Zane shrugged. “What am I going to do with a Hummer?”
I ignored the joke because it was exactly that—a joke. Zane yearned for the explosively abundant lifestyle I was specifically against with my studies. I felt the key heat against the inside my pocket and remembered the task at hand. “The scar burned in your arm. Did he visit you? Did he—” I stopped myself and groaned when I thought of all of the vulnerable sexual positions I was put in by that darkened force. For his sake, I hoped he wasn’t put in the same spot.
“Did who what?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“I didn’t see anyone. What are you talking about?” he asked.
It was odd he didn’t see anyone or experience the hallucinations. Maybe he just wasn’t trained to see them. That answer didn’t please me. I decided the beasts had directives. They were there to guard the tablet, but maybe there was something more to this trip. ”Let me get this straight. You didn’t see anything or anyone besides me? N
o beast-like creatures? No hallucinations?” I asked.
Zane itched the side of his head, confused. “Addie, are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been talking about a lot of weird shit lately.”
Adeline, repeat after me. I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy...
“What do you call that mark on your arm?” I asked him.
Another dumb shrug. “This place is crawling with insects. So what? I’ll probably need to see a doctor, but I’m fine.”
“You think that’s a bug bite? Seriously?” With a circumference of about three inches, the scar was thick, fully healed, and large.
“I don’t know, Adeline. You tell me, Ms. Scientist,” he teased.
“If I told you it was the scratch of an alien, would you believe me?” I asked.
He laughed, but when he noticed I wasn’t laughing with him, he stopped. “Wait. You’re serious, aren’t you? You really believe in that crap?”
Through my studies I was led to believe everyone experienced the same thing, but I should have paid attention to who told the stories. Mothers and grandmothers. The women of the tribes. They were the ones who spoke of the beasts to me, but the men paid no attention to me. Some laughed and told inside jokes to spin the conversation away. Whenever that happened, my team would hit a brick wall. We’d eat dinner and try to find out more, but the women closed off at the behest of the men.
“I’m connected to this place,” I said, thinking out loud. “They’re using me. They brought me here for a reason.”
“Jesus,” he sighed and chuckled again. “I can’t believe I have to tell this to a renowned scientist, but there is no such thing as aliens, ghosts, or magic. You’re not going to fall in love with any beasts.”
But I’d already felt it. The dark pull of desire burned through my scar. He showed me things. Unspeakable things. They had waited an eternity for their corporeal bride. I had felt them for a long time, had listened to their calls with confusing satisfaction, though I never knew it. This whole time, they had been with me. Even when I was with Zane. A strange rush of excitement overtook me. I could only imagine what the others were like.
“Did you find anything special in your room? Anything out of the ordinary?” I asked, ignoring his annoying comments.
He dug toward the bottom of his pockets until something caught his attention. Gradually, he pulled out a small photo and held it in front of him. “Adeline, what’s going on...?”
In the center was a photo of us. It was taken during a camping trip with friends, right before we started dating. We were so much younger, and our smiles seemed to suggest we had the world at our fingertips. “We need to find the front door,” I said.
But the color drained from his face. “I didn’t bring this picture with me, Adeline. Where the hell did you bring me?”
“Do you want to find the exit or not?” I asked.
“After you,” he insisted.
I pressed the button for the lobby and waited until the bell rang above our heads. I didn’t know what we’d find out there, but my deadly scientific curiosity took over. We stepped into the box, stood awkwardly side-by-side. The doors closed loudly, and we glided down. “What would you say if I told you I came in here knowing there wasn’t a real way out?” I asked.
Well, there was one way out. The stone tablet. Possibly. But now that Zane was here, I was sure I wouldn’t get the ending I’d imagined.
“I’d tell you it sounds like you want to get hurt,” he said.
My heart beat like a warning drum, but it only inspired more fantasies of self-destruction and symbolic submission. Inside every good man is a devil waiting to torment, but I had experienced the real deal. I couldn’t come back from what I had seen, felt, and experienced deep inside my core. To keep my sanity in check, I tried to focus on the routine again, but no words came to mind. I was lost, but in so many ways, I had been found and resurrected.
The elevator came to a stop, and I smiled to myself, relishing the idea of giving over to something bigger than myself. Nothing was real these days, but this place was. It glued the world together. And now that I had spent some time in it, I realized it was slowly gluing me together. I needed them to guide me in deeper.