Writing Prompt I: "I saw him. The boy I had to kill" (pt. 5)

Two nice humans, but I was ready to go home.

I needed to find the Bringer quickly so I could.

I felt my energy drop suddenly and staggered to a dark doorway. I crouched in the shadows as I pulled the cord from my chargecell and plugged it into my disguise’s bellybutton. I watched the humans walking by as my power was restored. Tonight, I learned that there were really bad humans but there were also nice ones.

This gave me an idea. Would they be able to help me find the Bringer? I had his picture. I simply had to ask. Somebody might know where I would be able to find him. I just had to locate some of the nice ones.

Not an easy task on this planet.

I unplugged the cord and stood. I pulled out my communication device and found the picture of the Bringer as I stepped into the crowd of humans. I walked a few feet, then stopped next to a male selling those large papers with tiny writing on them and thin, shiny books with faces on the covers. “Excuse me, might know you this person?”

The male frowned at me. “What?”

“You know him?” I held up the picture.

“What? No! Get out of here, foreigner.” The male lashed out with one of the rolled up papers with writing on it, hitting me hard on the forehead.

I walked away, confused by the male’s reaction. He was hostile when I asked about the Bringer. It made me wonder if he knew him and hated him. Surely, if I told him that I was planning on destroying the Bringer, he would be willing to help. I turned around.

“My apologize sir,” I held up the picture again. “But would you hate him for I must end him.”

“What? Jesus, man! Don’t go around confessing you’re going to kill people! Now I have to call the cops on you, don’t move!” The man ordered and turned his attention to his own communication device.

I knew from my research disks that ‘cop’ was the police and I needed to stay away from them. I waited for the male to look away from me so I could escape. When he did, I ran down the block and around the corner. I leaned against a brick wall until my breathing returned to normal. Sharing my plan with an unknown was a beginner’s mistake and I hoped that nobody in my unit ever found out. I straightened my back and stepped away from the wall. I needed to finish this mission without delay and with no more mistakes.

I walked a few meters down the street and stopped a female pushing a cart full of strange items. “Ma’am, might know you him?” I asked, showing her the picture.

“My baby! It’s my baby!” She screamed as she threw her arms around me.

She smelled terribly and I did not appreciate being accosted a second time that day. I carefully untangled myself from her grasp and walked quickly away. If she thought I was her offspring, I did not want any information she might have on the Bringer. It would probably be incorrect.

Suddenly, I recalled the old female the Bringer had bowed to. Surely she would know where I could find him. I spun in a circle-only getting hit by humans twice-to get my bearings, then set off in the direction I thought the small shop the female had occupied was in. After wandering the area for nearly an hour, I realized I did not remember exactly where the shop was located and that most of the businesses around me were closing.

I sped up my search. I did not know how long the female would be in the shop, but I did not want to be on this planet one moment longer than necessary.

I was just beginning to worry that I was lost yet again when a wave of smells hit me and I sneezed. I looked up through leaking eyes to find myself in front of the exact shop I was looking for.

The old female was at the front window turning a placard to ‘Closed.’ In my desperation, I pushed on the door. When it did not budge, I knocked, trying to get her attention.

The old female waved her hands at me so I waved again. She marched to the door, turned a knob and pulled it open a few inches. “I’m closed. What do you want?”

I was temporarily distracted by her garments. They were brightly colored and covered with small, shiny disks. She also had a piece thrown over her shoulder almost like what the humans with special abilities wore in the research disks, but hers was much smaller.

“What do you want?!” She nearly shouted at me.

“My apologize.” I held up my communicator so she could see the picture of the Bringer. “Might know you where I find him?”

“Why are you looking for Akhilesh?”

“I need him to find.”

The female frowned, her brown, wrinkled skin somehow became wrinklier. “You need him to find what?”

I stared at her, not completely understanding her question. “I must him find.”

“You need to find him?” The female glared at me.

I nodded. “Yes. I must him find. You know location of him?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you need to find Akhilesh for?”

I shook my head at the frustrating female. Why would she not tell me what I needed to know? “I must him find,” I repeated.

“Akhilesh is a good boy! I will not have him getting into whatever you are doing! Criminals coming around trying to get Akhilesh to carry their drugs or to steal things for them!” She waved her hands in front of my face before shoving me away from her door and slamming it shut.

I stumbled down the step and fell into the street. I heard a tearing sound and knew that I had ripped my newly cleaned garments. I turned to look back at the female. She was pointing a finger at me and looked very angry.

