Read Online When Aliens Weep by J. K. Accinni - Free Book Online Page A

had returned to the man. Ineptly, she tried to cradle water to his mouth after locating his nose.
    “Easy . . . easy.” As the man insatiably lapped the water, it spilled all over her lap, further chilling her. Guttural sounds fermented deep in his throat, scaring her. She set the food and water down and carefully moved away, back to the security of the wall. She listened as the man continued to consume her supplies. The noise finally stopped with a sigh.
    He cleared his throat, his voice low and dejected. “I . . . I’m sorry . . . please don’t judge me by this. I’ve been through hell. I’m just . . . just not myself.”
    She sat silently weighing a response. She thought she heard a sob, melting some of her caution. She desperately needed an ally. Inching forward, she moved back to the man.
    “Who are you?” she asked eagerly. “Where are you from? Have you been here long? Can you tell me your name?” Her questions were met with silence. A minute ticked by and Ginger Mae began to doubt her chances of finding help from this man. She gave him a nudge with her foot, hitting what appeared to be his bandaged wrapped arm and getting a sudden scream for her efforts.
    She quickly sat down. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I can’t see.” The screaming subsided to a low moaning.
    “They took my hand. They took it . . .”
    She recoiled in horror. “They took your hand?” The thought left her speechless. His groaning turned to a whimpering as he spilled out some of his story.
    “I don’t know where I am or how I got here.” Sobbing between his sentences, he made it clear how useless he would be. “I can’t see either. I’ve had this bandage on my eyes as long as I can remember. They . . . they came for my hand a day or so ago.”
    She remembered the strange sounds she’d heard as if in a dream. “I’m so confused. I thought I was alone here. Do you remember when I was brought in?”
    Her hands began to roam carefully over his face. She felt the bandages on his eyes. “I have the same bandages. I seem to recall I had problems seeing when they brought me here. Then I had . . . I think . . . a dream or something and when I woke up, I had these.” She felt her loosening bandages.
    “I don’t know when you came in. I was in pretty bad shape. Vomiting . . . so sick.” His voice was getting stronger.
    “Yeah . . . me too. And the smell made me sicker. Did you smell it, too? Like something bad was burning?”
    “Yeah. I get a creepy feeling of dread when I smell it. It usually means they’re going to take me. It’s never a good thing.”
    She sat in the dark and examined his voice with her ears. His tones were friendly but confused. His crying had stopped and he seemed more rational now. She needed more information. Much more.
    “You haven’t answered me. Where are you from? Who are you?” These seemed to be the wrong questions to ask as he clammed up again. “Can’t you answer me? What’s the big deal? I’m not going to do anything to you, for Pete’s sake. I can hardly walk as it is.”
    He finally broke his silence. “It’s not that. I just . . . just . . . don’t know .”
    “Just don’t know what ?”
    “I don’t know who I am or what I’m doing here, where I’m from. I can’t remember anything.”
    “ Are you kidding me? How can that be?” Oh . . . my . . . God . She stopped cold, goose bumps crawling up her back. She reacted as if hit by a steam shovel. Overtaken by a bottomless fright she realized she didn’t know her own name, or where she was from either. She’d been so preoccupied with what was happening to her she hadn’t even realized. She remembered thinking she needed to get back to . . . to where? Her insides began to crawl, snakes making tracks inside her where her confidence used to be. Who am I? I know I’m me but . . . who am I?
    “You okay?” the man asked. She shook her head, trying to clear the feelings of abandonment that overtook