She couldn’t remember how she got here. I made sure of that. She blinked her eyes open, trying to get used to the bright light bouncing off the titanium surfaces. She couldn’t see me just then. I wanted to see how she reacted to the room. What she would do. She just laid there, chest rising and falling, eyes blinking and staring at the ceiling. She was rebooting. It wouldn’t take long. Sometimes the journey did that to people. Eventually, she gasped and I saw her hands tighten into fists by her sides. There she was. She still wouldn’t remember how she got here, she was sleeping peacefully in her bed, and then she woke up here, with me. Her breathing quickened, she was in a panic. I noted her reaction, but I needed her to feel calm before she saw me. She took some deep breaths and moved her head to allow herself more visual access to her surroundings. My home. There was nothing threatening here, she should feel at peace, I had turned the lighting to a warm afternoon sun effect, the one that would remind her of happy times feeling the rays beating down on her face as she smiled. She should feel happy here. She slowly began to lift herself into a sitting position, her dark chestnut hair falling forward over her ears and cheeks. She looked down at the robe I had put on her. A soft silver, flowing over her body like water. She was disgusted yet amazed at the beauty of the material. It was something she had never seen before. Never felt. She rubbed her hands over her thighs, caressing her knees and down her calf where the material faded into nothing. Her ankles and feet were bare. She swung both legs over the side of the table and her feet were suspended over the floor. She glanced down to check she would indeed find a safe landing, and she slid gracefully to the floor. I was getting impatient as she strolled round the table, her fingers tracing along the firm metal, as she took in her surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. Everything was made of the same shining metal, the table she had been lying on was the only piece of furniture, she couldn’t even see the door. The light seemed to ooze through the ceiling, bathing her in a warm glow. After her second turn around the small room, she placed herself back onto the table to think about her predicament. She was given no clue to her whereabouts, no clue to how she woke up here and no clue on how to leave. All she could do was wait. I knew that she was waiting for me. I was the only one who could give her answers.

I let out a groan. She spun round looking for where it had escaped from.

“Hello, is someone there?” She called out, uncertain.

I coughed.

“Can you hear me?” She called again.

“H…h..hello.” I responded sounding weak. “Who’s there.”

She had sprung to her feet. Walking around the room, caressing the walls, searching for me. She wouldn’t find me. I was safe from her investigations.

“Are you okay? Do you know where we are?”

I coughed again. “I don’t know, I’m just in a room. I woke up here.”

“Yes me too.” She called back. She was close to me, I could smell her. It wasn’t pleasant but it was stimulating.

“Can you see anything?” She asked me.

“No, just walls and a table. I’m dressed in some strange dress.”

“Yes, me too.” She was thinking now, her mind racing. So many questions rushing through her head. She was looking at her fingers which were still placed on the wall. I needed her attention.

The lighting darkened to a deep dark red. She jumped and spun around, placing her back flat against the wall.

“Can you still hear me?” She whispered this time. Returning to her calming breaths, which whistled through her “O” shaped lips.

I had chosen wisely this time, she was strong. The last one was completely useless, I couldn’t get them past the panic and fear. But she was level-headed. Open. She had a fire inside her.

Slowly I began to lift the veil of the walls. She stumbled backward, into nothingness. Everything melted away before her. It was the moment of truth. This would tell me if she indeed was as strong as I knew her to be. She didn’t shout. She didn’t scream. She just looked around at her new reality. She was standing now in the huge expanse of my home. A deep red light surrounded her and her immediate area, she wouldn’t be able to see to the end of the void. It would all just fade into nothing. The whole experience would be deeply unsettling for her. She had never truly felt nothingness like this. She was crouched on the floor. Trying to catch a grip on reality. But I had taken it. I wanted her to be strong. Not to lose it.

“Hello?” I called out again. She squinted through the bleakness to find me. I was here now with her. I was dressed in the same flowing silver robe, with no shoes on my feet but white hair flowing down my back. She stood, meeting me under the red glow.

“Where are we?” She asked.

I looked around, encouraging her to do the same.

“It all just fell away.” She explained. “The room, the table.”

I could sense she was still in shock.

I could no longer talk now she could see my face. I needed her to be calm, but my non-communication was causing the panic to bubble back up. I continued turning to look around my home, my happy place.

As I faced her again, I raised my finger to my lips. I could tell she was nervous. I was struggling with my own set of nerves even though they came from a very different place.

“Please don’t be afraid.” I begged as my hands came up to show I meant no harm. But her face was riddled with fear as she realised I wasn’t talking yet she could hear me. Yet she stood her ground, she didn’t run. She wasn’t screaming and clawing at her head as others before her had done. She was the strongest yet. I needed to see if she could take the real me.

“Please don’t be afraid.“ I reassured her once again, communicating straight into the depths of her mind.

I watched her face as I rose from the floor. I saw her eyes widen as my body lengthened. I felt her need to scream as she saw my robe turn into the sparkling elements of my skin that she had never before laid eyes on. I could hear her heart racing as my limbs split into my eight billowing tentacles. I could see the blood drain from her face as my face restored to its natural form of two giant eyes and my three raised nostrils. I heard her heart beat its final pulse as my head expanded to accommodate my superior brain.

As my transformation finished, she just lay on the floor staring into the abyss. I couldn’t control my devastation. I tried to apologise but there was no mind present to receive my transmission. She had been my last hope. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. It had taken me a decade to recover from the overwhelming sadness that had consumed me after my previous human encounter. This time I had chosen with such care. I thought she would take it. I could feel the darkness creeping up on me. I was destined to be alone.

I didn’t have long to return her before I would find myself unable to move. So stricken with grief that I would be paralysed in my own mind and body. Once I returned to a state of awareness I would have to move on from this planet. I would have to continue my search for connection elsewhere in the universe.

I returned her to her bed. Hoping that by some miracle she would wake and never remember how she got there.