Caroline's Keeper

Her eyes shot open, and closed not a second later, their retinas burned by the blinding light of the lamp shining down upon her. Little time passed before her eyelids darkened as something was moved in front of the light. She opened her eyes and saw the silhouettes of three heads hovering over her as though she were on display. She tried to stretch her arms, but she was strapped to an operating table. When she looked down at her body, she saw the cords that connected machines to various needles in her veins. A scream exited her mouth but did not get past the mask that was filling her lungs with oxygen. Suddenly, one of the figures hovering over her leaned in closer, pulled up her mask, and blew softly into her nostril. She inhaled.

The second time Caroline started to come to, she felt much more comfortable. So comfortable, she didn't want to leave just yet...

"Good morning!"

Reluctantly, Caroline opened her eyes and looked up at a face she wasn't sure she recognized. It seemed vaguely familiar, but she didn't have her glasses on.

"Comfy?" the person asked, his sarcastic tone giving him away. Caroline groaned. Eivon. And if that wasn't enough to turn her stomach, she also found that she had fallen asleep in his arms. How revolting.

"What am I doing here?" she asked, getting off Eivon's lap as quickly as possible. "And where are my glasses?"

"You need to relax," he said, patting a chair next to his. Caroline noticed then that they were in a kind of waiting room. "I must admit, you gave me quite the scare the way you lost it earlier. "

But the last thing Caroline wanted to do was relax. She wanted answers, and she wanted them this instant. She started to repeat herself, more dramatically. "Where are my—"

"Relax, I said!" he exclaimed, making her jump. Caroline could tell she'd irritated him. "They're right here." He reached into his pocket and passed Caroline her glasses.

She put them on and gasped, not realizing how close to her Eivon was. His skin was so pale, it seemed to have a purple tint, and his brown eyes were so light they appeared orange, but Caroline knew it was only her imagination because, to her, the same smirk he wore yesterday was somewhat attractive today. The first time she was really able to see him, she noticed that if he were to abandon his arrogance, he would actually be kind of good-looking. These thoughts she quickly pushed from her mind, and instead replaced them with escape plans and sheer hatred.

Eivon chuckled and said, "Now, would you please follow me?" He leaned forward so she could feel his breath on her face. "Or will we have to do this the hard way—again?"

Caroline backed away quickly, so not to inhale.

"Will you just relax?" he laughed. "I'm not toxic unless I—"

"What the hell is so funny?!" she blew up. All Eivon seemed to do was laugh at her, and she was starting to get annoyed, and perhaps even offended, by it.

"You are!" he cackled. "I've already told you why. So temperamental, so dense."

She stood up and shouted, "Oh, just shut up!"

"Very well," Eivon shrugged. "Shall we?"

Caroline sighed and followed him out of the waiting room.

As she stalked through the halls, she couldn't help feeling like she was in a bad science fiction movie. The farther she walked, the greyer the walls, and the more circular the shape of the corridors. It was as though she was crawling through a tunnel. At the end of the last hallway was a large metal door covered in buttons. Eivon pressed some of them and stepped back, almost tripping over Caroline.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Would you kindly take three paces back? There's no need to follow me so closely."

"I trust you couldn't have said that before you stepped on me," Caroline mumbled, taking a step backward.

Eivon smiled at her, mockingly of course, and turned back to the door as it was opening.

The man that opened the door said, "Eivon and Caroline! I've been expecting you!"

Caroline was too bewildered to ask how he knew her name.

The man led them into a room shaped kind of like the tunnels, expect much larger. Most everything in the room was a different shade of blue. Even the man that occupied it was wearing blue denim overalls. Caroline felt very out of place here, a feeling she was used to.

"I am Bastien," he said, holding out his left hand. Caroline shook it, figuring on being friendly toward him like he was to her. His hand was pure white, and shockingly cold to the touch. "Take a seat!"

Doing so, she studied him. He looked a bit like Eivon, except his eyes were a dark blue color, and he was shorter. He was also a lot less conceited, Caroline noted.

"Are you feeling all right?" Bastien asked her.

She nodded, thinking it was ironic that someone with skin as pale as his would question her health.

"Then I suppose you have questions about why you're here?"

Bastien seemed nice, so Caroline had to bite her tongue to keep from saying, "No, of course not! It's always been my lifelong dream to be kidnapped by an enormous jerk and end up in some screwed up place with circular hallways!"

Bastien furrowed his brow. "Anything?"

Caroline answered, "Where in the world are we?"

There was something peculiar about his voice that she couldn't quite put a finger on, as he said, "It depends on what world you mean."

She looked at him in a deep state of confusion. What world? Plainly, Caroline said, "Earth."

"Well, I don't believe we'd be on such a map."

He was kidding, she decided. He couldn't have kidnapped her off the planet! "What map are we on, then?"

"This one," he said, gesturing toward a wall she had to approach to see. On an oversized computer screen was a map of outer space, such an extensive map that Caroline was unfamiliar with the vast majority of it.

