Chapter 2: Episode 2 (stranger in my bed)

Alia woke up to find herself on the floor, confused she sat up and looked around her, wondering what she was doing on the balcony floor. "How did I get back here?, I was going inside wasn't i?", still disoriented she tried to stand up but fell down to the floor immediately, as sharp pain lanced through the middle of her back deep in her spine, groaning aloud in pain Alia looked around the dark balcony trying to find something to grab so she could pull herself up, someone must have switch off the lights thinking no one was outside . "damn it Saleem it wouldn't have killed you to leave it on for one miserable night", she thought in exasperation rolling her shoulders to find out just how much she must have hurt her back when she hit the floor hard, at that thought she frowned, "what?,I hit the floor hard?", But I only wanted to go insi.....", Alia trailed off as a blurred flash of the moments when she had seen something near the Generator just before she fell unconscious was suddenly there in her hear, scared now she stood up heedless of the pain she felt she was more scared for her life and that of her family, what if it was an intruder or something that could cause an explosion, numb to the pain she felt Alia held her hand out in front of her trying to figure out which direction she had seen it, she looked towards the left side of the Generator which was closer to the balcony rails then snapped it right when she heard a tiny whimper and rustling, although it was too dark to make out anything clearly all she could see was a tiny shaking bundle a little bit away from the Generator, it was smaller than she recalled but it was there alright, her voice trembling slightly Alia asked. "who's there?", and at the sound of her voice the whimpers coming from the bundle became louder, A thought occurred to Alia then small shaking bundle and tiny whimpers, "Could it be a child?", moving closer to the trembling bundle. the sudden thought that the setting was the as as the highlight of every horror/sci-fi movie, where the curious one either gets killed or is sucked into a web of conspiracy, only in this one she was the stupid kid that's moving towards the danger instead of far away from it, Alia knelt beside the still trembling bundle although now she could see that what she was seeing in dark as a shaking bundle was actually the back of a curled up half naked. "Child?", she whispered in horror both at her self for not realising it sooner and for the child that was practically naked, when it was so cold. "Oh no, you must be so cold", asked not really expecting an answer from the trembling child, "how did you get here?", Alia continued as she hovered between touching and not touching, the non stop trembling and whimpers finally prompted her into acting fast " I need to get you inside right now before you catch a really bad cold", Alia reached for her top and pulled it off to leave her camisole underneath, the top was light but bulky and long sleeveed it should provide enough warmth until she got him into the house, saying a short prayer under her breath to God in hopes of not seeing anything worse, Alia slowly turned the child around to see. "oh it's a boy", but what a strange boy. he has hair just like a girl, snapping out of her dazed observation she briskly put the top on for him then shook him gently to wake him , "Hey, come on Wake up, I have to get you inside right now", Alia realised that not only was the child unresponsive except for his occasional whimpers but that he was also getting really cold, worried Alia layed him back on the floor gently and stood up to try to open the screen door but it wouldn't budge she tried a few more times but it was useless she was locked out of the house, just a cold breeze blew and Alia shivered it was getting colder the harmattan season was in full swing this year and it was just late November, With another shiver Alia went back to the child and carried him up but surprised to see that he didn't weigh much she moved him closer to the screen door and under the over hang shelter, away from the open balcony, still unsure about just how hurt she was Alia twisted her body to the right to gauge the pain, there was just dull ache she could feel, but it was one she could and would have to ignore at least for a while, just untill she and the little boy got into the house safely with no threat of pneumonia or hypothermia lurking, not to mention she was going to need all her full strength to carry out the crazy idea she just had. since vnormally at this time of the night the balcony doors were locked and the keys kept in her parents room for security, but sometimes her brothers forgets to lock the windows and right now luckily for her the bulglary proof iron bars that were usually present weren't there right now as the welder hadn't brought new ones to replace the rusted ones he had removed last week, which meant she should be able to get in through the window and find a to get the boy in too, Alia moved the child again directly under the windowsill, leaned him against the wall and got up to peep into livingroom to see if anyone was there, although she had no idea why was doing my so, nor why she wasn't banging the door to let someone know that she was outside, daddy is sensitive to sounds like that and would have come to check it out, and it wasn't like it was the first time she had been locked outside the balcony, but for some reason she couldn't comprehend it was important to her for no one to know what she was about to do, most especially her parents. "What is this nonsense am thinking about" she frowned and shook her head to focus on getting into the house, looking around her and inside one last time to be sure no one was anywhere near, Alia slowly opened the window and despite how carefully she tried to slide it open it still squeaked the noise once again inducing more whimpers from the boy, After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds, the window was wide enough for her to go through pushing the curtains aside carefully Alia climbed up the windowsill and looked back down at the child below her. "it's only going to take a second, then I'll be back". The child whimpered slightly almost as if to acknowledge her words, or because of the cold, it was unclear if he could even understand her at all he looked 6 or 7 as far as she could tell, focusing on the task in Front of her Alia took a deep breath and jumped down into the family room, she tripped on a slipper the minute she landed and fell down with a dull thud and a little squeak, she slapped her palm to her mouth immediately, afraid the noise would wake someone up, after a few seconds of nothing Alia sighed in relief stood up and kicked the slipper out of the way to a corner in the room, taking one deep breath after the other Alia looked around her and considered her options she couldn't open the door from the inside since the keys are being kept in her parents room and it was impossible to get to it without waking them up, and the spare was probably lost somewhere