March 16^th, 2019

Briella Coleson

            The cold, March, morning air hit my face as I ran through the park. The grass was dewy and there were puddles left on the ground as it had rained the night before. For the most part it was calm, no one was too close by, but I could still hear some yelling in the distance. But as I continued to run I could hear the yelling getting closer.

“Watch out!”  A group of three teenage boys had shouted as they headed toward me at full speed.

 I saw an officer following them and I stopped in my tracks. Then I heard a loud bang and one of the boys was on the ground laying before my feet. The other two boys kept running, but I could hear them screaming in agony over the friend they had just lost. The officer passed a few moments later and soon enough all was quiet again. I knelt down to feel the boys’ pulse but there was none. He was dead.  I’m assuming they did something stupid like look at the officer the wrong way, or J-walk, but that’s how things were. At least that’s how they’ve been since the invasion.

…

Woah! That was dramatic anyway let me explain.

It’s been 2 years, 3 months, and 8 days since the invasion and since then they have taken over the entirety of the united states and have made peace deals with other countries so they can stay, but they are slowly starting to work their way into the other nations to take them over as well.

So fun fact these aliens can transform to look like people, but they have a faint blue/ periwinkle tint to their pale skin. However, other than that you’d never be able to tell, that is until they decide to transform back to their original big blue slimy state.

These creatures call themselves Dalazarians. I have some other names for them, but I think it’d be best to keep those to myself.

The Dalazarians have made New York city their ‘capitol’ because they liked the location, and it was the first place they landed.

Things have been crazy since then. You always have to watch the way you walk or talk in fear that one of the officers are going to shoot you because they think you are dangerous, and a threat to their empire.

The city is still in pretty good condition, I don’t know about the rest of the country thought because they took down all social medias and forms of communication besides cell towers. Everything pretty much looks the same, minus a few broken buildings and the fact that there are posters and billboards with their leader in it everywhere you look.

Side note: they are super creepy posters because some of them have security cameras inside the kings’ eyes that watch you as you walk by.

After the war ended the Dalazarians got to work on fixing up their new home. They also made sure to reassign buildings. For instance the old one world trade center is now the kings' tower, which sucks cause I only live a few streets down and there are always some sort of guard or officer nearby.

When the wars ended some people took matter into their own hands. Ex- military, police, nurses, doctors, teachers, dog walkers, almost anyone you could think of it didn’t matter they just wanted to try and put a stop to the new rising dictatorship. The rebellions began about a month after the wars ended. They go by units and the one in New York city is Unit 1 because they were the first unit to rise up. After people started getting word that there was an uprise in New York, more units started popping up all over the country. And I am proud to say I am a fairly new member of Unit 1. I’m not sure how they found me, but I got a letter in the mail detailing who they were and what they needed from me. I am now an on-call trauma surgeon for them. No one can know if you’re in the rebellion or not though, unless they are in it with you, because that leaves the risk of them snitching on you or it puts them at risk of getting hurt just for knowing you.

The whole work force has changed too. They assigned us jobs, most people kept theirs if they were in retail or worked at a restaurant but if you were in the medical field or in law enforcement of any kind they would either keep you and use you to their advantage or they reassigned them to smaller jobs like store clerk. There are even some who lost jobs all together and are now living in the streets but they mainly all stay in one area far away from the city. The Dalazarians also took most of the Politian’s at the time prisoner so they are rotting in a cell somewhere currently, that is if they aren’t dead yet.

            I have been assigned to work as a sales associate at one of the stores down the street, but we are always pretty dead so if I get a call while working, I can usually head out and no one notices or cares. Gen has been assigned to working in the district office because of her status in the U.S. government, they thought she would be beneficial for getting any information they needed, not that she gives it to them though. Oh, and my boyfriend Jared was assigned to work as a grocery associate closer to where times square used to be, this is beneficial because he can get us more things than we are allowed since they limited how many groceries each person can buy a week.

            They also stopped showing and streaming ‘human shows’ because they thought that I would give us ‘ideas. I don’t really know what they meant by that but whatever you say pal. Luckily, we have a bunch of old DVDs of our movies and shows.

            They knocked down the statue of liberty and put up a gold statue of the King and it was ten times bigger than the original monument. They have also taken over all sorts of buildings for their operations. For instance, the New York Stock Exchange building was turned into the main office of defense. This is also where they had all their surveillance videos of the city, the One World Trade building into their White House and their king lived on the very top floor as to see the entire city and watch over his ‘subjects’ as he called them. Ugh can anyone say narcissist!

