Creature of Unknown Origin

49

didn’t answer my prayers to be swallowed u p, zapped into nonexistence by a miraculous

appearance of a black hole.

I swallowed, trying to wet my tongue and throat, but to no avail, as my mouth was bone

dry. “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not… I’m not a monster, if that’s what you’re afrai d

of.”

Dr. Richards focused back on Spencer with narrowed eyes, and he nodded. “It’s true. She’s

a real sweetheart when you get to know her.”

He slowly lowered his hand, backing away from Dr. Richards to give her some space. I

was beginning to think this w hole thing would’ve been easier if Spencer had just hit her upside the

head and stuffed her in the back seat of the truck without so much as a ‘hello’, but he wasn’t like

that. It almost made me wonder if that made Spencer an even worse person or not, given that he

wasn’t used to kidnapping people, and if that wasn’t his primary line of work, then…

“What do you people want from me?” Dr. Richards spoke softly, her quaking voice

consumed by hatred.

Carefully, I edged closer, stepping into the puddle of light from a lamp Dr. Richards

must’ve flicked on as she entered the room. “We need help with rebuilding the machine you used

to bring me here.”

“It wasn’t supposed to do that!” Dr. Richards burst. She threw her hands up in the air and

started pacing. Spencer’s eyes followed her up and down the room. The woman seemed to forget

she was trapped between a man attempting to kidnap her and me, a woman she saw as a monster.

“All I wanted to do was study wormholes and black holes and the multiverse and that sort of stuf f.

Everyone told me I was crazy and excommunicated me from the scientific community, cut my

research grant, and eventually ran me off campus!”

She huffed, swinging around to face me. “Did that stop me?” she laughed, a sound

consumed by madness. “No, of course, it didn’t. Instead, I just got black market funding from

some crooked Monopoly-man type who thinks he can beat death — and then! Then, when all my

research is finally set, and I think I’ve got it, and everything’s all set, my machine malfunctions

and op ens a portal to Hell instead!”

“So that’s a ‘ no ’, then?” Spencer asked. Even though his lips were turned up in a crooked

sort of amused smile, his eyes shined with remorse.