Awareness (Pt. 1 - Night Terror)
Tai Whalen can’t believe it.
'How the hell do I get myself into these situations? It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting here on a blind date wishing somebody would just slip me a roofie and wake my ass in the morning.'
“Don’t you think so Tai?”
'Oh shit. Crystal is talking and I have no idea about what. Just smile and nod, Tai. Hopefully that will make things go by a little faster.'
“I mean, if UFOs and aliens actually existed, why haven’t they made themselves known by know. And anyway, how you gonna tell me that they have the technology to travel light-years and yet they’ve been abducting and ‘studying’ the same species for over 50 years now. Come on! Either they are a highly advanced civilization or they’re as dense as a doorpost. You can’t have it both ways.”
Crystal is an extremely intelligent woman and always has been. For that reason, Tai has never been able to understand why she wastes her time with such trivial conversation. Everybody has their vices. Tai figured that a fascination with nonsense must be Crystal’s.
The two have been friends since they were thrown together as roommates sophomore year at Howard University. They knew each other like sisters. All the secrets. All the real truths. That’s why Tai is in a state of disbelief. It’s bad enough that Crystal tricked her into this blind date. The two had come to the club together. To Tai’s surprise, they were met by Crystal’s boyfriend Donald and a gentleman by the name of Andrew Prescott. Among the many problems with this setup was the most obvious. Tai didn’t date white boys. Crystal was well aware of this self-imposed rule. So not only was Tai bored stiff, she was a little hot with her best friend as well.
“Can I get you another drink, Tai?” Andrew asked.
“No thanks, ‘Drew. I think I’m gonna head out pretty soon anyway.”
The other part of this equation was that as it turns out, this wasn’t actually a “blind” date. Tai and Andrew knew each other from childhood. Their parents had worked at a secret installation in Central America over 15 years ago. The kind where nobody ever leaves because it’s a self-contained compound complete with schools, shopping, and selected entertainment. Back then, Tai had actually had a childhood crush on the boy who was 5 years her senior. But, many things had changed since that time. Whatever was going on below the surface of that swarthy equatorial jungle had driven a wedge between her parents and driven her mother out of her life. Now, all these years later, the last thing that she wanted to deal with was anything that reminded her of that time. Dealing with her father was hard enough.
“Well I think these two are going to be here awhile. Let me take you home,” Drew yelled into her ear trying to be discreet yet overcome the noise of the club at the same time.
Tai weighed her options. He was right. It didn’t look like her ride would be ready to leave any time soon. And there was no way she was going to pay for a cab to pick her up and drive the thirty-something miles back to her house. The club was packed, but she didn’t want to take her chances catching a ride from some guy she just met. At least she knew Andrew.
With that decision made, the two said their goodnights and headed out to Andrew’s car.
“I see you’ve done well for yourself,” Tai said observing the royal blue Porsche.
“I do okay.”
“Mmmhmm. What is it that you do anyway?”
“I work for NASA. Not too far from your father actually.”
“Oh really.”
“Yeah. And don’t be pissed at Crystal. When I heard you were in town, I begged for weeks to get her to introduce us. I really just wore her down I think.”
‘I’d like to wear down the bottom of my shoe up-side her head’ Tai thought.
“Just part of life with Crystal sometimes. I’ll forgive her . . . eventually. It’s just up here. The white one on the right.”
Somewhere in Tai’s subconscious, a little warning bell was going off. This was the first time she had uttered a word of directions. Yet Andrew had left the club and driven straight to her house. Yes the bell was going off, but under the haze of three Strawberry Martinis and a Long Island Iced Tea, she couldn’t hear it.
Andrew pulled into the driveway of Tai’s modest home. He walked her to the door and stalled with as much small talk as he could muster. Tai took as much of this filibuster as she could until she finally ended it with a peck on the cheek and an abrupt “good-night”. Tai didn’t want to encourage him, but hell, he was cute. Anybody could see that. Most certainly, a woman who hadn’t had any since she broke with her boyfriend over 8 months ago could.
Once inside, Tai decided to forego the shower. It only took seconds to step out of her skintight denim capris, red sequined tank top and black ankle boots. With nothing left on her body but her black laced thong, Tai collapsed on top of the covers of her queen-sized bed.
When the light awakened her, Tai couldn’t believe that morning had come so soon. She also couldn’t believe that she had slept with the curtains open. Damn. The sun must be parked outside her bedroom window. That’s what she thought until she tried to get up.
“Just relax. We are not here to harm you.”
Tai heard the voice, but sensed that there was more than one intruder in her personal space. She suddenly became aware of the on-going violation of her most personal space. With every ounce of strength and resolve she had, Tai fought. She fought so hard that sweat and tears rolled from her body in waves. But no matter how hard she fought, she could not move.
“She’s clean and so is the house,” she heard one of them say. Was that in her head or were they speaking out loud? Tai couldn’t tell anymore. Terror was influencing thought, emotion, and action of her body. She still couldn’t make out any shapes or bodies due to the intense light coming from the window.
“Your new boyfriend is not who you think he is. Contact us before it’s too late.”
Then, just as suddenly as it started, it was over. Tai woke up Sunday morning with a mountainous hangover. It was made worse by the memory of that crazy dream she had. That was it. That was the last time she hung out with Crystal. Until the next time, she thought with a chuckle. It was already noon. Tai was supposed to have an early dinner at her Dad’s house today.
'I better start my de-tox if I’m gonna make it.'
Tai headed for the shower and almost passed out when she stepped over her black lace underwear at the foot of the bed.
