Abduction

Laura Nettles

Pure light engulfed Harold. A pulsing in his ears drove him to his knees, vertigo assaulting him. Where was the ground? He was falling, but not landing. Head over heals, knees over elbows, crown over tailbone. Insides over outsides.

Bang! His side slammed into something solid, unyielding and cold. He was laying down. Finally.

Chitter, chitter. Click. Chitter.

“What?” Harold asked groggily, opening his eyes now that the all encompassing, blinding light had faded to a more natural, mid-day intensity. Was he having a hangover?

Large, bug-like creatures were leaning over him, examining his face. Had he been drugged?

Click, chitter, click.

One mantis type creature pushed one of the many buttons on its plated armband. Harold was once again weightless, now floating at thorax height. His brains slowly stopped swimming around his scrambled head. “Where am I? Who are you? What are you doing?” he asked, unsure if they would even understand him. “Please, let me go. I want to go home.” Tears came unbidden to the corners of his eyes, and slid down the sides of his face into his ears. It was uncomfortable to hear the saline enter and creep towards his eardrums.  More tears welled against his will, compounding the problem.

Chitter.

His clothes disintegrated, ashes falling to the metal flooring, only to be swept away by a small electronic contraption.

Click.

Harold was let down onto a bed of some sort, but his skin stuck to it. It was molded out of some type of viscous, yellow sap. He sank into it. An inch. Two inches. The yellow substance crawled up the sides of his face.

Chitter, click, click.

Harold’s body went rigid. All non-essential muscle function seemed to have been turned off. He could not close his eyes. The world tinted amber as his eyes were slowly encased, his nose sealed. It oozed down his nostrils towards the thin plate protecting his brain. His breathing brought the substance into his airways, coating the finger-like membranes lining his lungs.

No more air.

There was nothing he could do, vision darkening. The last sight imprinting on his retinas: grinning insectoids chittering in laughter.