“He’s going to college! He is doing great things with his life! Go away!” She yelled through the glass hand waved her hands at me again before turning and disappearing into the dark store.

I carefully got to my feet, worried I had hurt myself in my fall, but thankfully nothing hurt too badly. I felt better than when the two men had accosted me earlier in the night.

This planet is not a safe one. It was a wonder that any humans survived more than a few days. I turned, not paying attention to where I was walking, I just knew I had to stay close to the shop. The angry old female seemed to know the Bringer and was trying to protect him from somebody called ‘Criminals.’ I would have to find him before ‘Criminals’ did to complete my mission so I could leave.

I was lost in thought when a loud sound coming from one of the human’s large transportation vehicles startled me. I realized that I had just stepped in front of it and it had nearly run me over. It will be a good day for the universe when the humans discover hover technology and stop relying on gravity and wheels for general transportation.

I backed onto the curb to wait for the traffic to subside when a male wearing a blue garment on his head across the street from me caught my eye.

It was him. The Bringer. I finally found him.

I closed my eyes and bowed my head, giving thanks to the Supreme Being for letting me find him and bring an end to this trip.

I looked up, half expecting the Bringer to have slipped away from me once again, but no, he was still there but he was moving away from me. I would not let him escape again. I felt an uncustomary rage build up inside of me at everything I had endured on this trip. All thoughts of a quiet kill burned away in my anger. I pulled my weapon from my pocket with my right hand and took ahold of the transcarrier around my neck with my left.

I ran into the street, dodging transporters and ignoring the loud beeps they were making. I plowed through the crowd, not caring how many humans I hit or angered. Finally, he was close enough that I could touch him. I raised my weapon instead.

“Bringer!” My yell was loud and full of hate. The humans around me stopped and stared at me, including the Bringer. “Bringer! You will not end my people!”

“What?” The Bringer looked around, as if I was talking to someone else.

“You will not end my people!” I shouted and pressed a button on my weapon. A blast of energy hit the Bringer in the chest and he vaporized. I activated my transcarrier and was back on my ship before the other humans could react. I stumbled to the navigation panel and slammed my hand onto the blue panel that would take me home. I collapsed to the floor as my ship broke through the roof of the police’s shelter and into the stars.

My people were safe and I was going home.

Home.

The End.

Writing Prompt I: "I saw him. The boy I had to kill" (pt. 4)

For the first time since I landed on this planet, I felt visible to every human I passed. Females were covering their noses and hurrying away, males were frowning at me, all avoided coming in contact with my filthy garments.

“Oy!”

I heard a man yell the unfamiliar word and assumed he was ordering me away from him, but he stepped in front of me and would not let me pass. “Excuse me, sir.” I attempted a second time to step around him but he moved with me, refusing to let me go.

“Boy, you reek to high hell.”

“Apologies.” I exhaled. I had never felt lower than I did and this human telling me I smelled bad was not helping. “I was accosted and my garments were ruined, but I have not money and males hit me.”

The man put a hand on my shoulder. “Robbed eh? Well, here, get to a laundromat- there’s one down the block- and get cleaned up.” The man put some scraps of paper in my hand and turned me to face the direction I had just come from.

I recognized the paper as Earth currency but I was not familiar with ‘laundromat.’ I turned to ask for clarification but the man was gone. I shrugged, much liking the human gesture and started walking. He was one of the first nice humans I had encountered and at that point, I was willing to trust somebody. I walked, trying to ignore the human’s reactions to my condition and stopped when I found glowing letters spelling ‘laundromat.’ I pulled open the door and was greeted by loud machinery and a clean, perfume smell.

I looked around and saw two females around my disguise’s age putting garments into a large white cube. An older male was pulling wet garments from a similar cube and putting them into a larger cube with a clear door on the front. I was far from the mood to attempt to figure out the machines myself to keep up my disguise.

“Might, please someone assist me cleaning garments.” The old male ignored me but the two females glanced my way. One laughed and shook her head, the other shrugged and walked over to me.

“Where is your laundry?” She stared at me for a moment. “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?” She exhaled and led me to a white cube in the corner. “It’s kind of private back here, strip down. Do you have quarters and soap?”

I frowned at her, confused. “Quarters of what?”

She pulled a handful of silver disks out of her pocket that I vaguely recognized as a form of Earth currency.