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled reading.

…

            The morning sun continued to rise higher into the sky as I was on my route home from my run. I had plans to go see my parents today as it had been a few weeks since I was there, and I felt bad about not seeing them and my brother.

            When I arrived home, I quickly showered and changed into an oversized comfy sweatshirt and a pair of mom jeans, knowing I didn’t need to look too cute around my family. As I was about to leave my apartment, I heard my phone ding in my purse. I shoved my hand into my bag and felt around for it. I eventually found and unlocked my phone to find a text from Jared.

            ‘Hey babe! I’m on the way to your parents house with some groceries, if you want to meet me there awesome if not, I’ll see you later tonight for dinner ;)’

            I replied and let him know I was already on the way there. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him today but he was helping out my parents so I couldn’t really complain.

            When I arrived, I just let myself in and was greeted by the family dog Mitch. Mitch was an older black mastiff and we all loved him, and he loved us, or at least I’m hoping. I played with him for a minute before heading back into the kitchen where I found my mom over the stove cooking what I can only assume, from the amazing smell floating in the air, was our traditional Sunday Sauce.

 You see my mom is a hardcore Italian, born and raised. My dad however was not, he was your typical blond haired born and raised suburban American so I’m happy I had my mom to bring a little culture into my life.

When she turned around and saw me, she greeted me with a big hug and kiss.

            “Ciao bella! I’m so happy to see you!”

            “I’m happy to see you too mama, I’m sorry I haven’t been here in a while.”

            “No need to apologize I get it you’re a busy woman.” After finishing her sentence, she turned around and started working on her sauce again.

            I walked over the bottle of wine on the counter and started to pour myself a glass then stole a piece of bread from the plate a few inches away.

“Don’t get full on bread honey, dinner will be ready shortly.” She didn’t even need to turn around to know what I was doing.

            “I know, I know. Where is everyone else?” I questioned as I took a sip from my glass.

            “Out on the patio, and Jared’s with them sweetie.”

            I headed out to the back porch where there was a collective hello from everyone sitting outside.

            Jared walked up and tried to give me a kiss, but I slightly dodged him and pecked his cheek instead and when I pulled away, he gave me a weird look.

            “Is everything okay sweetie?” he asked in a slightly concerned tone.

            “Yeah, everything’s fine.” I replied with a forced smile on my face.

            I then turned to my older brother Michael who was already waiting for his hug with open arms. I smiled and walked up to hug him.

            “Took you long enough to get here! What’s it been 4 years.” He playfully joked with me.

            “Oh, shut up, not all of us can live in the house right across the street from our parents.”

            “Oh, but you can you just choose not to live next to them.”

            “No, I choose not to live next to you.” I replied while giggling a bit, so did everyone else but Michael just rolled his eyes at me. I then said hello to Jenny, Michael’s wife, who was sitting on one of the chairs my parents had on the patio and greeted my father sitting as well. Me and my dad were never super close, but we never disliked each other. He was just closer to Michael and then it was me and my mom.

            “Hey babe, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been looking into some apartments closer to times square.” Jared leaned over and whispered so only I could hear it.

            “Are you crazy? That’s literally the hub for all of the Dalazarians and you want to move there? They would kill you in an instant.” I replied still keeping my voice hushed.

            “It will be fine I’ll make sure of it.”

            “And how the hell are you going to do that, huh?”

            “Don’t worry about it I got my ways.” He winked at me and turned back to talk to my dad about something else.

            After sitting outside with everyone for a while and drinking, my mother came outside and let us know that dinner was ready. We all walked inside and took our places around the large table in my parents dinning room.

            As we were eating my father and Michael were complaining about something they heard the Dalazarians were planning on doing, my mom and Jenny were talking about what they should do tomorrow for a brunch they were planning, and Jared and I were mainly sitting in silence just listening to the other conversations. I started talking to my mom and Jenny and time just sort of flew by. Before I knew it, I was already 2 glasses of wine in, and I had finished my entire bowl of pasta. I wasn’t paying attention to how many glasses Jared had and I was a bit concerned.

            Out of nowhere Jared started to stand up and ring his glass with is fork.

            “Ladies and gentlemen please may I have your attention!” he spoke very loudly, and his words were a bit slurred but not enough for anyone else to take note of it. “I have an announcement to make!”

            “Jared? What are you doing? Sit down.” I tried to say discreetly.

