The Oddities Of Grand Marquis - Book 1: Galactic Seed 🪼✔

First

It felt like forever since I had had a proper night's sleep. No prodding, no talking, no bright lights and no groggy sedatives. This was a good, natural sleep. I opened my eyes and saw that wherever I was was dark, but there were various blinking lights and a beeping noise. I breathed in and felt the breathing tube in my nose and also the IV line in my arm. I wasn't really happy about the IV line but I knew that here it was okay. They were just giving me fluids to help me live, not to do something strange to me. My throat was sore and dry and I really wanted to brush my teeth. I felt like it smelled like a bucket of anchovies or something since I wasn't really allowed to do much of anything while I was where I was. Well... I was either in too much pain or I was drugged so much I couldn't move to do whatever I needed.
I moved my arm to find something when I felt something next to it and a head shot up quickly beside me.
"Max?" my father said, looking at me through bleary eyes of sleep.
I smiled a little as he reached over and put his glasses back on as well as turning on the light above me. I slightly hissed at the bright light in my face again but I turned to look at my dad. His green eyes were brimming with tears and he reached out to me. I involuntarily moved my face away from him and his face fell, crestfallen.
"I won't hurt you, Max."
"I know..." I croaked. "I didn't mean to do that."
"Do you want some water?" I nodded. He poured a little from a pitcher and he handed the cup to me. "You've been sleeping for about a day and a half. We thought you'd never wake up."
I sipped the nice, cool water and reveled in washing my mouth out. I leaned back and realized I had pillows behind me and smiled.
"Why am I at the hospital?" I asked slowly.
Dad looked at me in confusion. "Do you not remember how you came back?"
I thought for a moment and realized I didn't remember anything about how I got back home or what happened right before it. I just remember hearing suddenly hearing my mom talking and my dad wrap his arms around me. When he put his arms around me, I immediately knew that he was my father and I was determined not to be taken away from him. I clung to him like a koala and after that, I blacked out.
"I don't remember much... just mom and you and someone tried to take me away..."
"That was the nurse trying to put you on the gurney to get you to a room. You were kind of out of it and you almost broke my arm from holding it so tightly."
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry at all... Max, we found you walking on the side of the road, naked and shivering. It looked like you were walking home... Max, where did you go? Why did you go?"
I turned away. He'd never believe me. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen what was going on.
"I can't tell you... if I do, you'll think I'm crazy."
"No I won't-"
"Seriously, Dad... it's crazy and I only believe it myself because I was there but..." I suddenly realized Mom wasn't there. "Wh-where's Mom?"
"They wouldn't let her off work to come and be here. I switched my schedule around to work at nights so I could be here in the day and your mom at night. She's so anxious to get back to you. She texts me every 30 minutes to see if you're okay. Don't worry, she didn't forget about you."
I smiled as the door opened and a nurse walked in.
"Well, look who's up and at 'em? We were worried about you for a while, Max."
I nodded and she pushes a small cart towards me.
"I'm just going to take your vitals and now that you're awake, the doctor can take a better look at you."
She does all of her preliminary things, Dad holding my other hand as I squeezed his, and she smiled.
"Your blood pressure is a little high but I can tell you're still a bit stressed from whatever happened. Is it alright if I take a blood sample?"
I nodded and squeezed Dad's hand even tighter as she took the blood sample. I knew she wasn't like them but the fear of her using me was still there. She took only one vial and removed the syringe.
"I'll have to come and get some more later, but I fear I may be stressing your son out a little too much."
Dad looked over my shoulder and frowned.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Y-yeah..."
"I'll let the doctor know you're awake so he can go over some things he found while you were unconscious as well as get a better look and explanation of some things."
She left and I relaxed, physically sinking into my pillow. Dad pat my hand.
"You did good, son."
The door opened again and a man walked in with a clipboard. He looked up from the clipboard and smiled at me.
"Welcome back, Max Taylor. You passed out and we thought we'd never get you up. How are you feeling?"
"Groggy and I really want to brush my teeth... and take a shower..."
"After we go over your chart I will be happy to oblige that to you. We had to keep you somewhat 'dirty' so that anything and everything would be available to us and not washed away."
"I get it."
"That being said, and I hate to put this bluntly, but the good thing is that we saw no signs of sexual assault. That being said, though, since you have been missing for a few months, if there wasn't an ongoing thing then we would have little evidence... Did you experience any type of sexual assault while you were away?"
It was a loaded question but wracking my brain, I don't remember anyone ever doing anything to me in my nether region.
"No... I don't think so."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Taylor, can you step out for just a moment?"
"Why?" my dad growled.
"It's only for a moment."
Dad made a face and I began to panic at his leaving. He shut the door and the doctor looked at me seriously.
"I want you to answer me honestly, Max. Your dad's not here and you don't have to be afraid. I'm going to ask you one last time: did you experience any type of sexual assault while you were away?"
"No, I don't really think so. Everything's kind of blurry about what happened but I don't remember any of that happening. I swear."
"Alright. I'll call your dad back in."
Dad walked back in, looking kind of pissed off, but he came back to the bed and I relaxed.
"I apologize for that, Mr. Taylor, it's standard procedure." Dad nodded. "We looked over the rest of your body and found some scratches but there was a lot of bruising on your stomach. Did you get physically assaulted a lot?"
"Um, I know I fought with them all the time but they never hit me or anything. They usually had a hard grip on my extremities so I often ended up with bruises on my arms and legs and such but that's about it."
"You say 'them'. Who are they? Did you recognize them?"
Did I recognize them? What a stupid ass question... but to tell them that truth would only make me look like a lunatic. I looked away.
"No... I didn't know them. I don't know who they were or why they wanted me."
"I see... Do you remember how you got back home?"
"No. I just remember hearing my mom and then feeling my dad's arms around me and that was all."
"And one last question: do we have permission to get an ultrasound of your stomach?"
"An ultrasound?" Dad and I said at the same time.
"Yes. It's common to do an x-ray to see if any bones have been broken or fractured and we noticed a strange mass in your stomach. We wanted to ask just in case it was something that was already there; although your records don't indicate anything."
"Um..." I looked at dad.
"Yes. That would be fine."
"Great! We'll call the sonographer to come and take a look. You'll have to stay in the hospital for a couple more days for monitoring but once we have the results from the sonographer and if everything is fine, you'll be able to leave."
"Okay..."
"Now, if you want, we can have a nurse drop in to check on you if Dad wants to pick you up a few things and get you all freshened up. I'm sure you would like a bath and freshen up."
I smiled as he left and Dad smiled at me too.
"Will you be alright for a little bit while I go and get those things for you?"
"Yeah."
Dad left and although I knew he'd be back and I knew I allowed him to leave, I felt fear and anxiety overtake me. I turned over in the bed and curled in on myself, hoping no one would come near me. Without my parents, it was just like it was with them, except the people were a little kinder and actually spoke English and were here to help me. Either way, the situation was the same and I was still alone.

