Anna?'

  'Because... I just know all right.' I said annoyed and frustrated. 'You're Anna and I'm David. I just know.'

  'So who is Ian then?' Anna asked looking even more confused than ever. I remained silent. I wasn't quite sure how to answer that one anymore.

  'I'm not sure just yet, all right. Look! Just grab some food okay. Take one of the dark packets.'

  'Fine.' Anna said moodily taking a bundle of food and water packages then leaving the kitchen area. I couldn't help but watch her do this, particularly her wet and shiny legs moving back and forth, catching my eye. Her smooth legs really made me stare for some reason. They looked good. For the first time I noticed her small but firm breasts and her now very pointed erect nipples. The cool water had soaked through the front of her gown revealing everything underneath, breasts, hard nipples, curves, bumps, skin. Most noticeably of all were those hardened nipples. Probably made stiff I assumed by the cold water on her skin. I found it hard to force my eyes away from them. They were absolutely fascinating. They made my loins stir again, much, much more than before. My groin ached for something, something that I couldn't quite understand or put my mind to, yet something that she had. Anna plonked herself down in silence at the first table she came to in the dining area. I broke my lingering gaze to scratch my head. Too many thoughts and emotions were racing through my mind. I approached the cooling cupboard taking a handful of my own food and water packages. When I turned back to face the dining area I was confronted by Ian again. He startled me.

  'So tell me young David? Would you give her one?' Ian said instantly, still wearing that annoying, ridiculous grin.

  'One what? And where the hell did you just go.' I replied confused with his question. I felt there was some hidden and sinister agenda to its meaning which I couldn't fully understand just yet. Of course he never answered directly.

  'You know she really does like you David.'

  I glanced at Anna. When I did she turned, smiling giddily back at me. Her playful mood returning. I turned back to Ian with a stern look.

  'Look! If you don't have anything useful to say then please, just leave us alone.' I said harshly. I was grateful for everything Ian had shown me regarding the food and water, but he was really beginning to get on my nerves with his eerie aloofness. He felt very uncomfortable to be around.

  Ian remained silent, smiling smugly at my rant. My patience snapped. I no longer felt in any mood to listen to him any longer. I turned and walked away to sit down opposite Anna in the dining area. Anna smiled when I sat but said nothing. She was too busy occupying herself sucking and devouring her way through her liquid food and water packages. I bit off the top of my own food package, taking a quick slurp. It was a thick substance with a strange, mouldy smell. It reminded me of my own breath in away. It tasted okay though and strangely filling. I turned my attention back to the kitchen only to see if I was still under the watchful eye of Ian, but once again he had vanished.

  Chapter 8

  I was alone for the first time since Anna had emerged from her pod. We'd both returned to the bed chambers after devouring all the food and water packages that our stomachs could handle. I couldn't sleep though so instead found myself curiously wandering around the main square corridors. This time I found myself double tapping upon all of the small, sealed door panels that I could find. Behind most of these doors were just simple storage rooms filled with various weird and unrecognisable equipment, from different kinds of odd looking suits that could fit a person inside to bizarre looking pipe work, tanks, wires and unusual looking metallic boxes of all shapes and sizes. I could only guess badly what most of these odd looking devices were used for. The steel boxes and containers were sealed tight.

  After further exploring I found another two bedrooms further along from the one we were using. I then found a strange little room with one single flat, adjustable in height, metallic bed in the middle. The grey walls of this room were surrounded by glass shelves and cupboards containing many sharp instruments like knives, scalpels and needles. There were also jars of liquid substances along with pills and powders of various sizes and colours. Consume these at your own risk I was guessing.

