March 1st, 2185 -- 8:35 PM.

  “I’m back!” I call out, entering my own home. No response. “Fi-fi?” I prod. I recheck my phone, just sighing. The chatlog merely has a ‘Last Read -- 1 day ago’.

  I think I went overboard on the emojis again. Fi-fi always said I was a bit emotional when sending texts, but I don’t think there was anything wrong with that. A couple hundred sobbing emojis and a text about ‘yearning for her touch’ is normal!

  Still, it’s been a while since she’s shown up. I lean against the countertop, two cups left on it. They remain next to each other, a red one stained with chai at the tip and the other blue one having a thin -- very thin -- layer of dust. It’s always hard to clean that dusty one. Ignoring it, I take the chai-stained one and fill it up with water. I take long sips, unable to take my eyes off of the blue one. Setting down my own, I pick the dusty thing up and place it in the dishwasher. “Better to leave it clean, right?” I monologue.

  I miss you, Fi-fi. I miss the way you’d hold me by my head, pin me to the office wall and hold me by the throat. The way your pink lipstick glistened as you leaned in for a kiss and had your tongue reach into the back of my throat.

  What is this malaise though?

  I stumble on my feet, clutching at my head. I... who am I? Why can’t I fully remember? This feels familiar, I just need to focus, and...

  Right, I’m Zabrina. Zabrina Lova. Currently age 25, young, and paying off a mortgage. I certainly didn’t spend the last few hours in an acid bath, just a coma.

  Except I knew what I smelled and felt; that was acid burning my skin off. I glance over to my ankle, completely fine. There’s no pain. Even when I unzip my jacket, there’s still no damage; my chest and stomach areas are completely fine -- but my shirt is still torn up. I know I didn’t hallucinate those events, so what’s the reason? Why am I still alive?

  And what’s with this headache I have right now? I can hardly think about eating at this rate, I think I’ll take a quick nap. I stumble over to my bedroom and crash down against the soft mattress cushioning me. The pillow under my head takes me to a soft sleep as I close my eyes, unable to fight the lull anymore.

  “Blasted rodent!” Huh? What's that voice?

  “Fi-fi?” I murmur. I stir, opening my eyes as I get out of my bed.

  This isn’t my bed.

  I stand up and look back, gasping as I notice a bright resteel frame. The dull grey metal matches the walls of this room and is certainly not the same blue-painted drywall from my own home.

  Without thinking too hard, I pinch my cheek; there’s no pain.

  “Great,” I note, “I can’t feel pain, so this probably is a coma.

  “...

  “Hang on, did my voice change?” My hands reach for my throat, but I let go; there’s no point strangling myself in a ‘vision’ right now. I’ll process the whole ‘speaking Not English’ thing later.

  I walk towards the door, opening to a large control room. There’s no one here, despite how loud the voice was.

  My hands appear to be normal, human shaped; unless I’m hallucinating in a dream, I’m probably not that ‘rodent’ that other voice was talking about.

  I continue to step forward, the cameras swivelling at my arrival. Bit nervous but with nothing else to do, I continue to walk forward. There’s a hallway on my left that I walk down, doors decorated with various symbols. They aren’t English letters nor are they from any language; but I can still understand them.

  One’s just labeled ‘Core Reserves’, another adjacent to it ‘Anti-Delta Measures’. ... Sorry, Delta? The Greek letter Delta? How did those letters get translated like that?

  Either way, there remains the one door with an odd blue light pulsing beneath the door. On its door was some label that gives me a headache when looking at it. It’s just some series of numbers and letters, like a barcode. I open the door, seeing some deep-blue skinned person in a black lab coat madly cackle. Other than the skin and the antenna on her head, she’s oddly humanoid. I say ‘she’ considering her presence of breasts – like most mammals –, but it’s always possible that the males are the ones with teats for this species. “At long last!” she exclaims in that voice I shouldn’t recognize. Placing her hand on some tube, she adds, “This will be the thing to put you down!” She turns around and walks towards me, phasing right through and to the other side; I’m left all alone with this new contraption.

