14

Oct 29, Sunday, 4:30 P.M.

    Chelsea had spent eight full days locked in her cruel window prison.

    The voice surrounding her had never ceased speaking and she wondered if it wasn't real.  Maybe it was some figment of her imagination and she was slowly losing her mind.

    But she heard her even while she slept, which was very little considering her living quarters.

    There was no furniture but the floor was carpeted with some squishy rug.  Everything Chelsea saw freaked her out and she wondered if it was possibly all alive.  Anything could be possible.

    She slept about three to five hours every time she was tired 

enough, but no dreams came to her—nothing to fill her mind with other thoughts than the thought of her ex-best friend, Ian.  Talking to the female voice helped some, but she usually redirected their conversations toward Ian, and then Chelsea stopped talking. 

    As she awoke that afternoon she said a prayer and then moved to her usual spot by the window.

    Every day around noon, guards would come bearing enough food for Chelsea to make it through the rest of the day.  This is how she kept time.  

    Chelsea broke into her food box and pulled out what seemed to be a floppy PB and J sandwich.  She had noticed how the Vallorians had tried to recreate food from Earth, probably to make her feel more at home.

    It wasn't working.

    She bit into her sandwich and immediately retched.  The jelly, if it was jelly, they had used was sour and almost burnt her tongue.  But her stomach told her to eat, so Chelsea shoved the rest of the sandwich down.

    "It seems you have grown to like our food," said the voice. "That retching sound is a sound of pleasure, right?"

    Chelsea wanted to correct her but thought it best not to bite the hand that fed her.  Whoever the voice was, she was associated with the Vallorians in some way and could communicate with them.

    "How much longer will I be here?" Chelsea asked.

    "Not much longer," said the voice.

    "That is what you said three days ago.  Just tell me the truth"

    "Well, what are you going to do if I don't tell you the truth?  Break out?"

   Chelsea mumbled to herself and sat back down, sipping water from the metal container that had come with her food.  The water was the one thing she enjoyed about her food box.  It must have been some sort of mineral water with plenty of electrolytes because every time she drank it she felt much more awake and alert.

    Sleep was forgotten until about two hours later.  

    Every day went like that until an alarm sounded far in the distance on Chelsea's tenth day in prison.  She bolted towards the door and listened.  She could hear Vallorian's calling to each other in their gibberish language.

    The voice called to her, "Step away from the door."

    "Well, what are you going to do if I don't?  Grab me?" Chelsea taunted, not moving an inch.

    Suddenly, arms grabbed Chelsea and pulled her away from the

door.  She gasped and kicked as a hand with long blue fingers covered her eyes.

    "Sit down and sleep," said the voice.

    Chelsea's eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep.

_________________________________________________________

    Ian put his hands out and groped around for anything in the pitch-black darkness.  Anything but his freaky glob father.

    Why did he always get stuck with bad luck?

    His father was an alien who had branded his son for life.

    Not to mention he had no eyes and resembled a stress ball.

    "I know it's hard," said the voice of the blob as if he had read Ian's mind. "But do you know what finding you means to me?"

    "What?" Ian asked, gaining his voice.

    "It means that you can help us take back our homeland.  This

beautiful planet once teemed with Glorbs.  And its name was much more beautiful than Vallor."

    "Lemme guess, it was called Glorbia," Ian said sarcastically.

    "How'd you know?  Well, it sounds better when it's spoken in our language. Grypzhlehumph."

    "Weird," Ian said under his breath. "And how am I supposed to help you?"

    "You are not affected by the Vallorians as my kind are.  And you can be our shield.

    "All you need to do is find a way to get up into Vallor's atmosphere and then break the shield that the Vallorians built to keep us out.  Then, with all our people, we can destroy the aliens and retake our homeland."

    Ian laughed inside at the thought of aliens calling each other

aliens.  "That sounds like a silly plan . . .  what's your name?"

    "Bob," said the Glorb. "It's a fashionable name among male Glorbs."

    Ian almost laughed aloud this time.  He was stranded on an alien planet that smelled like pizza, his father was 1 foot tall and squishy, and his name was Bob.  

    He was losing his mind.

15

Nov 2, Thursday, 3:45 A.M.

    Bob had run over the plan with him for the thousandth time.  Ian nodded along as his father checked every last detail.  

    They were crawling through a smaller vent.  Well, Ian was crawling, Bob was rolling comfortably along.  

    "Are you prepared to do this great deed and save your people from destruction?"

    Ian shook his head up and down but made a mental note to save Chelsea before he let the Glorbs in.  They could accidentally kill her, thinking she's an enemy.

    Then they could all escape and find Olivie and Sasha, as long as they hadn't been captured as well.