            “I would like to ask a very special someone a very important question.” He continued to talk completely ignoring me and I started to get nervous. From the sounds of it, not that I want to jump to conclusions or anything, but it sounds like he’s going to propose. I can feel my heart beating faster and faster.

            “I would finally like to ask my dear girlfriend Briella, as you all know, and ask her to move in with me.”

            I stared at him in shock, I can’t say no. Not in front of the whole family and not at all. They need him. I know the extra food doesn’t seem like a lot, but they use it, and he usually can get us some things that higher class people get (as I’m not sure how I’ve stopped questioning it and just appreciated it). They need to live as normal as possible. I’m doing this for my parents. If it weren’t for them, I would have left his sorry ass years ago. Right after the invasion and the wars started it was like he became a completely different person. He never used to get angry with me but now that’s basically all he does. Sometimes, if he’s too drunk and too angry he gets aggressive, but I would do anything for my family, including this.

            “Briella? Are you okay?” He broke me out of my thoughts.

            “Oh yeah, um yes I’ll move in with you.” I forced a smile and he kissed me.

            I looked around the table as everyone congratulated me and continued my smiling at each of them.  However, when I looked at my dad, he had an odd expression on his face.

            After dinner I was helping my mom clean the dishes when my dad tapped my shoulder and nodded his head for me to follow him outside. I complied and followed him out, everyone else was inside in the living room so we were the only two out here.

            “What’s up?” I asked as he sat down in his seat and light his cigarette.

            “What’s going on between you and Jared?”

            I was a little confused by his question.

            “You think I wouldn’t notice? You haven’t kissed the man all night, and you weren’t very enthusiastic about moving in with him.” He spoke seeming a bit uncomfortable about talking to me about this. Almost like he wanted to care just didn’t know how.

            “I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about dad, I love Jared.” I tried to be convincing, but I didn’t even believe myself right now.

            He didn’t even say anything he just sat and looked at me while taking another puff of his cigarette.

            I took a deep breath in before finally opening up. I don’t know why I did. Me and my father were never super close, if anything I thought I would be having this conversation with Gen.

            “It’s just-“ I hesitated for a moment before continuing. “He isn’t the same Jared I originally fell in love with. Since everything had happened it’s like he’s a completely different person. He’s meaner now. He isn’t the sweet, caring and gentle Jared I once knew.”

            “So why stay with him for so long?” he sounded a bit thrown off and concerned.

            “Well, I was going to right after everything started to happen but then his mom died like that, and I didn’t think it would be appropriate to do it when I knew he needed someone. Then after he got his assignment, and I saw how much he was helping you guys I saw what good his presence could do, give you a bit of a sense of normalcy.”

            “That is no excuse. Briella if you’re unhappy and he’s not the one for you, do not waste your time because you think we will be affected. We will be just fine without him. I don’t want you to be unhappy because of us or some guy you think we will need.”

            “But- “he stood up and cut me off before I could keep talking.

            “No ‘buts’.” After that he went inside before I could say anything else.

            As the night was coming to a close, I was saying goodnight to my family when Jared came up and threw his arm over my shoulder, a drunken mess.

            “Let’s go home baby!” He slurred his loud words. I knew what this meant, and I was not looking forward to it.

            I walked him out the front door and showed him into the passenger side of my car as he bitched about not being able to drive, and about how he wasn’t that drunk.

            By the time we got to his house I was ready to sew his lips shut, this man just wouldn’t shut up. I walked him inside and he locked the door after we were both in.

            “Oh, I can’t stay Jared, I have to go home.”

            “No, you’re staying with me tonight. I mean we are moving in together so you might as well get used to spending the night with me.”

            “Jared I can’t tonight. I have work tomorrow okay, just let me leave.” I went to unlock the door, but Jared blocked me with his body.

            “Jared move. I’m serious.”

            Well, he moved, just not in the way I wanted. He grabbed me by my neck and shoved me against the wall.

            “Don’t speak to me like that again. You understand? I won’t let some bitch talk to me like that.” He spoke as he squeezed my neck tighter with his hand. Honestly, I was a bit scared Jared has never been this bad before, like he gets aggressive, but this is the first time he’s been this aggressive.

            Out of instinct I kicked him in his balls and ran to unlock the door, just as I got it unlocked though I was pulled back by my hair and thrown on the ground. He then proceeded to kick me in the stomach, and I had to think quick because this hurt like a bitch. The next time he went to kick me I grabbed his leg and I pulled him down onto the ground and got up and out the door as fast as I could. I ran to my car, locked the doors and sped off.