  I creep forward, placing my hand on the tube illuminated by blue light. This time, it doesn’t phase through. I’m able to feel the cool glass, seeing bubbles on the other side as a red embryo continues to grow. Is this some incubator? If so, what is this organism supposed to be? “Just what do you grow into?”

  Though the whole ground begins to shake -- crap, why now?! I run to the door and shove it open, hand phasing through the knob. I start to pound, only to miss as my fist hits air -- I’m left stumbling to the other side. Why are the laws of physics so fickle?

  Either way, I brush myself off, noticing that mad scientist from before walking away. I follow her, unsure of what else to do. As it turns out, she pauses when she reaches that control room. I happen to glance into her eyes, or rather, the bright red glass goggles that currently cover them. “Are you ready, Delta?” she asserts, slamming her hands down on the panel. “Prepare to be extinguished at last, you little-”

  The voice gets cut off as I keel over, pain throbbing in my head. The surroundings tear apart, the scientist not noticing as she vanishes within the bright blue aether.

  What the heck was that?!

  Wait, her face is coming into vision.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “So,” it starts, seeming to stare directly at me. “You’re my successor then?” Her what? I open my mouth, only for her to roll her eyes. “And slack-mouthed, I see. No matter! I will simply take over, and-”

  Wait wait wait, what the heck is my mind conjuring?! This is all just some hallucination? Besides, that scientist! I’ve seen her in some bad sci-fi flick, right? Which one was that… Planet 53? Renomorph?

  “LISTEN TO ME,” It demands, snapping me back into focus. “Good.”

  “Get out of my head,” I growl, pausing as I don’t recognize the sound again. That was anger? I was angry?

  “Bah! I have the patience to wait. In the meantime, await future orders. Go get your affairs in order, something like that.”

  “Wait!” I call out, only for the dream to collapse and to start falling.

  Why is it so hot right now?

  What is the square root of pi?

  If not supposed to date girl, then why girl hot?

  “Unggggggggh” I groan, slapping at my bedrest. The sun shines into my eyes and I blink, trying to get it out of my mind. I stretch, popping a shoulder. When did my muscles feel so sore? I start to get out of my bed, remembering my own torn shirt.

  Baby steps first, Zabrina. I take it off and change into a new one, throwing the old one onto my bed. I’ll figure out what I’ll do with it later; someone could probably turn it into a cute crop-top or something. Oh, what I wouldn’t do to have Fi-fi dress in one…

  Come to think of it, what time is it? I don’t feel very hungry, so it’s probably early morning. I chuckle to myself; at the very least, that’d be a good excuse to do [Prayer] Fajr in the morning. I open my phone, noting the time.

  “8:21 AM?!” How did I sleep so long?! Ok, whatever, Ammu and Abbu are probably screaming. Without thinking further, I dial their number. “C’mon c’mon,” I start, waiting for them to respond. They pick up almost instantly and I wince in preparation. “Hey-”

  “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Ammu screams through the receiver. “You haven’t contacted us since last night, do you know how scared we were?!”

  “It was just a night,” I say, flapping my hand aside. Yeah, that’s still on me,

  “IT’S BEEN THREE DAYS!” What?

  “Come again?”

  “It’s March 4th!” I WAS IN A COMA FOR THREE DAYS?!

  “Aaaa, I-was-out-with-a-man!” I blurt out.

  Oh, that was possibly the worst thing I could have said.

  There’s just a sigh. “Zabrina Lova. What did we say about men?”

  “I’m 25,” I groan. “I don’t need you to intervene on behalf of my love life.”

  “Zabrina.”

  “Only other Muslims, no drinks, no drugs, and no gang symbols.”

  There’s a short laugh on the other end: “Gang symbols?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Pahaha! Ok, but Zabrina? Are you really ok?”

  “Yes,” I gruffly answer. Why is she being so insistent on this? I’ll call her when I’ll call her. She just needs to be patient, and- Snap out of it, she’s obviously concerned. Who wouldn’t?

  “If you have anything you want to say, you only need to say it.”

  “Yeah, I…” I could tell her about Fi-fi, right? That wouldn’t be a bad idea, telling them I have a girlfriend.