in the living room, Alia looked up and down to the room lit by a soft blue green night lignt, she knew her dad always kept a spare in the living room, but she didn't have the time to look for it but the only other way was very risky. "Unless i have a very soft landing", Alia smiled as she spotted the large soft throw pillows her mom had just gotten to give the house flair, and walked over to sofas and picked up two, she walked back to the window and dumped it on the floor directly under the window a few feet back from her foiled landing spot, it took two trips for her to get enough to arrange it to make a perfect soft landing pad and stepped back to review her work with a critical eye now all she had to do is get him into the house without making a sound, piece of cake Alia turned around and looked straight at her room door to the left side of the family room. "it's only a short walk away and then we are safe both from the cold and being discovered". Alia stopped as she realised that not only was she excited but she was enjoying this she couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed something ever since last...., Alia shook her head trying to dispel depressing thoughts in lieu of the task at hand because. if she didn't do it now it would be too late, she looked up at the digital clock in the room, one that read 11:30pm, "I only have a few minutes before daddy does his nightly patrol, I have to be in my room with the boy by then if I really want to keep this a secret". Alia briskly climbed back out the window careful to land away from where she had stashed the boy, quickly, as she reached out to him to carry, light touch on his cold skin made him flinch and start whimpering painfully again, the sound broke her heart it sounded like a wounded animal crying out for help, trying to check his temperature Alia touched his forehead slightly gasped, and snatched her hand back his forehead was so cold it had hurt her palm it felt almost as if she had put her hand in a bucket filled with Ice for a long time, how long has he been there before I discovered him then, It didn't matter how right now if he doesn't get warm soon he is going to die of either hypothermia or pneumonia, Now even more in a hurry than before Alia picked up the still trembling and whimpering child in her arms and moved very close to the windowsill peeped inside to be sure it was still empty then turned to the child in her arms. "I am so sorry, but I had no other ideas", Alia apologied as She dropped him in the direction of makeshift landing pad, and followed immediately after incase he cried from the sudden drop but surprisingly he was quiet, this time her landing was smooth, Alia turned towards the now suddenly quiet and still child, afraid of the worst she Alia touched his chest to feel the jerky rise and fall of his breathing she was relieved but shocked as she could feel the cold through the top she had worn for him, looking at the time again, she closed and locked the windows behind her if she could get in so could a burglar, she stood up and made two quick trips to return the throw pillows back from where she had taken them to avoid suspicions and questions she wasn't ready nor willing to answer, she was just about to set the last of the pillow on the sofa when she heard it, footsteps coming from the passage leading to the living room from her parents bedroom, "Oh no daddy is awake, what do I do now?", Alia hurried back to the window and picked up the child she had left there while she returned the pillows, then as fast as she could with the surprisingly very light child in her arms headed for her room, she closed the door to her room just as her father opened the door to the living room and walked in switching on the lights and looking around as he does nightly, Alia still holding the child in her arms with her back to the door breathes out heavily in relief they were safe for now she didn't understand how long they could be safe for though nor could she understand why was she scrambling to be so secretive, why does she have this the bone deep certainty that it would be dangerous for anyone to find out about the child in her arms it was almost like a compulsion in her head, lost in her thoughts, sounds of footsteps passing by her door, propelled her into action, Alia layed him down on her bed and stepped back to switch off the ceiling fan and close her windows aiming for maximum warmth, because even after being inside for a while he was still cold to the touch and the tremblings had started again while she had started warming up the minute she closed the family room window, after closing the windows she moved to the rows of empty shelves in the room and as usual whenever she sees how empty they are her heart becomes heavy Alia raised a hand to her aching chest and breathes inn and out twice feeling better and lighter she bent to the bottom of the shelf and dragged out a blue heavy blanket and covered the child up, it's normally hot at night and she almost never needs the blanket unless she catches a really bad cold, after covering him up, Alia sat at her desk and layed her head on the table littered with her textsbooks and unfinished assignments and tried to figure out the whole night starting from when she had blacked out to the point when she had seen him, but most especially the parts she didn't remember something had hit her hard on the back she was sure of it that's why she had woken up on the floor and why her back hurts so much but the problem was, she had no idea what could have hit her hard enough to knock her out like that, she had also looked around briefly before carrying the child in other than him there had been nothing else to be found on the ground, now the whole evening was starting to feel surreal. The loud Whimpers from the child on the bed caught she attention and she frowned Wondering what could be wrong now he should already be warm by now it was hot enough that she was starting to sweat excessively, Alia got up from her seat and moved closer to the bed She pushed the blanket back from his face to see tears running down his cheeks, Alia wondered if ones heart could break twice in one night as she had for him she leaned down to wipe his tears and was surprised to realize he was still cold frowning she got on the bed next to him and hugged him tight, hoping to provide some measure of comfort and human warmth. "It's okay, you're safe here". Alia whispered as she patted his back rhythmically it took a while but the Whimpers finally slowed down before stopping completely and so did his trembling , his body still remained cold though so Alia pulled the blanket closer around him and hugged him tighter to her, feeling sleepy Alia checked on his temperature a few more times before finally succumbing to sleep with her head next to his. The minute she closed her eyes the body of the boy in her arms shimmered and glowed then Two Antennas slowly grew out of his forehead and as if testing the air they swung slowly in the air before coming to rest on Alia's face, at the light touch a sleeping Alia smiled.