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It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Miles’ had been so excited when he won a scholarship for Alchemex’s year-round study in space. He worked so hard to convince his mom and dad that it was safe and that they would see him again in June. He even promised to call them twice everyday, once when he wakes up and once before he goes to bed.
When the day came for Miles to leave, he was, of course, very nervous. He shared some tears with his mama and dad, once again promising to call twice daily.
“Stay safe, Milto. Promise me that you’ll do everything that you’re told.” " his Mama asked, no beg. She begged him to stay safe that she didn’t think that she would be able to go on if something was to happen to him. That’s what Miles thinks about now as he was forced into a cage at gunpoint by an alien that vaguely resembled a cat. If that cat was 8 feet tall, stood on its hind legs, had two tails and four eyes.
See, the schoolship landed that morning to allow the students to participate in a festival on Baalham. They were meant to stay in groups, but the group of boys he was placed with wasn’t very kind to him. When he took too long looking at a stall full of soft toys, one of which he had gotten for his mom, the boys had ditched him. And when an hour later, a smuggler realized that this young, lone human was all alone, he manipulated the boy, and now here Miles was—being loaded into a cage like some kind of animal.
Miles did his best to stay calm the entire way to the smuggler’s ship, trying to remember the protocol for situations like this. He did his best to note every turn they took, every bump in the road, and every sign he saw. Though, logically it wouldn’t do him any good once he was inside the ship.
The smuggler’s ship was huge, just a few feet smaller than the school ship. Once inside, he was stripped of all of his belongings, including his clothes, and forced into what reminded Miles of a small shower stall. He was sprayed on all sides with scorching hot water before he was given clothes that would be better used as cleaning rags. They hung loosely to his frame, and he had to hold his pants up as they walked him through rows and rows of cells that held aliens of all kinds. Some looked at him with curiosity and pity; others growled and snarled at him. There were a few that didn’t seem to be moving, didn’t seem to be breathing. Miles tried not to think too much about them.
After what felt like forever, Miles was thrown into a cell. His two guards appeared to be laughing and taunting him. The boy could barely understand what they were saying, as he was still learning common-speak. But he could’ve sworn he heard dinner or snack. Does that mean something in here was going to eat him? Oh god, what is he supposed to do?
Miles looked around the cell, trying to see what else was in the cell with him. He heard it before he saw it. A growl so low he almost missed it, accompanied by clicks. Like the sounds of a dog’s nails as it walked on a tiled floor. Then there was the movement. A shadow that Miles could barely make out moved towards him cautiously, the growl still very much present. Slowly, the shadow revealed to be a man…spider? A spider man? A spider centaur? The top of the creature could pass as a man, a handsome one at that, if not for the six, nearly black, eyes. Where his hip would’ve been was the body of a spider, complete with pedipalps, though he only had one of those. The growling had stopped, and the creature was no longer advancing on him. It appeared to be studying him.
“Probably trying to decide if it was worth eating him.”, Miles thought to himself bitterly
Miles tried to make himself seem smaller and was careful to avoid contact with the creature, choosing to look down at the floor instead, just as he was taught to do when meeting a new alien he didn’t know. He tried scooting further away from the creature, but he quickly figured out from the humming noise that the bars were most likely electric. He didn’t want to get hurt by that. The creature growled again, but this time it was softer as if trying not to scare him away. Miles risked glancing at the creature’s face. Its face seemed softer than it did just a few moments ago. When the creature realized he was looking at it, it cooed as it made itself smaller.
They stayed like that for a moment, neither looking away nor moving. At least, that was until the sound of a loud bang startled Miles. In seconds, Miles was lifted up and placed on something hard but warm. And moving? Miles had to hold onto the back of the spider creature’s back as it ran to the back of the cell, growling at the two guards stopped in front of the cell. One of them slid two trays into the cell, one of them grumbling to the other in common-speak before they left. Miles tried moving off of the creature’s back, but one of its legs had kept him in place.
“C’mon man, let me down. They’re gone.” he tried telling the creature, but it either didn’t understand him or didn’t care. It was likely the former. Miles grumbled as he was forced to hold on to the creature. Thankfully, he didn’t have to hold on for very long as after a few minutes the creature let Miles back down. Still, it didn’t let him move any further ahead. Instead, it used its front legs to move the trays closer to them before maneuvering the two of them. This way, the creature’s back was towards the opening of the cell, with the tray and Miles in front of it.
