Everything was perfect. His eyes remained shut feeling her body draped over him, her head tenderly resting on his chest while her arms were wrapped around his sides. The soft sound of her breathing gently resonating in the air as a light breeze fluttered throughout the still room. A smile crept onto his face, his right arm gliding over to softly caress her back. He could feel her body beneath her nightgown while he slowly stroked up and down her curvature. his smile grew wider when he felt her grip his shirt, pull slightly, and sigh contently. He returned her sigh and pulled her body tighter against his allowing him to feel her soft purring vibrate faintly on his chest.

He froze. Purring? Suddenly, his mind grew cluttered with thoughts that began to grow more and more frightening. He didn't remember having a girlfriend. He didn't remember how he got home last night. He didn't remember where home was.

The notion that he had lost part of his memory forced him to shoot his eyes open. However, everything he saw only worried him further. Partly on top of him lay girl unlike any he'd ever seen.

She was white, but not like a Caucasian. Pure white, almost glowing white. No skin was visible, only fur. She had ears like a cat that stood pointed, yet relaxed. And over everything else, her face was the most unbelievable part to him. It resembled a woman's face, but only by the shape of the eyes and mouth. The rest of her facial features resembled a cat.

The room in front of him was no room he'd ever been in before. It looked like he was in

Ancient Egypt from the walls being made out of an orangish yellow sandstone and the lack of a door. However, the furniture looked unbelievably elegant. The walls were draped in purple and white tapestries, the armoire and tables looked to be made from the finest mahogany and marble, and the bed was white, lavish, and felt breathtakingly soft. The room was near silent with only the light breeze giving it motion.

His racing mind kept him silent as he took everything in but eventually, he snapped. He screamed so intensely that the vibrations from his vocal chords alone could have woken her. Her eyes darted open revealing their deep blue color causing him to shove her off his body and crawl off the bed.

Landing with a thud, his body crashed into the floor. Luckily, a small, square carpet was beneath him to protect him from hitting the hard stone surface. The sound of her getting off the bed could be heard making him stand up quickly to assess the situation. Standing on the opposite side of the bed was the same girl that he pulled closer to him mere minutes ago breathing heavily.

They both simply stared at each other with wide eyes. Now that he had a better look at her standing, he noticed that her body truly resembled the shape of a teenage girl, but with a short layer of fur on top. A long, white nightgown covered most of her body, but her legs and arms still showed. A tail also made an appearance to her left, which seemed to have a thicker layer of fur than the rest of her body.

She knew he was a human male. He was Caucasian with an average build, short brown hair, and eyes that matched her vibrant blue ones. He wore black lounge pants and a black fitted t-shirt to match. She knew his planet, Earth, didn't allow foreign visitors due to their government's ban on planetary entry. Why did she know that though? She knew she had learned it at school, but what school? Who taught her that? What was her school called? She couldn't remember what planet she lived on, yet she remembered this miscellaneous piece of information. She remembers that she has a family, but not who was in it. She remembers that she's been alive for 19 years, but not where she had spent those 19 years. She squeezed her forehead in confusion. Why couldn't she remember the location or name of anything from her planet, but she remembered the name of his home planet?

"What the hell?" He finally stammered, breaking her from her thoughts. "Who are you? I mean, what are you, and where am I?"

She responded by backing up slightly and speaking in a language he'd never heard. It didn't sound like a cat's meow as he crudely expected, but rather alien. This only worried him further to the point of frantically looking around the room and hyperventilating.

"Did you do this?! Where am I?!" He shouted louder causing her to respond in the same foreign tongue as before with a similar confused tone.

He made a long and very audible grunt while his hands pulled at his hair in sheer frustration making her back up all the way to the wall in the process.

"This is crazy," he vented. "This is absolutely fucking crazy. I must be dreaming. There is no way you're real." He shouted while pointing a finger in her direction causing her to flinch and release a quick gasp.

His rambling continued for another 30 seconds while he paced back and forth about the room. It eventually ended as he walked to the front of the bed and sat down while she remained with her back glued to the wall. His hands covered his face in a mix of frustration and confusion. She hadn't done this to him, and he knew it. He could read her like an open book, and she was just as confused as he was.

An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he tried to calm himself down enough to assess the situation. He pulled his hands from his face and let them plop down onto his lap before cocking an eye at what looked like a small wooden chest sitting on top of a table. Gradually making his way over to the chest in question he spotted a note stuck to the front. Once close enough, he peeled the note off and read it.

"Put this in your ear?" He spoke aloud, questioning the note as he read it.

Below the statement in english was another line of text in an unrecognizable language, which he assumed to be for his equally confused companion. His eyes moved to where she stood before finally locking on to the chest in front of him. He lifted to the top to reveal two metal, pill shaped devices. Lifting one out of the box, he inspected it before delicately pushing it into his right ear.

His eyes shut tightly when a wave of pain coursed throughout his body. He dropped to his knees and covered his ears as he felt a small needle begin to drill its way through his eardrum. The sudden collapsing of his body caused the girl to fall down to the floor and hyperventilate out of fear. After the pain had subsided he attempted to stand up but struggled with his hazy vision and discombobulation.

