The Traveller Effect (LGBTQ+)

4 ✖ Raw

By this time I was too tired to question anything, as I was nearing two days without sleep and I certainly wasn't going to allow myself to fall asleep on the shoulder of an alien. I just had to focus on staying awake.

The Traveller slowed to a halt not long after, a grassy area prominent between the trees. They headed towards a tree and swung me over, holding me around the waist as they lowered me onto the ground and propped me up against the tree.

"We're stopping?" I asked with a slurring, tired voice.

"Sunrise approaches," they answered, stepping away from me. "Makes travel dangerous,"

"We're also surrounded by a forest. That can be quite dangerous," the look they gave me was a true cocky look of really?

"Your animal kingdom is of no concern. We rest here,"

"And then what? Do we keep heading in a random direction? What about food? Eventually, we're going to start seeing some urban areas. Are you going to disguise yourself? I'm still in my pyjamas and frankly, I'm in dire need of a shower.

And you fucked up my ankle. I can't walk on it. If you intend to drag me along, then you'll literally be carrying me the entire way unless I see a doctor," I huffed out in frustration and exhaustion. "And why, why did you take me along? Honestly..." I shook my head, laying against the tree.

The Traveller regarded me for a second before pulling my phone from their bodysuit and showing it to me.

"Your device. Your data. It is useful,"

What?

Had the Traveller taken me because they thought I owned the internet? That I made the phone?

That meant if they found out that I didn't actually own all that, that I wasn't the genius behind arguably the best technological breakthrough of the human race – the internet – then they would have no use for me. They would end me.

Which meant there was only one possible way me to survive: bullshit my way into making them believe that I did invent all that. That I possessed much more knowledge than I did.

I barely made it through high school.

"Yeah. My data," I muttered to myself, testing out the first lie on my tongue.

This was the only way.

✖

They were gone.

I woke up a couple of hours later, my back aching immensely from the tree bark and forest ground that had dug into my body. I was stiff and cold and hungry.

And I needed to pee.

But they were gone. The Traveller was missing from my sight when I woke up and after a quick examination of the surrounding, I concluded that they must have headed off a bit and betted on me staying asleep.

I could escape.

Of course, the broken ankle helped absolutely nothing and I could barely waddle onto my good foot with support from the tree. I tested out the waters by placing down my injured foot, trying to see if I could make a break for it and just power through the pain.

The immediate quaking that rippled through my body was enough to tell me that even if I managed to put some distance between me and them, with their speed? They would discover me in minutes.

I did, however, take the time of privacy to fully relieve myself. With an empty bladder and a night of sleep – which, to be fair, I only had because I practically passed out from the pain and long-term fatigue – I felt incredibly better.