Carefully, the creature settled down, folding its legs underneath its body. Even without standing, it towered over Miles. The creature slid one of the trays towards Miles, and upon looking at it, Miles realized that it was food—some stale bread, a slab of raw meat, and some kind of berries that he didn’t recognize, along with a paper cup of water. There was no way he was going to eat the meat, and he was taught never to eat a berry he didn’t recognize. So, he stuck with what he knew, the bread and water. The bread was dry and flavorless but he was so hungry he barely noticed. And the water was nice and cool on his throat. Miles looked at the creature as he finished the rest of his bread. It, too, was eating; its portion was significantly bigger than Miles’. Its hands were stained with red from the meat, and the paper cup was sitting in a crumpled heap on the tray. Nothing else seemed to have been touched, including the bread. Eating had Miles realize how hungry he was, seeing as he hadn’t eaten since breakfast that day. Looking back at the creature, who was still preoccupied with his meat, Miles entertained the idea of stealing the bread but quickly banished the idea from his mind. Miles has never been one to steal, and besides, who knew how the creature would react to Miles trying to take from it? Looking back at his slab of meat, Miles decided to try something different instead.
Cautiously, Miles tried getting the creature’s attention. “Ehem,e-excuse me?” he said softly. The creature turned to him quickly. Miles tried not to feel unnerved by its eyes as he held out the meat to the creature and pointed to the bread. The creature must’ve understood as it handed the bread to Miles; in turn, Miles handed the meat to the creature. Miles wasted no time scarfing down the bread. As he did so, the creature said something. Miles looked at the creature, whose head was tilted as though waiting for a reply. Once it seemed to realize it repeated itself. Miles only understood one word.
“Name? My name?” Miles asked, hoping his limited vocabulary was enough for the creature to understand
“Yes, W̶̼̩̉̋́͘ḧ̴͇͙́̌͗̇å̵̲͙̈́̕͝ť̷̛͖̎ ̸̯͖̝́̕ǐ̴͙͉s̶̥̝̅ ̵̗͝y̵̼̙͆͐̈́́o̷͍͆u̴̩͎̓͒̂́r̴͙͑̆̚̕ name?”, the creature asked again, his voice sounded as though he gargled rocks for a living, this time pointing at the boy
Miles took the hint and pointed at himself, and answered, “Miles.”
“M’les?” the creature repeated back; Miles shook his head and pronounced his name slower “Mm-I-les.”
“Miles,” the creature repeated; Miles nodded and then pointed to the creature “Name?”
“Hmm, Ḿ̸̯̳̞͛y̶̝̬̾͂ ̴̥̥̠͔̀̚name i̶̛̻̐ṣ̴̏ M’guel,” the creature, M’guel, answered.
Miles repeated the name carefully, “M’guel?” M’guel nodded. Miles smiled, happy to finally give the creature a name. Truthfully, he had felt bad about calling M’guel a creature the entire time.
All the lights turned off outside the cell, leaving the entire floor in pitch-black darkness. The lack of lights made Miles uneasy. His mom used to joke that as a summer baby, he hated everything to do with the dark. And to be fair, he didn’t stop sleeping with a nightlight until he was nine. Without the light, it seemed the day had finally gotten to him. He tried to stifle the sobs as the tears began to fall, but he wasn’t doing an outstanding job if the questioning croon from M’guel was anything to go by.
“A̴̻̥͗r̶͍̓̅e̴̗̾̇̊ ̴̢̰̈́͋́ỹ̶̭̱͖͠o̶̠̙̓ụ̶͍̖̀̕ ̴̢̣͚̓̾̈́ả̵̡͙́̐̐l̸̟̼̈́͐͂ŗ̵̥̣̭̆̃͊̎ī̶̤͖͘g̵̟͔͕̐̈́h̸̹̫̰̣̾t̸̫͖̭̞̾͠?̴̨̣͔͓̄̾͝ ̵̱̻̒͝A̶͔̼͘r̶̨̄ẽ̵̗̪͕͗̆̈́ ̶͎͗͋y̵͇̼͊͌ȏ̴͓͎͛u̷͔͕͒ ̸̨̮̐̈́ sick o̴̞̭͑̒r̴̢̃ hurt?”, M’guel asked, coming closer to look at the boy
Miles shook his head, “No sick, no hurt.”, he tried to say while trying not to choke on his sobs.
It was silent for a bit before the sound of clicks and something solid and warm pressed against him. He belatedly realized that M’guel had curled around him, still keeping his back towards the opening.
“G̴̡͚̣̈́̿̾ô̴͕̺͠ ̶̙̌̍t̵̨͑o̴̦̺̎̊͊ͅ ̴̠̔͊sleep, arafans Miles”, M’guel whispered as a vibration began to shake through his body.
It was soothing and reminded Miles of the family cat back on earth. It wasn’t long until his eyes grew heavy and began to fall asleep. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow, and it would turn out that this entire thing would be a dream.