Untitled Story

Silence had fallen upon the room the same way a smiths hammer fell upon an anvil, hard and without mercy. It spread across the room but their expressions did not change. They eagerly awaited Bryans answer. To sit or not to sit, that was the question.

Everything that he had been taught at school, all those shows that he had watched as a kid, the stories his grandparents used to tell him, the stories they made up as kids. It finally made sense, either all of it was real or nothing was. Bryan finally had an answer.

His eyes were fixated upon an unknown being that sat at the head of the table, his mouth open wide.

"Well, what'll it be mate? We haven't got a whole night, matter fact, we've only got two more hours left with our buddy here. So decide now, are you going to take a seat or is Krylgos going to have to wipe your memory?" One of his housemates broke the silence. It was none other than Mortimer.

What he had just heard added fear to the already bad situation. Bryan did not want to loose his memory but he did not want to talk with that being either. Faced with such a dilemma, he decided to cave in and take a seat. Bryan slowly approached the table all the while his housemates and the unknown guest were watching him which in turn made the situation even weirder.

As he sat down, Mortimer slapped his shoulder in approval. "Wise choice! You're not going to believe what types of things you can hear from Krylgos, but for now I advise you to keep silent. He was in the middle of a story." Then Mortimer turned towards Krylgos and nodded while showing him some kind of hand sign.

Bryan had no idea what that was supposed to mean but he went on with it. Just for the alien to point something at him and make him loose consciousness. He sprang up from the chair and inhaled erratically. Everything was the way he remembered it, Mortimer to his left, Eve to his right, and at the head of the table, an alien called Krylgos.

At first Bryan thought that he was dreaming. He burst into laughter which in turn confused everyone at the table. When he saw their reactions, he quickly pinched his skin as hard as he could and not soon after regretted that decision. If it hadn't been painfully obvious before, now it was, he was wide awake and a proud owner of a nasty upcoming bruise on his left underarm.

"Okay, I'm not going to judge, let's just start over." Eve tapped him on the shoulder offering him her most sincere smile. "This guy here is Krylgos as we've said and you would be surprised how similar his planet is to ours." Eve smiled again. "But you know what, I'm going to let him explain everything. That's for the best anyway." She then turned towards Krylgos who bowed and looked straight at Bryan.

"Not again!" Bryan panicked and covered himself with his hands and yet again he was met with an unexpected reaction. When he had opened his eyes, Krylgos just stood there with his hand opened towards him. Clearly the alien had offered a formal handshake and when Bryan realized that he felt ashamed even though he had every right to doubt Krylgos's actions.

Bryan knew what he was getting into when he chose to sit down with them, or at least he told himself that he did, and decided to play fair by offering a hand back. They shook hands and Krylgos contorted his face to express something that could only be described a s half smile. Bryan was already thrown aback by their handshake because the aliens hands were all slimy and soft so he felt like he was petting a Sphynx. When all the pleasantries were exchanged and they sat down, Krylgos pulled out a device that looked like a hearing aid from a human's perspective. Knowing that any questions or objections would only prolong the situation and make him look like a bad host, Bryan just accepted the device. It was incredibly hard for him to take it, much more so to put it in his ear.

It was reassuring that Eve and Mortimer already had their pieces in, so with a degree of hesitation, Bryan managed to force himself to put them in. At that moment he felt something latching onto his eardrum. He clenched his teeth from the pain and before it could do any more damage he forcefully pulled it out.

"Ugh God! What the hell was that!? Are you guys insane? Did that not hurt you at all?" Bryan started firing on all cylinders and asking every single thing that came to his mind. His left ear was left buzzing and when he pressed his finger against the opening he felt something wet. When he looked at his finger again, he saw blood and as each minute passed his hearing was becoming worse. "Are you even listening to me?! What has gotten into you!" The moment he asked that question everything clicked.

The writhing of Krylgos's "translation device" on the table, the bland stares from his roommates, and finally a look on the aliens face that could only be explained as menacing. Bryan finally snapped, he lunged towards Mortimer first since he was closer to him and yanked the device out of his ear. Mortimer screamed in pain and looked at him like he was going to kill him. Bryan was happy seeing that face again, he had freed his buddy and temporary pain was not something he was concerned with.

Krylgos stood up and revealed his true figure. He was a tad bit taller than their ceiling and had to slouch down. Before the alien could react, Bryan grabbed Mortimer and Eve who still had her "translation device" and rushed them onto the first floor. He had bought some time and the first thing he did was pull Eve out of that possession. This time he had been gentler and managed to pull it out without hurting her. Mortimer stood at the door and kept watch with a metal baseball bat that he had taken as a weapon.

"Listen man, you've got some explaining to do. I have no idea what that thing is but as far as I can see its not happy." Mortimer said sternly and Bryan stood there in disbelief.

"Me? You want me to explain what the hell that abomination is?! As far as I'm concerned both of you are at fault for this, when I came down you were already wining and dining with that thing! So don't give me that bullsh*t." Bryan managed to spew it out angrily while trying to wake Eve up. When he had pulled it out of her ear she fell unconscious. Their battle was only at the beginning.