  Along the kitchen corridor I double tapped another door panel. This door opened to reveal a small dark square area inside. A couple of oddly shaped buttons and a leaver with arrows pointing up and down decorated a small part of the right hand wall. Looking around the small enclosure I guessed roughly that you could perhaps fit at least four people inside, but at a push. I began pressing and double tapping at the different array of buttons. Nothing happened. I even yanked the up and down lever but still nothing, so I left the strange box room and continued further along the corridor towards the next door. Again I double tapped and made my way inside to take a closer look. As I stepped further into the room the ceiling lights switched themselves on automatically. On the right of this dim but fairly large room I found a toilet system device. It was an oval shaped bowl hovering out from the wall. I remembered and guessed the correct way to use it. The flush was automatic and afterwards I felt a small sense of pride at learning another new basic skill. On the other side of the toilet room I noticed a couple of shower heads sticking out from the back wall and at a good height too. A small draining area sat close by almost in the middle. It appeared that the entire sloping tiled floor here could be used as one giant drainage system for the shower water.

  I approached the first of the three showers finding a small silver thin panel on the far left. I double tapped it. The first shower came to life immediately spraying water out at an incredible rate. It looked amazing. When I ran my hands underneath the spray it felt deliciously warm too. For a long while I stared hard into the running water. I became hypnotized watching the shower water disappear down the nearby drain. Then, as if something triggered in the deepest regions of my mind, another full blown memory returned to me out of the darkness.

  ***

  I found myself hiding inside the very same shower room over beside the opened doorway. I wore a casual grey bodysuit uniform. I could hear footsteps coming along the corridor outside. Quickly and effortlessly I pulled a woman into the shower room with me as she passed obliviously by, then locked the door shut with a series of taps. I recognised the woman as the older blonde from my previous memory. She let out a playful yelp as I pinned her seductively to the wall.

  'David, stop it! What are you doing?' The Blonde said playfully resisting. I ran my hands from underneath her armpits, down over her firm shaped breasts and all the way down to her tight round hips. Her body felt good. I ran my hands back up to her shoulders again. She tried to resist, but I wouldn't let her go. As my hands moved back up to her shoulders she squealed in a fit of giggles.

  'David. Stop it... please. That tickles.'

  I paid no attention to her pleas and continued to run my hands all over her delicious curves. I found my way to her neck, right where her dirty blonde locks fell over her shoulders. I playfully pulled her hair hard until she slapped the side of my face.

  'Hey you! That was too hard.' She giggled. I released my grip to run my hands down the sides of her body one more time. I desperately wanted to rip her bodysuit off in that instant to feel that gorgeous naked toned skin of hers underneath. She knew it too. I could tell
she was getting more and more turned on by the second, although she continued to resist my advances, my touch, desperately trying to push me away, but I was too strongly pressed against her. Finally I took my hands away from her body. She smiled wildly, looking devilish in the dim light.

  'I need to get back to work David.'

  She turned, trying to open the exit door. Quick as a flash I placed my hand hard against the panel, keeping it from her grasp.

  'David! Come on. Stop messing around. Let me out of here.'

  I looked her in the eyes with an intense stare.

  'Close your eyes.' I said firmly.

  'Why?'

  'Just close them? I want to give you something.'

  I rustled my free hand deep inside my trouser pocket, pretending to have some kind of gift in there.

  'No! I don't want it.'

  'Come on.' I insisted. 'Just close your eyes and I'll give you this gift.'

  'What gift? What is it?'

  'Just close your eyes and you'll see.' She tried for the door panel again, but even with just one hand over it, I was still too damn strong for her. She let out a deep sigh and finally closed her eyes, giving in to my demand.

  'Okay, but make it quick, Ian's expecting me with the landing sample results.'

  With her eyes still closed she held out her hand expectantly. I grinned slyly, gently moving my face towards hers and kissed her with a sneaky kiss right on her soft moist lips. She smiled opening her eyes immediately while trying to resist for as long as she could. Her hands pushed my body. I kissed her harder. The more she pulled away the more I pushed towards her. My hands were wandering all over her body again. She felt so good to touch. Her breasts heaved against my chest almost deliberately. Her thighs grinded against my thighs. It was like her body wanted me so bad, yet her mind wasn't quite there yet. She was fighting herself. Her willing physical urges were in a constant battle with her resisting mental urges. Finally she submitted to her feelings and kissed me back. After a few beats she broke away.

