Matched

Karina & Silo

It was both a thrilling and awkward walk back to their room, filled with anticipation, fear, excitement. Particularly on Karina's part. Smiling down at her, Silo squeezed her hand.

The streaks on Silo's brain were almost completely gone according to Miktar. Hers had completely vanished. She was healed. Karina touched her head in disbelief. The world still looked so different: the sights, the sounds, even the smells. Her brain was functioning differently. It almost felt like she was an entirely new person. Like she'd been reborn.

So, her psychiatrist was wrong. Her condition could be cured. All she needed to do was bond with an alien. She laughed.

Silo smiled at her. 'I'm so glad you're happy. I like to hear you laugh.'

Karina pressed her fingers to her throat. 'So do I.'

Despite the coolness of the corridor, she was sweating. Her cheeks felt flushed. It was the first private time they'd had together since the bonding. They both knew what was going to happen. Karina looked down at her shoes. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had sex—with a man, anyway. The last time she'd been intimate had been with Denise, who'd eventually left her because of her craziness. It had been nice being with a woman. Nicer than being with a man, she had to admit.

Then again, she hadn't really been with a nice man. She pressed her lips together as she thought of Alex. He'd hit pretty hard—but she'd hit harder. She still remembered how it felt smashing that plate over his head. Though "smashed" was the wrong word. It had been a very heavy plate and had only cracked. It had split Alex's head open, though. It was hard to forget the smell of so much blood.

That had been the only and last time she'd been with a man—since her father anyway. Karina grimaced. Silo tightened his grip on her hand. Karina looked up at him, suddenly remembering: But when we go back, you're going to tell me everything.

Though Karina could now look back on her past with little pain, almost analytically, how would Silo handle it? How would it feel to pour the truth from her lips? How would it feel hearing it with her ears instead of within her mind? To speak it made it real. To have someone hear it made it more real still. These aliens had no idea. They were strangely innocent in a way that humans could never be.

They stopped before his room. The door slid open and they entered. They stood together in the middle of the floor. The chair that Silo had fallen from was still lying on its side. He went over and righted it.

'It's strange. It feels like years ago since this happened. Not days.'

'I know what you mean.' Karina looked around. The room, which had felt so much like a prison, felt completely different now. It almost felt like home—if there was such a thing. She was so engrossed with the sight of the bed and the window that it was several moments before she realised Silo was watching her.

'Are you okay?' he said.

Karina nodded. 'Are you?'

He touched his head. 'Healed. I feel normal again.'

Before he could speak and ask her any awkward questions she didn't want to answer, Karina went over and wrapped her arms around his waist. Silo touched the back of her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.

'I almost stayed behind,' she said. 'You almost left me.' And where would I be now? Back in that prison she called a mind. Imprisoned by her father and her memories.

'I'm sorry.'

'You set me free. You bound me and yet set me free.' She laughed and it was a surprisingly hoarse laugh. How quickly the tears rose into her throat.