They Walk Among Us

(trying something different. You'll be getting both characters pov, but in 1st person. I'll put who's head we're in at the top of the installment.)

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2011 T.A. Chase

Part Five-

Raven

I waited until the doctor left the room before I climbed off the bed, and went searching for my clothes. I couldn’t be here when Zach got back, just in case he brought those other men with him. I couldn’t be caught. My parents warned me about what would happen if the government ever discovered who and what I was.

My clothes had been stuffed into a plastic bag under the bed, and I stretched to get them out. Thank God, the nurses didn’t cut any of it, and aside from the blood and dirt, they were intact. I tugged them on, grimacing at the feel of the rough fabric on my skin.

Being what I was, my skin was sensitive to the strange items I’d grown up with. One would think after living on Earth for most of my life, I would’ve gotten used to human ways, but I was still the product of my own planet. The people, who took my sister and I in, tried their best to raise us like normal humans. Yet we weren’t, and never would be, normal.

After I stood, I glanced around the room, making sure I didn’t leave anything behind, any clue to who I really was or where I could be found. I didn’t need the government chasing after me. It was bad enough the men who took my sister knew I was following them.

I peeked into the hallway, and spied the nurse’s station that was unoccupied at the moment. Now was the time to leave, yet I hesitated. The image of the doctor rose in my mind. He’d been kind, and understanding about my inability to talk. Zach thought it was because I’d been born mute. In a way I had been, but my vocal cords were actually non-existent.

My people, Opalites the humans called us, had no vocal cords. We used telepathy to communicate, though we couldn’t do that with the inhabitants of Earth. For most of the humans, their brains weren’t advanced enough to learn the Opalite way of talking.

I remembered the curiosity in Zach’s bright blue eyes. He knew there was something different about me, and the scholar inside him wanted to study me. I admitted to myself, being poked and prodded by Zach interested me more than scared me.

Pausing at the doorway, I thought about the sensations I felt when Zach touched me. All my body wished to do was curl up around Zach, and feel his heart beat close to mine. Foolish really, since my parents warned not to trust other humans. They would shove me in a facility and dissect me until I no longer existed in physical form.

I shuddered, not wanting to experience the separation of spirit and body until I was very old. Though I was just a child when we came to Earth, I remembered vividly the moment when my Opalite parents were forced into separating early. All the adults who’d come to Earth on the peace-keeping mission lost their physical form, yet they hadn’t died.

The humans believed they killed my people, but it wasn’t possible to kill us. We simply go back into the environment around us. A few were strong enough to return to our home planet, but most linger still on Earth, trying to find a way home.

I shook the building sadness out of my heart. I couldn’t afford to get emotional over the memory of all those lost spirits, wandering this strange and hostile planet. I needed to get out of the hospital before someone caught me, and put me back in my room.

Yet shouldn’t I leave a note for Zach? At least thank him for being so nice to me, and offering to help me find Rassia. I didn’t need the help, and I didn’t want to bring him into danger. My connection with my sister told me where she was, but I needed to get through all the men holding her captive before I could rescue her. When I had my sister in my arms, I’d shake her for causing me such worry, and fright.

Making up my mind, I went back to the bed, and picked up the pencil and paper. I scribbled my note before tearing the sheet of paper off, and propping it on the pillows. I would never see Zach again, and for some reason that thought made my chest ache.

Foolish because I didn’t really know the doctor, and from what Zach and the nurse said, the good doctor knew a great deal about the Opalites. I couldn’t risk him discovering anything more about me. I hoped he would just think the healing glow he saw was just a trick of the light, though some instinct told me Zach wouldn’t forget.

I controlled a lot of my powers, but at times, when I was in pain or under a great deal of stress, they would take over. My body healed itself without any real thought on my part. My human parents would be furious with me about that.

My thoughts and nerves jumped all over the place, and I needed to calm down. I closed my eyes, and breathed deep, trying to settle everything deep inside. Accomplishing my goals would be impossible if I couldn’t control myself, and as much as I wanted to trust Zach, I couldn’t.

Humans weren’t trustworthy, or at least most humans weren’t. My human parents were the only exception in my mind. My true nature needed to stay hidden from the rest of mankind or I’d end up as an experiment, poked and prodded until I went crazy in a lab hidden somewhere under the ground.

You’re such a drama queen. One of the last things Rassia said to him before she disappeared ran through his mind. She was right about him focusing on all the bad things, instead of thinking about all the good things happening around him.

The best thing to happen to him so far since entering the city was meeting Zach.