“Oh, I have not quarters.” I held up the paper the man had given me. “Will work this?”

“Sure, I’ll get you quarters… and some soap.” She pulled the paper out of my hand and walked to a machine near the door.

I carefully started removing my garments, hoping my disguise would still work without them. I was glad that I remembered a short research recording featuring someone named Mark who would go out with undergarments showing or I would not have known that humans wore clothing under their clothing. I had gotten a pair of undergarments like the ones Mark had warn. They were like close-fitting pants but stopped at the tops of the legs. Not the most comfortable things, but it was what humans wore.

I was embarrassed at being unclothed. It was my understanding that humans did not go out in public in just undergarments and my removing my outer garments did not follow their social rules. But I did not think I would fit into the white cube to wash my garments without taking them off.

A human had ordered it and I had no other choice so I did as directed.

I removed my shirt and pants and placed them into the large cube. Thankfully, my undergarment seemed to have remained cleaner than my outer garments during the incident and did not need to be cleaned. I pressed a few of the buttons on the cube, but nothing happened.

“Soap helps when you’re doing laundry or your clothes will just be wet and not clean.” The female laughed as she returned with an orange packet and silver disks. “Plus, you have to pay.” She ripped open the orange packet and dumped white powder on my garments inside the white cube, then closed the lid. She put four of the silver disks into a drawer on the top of the cube and pushed the drawer into the machine. It clicked and I could hear a rushing sound. She pushed two buttons on the control panel. “Wash your clothes in cold unless you’re doing underwear. It’ll keep your regular clothes from shrinking too much.” She leaned against the cube and crossed her arms. “This’ll take about an hour and then just put it in the dryer.” She bit her lip as she studied me. “Just call me over and I’ll help you.” She held out her hand. “I’m Daisy.”

“My appreciative, Daisy.” I looked at her hand, not sure what she was doing.

“Not from around here, are you?” Daisy laughed as she grabbed my hand and moved it up and down a few times before releasing it.

“No. I am from France!” I may have spoken too loudly in my panic because her eyes widened slightly.

“Cool. I spent last summer in Paris. It was pretty awesome.” She stared at me and I stared back at her, not sure what she wanted. “Alright, well, just call my back when this beeps.” She walked across the room back to her companion.

I stared at the white cube, unsure what to do next. The old man had finished moving his garments into what I assumed was what Daisy called a dryer and had sat down on a bench with a large paper covered in tiny writing. I had no large paper, but there was a bench nearby. I sat and made sure nobody was watching when I pulled my communication device out of my leg. I tapped the screen a few times and read about what was happening on Ooden. I was caught up in the news from my home planet that I nearly yelled when the large cube holding my clothes beeped loudly. I pressed my communication device back into my leg, stood, and walked over to the cube. I looked up to call Daisy but she was already walking toward me.

She opened the cube and pulled my shirt and pants from it. They looked cleaner and smelled better than before, so I approved of the cube.

“Now, for the dryer, it can be a little testy. As long as you don’t put your clothes in here for too long, you’ll be fine.” She pulled a door open on one of the larger cubes nearby and shoved my garments into it. She closed it, dropped three silver disk into a shelf like what was on the smaller cubes, pushed it in, and turned a dial on the front. “Since it’s such a small load, 30 minutes should be fine. A larger load will take longer. Don’t ever put wool in a dryer. Here.”

She ended her instructions with a smile as she dropped a handful of the silver disks onto my palm.

I held out my empty hand like she had done. “I appreciative this very lot.”

She took my hand and moved it like she had done before. “No problem. It’ll take some time and a few ruined bits of clothes to learn how to do laundry, but you’ll get there. Good luck.” She patted my bare shoulder then walked back to her companion. They both picked up large white boxes with holes in them full of clothing and left the laundromat.

Two nice humans in a row. Maybe this planet was not all bad.

I resumed reading about Ooden on my communication device until the dryer beeped. I was not as startled this time. I pulled my garments back on. They were warm and it felt good being clothed once again. I put my communication device in one pocket, the silver disks in the other, and left the laundromat.

Two nice humans, but I was ready to go home.

I needed to find the Bringer quickly so I could.

To be continued...

Writing Prompt I: "I saw him. The boy I had to kill" (pt. 3)

The smaller male put his face in mine, his nose nearly touching mine. “Hello, freak. We think you might have something worth something and we want it.”

