Kyro: A Sci-fi Alien Abduction Romance (Captured by Aliens Book 5) by A.G. Wilde (best summer books .txt) 📕

There were aliens everywhere. Some loading large bags on wheel-less carts that hovered above the ground, some looking at weapons and even testing them out, sellers calling out their wares to grab the attention of passers’ by...it all seemed so normal, it reminded her of Hong Kong’s Ladies Market.

If she’d felt out of place before, it was certainly underlined now. How would she ever find what she needed in this?

The stalls looked like large metal squares with a single window in the front. Some of the windows were open, and she could see the wares being sold clearly. Others had the windows closed and set to an opaque shield, showing nothing within.

Taking a few steps into the throng, aliens moved around her, hardly seeming to be aware of her presence as they went about their shopping.

She couldn’t help it though. Regardless that nobody seemed to notice her, she felt as if all eyes were on her.

She was one lone human in what felt like the entire universe.

For a few seconds, as she stood clutching the small shopping basket, she reconsidered her idea of leaving her apartment to go shopping.

She should have probably given herself some more time to get used to everything that’s happened, let her brain settle and understand things, before she tried to go about life-as-usual.

So much had happened since she’d last felt...normal. Her brain felt like it had frayed and was hanging only by the strings of her consciousness as she fought to keep a semblance of the Evren she once knew.

Now, standing in the middle of the market, the world of aliens bustling around her, she felt...alone...and a slight sliver of fear made the hair on the back of her neck prickle.

She could feel her heart rate increase even without concentrating on the organ beating wildly in her chest.

Her hands suddenly felt clammy even though the air was warm and dry, and everything was confusing—the sounds, the movement, the people...it was all too much.

She recognized the signs of what was happening to her and it helped to calm her somewhat.

She was having an anxiety attack.

Swallowing hard, she forced herself to breathe.

Taking a moment to close her eyes for a second, Evren reminded herself that everything was fine.

She was safe.

She wasn’t lost.

She could do this.

Her apartment was just a few minutes’ walk away if she needed to return to it.

All she had to do was take her time, go through the market, find what she needed, and head back to her place.

She wasn’t lost.

She wasn’t lost.

Images of a small Evren, just about four years old, flashed in her mind.

She’d been in her backyard when she’d seen the little rabbit. It had been white, like her. White fur all over. White nose. White paws. Blue eyes.

It was her if she had been born a rabbit.

It was a ghost too—at least, that’s what she’d thought at the time. It was the name the other kids used to call her.

She’d followed the little creature as it bound into the woods and before she knew it, she couldn’t see it anymore. It had hopped away, out of her sight, and no matter how she’d looked to find it, it never reappeared.

When she’d turned around to head back home, she couldn’t see the trail.

She’d gone farther than she’d intended.

Three days.

For three days she was alone in that forest.

Scared. Hungry. Dirty.

Lost.

Her cries were never heard. Her mother never came, even when she wailed and said she was sorry for running off. When she fell over fallen trees or tripped over protruding roots, there was no sound of her father’s heavy boots rushing her way to make sure she was okay.

She’d been alone.

It had been terrifying. But it had been a turning point in her life.

Those three days in the forest was what had planted the seed for her interest in ecology.

Three days alone in raw nature had forced her to study every little thing around her.

It had altered her path forever. She had survived.

And, if she could survive such an experience as a four-year-old, she could survive a simple shopping trip in a foreign market.

For that was all it was—a foreign market like the countless other foreign markets she’d visited while traveling abroad.

Opening her eyes, she took in a deep breath.

She hadn’t had a panic attack since she’d been abducted and now it was happening here, while she was standing in a market of all places.

She supposed the week she’d had of complete safety had allowed her mind to finally let down its protective wall, leaving her open and vulnerable again but also allowing her to feel once more.

That’s where the depressing thoughts were coming from—it was why this memory of the forest was resurfacing.

Regardless, as she watched the aliens about her shopping, she could admit that this wasn’t the usual culture shock.

Back on Earth, culture shock had been temporary. She’d always eventually leave the country she visited to return home with her findings.

But this was permanent.

There was no home to go back to.

She and the other women hadn’t talked about it yet, but they all knew deep down that they were never returning to Earth.

That meant she didn’t have a choice.

Evolve or die.

She had to adapt.

If it turned out she had to leave to go live at the intergalactic port city, things were bound to be more chaotic than what she was seeing in this market.

So, this would be her test run. Phase 1 of adapting.

Mind set, she began walking through the throng, no longer standing in the middle like a rock that could not be moved.

It took her a few minutes, but soon she found herself moving through the marketplace with interest.

There was so much to see, so many strange products, most of which she had no idea of their purpose.

She passed a vendor selling what looked like tall vases with strange colorful smoke coming from the top. The vendor had his too large of a mouth stretched into a silly smile