  Yet, I can hear Fi-fi’s voice whispering in my head:

  “Remember, they’re old and traditional. Best case scenario, they’re going to tolerate you the same way a right-winger would at the Thanksgiving party. Worst case, they’re going to disown you.”

  Yeah, that could happen. That could happen.

  “Zabrina?”

  “Nothing!” I quickly answer. “Nothing’s wrong! Just had a bad few nights, I guess. You know how I am, just a bit of a workaholic, haha. Applying and submitting before my deadline-” FUCK, MY DEADLINE! “Actually, I just remembered I have something to deal with. Talk to you later, ok?”

  There’s a pause, then a claim: “If you’re worried, you’re always welcome with us.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I hang up, then sigh. I look over at the pillow I hug while Fi-fi’s gone. “Do you think they wouldn’t just disown me?” I ask. “I should come out, but I couldn’t handle it… they did everything for me. They got me this college, this job, everything. I have to give back to them. It’s the right thing to do.”

  …

  Urgh, that deadline though. If it’s Monday, then it’s already passed. Crap, no more funding, so no more guard patrols. Great… that means I’m going to need to find other ways to pay off this ongoing mortgage and all the other expenses. At the very least, I’ll have a job and could maybe join another team as a research assistant. Still, if I do find something, then I couldn’t report it, right?

  I reach under my bed, finding a small framed butterfly. I wanted to hang it on the wall, but Fi-fi put up all those posters of her favorite girl bands in this room. And some other stuff, saying that this would conflict. I guess I can see it; who’d want to see some gaudy aquamarine crystalline wings in the living room?

  Still, it’s a good memory. I wipe my hand over it, clearing over a thin layer of dust. I remember dissecting this thing for a biology class, later framing it. Jonah and Ammu always were creeped out by it, but I liked it well enough; I could lose several hours just staring into its wings and seeing how my face could be seen with different shapes. It’s funny how this butterfly affected me to create a butterfly effect, obsessing over little things.

  What I wouldn’t give to be one of those researchers, finding something new; that thrill of discovery, it’s something those Hunters don’t understand. It’s something this capitalistic society doesn’t understand. They see money and value, not caring for the process. They’ll burn down a forest to create a diamond.

  Well, enough philosophizing.

  I get up, tucking the portrait away. It’s time to make breakfast anyhow. I look back at the bed, only now noticing the massive sweat stains all over the bedsheets. Geez, was I always that bad?

  “Allah, please make that easy to clean,” I beg.

  Then, the stove clicks on. Oh, that must be…

  “FI-FI!” I call out, stammering to open the door. I shove it open quickly; the knob slams into the wall as I burst out. “I’m here, and…” I pause.

  It wasn’t Fi-fi.

  There are little gremlins the size of toddlers in my home.

  WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY HOME?! How did they even get here?!

  I madly laugh, feeling my head go numb. Whatever, this is just a dream. I rub my eyes, trying to clear them up. I then feel something nudge at my leg, as I pause. I look, seeing one of the little things grabbing onto it. One with a rose red hue and skin like a plant leaf, clutching at my pajama leg.

  “Ma-ma?” it toots with the little snout on its head, tilting its head. Its beady eyes continue to stare at me, as we keep making eye contact. I don’t know what’s going through its head, but I want to know what the heck this thing is. “Ma-ma!” it repeats, seeming to cheer.

  “get off get off get off!” I scream, kicking it off my leg and sending it pinballing on the wall. It ricochets for a few minutes, continuing to bounce onto the ceiling before it lands head first into a door. I pant, slapping myself and feeling the sting burn me. This is reality, somehow. The other things look at me, staring back at a person who kicked one of their own. Some are red, others are blue, rest are yellow, and I’m being harassed in my own hollow.

  “Ma-ma!” “Ma-ma!” “Ma-ma!” they all chant, slowly approaching me like some fanatic cult. I step backwards, only for them to repeat the mantra “Ma-ma!” as they get closer.

  I dash back into my room, shutting the door behind me and gasping for breath. The heck were those things?! Am I going mad?! Why won’t I wake up already?!