NOT KNOWING
by
Denise Vitola
The cab's meter clicked over, so loud that it startled her. She'd been sitting in front of her parents' house for an hour and the cabbie hadn't said a word. He just read the paper, waiting for her to gain the courage to leave the safety of his vehicle.
How would her parents take the news? They wouldn't believe her, of course. At first they wouldn't, but then they would, especially when they saw the implant beneath her skin right at the top of her spine. It vibrated, even now, filling her with their wordless commands. "Go. Reveal yourself."
It had to be done because they would wonder where she'd gone and not knowing would kill them. She reached into her satchel, fished out a credit note and slipped it to the cabbie. "Keep the change," she said.
Taking a deep breath, she slid the door open, but paused to glance at the sky. Their glowing, round ship had appeared close to the horizon in the bright lee of the setting sun. When was that? Ten days ago? A month? Time had lost all meaning after she was abducted, studied like a lab animal and loaded up with their alien metal. They told her they would come to get her and take her with them. She knew it wouldn't be long now.
She slammed the door of the cab, pausing again. When she'd asked what planet they were from, she was told it was a world found beyond Alpha Centuri, a world called Earth.