Falling Skies Invasion Alone

Wake Up

"Over there! Look there's something in the grass."

I was so cold.

"Is it her? It looks like her."

I was so cold

"But her face, look. I thought she could heal herself."

"Maybe it'll just take some time. We should take her back, see what they say."

I was so cold.

--

I could smell...spices. Candles burning?

I didn't know how I felt. Was I in pain? Where was I? I didn't have the faintest idea about what was going on.

So as my brain started to function again, I tried to focus on what I could feel. My toes...were a little cold, but I could feel smoothness of sheets against them. My shoulders ached, the muscles in my back strained, but I was resting, I could feel the springs of a mattress under me. And my face itched.

Was I home? Oh, please tell me the invasion was a dream, please let this be a happy ending, I thought to myself. But that only ever happened in films.

I took a deep breath, gasping a lungful of air. It wasn't cold, which I somehow felt was unusual, like I had become used to coldness.

And then I felt a hand on mine, a warm palm clutch my wrist. "Cass."

Ben. Ben. Ben.

I forced myself to try to wake up. And after a few minutes of trying, my eyes prised themselves open. They were so dry, so prickly. I couldn't see properly for a minute, everything was in blurs, like I was looking through an exposed camera lens.

And then all at once it happened. Life hit me like a tsunami, flooding my body, sending me jolting into an upright position, sitting poker straight on the bed, coughing like there really was water in my lungs.

Ben's hand was on my back, rubbing it firmly, soothing me. "You're okay."

I frantically stared around the room, trying to figure out where the hell I was, what the heck was going on. But I couldn't take in much information, because as soon as I saw Ben, properly, with focussed eyes, I launched myself at him. My arms tangled around his neck and I started sobbing. I sometimes cried, in fact, I often cried, but not so intensely, never so intensely.

"It's okay. You're safe now. You're safe." He whispered softly, calming me as best he could. But I just had to cry. The feeling of not knowing terrified me. I didn't know how much time had passed since Charleston, I didn't know where I was, I didn't know what had happened. I didn't know and it was horrifying.

I cried for a few minutes before my shaking subsided, and I just kept clinging to him, feeling his spikes digging into my arms through his jumper. "I love you." My voice was wet and croaky; I didn't sound like me at all.

"I love you too." He whispered, laughing slightly and squeezed me tighter. After a few seconds, I reluctantly pulled back. I stared at him, taking him in. He looked different. He looked older. My hand reached out and I touched his more chiselled jaw with my fingertips and traced up his face to his cheekbones. "Your hair." I whispered and ran my palm over his hair, feeling the softness of it.

"What about it?"

"It's shorter." I breathed. He smiled and took my hands in his, sitting on the bed with me. He was staring at me, straight into my eyes, trying to see how I was. "What's going on, Ben?"

He looked down for a second and then sighed. "I don't know. I genuinely don't."

I closed my eyes. If he didn't know what was happening, then he couldn't really tell me what was going on with me. I was about to express my fear when the doors opened up to the room.