  'You sly bastard.' She said still grinning wildly.

  'I think I'm falling for you Steffi. I think about you all the time. You're on my mind every waking hour. Do you think about me the same way?'

  The blonde woman, Steffi, turned sadly away for a beat, looking deep in thought. Finally she spoke.

  'Please don't say such things David. You know my situation.'

  Trying to be spontaneous I pushed Steffi back up against the door kissing her neck, chin, cheeks and luscious juicy red lips with a fiery passion. Again she tried to resist, even though her mind wasn't quite there yet I could feel that her body utterly was. Her thighs rubbed firmly against my own inner thighs and throbbing groin.

  'David... David we can't do this anymore... Please! We're going home soon.' Steffi replied, determined. She tried to push me away again. I continued kissing and caressing her face and neck with my lips and darting tongue. I ran my hands and fingertips all over her gorgeous, tight, toned body once more. I slipped my free hand underneath her body suit blouse to caress her soft toned stomach and took a pinching hold of her goose bumped skin around the hips.

  'David... We can't... Not anymore. Please!' She said kissing me back and sticking her wriggling tongue further into the back of my throat with such lustful passion that I throbbed even harder against her. I couldn't take it anymore and let my wild animal instincts overwhelm me. I lifted her up into my arms, my swelling hardness digging even stronger against her own covered groin. I carried her over towards the showers.

  '...You animal!' She whispered, playfully biting my ear lobe while scratching at my neck with her sharp fingernails

  ***

  Back in the present I was brought crashing out of my hypnotic state by someone shouting my name. Their voice barely audible through the sound of the ferociously running shower water slashing against the tiled floor. For a moment I continued staring at the water running into the nearby drain. I shook my head, trying to process these new memories and emotional thoughts. A hand unexpectedly grabbed my right shoulder. In a knee jerk reaction I broke free of my trance turning in a flash. I grabbed the mysterious figure with their hand upon my shoulder by their throat, forcing them with great strength and rage, right up against the shower wall. For the first time I was able to take a good look at the person who'd just snuck up on me. Anna screamed hysterically, struggling wildly, desperately trying to gasp for breath. I continued to grasp her in a choke hold against the wall with an insane rage burning inside me, still half caught in my trance and new memories. Part of me knew it was Anna directly in front of me and I knew that squeezing her neck was wrong, but for some reason I just couldn't let go right away.

  My senses gradually returned and finally I released my grip of Anna's neck. She fell onto her knees with a thud, gasping for breath while clutching painfully at her bruised throat. What the hell did I do? What the hell did I just do to her? I didn't mean to do this! I did not mean to do this at all. My senses were fully awake.

  I put my hands to my head becoming more and more distressed by the second. I felt so confused. I backed away. I felt myself becoming upset with my violent actions, yet at the same time a part of me wanted to blame Anna for sneaking up and touching me so unexpectedly. What the hell was she thinking?

  'Don't ever sneak up on me like that again okay. You hear me?' I yelled. Anna remained on the floor, still coughing wildly for breath and clutching her throat. I couldn't think of anything else to do in the moment except turning to run. So I did. All I could hear as I hurriedly left the room were the sounds of Anna's sobs as she struggled to regain control of her breathing in the far corner of the shower room.

  Chapter 9

  I sat all alone in the dark computer room, right near the front where the row of three chairs were situated. I had been staring obliviously out through the massive viewing window at the nothingness outside for quite some time. Mostly thoughts of the blonde woman, Steffi, occupied my mind. What did she mean to me? Was she my wife? My girlfriend? If my memories were real and truthful then we'd been close and together at some point in my past. Then there was Anna. The pretty and fragile little Anna. I must have really hurt her back in the shower room, physically and emotionally, but I honestly didn't mean to do it. I wondered where she was at this particular moment? Was she still in the shower room sobbing? Or perhaps in the bedroom curled up sleeping or perhaps lying away frightened, an emotional wreck? I felt an overwhelming urge to go back and check up on her soon, see if she was okay.