"What is happening?!" He yelled as a small stream of blood dripped from his ear to his shoulder. "This is straight out of a sci-fi movie."

"He's so loud," he heard her mutter from the other side of the room.

"Of course I'm loud!" He shouted back at her, making her flinch. "My ear canal..."

He stopped mid sentence, realizing he understood every word she said.

"I can understand you now?" He questioned, only to have her return a blank stare.

He looked back at the chest containing the other metal pill then returned his gaze back to her. Grabbing the remaining device, he walked very cautiously over to her holding it out in front of him. She immediately jumped to her feet and started shouting at him.

"Stay back!" She began. "You've been brainwashed and are going to eat me!"

He stopped and gave her an incredulous stare before finally rolling his eyes. She cocked an eye at his sarcastic reaction.

"You can understand me?" She asked, which he returned with a nod.

"How do you know my language?" She queried further. He gave her a quick shake of his head before pointing to the device he held with his free hand.

"That thing let's you understand me? It looks like it hurts." He simply smiled and nodded his head fervently.

She gulped before cautiously make her way over to him. Reaching out she plucked the device out of his hand and held it in front of her face. She looked at him one final time before closing her eyes and moving her hand toward her right ear. Her hand shook slightly as the small device entered her large cat ears. After a few seconds she let out a painful scream, covered her ears, and began to writhe while standing.

He took a step back so she didn't accidentally hit him as she endured this pain. Her fit ended after about 10 seconds, yet her eyes remained tightly shut. She leaned her body to the right and let a few drops of blood spill out and onto the floor before finally opening her eyes. Their eyes met for a brief second before he grew a mischievous smile.

"How'd it feel?" He asked flatly.

The question immediately being tossed aside with an eyeroll, she asked "What's your name?"

His smile faded into a serious expression. "Aden. Yours?"

"Averra."

"What are you?" He asked, Averra being slightly offended by his tone.

"Sothrin."

Aden found the word meaningless and moved to the next question. "Where do you come from?"

Averra looked away from him and let out a defeated sigh before answering. "I don't know."

"How do you not know?" His tone grew cross out of frustration.

"Tell me where you live then," She retorted matter of factly, halting his line of questioning.

He remained quiet for a few seconds before crossing his arms and turning his head towards a window. "I can't," he returns, all his frustration having been filtered out.

She formed an arrogant smile before moving in front of him, blocking his view of the window. "But I can."

He furrows his brow in annoyance. 'know it all' attitudes from people have always irritated him. "Where is it and how do you know?" He asks in a final attempt to win the small argument.

"It's called Earth, but I don't really know where that is." She responds. "I mean, I have no idea where we are right now, so I really don't have a reference point at all. Also, there was a course on our planet's similar social structure at my school. Our planet's are basically identical, except for the fact that we look way different and my planet has access to much more advanced technology."

Aden stood silent for a few seconds after her long winded reply before drawling out, "You talk way too much."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "At least I'm helping the situation at hand," she countered. "You've done nothing but shout at me!" Her volume slowly increased with each word.

"I found the devices!" He shouted.

"Whatever!" She exclaimed. "Stop acting like a baby and let's actually figure out what the heck is going on!"

He grew a smirk of victory before turning his head towards the table next to his side of the bed. Walking over to it, he noticed the small drawer at the top and quickly yanked it open. Inside sat a small chest similar to the one that contained the ear pieces. Lifting the top his eyes widened at another note, but more importantly, a very high-tech looking gun.

"Living in the past only allows you to exist in the present," he read aloud.

She snapped her head towards the end table on her side of the bed and moved towards it. Opening the drawer and lifting the top she saw the note and spoke, "Finish creating the future."

They looked at each other for a brief moment before reaching down to grab the weapon. It was roughly the size and shape of a very large handgun, except for the large green button where the hammer should be and no visible moving parts. Grabbing the top with his free hand he attempted to pull it back like he had seen in movies, but nothing seemed to budge.

"Why was the note on the inside of these boxes?" Averra asked, breaking the silence.

"So we saw that box first," he replied, moving his head in the direction of the box which previously contained the devices in their ears. "Whoever put us here probably didn't want us to blow each other's heads off before we could communicate."

Averra remained quiet at the answer, and after a few moments turned to the doorway and began to amble towards it.

"Let's go, I guess," she let out with a sigh.

Aden simply followed her out without another word.

It became apparent immediately that this was the only furnished room in the entire building. They stopped constantly to see each and every room hoping to find some sort of clue or note, but all they found were empty, sandstone rooms.

After a few more minutes of looking around and finding nothing of importance, they made their way to the only doorway that seemed to lead out of the structure. Aden was the first to step out, but he couldn't make it 4 steps before stopping completely causing Averra to bump into him.

"What are you doing?" She questioned, moving around him.

"What is that?" He asked, ignoring her question and pointing to the sky.

"It's another planet," she answered, irritation present in her tone. "What do you think it is?"

"It's so huge!" He exclaimed almost excitedly.

