I woke up in a cold room .I felt sore and stiff. No wonder, because I was stretched out on a metal floor. A woman was standing across the room. She was tall and muscular, with high heels, fishnet stockings, and blue hair and skin. Wait a second. Blue?
It was all coming back now. I had gone to the Hill for the first time, without Adam. Other people were there, olivia, and Jacob, and Sarah. But I still wished Adam were there with me as I lay back on the grass and looked up at the stars. Just the way he sees things. It could be any ordinary thing- a bird, a cloud, a tree. He gets this look on his face, so full of awe you wonder too. Once, after we did cells in science, I caught him staring at the onion root we dissected with that look. I asked him what possible  mystery he could find in an onion root. He told me that millions of different cells, each serving their own unique purpose, had come together to create life. I didn't question him again after that. I didn't want to go to the Hill without him, and now I regretted not standing my ground.

The stars appeared that night. I was just a bit disappointed they had to choose then.
"Amazing!"
"Wow!"
"See Emily, you were missing out!"
Millions of cells, I thought. What did these shooting stars make? And then they froze. Just held there in the sky. It almost looked like they were getting bigger, but they couldn't do that... Could they?
"Do they usually do this?" I asked Sarah, my eyes wide.
"No, never." They were getting bigger. They started flashing.
"Sarah, I'm scared!"
"Me too."
"I wish Adam were here." He could make sense of this.
Sarah looked at me sideways. "Why would you-" She never finished her sentence.
Circles of light burst down from each of the stars. Only one person got caught in any of them. Me.
I looked to Sarah for help. She started screaming.
That's the last thing I remember.
While I've been thinking, the woman has turned to face me. She's dressed kind of like a hooker. Why would my captor be dressed as a hooker? And why was she blue? I came up with a reason just as she stepped towards me.
"Help!" I screamed. "Alien hooker!"
She stopped dead, opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again. I could see running over my words in her head. "What?" She sounded angry.
I gulped. "Please don't kill me."
She sighed. "No complaints about anal probing?"
"Don't do that either." She laughed. I relaxed, just slightly.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she held her hand out to me."I'm Rain. And yes, I am an alien, but not a hooker."
"Then why are you dressed like that?"
Rain smiled. "This kind of outfit makes it easier to get information out of certain types of people. What's your name?"
"Emily," I replied. Then I frowned. "Wait. How do you speak English?"
She was still smiling. It started to look condescending. "I moved here from another galaxy. One of the requirements is that you speak an Earth language fluently. You'll find everyone speaks an Earth language, but sometimes it won't be English. People born around here grow up with an Earth language as well. The embassy for your galaxy thinks it is important to respect the native culture."
She had a point. I took a deep breath. If I thought through what was going on properly, maybe it would make sense. Okay. I was abducted from the Hill in Ariel Falls by the shooting stars that were really alien, or at least one alien named Rain who was not a prostitute. Right. That didn't help a bit. Another question occurs to me. "If you don't want to hurt me, what do you want me for?"
Rain's reply was smooth. "It's strange, I don't actually know." But she doesn't look me in the eye as she says it. "Liar."
She sighed again, this time in resignation. "I haven't been told, but I have some ideas." I frowned. That wasn't the answer I was looking for. "What are your ideas?"
She isn't smiling anymore. Her face is now a mask, hiding her true feelings. "You don't need to be worried with those kinds of details right now."
I know if I can keep her talking, I'll get the truth out of her. Unfortunately, so does she. "Why don't I show you around?"
Finding out just where I was seemed like a good idea, so I agreed. It turned out to be a perfectly normal alien spaceship, which is something I never thought I'd say. Each room was silver with metal floors and weird sci-fi machinery. I probably should've paid more attention to what they were, but I am not a science person. I might have to learn fast though.
There was only one thing that really caught my attention during the tour. We were walking past a large window when I glanced sideways, and stopped dead. It was terrifying. It was beautiful. It was Earth. Way off in the distance, a tiny smudge of blue and green.  My whole world looked like it could be wiped away with a finger. But then the sky, oh god, the sky! It was a thick blanket of a million stars, splashed across with brilliant pools of, blue, red, and green.
I heard Rain clear her throat behind me. I blushed, embarrassed that I had been caught gaping at what was probably a mundane sight for her. She came to stand behind me, her heels clicking loudly against the floor.
"Don't worry," she said, sounding more sincere than I'd heard before. "Sometimes I forget how beautiful it is. It's nice to be reminded."
It's then that I realise if I am to have any allies here, I'll have to start with Rain. I was sure it could be much worse, but I wished more than anything I had Adam there with me.