The Day They Came (WATTY AWARDS 2016)

Chapter 3

Peter groaned. After a heart transplant surgery and a coma, he was finally waking up.

The only problem was that he didn't hear any beeping. He was hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV when he had gone unconscious.

He managed to open his eyes. Blinding, dazzling sunlight forced him to blink. Sunlight? Why was there so much sunlight in the room?

Opening his eyes again, he looked around. The room was pretty much all metal – as if he were on the exterior of a ship. As his eyes shifted around the room, he noticed a rose on the table by the door.

A wheelchair sat beside the bed. He managed to sit up, and get into the wheelchair. Then, he wheeled himself over to the table.

He picked up the rose. It was cold, and silver. A metal rose? There was no stem, but there were two leaves at the base.

The odd thing about the rose was that there were no signs of soldering. It seemed to be a free form, single piece rose. He certainly wasn't in a hospital.

Turning the chair around, he noticed the large window. He guessed a height of about eight feet or so in height. That would explain the sunlight in the room.

He wheeled towards the window. That's when the reality hit him. He was not on Earth.

Though he could see the trees and the leaves falling, they were a good three or five thousand feet in the air. It was too high for airplanes to fly, and he could see a few clouds passing by. Was he on the spaceship that had been in the sky that day Claire was discharged?

The door opened, and a humanoid came in. He had silver skin, bronze eyes, and golden hair. With that, he felt his blood boiling. Abducted by aliens the day after his heart transplant surgery?

"Good morning." For an alien, his English was pretty good. "My name is Xyzlendisquin, or Xyzle while you are learning." He prounounced his name like "ks-I-sle-end-is-quinn", and his shorter name like "Ks-I-sle".

Peter wasn't sure what to say.

"I understand this is difficult to...digest, as the saying goes." The alien continued. "I must ask that you refrain from asking questions at this time. When the time is right, all will be answered. I will return in a few hours. In the meantime, some male scientists will come to look at you."

With that, he turned around, and walked back out the door. There was a click as the lock turned into place.

Peter blinked a couple of times. He was a little frustrated now, but the levels of stress were through the roof. He had to calm down; this was not an ideal situation for him.

He looked around the room a little closer. The bed was covered in a blanket with red and blue polka dots. It had been placed over him, and was now wrinkled on the bed.

The wheelchair jammed for a moment. He took a moment and worked with it. The wheels jerked forward, but it was a smooth ride from there.

Arriving at the window, he placed a hand on the smooth glass. Who knew how long he'd be there? How long would he have to wonder what they wanted with him? How long would they have to hold him to get what they wanted?

The door opened again. He turned around in the wheelchair, only to see three more of the humanoids walk in. One had red skin and gray hair. A second had a cerulean color skin and lavender hair. The third had bright pink skin with a silvery-gray color in their hair.

"Greetings, earthling. My name is Xilnos." The red skinned man spoke up. "These are my friends, Yunistein," here he pointed to the one with the cerulean skin, "and Xilhause." Here, he pointed to the one with the pink skin. The names, respectively, were just as odd as the first one. One name was pronounced "Zil-nose". The next seemed to be "Yoon-e-stein". The final name was "Zil-house".