"Obviously. It's a planet." she retorted, rolling her eyes and walking away from where he stood. "What's the big deal? I'm pretty sure Earth has a moon or something"

Aden typically would have been annoyed by her arrogant response, but his mind was occupied with the sheer beauty of what he saw. The planet in question took up nearly a quarter of the sky and was an array of green, purple, and yellow. The sky itself had a hue similar to that of the sandstone structures around him and was devoid of any clouds. Each building was identical to the next and seemingly stretched for miles down the single road they stood in. Other than the planet in the sky having various shades of color, everything the eye could see was the same orange sandstone.

After a few more moments of taking everything in, Aden began to move again. He quickened his pace slightly to catch up to Averra, the light slap of his bare feet against the ground echoing through the air. Once he reached Averra's side he matched her pace and walked silently next to her.

As they ambled down the seemingly endless road their eyes searched for help. As to what they were searching for, neither of them knew. A familiar breeze made itself apparent. however, with their eyes open, the stillness they remember waking up to had lost its sublime feeling and became unnerving and eerie. After walking for 5 minutes, the silence confirmed that this city was empty. No people. No vegetation. No life.

There was a quick clearing of his throat before Aden spoke, breaking the silence. "So…" He began, scratching the nape of his neck. "Is everybody on your planet an animal."

Averra stopped walking and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. "Are all of your questions going to be this stupid?"

"What was so stupid about that?!" He asked, stopping shortly after she did and turning to face her.

"I'm not an animal," she seethed. "I'm Sothrin. Animals are lower life creatures you sometimes keep as pets. So, if you're just going to ask offensive questions, I'd rather walk in silence."

Her steady pace resumed, walking right past his still unmoving body.

"Ok. I'm sorry, alright?" He returned, bringing Averra's stride to a halt once more. "I just learned that aliens exist and space travel is possible, so I'm not really sure of how to deal with this right now. I know neither of us know what's going on, but cut me some slack please. I'm trying."

Averra released a defeated sigh before responding. "Fine. We're both really on edge right now, and I should've been more understanding to your situation. I'm sorry, what do you want to know?"

They continued down the road as he began his line of questioning. "Well, I'd say it's pretty safe for me to assume that space travel exists, but can anybody own a spaceship?"

"Sort of. The universe is huge, so in a lot cases you can do whatever you want and nobody will bother you. However, more civilized galaxies like to maintain order. So, galactic travel is basically open to the public, but you can't just roam around."

"So you can't live on a ship in the middle of space?" A smile crept onto his face as his childlike fascination with space grew.

"That's actually one of the exceptions. If you have a ship that's large enough or you're given permission you're allowed to live out in space."

"How big would your ship have to be?"

"I don't know the exact size, but I'm pretty sure you need thousands of people."

"There are ships that can hold a city's worth of people?"

"Try a thousand cities' worth. I've even heard of some vessels being the size of small planets."

"For real?! That's amazing!" He took a second to reflect on all the unbelievable information he was hearing before asking, "How many planets have life on them?"

"Your galaxy? Not really sure. But in the universe? A lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. I can't stress enough how much there actually is. It's a beautiful thing, really. Just think of how many unknown species exist in the universe considering one planet alone can hold millions upon millions of them!" Her voice grew with excitement.

He gave a light chuckle at her passionate response. "You like school a lot, don't you?"

"That's a pretty trivial and irrelevant question for somebody who wants to know more about the universe," she gave, cocking an eye at him.

"I know, but I might as well get to know you a little bit considering I'm stuck with you and all."

A short smile snuck it's way onto her face. "Well, As a matter of fact, I do enjoy school. I was even interested in being a teacher at one time, but I found research to much more satisfying. What about you?"

"Oh, uhm…" He hesitated, mentally scolding himself for not expecting this. "School really wasn't my thing."

"Wasn't?"

"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked in any direction that wasn't Averra before finishing. "I never really finished high school. I liked art and band class, but math, science, and all those other classes never really interested me."

"Oh, so you're an artist," she replied without a hint of judgment in her tone.

He returned an incredulous look before grinning. "Yeah. I like to draw and write music and stuff."

This is the first time somebody hasn't given him a hard time for being a dropout. It felt nice for somebody to actually look past his history considering that was all people notice about him.

"Cool! I always wanted to learn to play an instrument, but I never had the natural talent for it."

"It's never too late to start," He tittered.

"Given our situation, I think it'll be a while before I get the chance to try."

With that, their conversation ended. Perfectly timed as well because as both of them cast their attention in front of them they noticed something roughly 100 meters away standing in the middle of the road. They froze upon noticing it. It was huge, blue, had 4 arms, and looked like a statue with its unmoving behavior.

"What is that?" Aden asked.

"Don't know," Averra replied. "It might be a native species, though."

"Do you think it's friendly?"

Averra just shrugged her shoulders.

Looking to take the initiative and dissolve the motionless battle, Aden raised his hand and gave a slow and friendly wave only to have the statue break out in full sprint towards them.

Here is the rough draft of the first full chapter. I am desperately looking for feedback on my writing, so please leave a review! Let me know if you see any grammatical errors, obnoxious choice of words, poor flow, etc.

I am still looking for somebody interested in editing my story. Please let me know if you're interested.