You Don't Belong Here

Chapter Seventy Five

The bar owner had allowed Brielle to leave her motorcycle in the parking lot overnight because she was in no condition to ride home. She had called a taxi and requested that they drop her off at the park near her apartment. At first they had refused, but after a $50 tip they caved.

She wandered along the pathways and through the trees until she reached the spot where Ezekiel's body had been found. A few patches of the grass were still stained from the blood. It now served as a painful reminder of what transpired mere days ago.

"Why did you do it?" The words came out as little more than an angry whisper but her body quivered with an overwhelming anger. "WHY DID YOU DO IT?!" It was in that moment she heard it.

"Why did you do it?" A perfect mimicry of her own voice.

She turned round in the darkness of the trees, searching for any sign of life while she desperately tried to pinpoint the direction the sound had come from. "Show yourself! Tell me your name!"

"Why-why did you do-do it?"

"STOP MOCKING ME!"

"FIGHT ME!" She froze now, the breath catching in her throat. It was Dhadtoudi's voice now, but still only a mimicry recording.

"Her soul is scarred by their people." Zaiyu's voice spoke now and a cold chill crept along her spine as if something were about to strike.

Silence fell upon the area and Brielle felt a tight pressure constricting inside her chest once more.

"Do you get tired of doing this?" She spun around to find a massive, cloaked form looming over her, mere inches from her own body. The eye shields glowed momentarily and her heart rate increased tenfold.

"You should not be here, Brielle Ronaldi."

"Ghost..."

"You wreak of Oomans and their chemicals." She nearly flinched at the condescension in his tone. The cloaked form's head tilted to the side. "You should not be here."

"W-Why is that?"

"I have claimed this area as my hunting ground."

Hunting ground...

"So you...you were the one that killed Ezekiel..?"

"I have killed many of your kind."

"My friend...the one you butchered like a piece of meat!"

A heavy silence fell between them now. "That Ooman was a trespasser."

"Do you not realize how many people move through this park every day?! Do you plan on killing all of them?!"

"I do not speak of my hunting ground."

"Then what the fuck are you talking about?!"

The only sound now was that of her angry, labored breathing.

"It came into your dwelling."

"He wasn't trespassing, I gave him permission to be there while I was gone! It's called 'housesitting'! It's a thing people do for each other!"

"Your permission means little."

"Excuse you?!"

"I will not stand idly by while another male, much less an inferior one such as that, lies in your bed!"

"How the hell would you know who's been in my bed?!" Silence again. "Oh my God...you've been stalking me..." Again O'kaor said nothing and she let loose an angry chuckle. "You...you made me think I was crazy!" She shoved him hard in the chest. "And you killed my friend!!"

"Remember your place, Brielle Ronaldi!"

"What place? I don't belong with your people. I definitely don't fit in with my own. So what exactly is my place?!"

"O'kaor..." Brielle turned to see the ever massive form of T'ahrou perched on a high above tree branch. "What are you doing?"

"T'ahrou!"

His head tilted in confusion which caused his lengthy tresses to move about his shoulders.

"How does it know my name?"

"This one is the female that I brought back to the mother planet."

"Tell me this is a joke."

"It is not."

T'ahrou let himself fall to the ground with a heavy thud before approaching the much smaller female. "I am curious to see Dhadtoudi's reaction when she learns of this."

"She's here? Can I see her?!"

"Even after all this time still it lacks in manners. Typical Ooman."

She folded her arms over her chest. "Really? It's been this long and you still talk to me like a piece of shit?"

"You tried to kill us."

"I did not, Ghost!"

"Why were you talking to it in the first place?"

"She would have drawn attention to my hunting ground otherwise."

"It already did. I heard its childish cries from the far side of the settlement."

Brielle rolled her eyes now.

"What would you have me do?"

T'ahrou looked her up and down before clicking in disgust. "Bring it to Dhadtoudi. Let her end it's wretched life."