ChapterNineteen: Historical Holes

November 2155

It's now one in the morning. Hannah was in the living room, watching anything on the stick-thin television set. She did get some food for herself, and watched the latest teen show on one of four channels, Netflix. The other three were Hulu, YouTube, and AmazonTV. That was all she did, watch movies and TV shows.

She didn't want to go to sleep. She didn't trust the Native family one bit. For all she knew, she could get bitten by one of them! She made sure she drank some energy drink from the fridge to keep her eyes open. She kept texting and calling James. He never answered. She didn't want to come off as a clingy girlfriend, but she couldn't help but worry for him. He was bitten by a Native! She had every right to be worried for his life!

Feeling bored and somewhat sleepy, she turned off the TV. She decided to walk around the house for a bit. She tried to make sure she didn't go in the bedrooms where Mason, his siblings, and their parents were sleeping. She saw a door that was slightly opened. She opened it as quietly as possible.

She looked around the room. It was both an office and a home library. There were a few laptops on a few desks. There were shelves on the wall, revealing physical, actual books. She walked up to the bookshelves, and looked at every title there were on the books. They all looked like they were paperback.

I guess these demons aren't so different from us, Hannah thought to herself.

Then she noticed something strange. Some of the books were in English...and some of them were in some strange language. The writing looked like the Russian Cyrillic script, and the German language. How can that be? she asked herself. These things are from here on GH569. Not Earth.

She then saw a book that said in English, "Rossa History." She assumed it was some nation the Natives run. So she took out the book, and began reading it. In this book, there were illustrations of many different forests, strange animals, and cities. She then noticed the illustrations of the people, and recognized them: The Natives, and they called themselves "Rossians," after the planet they named. The book had many written details into their lives starting from the year 2022 to just last year, yet the book claimed the Natives have been around for over 10,000 years!

Then she stumbled upon something interesting: 2055, the year when the first group of astronauts that landed on GH569. She remembered reading how their mission had failed. The only thing they left behind was a message from the group: "Don't come and save us." Then they just disappeared. There wasn't another mission until 2100, and that one was a success. In the history book, though, it did mention the first mission, calling the astronauts as "aliens who looked exactly our own species." Then the Natives took them, and that was it. Nothing more was explained.

Hannah kept turning the pages to find anything else on the first mission, but there was nothing. Just more history on the Natives. As she kept reading, she heard a low growl right behind her. She turned to see who it was, and it was Mason glaring at her.

She sighed tiredly, "Look, I was bored with the TV, and I felt like reading history on your people."

Mason slowly walked up to her, and grabbed the book from her hands. He said sternly, "You don't go reading other people's books."

She stood up from the chair she was sitting on, and asked, "Why can't I know about your people? I mean, we're pretty much living side-by-side. So why not?"

He only said to her tiredly as he was about to walk out, "Go to bed, Hannah."

Hannah, not trusting Mason and his family, walked back to the living room, and began watching another movie. She did her best to not fall asleep, but she couldn't keep her eyes opened.

It's now morning. Hannah was sleeping in front of the TV, which had some kid show on. She woke up to the sound of voices on the screen. She sat up abruptly, and felt for any bite marks. There wasn't any. She soon smelled food that was just cooked. She got up, and walked into the dining room. She saw she was being followed by a couple of children, who were obviously Mason's younger siblings.

She saw Mason's mother and father smiling at Hannah warmly as they put the food on the table. The father said, "You're welcome to join us for breakfast before you go home."

Hannah sighed tiredly. She didn't want to eat with these people, but she could feel her stomach growling viciously. So she sat down, grabbed a bit of pancakes and bacon, and began eating. She soon felt her phone vibrating in her clutch purse that she held close to her. She took out her phone, and saw a text. It said, "See you tomorrow at school. –J" She knew this was James. She grinned happily, and was relieved that he was alright. She would get to see him on Monday.