*************************************

I felt someone touch my shoulder and I jerked, almost pulling the line from my hand. Mom jumped and I brightened at seeing her face.
"Mom..."
"Your father told me you were awake so I rushed down here during my lunch break. I'm so sorry I couldn't be with you all this time. My work isn't being so accommodating to the fact that my missing son has returned."
I didn't really say anything, just so happy to see my mom again. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me to hug her. I wanted to feel her arms around me, I wanted her to hold me and say everything was going to be alright. I wanted to feel loved. Mom never failed me in that regard and the little things she used to do that embarrassed me in front of my friends or made me roll my eyes at her sentimentality is exactly what I wanted and what I craved. She kissed my temples and ran her dainty fingers in my hair (that needed to be cut) and squeezed me until I felt like I was going to pass out. I was okay with that... I wanted it...
"Oh, my baby..." she said softly and I lost it.
I started crying and she held me tighter, rocking back and forth with me. I missed her so much... I missed my family...
"It's alright, Max, we're right here. You don't need to worry about anything anymore."
"I thought I'd never see you guys again!"
"I know, honey... we didn't think we'd ever see you either... Sweetie, where did you go? Why did you leave?"
"I didn't want to! I swear... I didn't want to go but I had no choice."
Mom pulled back from me and I sniffled, wiping my tears. She wiped some away as well as she got a more serious look.
"Who took you?"
"I can't tell you. If I tell you then you'll just think I'm crazy."
"Max, you can always come to me. Even if you think it's completely out of this world, you can always come to me."
"That... that's just it, Mom... it was out of this world." I braced myself for the truth that I had to tell her. "Mom... I got abducted by aliens."