I have depression. Like severe depression. My world has been better since starting meds, but fighting the demons that live inside of me isn’t always easy. They do their best to try and drag me underneath the waves of shit that come and go. I fight every single day to keep my head high enough that I don’t drown. High enough that the world doesn’t blur around me.
 
 My girls are one reason I have been able to keep moving. They make sure I get out of my shitty little apartment at least once a week and then we meet at the Stone the next day. This is supposed to help me and it does, to some extent. If I’m being honest, it doesn’t help as much as it should.
 
 The demons still threaten to drag me under and all I can do is stay afloat, just barely. I immerse myself in a dead-end job and live in the shittiest apartment that I can barely afford. I don’t have any family. The moment I turned eighteen, my mom kicked me out of her place and told me good luck. Father was never around. Siblings were already long gone and didn’t look back.
 
 I take a sip of my fruity drink and let the alcohol fuel me with its liquid courage. The music thrums through my body likea second part of my soul. The club is packed to the max and people still are coming through the doors. You can find so many different people in here. From crazy bright neon colored clothes, to those that have paint on their skin and faces, and even those that are dressed scantily clad in nothing more than barely there clothes. Men is suits, jeans and t-shirts, and even shorts and flip flops. You never know who will walk through that front door.
 
 So when a nearly seven-foot man with purple painted skin and silver hair walks through the door, I still notice him. I notice that he is gorgeous. Huge too. His broad chest stands out among the people surrounding him. Those closest turn his way and then back up to make room for him.
 
 Even from my spot in this booth, I can see that he will be rather popular among the people here. The beauty and confidence this man exudes is something otherworldly. I can’t see him well enough to know much else about him.
 
 So I sip my drink and just watch as he works his way through the crowd a few inches at a time. He looks unsure of himself and being here. Few seven foot men in here, I guess. Makes sense. The purple paint on his skin isn’t odd, really. Not in here. The wig and his skin fit in enough with the rest of the clubbers. At least most of them.
 
 Wonder what he came here for? He seems to be lost. Maybe not usually a clubbing scene person. I shrug and take another sip of the peach flavored drink. I used to not be into the clubs either, until I realized it’s a great place to get drunk, grab a good fuck for the night, and then never see them again. At least if I’m lucky, I don’t see them.
 
 I wonder if this seven-foot behemoth would be up for a fun night? Hmm. Maybe I will find out. I sit back and watch the man make his way forward and I bide my time until he looks a little more comfortable with his surroundings before I approach him.
 
 This should be a fun night.
 
 CHAPTER TWO
 
 Drainok
 
 Music comes from deep within this building and I’m drawn to it. I stand in the line of humans as they move slowly inside and out of view. A man lets them through the doorway before stopping more from incoming and then moving them along. I wait for what seems like forever before I reach the front of the line.
 
 The man looks up at me. He’s so short. They all are. His eyes are wide and he laughs.
 
 “Man. You big motherfucker. They are going to eat you alive in there. Go on in. Don’t come complaining to me when your paint is ruined.”
 
 I just stare at him and move forward as he opens the door. Bending to enter the smaller opening. Paint? What is paint? These humans are weird.
 
 The music hits me harder now that I’m inside the building. The room is packed with tiny humans everywhere I look. There is a center area where humans move to the music. Those around me offer me smiles and nods as they raise their glasses to me. I ignore them. Watching the people move to the beat.
 
 I don’t know why I came in here, other than it seemed like a good idea. The music and line of people dragging me forward even as I looked on in an observing way. These humans are just dancing to the music and nothing seems to stop them, except the person offering glasses to people behind the wooden countertop in the corner to my right. The two men behind that counter seem to be able to control the movements, if only for a moment.
 
 Odd.
 
 Humans are definitely odd. I watch and move forward slowly through the crowd. I catch their language and note it’s English. Humans in this place speak English. I lift my arm and touch some buttons on my wrist pad to change my native tongue into English so the primitive people around me may understand what I am saying.
 
 I come from the planet Gamyria. A far off galaxy exists outside of this one that is beautiful and full of our people. Unfortunately, we are running out of people to procreate with and create a new life. This Earth I’m currently on has a genetic makeup that is compatible with ours. I’m here to find a human mate. Someone I can take home to have babies with.
 
 This place seems like it has people I can bring home. It has to be the right person. Someone strong enough to carry my children. I want multiple, so she has to be willing to have sex as much as possible. I want a woman who can take care of herself and our children when I am away. I want a mate that will stay when times are tough and when they aren’t.
 
 I study the crowd. So many males and so many females. How do I know which one is going to be the right mate? How will I know when to take her back home with me? Will she agree to these things or will I need to fight some human for the right to be with her? There are so many things that my research didn’t tell me.
 
 The crowd parts for me like I’m someone special and they know it. Maybe I just intimidate them? I’m so much taller than everyone in here and it makes me stand out. I notice no one is purple skin colored either. Though, some seem to have marks on their skin while others do not. I wonder if there is some significance in their ranks behind the markings?
 
 I didn’t see anything about marks in my research, but that doesn’t mean much, I guess. I could have missed these things. There is so much our planet doesn’t know about this one. A planet of mysteries that I can find a mate and bring her back to teach us her customs.
 
 The crowd continues to part in front of me and I stop before stepping into the surging crowd of dancing people. Everyone seems to be minding their business and ignoring me. That is until this woman touches my arm and I look down. She’s a petite little thing. She wouldn’t be a good mate. I will break her. Like physically incompatible with her.
 
 “Want to dance, big boy?” She yells out to be heard over the music.
 
 I shake my head and she shrugs and moves on to someone else. I’m not a boy, I’m a full grown Gamyrian. Does she think I’m not able to fuck her like a man should? Only boys back home are the little ones that can’t yet reproduce. Are these men in here just boys? Can they not satisfy their women and so they are here to what… learn how? To find a mate so they can then become men? What is wrong with these humans?
 
 Are the women the ones that teach boys to be men here? Back home our men show the boys what it is to be a mate. They teach them the right way to take care of a woman and their needs. They have entire classes on the pleasures of women and what they need in a partner.
 
 Our women are just as strong as men back home and they can provide for their man as equally as we can for them. Our raceis a one hundred/one hundred culture. We put all of ourselves into the relationship and if we need to do more for our mate then we do. If we need to take care of children or go out and provide then we do. Clean the house… no problem. Whatever our mate needs, it is up to us to take care of them.