Page 16 of Fathom

I peeled off the edge of the bandaid on one of my feet to see pink, fresh skin where raw slices had been. I smoothed it back down and felt a little better about eating random food. Their topical first aid cream was better than anything I knew about on Earth, so that was another good sign.

I walked out into the hallway to see a shiny, bipedal, iridescent alien who was my height coming down the hallway towards me. It stopped and tilted its head as it looked at me, tapping its rounded fingernails on the scales on one of its other four arms. I stared back at it, taking in the sight of it. It had two large eyes with long eyelashes, and high cheekbones just under those eyes, framing them like saucers. It had a narrow mouth with flat teeth, which it displayed to me as it stretched it wide, in what could have been a smile if our cultures were similar. That I didn't know just yet. It had small scales that shimmered like an oil slick minus the oil, but it didn't look like a lizard like that other one; its head was wider and more cat-like. It had small feathery-like appendages coming out of the back of its head.

It was downright beautiful, in an ethereal alien sort of way.

It said something to me in a chirping voice. The words were the same as Eun's, but instead of the rumbling tones, they had a higher, shimmering sound, with a vibrato to add the same wiggling tone to the words.

"I don't speak," I said in its language, hoping the words I was saying meant what I thought they did.

"Eun?" It asked, pointing at Eun's door.

"Yes, Eun," I agreed, nodding.

The alien tapped its fingernails on its arms again and mimicked my nod. "Yes," it said, nodding again.

"Yes," I nodded again.

The alien put its hand on its chest. It was wearing a gauzy fabric that looked like a nightdress to me, and I resisted the urge to reach out and feel the fabric to see if I could identify it. "I am Abby," it said in its own language.

"Hi Abby, I'm Leija," I said, putting my hand on my chest when I said my name.

"You're welcome for the..." Abby chirped several other words at me, her hand reaching out to tweak the baggy clothing I was wearing, and then breezed into the bathroom behind me, not waiting for a response. She was the one who had given me the clothes.

I headed back to Eun's room, and when I stepped back into the room, I found Eun already in his corner, curling into his familiar spot on the floor. He was going to sleep on the floor again, giving me the bed.

I couldn't keep taking from him. I needed this to make both of us feel good. It would be more sustainable if I wasn't causing him discomfort by simply being there.

“No,” I said in his language. I hung up his jacket on a hook near the door, then I grabbed the pillow off the bed. It was big enough for me to curl up on.

“I can,” I inserted the words I now knew of his language in between my own. “Sleep on this. You can have the bed.”

He shook his head, saying something that included the words you and bed.

I grabbed his hand, and his entire body tensed. I paused, but his tail slid out to wrap around my wrist, affectionate and comforting. I took that as a positive sign, so I didn't let go. He got up off the floor and let me lead him over to the bed. I pushed on him, trying to push him onto it, and he let out a soft rumble, but sat down on the bed anyway. I turned with the pillow in my arms to put it on the floor, but he snatched it out of my grip. He put it at the head of the bed behind him.

“No, I need that,” I said, frustrated that he wasn't understanding, but it was out of my reach.

I climbed up on the bed after it, half climbing over his lap as I reached for the pillow behind him.

He made a strange sound, and then his arms were around me, and he was lying down, dragging me along next to him as he cradled me in his arms. I froze for a second, my heart pounding in my ears. He was so large, his arm so muscular as he held me. His scent wafted over me, and I relaxed, feeling his heat seeping into me. Eun wasn't going to hurt me. He was going out of his way to take care of me, a random alien that he had saved off the street. He had no obligation to help me, nor had he asked me for anything. He was a good guy, alien, or whatever. I probably was a weird little creature to him, and he was grabbing me and holding me because of some specific cultural faux pas I didn't understand. I felt the soft touch of his tail wrapping around my ankle.

I felt so safe.

Until he growled.

SIX

EUN

This wasn’t safe at all.

It had been so long.

I thought I was through the worst of it, that I was at the point where I could control it. Even though I knew I wasn't safe, part of me had thought, well, maybe, just maybe it would be okay. I hadn't felt the urge when around any of the restaurant patrons, but there it was again, rearing its ugly head, ready to strike. I could feel the hunger that twisted through my entire body like a parasite demanding strange sustenance, an instinct I didn’t want, I never wanted, but I couldn’t escape due to the circumstances of my upbringing. I thought I had gotten past the urges, yet the desire clawed at my insides.

She was so soft in my arms, so fragile.

I could taste the tenderness of her skin as my hair brushed up against it.