"Well, that's helpful!" Caroline said, letting some sarcasm out of her system. "I'm somewhere in the universe!"

Bastien pressed a button in the wall. A small red dot appeared in the center of the screen, not touching any planet, but apparently floating in space. When Bastien pressed another button, the screen zoomed in until Caroline could see the tiny dot ever so slightly moving.

"But that would mean we're..."

"On a spaceship?" Caroline had almost forgotten Eivon was there. "Yes, that's about the size of it," he said, staring blankly at the screen. After a silence, he looked at Bastien, who was glaring at him. "Sorry," he mumbled, then looked back at the screen.

"So... where are we going?" Caroline spoke up.

"Somewhere far, far away," Bastien answered. He zoomed back to the full screen and pointed at a speck in the top left corner that Caroline imagined was a planet. "Surely, you've never heard of it."

Caroline knew he was probably right. Still, she asked, "What's its name?"

"It doesn't have one," Bastien answered.

A planet without a name? Strange, thought Caroline.

"Well, we're working on it."

Caroline looked curiously at Bastien. Did I say that aloud?

"No, you didn't," Bastien answered, then cleared his throat. "I can read minds," he admitted. "Eivon here has similar abilities. I hope he hasn't been giving you any trouble." He shoots another glare in Eivon's direction.

Caroline bit her tongue.

But Eivon said to Bastien, "I've used my psychic abilities to take advantage of her human mind. I apologize."

"You are forgiven," he said. "If Caroline is that willing to defend you, she must have taken a liking to you."

Disgusted at the thought, Caroline rolled her eyes, and Eivon shot her a grin that sickened her to no end.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask about?" Bastien asked.

"What's going to happen to me?" Caroline inquired. "Can I go home?"

"You'll be aboard this spacecraft for some time," Bastien answered, "so we'll try to make your stay as comfortable as possible. Which brings me to the best part! Follow me."

Bastien began leading Caroline out of the room, but stopped abruptly and stared at Eivon. They appeared to be exchanging thoughts via telepathy. Bastien made his way to a cabinet on the other side of the room. There, he fiddled with a lock until it opened, grabbed a small syringe full of pink fluid, and passed it to Eivon. Then he grabbed Caroline's arm and spun her curious head, along with the rest of her body, in the opposite direction and pulled her out the door.

"What's with the syringe?" she asked, as the door's locking mechanism was activating behind her.

"Stay close or you'll get lost," Bastien murmured, almost pretending not to have heard her.

"What? Why did you give him that syringe?" she asked again.

"It's medicine," he responded this time. "Eivon is sick."

Caroline knew he was hiding something, but she figured she'd have plenty of time to interrogate him later. For now, she was getting used to this labyrinth of peculiar grey hallways and metal doors. She got so caught up in memorizing them that she hardly noticed when Bastien stopped.

"Caroline," he said, catching her attention. "This is your room." Caroline then noticed the door Bastien stood before. He pulled a slip of paper out of the pocket of his overalls and handed it to her. "It's your key sequence. Punch those characters in with the buttons on the door and it will open."

As Caroline studied the foreign symbols on the sheet of paper, Bastien said, "I'm afraid I have to go now. I shall return in about thirty minutes. Take care."

"Goodbye," Caroline said, and as Bastien was walking away, she added, "and thank you!"

He turned his head a last time and smiled, then he turned a corner and was out of Caroline's sight.

Looking back at her door, Caroline tried out the key sequence. It took her several minutes to find all seven of the symbols, and when she finished, she stood back and watched the door slide open.

She was shocked to discover that beyond the large metal door was her familiar bedroom. Her queen-sized bed sat in the center of the room, with purple-curtained windows on either side, her dresser, her closet, her bookcase, her desk, her nightstand... everything was in its place.

"My room!" Caroline cried. "And my bed! My wonderful, marvelous bed! Oh, I've missed you." She crawled onto her bed and hugged one of its pillows. "It's like I've forgotten how soft and comfy you are." Caroline stood up and jumped around in circles on her bed. "Ah, and bouncy!" she laughed giddily.

Suddenly, the door slid open and Caroline's fun ended with Bastien walking into the room.

In her embarrassment, Caroline lost track of where the bed ended and the carpet began and landed in a heap on the floor.

Bastien did not hesitate to rush to her side and help her up. He continued to hold her as he asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Caroline replied.

"I'm terribly sorry that I startled you," Bastien said, helping Caroline out of the room. "Barging in like that was inconsiderate of me. I should have knocked. My apologies."

"It's all right," Caroline muttered. "I shouldn't have been jumping on my bed in the first place. I would have fallen off eventually anyway."

Bastien laughed, simply amused, not in a mocking manner like Eivon would have, and said, "We'd best be going, or else we'll be late." He held out an arm, and Caroline took it. Together, they walked through the round grey tunnels to the dining hall.