  I broke away from my thoughts to glance down at the skeleton remains upon the floor below. I wondered who this poor soul might have been and how long they'd been lying here for like this, in their skeleton state. There were so many strange and unanswered questions here in this room and another thousand and one concerning the rest of this damn oddball place. I would surely go insane quicker than I knew I was becoming already if I tried to focus my attention upon all of them at once.

  Out of nowhere I became distracted by a low moving shadow over beside the main exit doorway, its dim reflection catching my eye in the viewing window . I stood at once, turning immediately while half expecting to find Anna lurking in the background. There was no one there. I rushed towards the exit stepping out into the main corridor. I halted in shock while glancing down to my left at a long red smear of something which looked like blood. The bloody smear trailed along the corridor floor up and around the next corridor with the black window. I hurriedly followed the trail all the way around the windowed corridor and up towards the white tiled trapdoor where Steffi had been crouching when I'd followed her ghostly figure. The blood trail came to an abrupt end, disappearing underneath the loose trapdoor. I stood over it for a long time, just staring down at the blood. Where had it come from? Who the hell did it belong too? I couldn't imagine. I crouched down and pulled back the trap door covering the laddered hole below. Along the opposite corridor, the one leading towards the pod room, Anna quietly emerged from our bedroom, coming to a standsti
ll in the middle of the corridor. She stared blankly over at me in silence as I returned her gaze right back at her. I didn't know what to say. After a second I broke eye contact and lowered myself down into the black hole. Anna watched me disappear still silent.

  I continued my descent deep down into the pitch black laddered hole. I had absolutely no idea where I was going or what the hell I was going to find down here. I couldn't even see the bottom let alone the next laddered rung beneath my feet it was so dark. Finally my feet hit a solid base. I could sense a greater airy and spacious room all around, but it was still so dark. In amongst the darkness I could hear some faint and continuous humming noise. Maybe the sound of distant motors or engines. As my eyes adjusted I made out the faintest of lights further into the distance, perhaps more computer screens, leavers and buttons. It was just still so damn dark to tell. I moved cautiously away from the ladder and froze when I felt my feet crunching upon something on the solid ground below. Without moving my feet any further I crouched to feel blindly before grabbing a hold of one of the crunchy stick objects. To my horror I found my hands touching and clutching a hold of something that felt and resembled the remains of another old, crumpled and brittle skeleton. Just like the one from the computer room. Another dead person. What the hell were these skeletons all about? I lifted the decayed, bony skull towards my face, getting a better look. My eyes adjusting more and more to the darkness. I wanted to see this thing with my own eyes and not just feel and touch its bony features. It looked hideous with those large black hollow holes for eyes and high cheek bones too with all of its ridiculous teeth intact. It appeared to be grinning wildly back at me. I dropped it onto the floor in utter disgust, taking a few deep breaths at the same time, trying to compose myself. Gently from the surrounding darkness, then gradually louder, came a faint but obvious sobbing. I couldn't place the direction at first but as I stood upright listening more carefully I could distinctively hear the sound of a woman's sobs. It came from a fair distance in front, deeper inside this dark place. I made my way further towards the muffled sobs, but moving slowly and cautiously through the appearance of many large steel boxes, cages and crates of various sizes which were littered in greater heaps all over the place the more I ventured forward. At one point I ended up climbing over a large steel container as I couldn't feel any other way around. The sobs grew louder. I climbed down from the steel container as my eyes faintly made out the figure of the ghostly looking blonde woman, Steffi, in the near distance. She still wore the blood stained gown while crouching with her back turned towards me again, exactly as I'd seen her last in the corner of the brightly lit corridor on the floor above.