I frowned, confused by his meaning. “I have no something worth something, sir.” I desperately pressed my communication device and weapon hard enough into my leg to be absorbed by my disguise. The two ruffians could turn me upside down and shake me and they would not find the last of my equipment.

This was not the way an assassin of the Xans was supposed to greet an opposing force, but Earth had caused me trouble after trouble and I just wanted to be alive to go home. If pandering to these two would allow that, so be it. Plus, they were not the ones I was sent to kill. My unit leader liked saying “An assassin who leaves a trail of bodies behind them is no assassin. They are a simple butcher.” It sounds scarier in my language.

“Come on. Give us your wallet.”

“What is my wallet?” I asked.

“What?” The male squinted at me. “You seriously don’t know what a wallet is? Do you know what money is?”

I nodded. “I do. It is currency used to purchase goods and services in an economic system not dictated by bartering or the exchange of goods for goods and services.”

The male frowned and shook his head. “Yeah. Whatever. Hand it over.”

“My hand, sir?” I held out my hand, not sure what he was asking.

“No, give me your money!” He shouted slowly as if I were without logic.

“Oh, my sorries, sir. I have not money.”

“You don’t have any money?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“How?” He stared at me with his mouth hanging open again. If he kept that up, something was going to get in it. Maybe it was his way of catching food. It seemed unlikely with all of the stores I had seen with human food in it, but humans were illogical creatures. “Whatever. Give me your cell.”

This next demand was not familiar to me. I could not possibly give him a cell of tissue, they are too small to extract without special equipment and may be toxic to humans, plus, my disguise made it nearly impossible to reach any of my tissue without removing the entire thing. I was also not large enough to carry a cell for locking a person up in. “I do not know this meaning of cell.”

“Your phone!” He shouted, pulling his communication device from his pocket. Two wires dangled from it, much like the ones I had seen on other humans walking down the street.

“These wires! What are for?” I asked, reaching for them. The male jerked them out of my reach.

“What?” The male stared at me, then looked to the larger male. The larger male shrugged and shook his head before the smaller male turned back to me. “They’re earphones.”

“Earphones?”

“Use them to listen to music.”

“Ah, I enjoy the music. Something called Gaga Deathpunch.”

“Gaga Deathpunch? What?! What is wrong with you?! Are you retarded?”

I gasped. The Agency had a list of words to never use for nearly every planet we visit. That was on the rather short list of words for Earth. “That is disrespectful word for to call persons! Apologize!”

“I’m not apologizing to you, twerp.”

“You are rude!” I tried to leave but the larger male pushed me back against the wall.

“And you’re dumb,” the smaller male said as he hit me in the face with his fist.

My eyes immediately started leaking water no matter how much I tried to keep them from doing it. The larger male hit me in the stomach with his fist and I doubled over, unable to breath. Oodenites can survive with lower concentrations of oxygen that what is on Earth but we still needed it to live. The smaller male hit me again and I fell to the ground.

“Check his pockets,” the smaller male ordered and the larger man complied. He grunted when he did not find anything. The smaller male hooked a finger under the chain holding my transcarrier and both of my hearts stopped briefly. He slowly pulled so my transcarrier was outside of my shirt. He made a strange sound and let the chain drop. “Junk. Nothing.” He swung his leg and his foot connected with my midsection, causing more leaking and less breathing.

I was nearly certain these two human males had just killed me.

I watched them walk away and continued to lay in the refuse in the alley until the light began to dim. It was embarrassingly long before I realized it was the sun setting and not my life leaving me.

I also began to realize that my midsection hurt less than it had and I was breathing easier. I slowly sat up and scrubbed the water from my face with the sleeve of my shirt. I looked down at my human clothes and was dismayed to see how soiled they had become.

Since my disguise manipulator had been calibrated incorrectly, it would not project clothes onto the outside of my disguise and I was left with no option when I arrived than procuring ones from a human store. I had taken a few sets of pants and shirts after nightfall, using the research recordings for reference. I was disappointed to see no capes in the stores I visited. I much wanted to look like the humans with the special abilities, but they must have a special store where they find their clothes.

Now, with my ship in police control, I could not return there for clean garments and must procure more from a store. It would be risky attempting it again. I did not want to get caught by the police.

I struggled to my feet and exited the alley, planning to find a store I could easily enter after closing to obtain new clothes.

            For the first time since I landed on this planet, I felt visible to every human I passed.

To be continued...