Nyx (Complete✅)

Chapter 24

       

   After the groan from the bed, there was a pause, filled with nothing but the silent looks of amazement exchanged between Beth and Liam.

   "Is he going to wake up?" Beth whispered as she inched closer.

   Liam shrugged but said nothing.

   A moment later, there was another groan, and the alien's colorless eyes fluttered open. He looked around in confused shock for a moment, his eyes flickering from the window to Liam, and then to the walls, finally settling on Beth.

   He visibly relaxed at the sight of a familiar face, although he still seemed to be afraid.

   "Are you alright?" Beth asked, stepping just a tad closer. Now that she was back among familiar environments, she was a bit frightened of the strange being.

   The alien's eyes, which had been slowly scanning the room, snapped back to Beth as soon as she spoke. Liam still hadn't said anything, and he was staring in amazement at the alien, who was sitting now.

   Beth stepped cautiously closer. She reached out a hand towards the alien's head, which seemed to be the most injured thing after the fight with the beast back on Nyx. The alien shied away, obvious fear showing on his face.

   Beth pulled her hand back, not wanting to frighten him. She tried to think of a way to communicate with him, but her mind came up blank.

   "How do you think we can tell him that we aren't going to hurt him?" she asked Liam, turning slightly to see him.

   "I have no idea," Liam said in a half-whisper. His eyes were as round as saucers, and he never even broke his unrelenting stare at the alien. He seemed to be having trouble finding words.

   She was about to attempt communication again, but the alien beat her to it. He mumbled a string of words that she could never hope to understand while pointing to various features of the room. He seemed especially fascinated with the window, which was currently looking out on a small nebula. Even Beth was fascinated with the swirling, purplish stars when she'd first seen it, so she didn't blame the alien for his awe. He'd never seen space from anywhere other than the surface of Nyx.

   Liam watched in awe as the alien continued talking, and Beth didn't want to ruin it, so she stayed silent as well.

   As Beth watched, her mouth fell open in surprise when the bloody gash on the side of the alien's face started slowly healing before her eyes. It was like nothing she'd ever seen outside of movies. Liam's amazement was almost tangible.

   Through it all, the alien continued talking, and his nonchalance about his face healing confirmed Beth's theory. The alien had regenerative abilities.

   A few seconds later, the alien stopped talking. "Did you see that?" Liam murmured, almost too quiet to hear. Beth nodded.

   They stayed like that for a while longer, and then Liam's stomach growled. Beth suppressed a giggle.

   "You can go and eat, Liam. I ate when I was still on Nyx." Beth said, pushing Liam in the direction of the door. "You just have to promise not to tell anybody." She added as an afterthought.

   Liam nodded as the door closed. Beth hoped he could keep his mouth closed. She didn't know what would happen if word got out, but she didn't want to find out. It would be better for everyone if no one else knew about the alien, and Beth's adventures on Nyx.

   A couple minutes after Liam had left, Beth started to realize how dirty she was. She didn't know how long she'd been on Nyx, but she knew it was too long to have gone without a shower, especially running around like she'd been.

   She wanted to take a shower and change into clean clothes, but she didn't want to leave the alien unattended, so she just sat there and watched him.

   He got up and walked around the room, touching various objects and running his hands along the wall. When he got to the bedside table, he halted in his exploration. He was staring at the picture of Beth and her family. At length, he picked up the picture, still staring.

   The alien said something that might have been a question, but Beth couldn't understand. He repeated himself, looking at Beth as if asking her to reply.

   "I don't understand what you're saying." She said with a shrug, hoping the alien would understand. But apparently, he didn't, because as he traveled around the room, he continued talking. She couldn't tell if he was asking a question, or if he was just making a comment, but he seemed to think she was able to understand because it seemed he was talking for her benefit.

   As time went on, she began to differentiate between questions and comments, but she still couldn't understand a word he said until she did.

   At first, it was simply recognizing the fact that one or two of the sounds seemed to be repeated more often than others, and it only escalated from there. She began to understand snatches of phrase. Mostly comments on how different this was from Nyx.

   Then the alien stopped talking. She couldn't help but be disappointed, after all, she was learning his language. She knew it was strange, and she also knew that whatever was happening was most likely another side-effect of the serum that they injected her with, but she was getting excited.

   So far, she could teleport, see the future, and now she was learning a new language at an insane rate. It was like she was some sort of superhero or something. She felt like her head would explode by the realization. She just hoped there were no negative things that came with her powers.

   "Is something wrong?" she heard the phrase plain as day. She whipped her head to face the alien. She was sure she'd heard real speech, and it didn't sound any different than English Common.

   "What?" she asked, her eyes wide. Her heart started pounding as she waited for a reply.

   "Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" the alien replied. This time she was sure. She heard English Common. Even the movements of his mouth didn't seem strange.

   "How are you doing that?" she asked, thinking that she was dreaming or something.

   "I am doing something?" the alien raised an eyebrow. Then realization came to his face. He was probably thinking similar thoughts to her own.

   "You're talking in my language. Or maybe I'm talking in yours." Beth said, her voice trailing off at the end.

   "How is that possible?" the alien asked, clearly just as confused, if not more confused, as Beth.

   "I don't know," Beth said. It took her a couple seconds to realize that Liam had been standing in the door for at least a part of her conversation with the alien.

   "Great. Another thing for me to explain that I know nothing about." Beth thought. She didn't have the slightest clue as to how any of this was happening, so how was she supposed to explain it to Liam.

   Liam blinked a couple times, came fully into the room, shut the door, and then shut his gaping mouth.

   "Um... I hate to ask again, but..." he paused for a second, looking back and forth between Beth and the alien. "How?" he finished.