Page 9 of Sworn to the Alien

I immediately leapt up to greet her before deciding it was better for me to remain sitting.

I sat back down and waited.

The footsteps came… and then went, continuing on down the hall.

I almost melted into the chair.

I’m not sure I can do this.

I know it’s what I need to do but…

I shook my head and wiped my palms on my pants.

I felt that familiar glow over my shoulder and when I turned to look at it, I peered in the darkness and saw my beloved Jjora smiling up at me.

In my visions of her, she wasalwayssmiling.

Sometimes, when I relived that terrible moment at the very end when I had last seen her alive, I imagined her smiling too.

In fact, shehadsmiled, but it was a situation no one else in the world would have managed.

She had been brave right up to the very end.

Happy and upbeat.

Even as I failed her.

I shook my head, losing confidence.

Ican’tdo this.

I can’t meet another female.

Not yet.

It had been almost six years and yet it still felt like yesterday.

I wasn’t ready for this, I can’t—

I was so distracted, I hadn’t heard the footsteps approaching.

They stopped on the other side of the door.

The room was so dark the hallway lights sent long fingers of yellow spilling across the floor.

I was already too late.

She’s here…

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out.

She knocked before immediately opening the door.

She entered, her form silhouetted in black.

I couldn’t make out her features.

She was turned at an angle, casting deep shadows across her face.

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