Alien Scrooge - Zara Zenia Page 0,5

sat beautifully glowing above the ocean waves, with the cavern mouth barely bordering the edges of the frame. She smiled wide with a child-like glee before stepping back to let her camera finish the job.

Cara's eyes floated up to the ceiling, tracing the smooth curvature of the stone. A small sound of movement behind her drew her attention to the back of the cave. She wondered how far back the empty darkness went as she lost her gaze in its depths.

"Get out," a deep masculine voice slivered coldly from the void beyond her vision, causing Cara to jump in surprise at the realization that she was not alone in the cave she had stumbled upon. She raised her hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat heavily, as she searched the darkness vigorously for the source of the voice. For a moment she thought she may have imagined it.

"I can't," she insisted calmly, turning her ear toward the caverns depths.

"Oh, and why exactly is that?" the disembodied voice demanded in response, his tone becoming more unwelcoming with her defiance.

At the confirmation that someone else was sharing her discovered cove, she became perturbed at their absurd request. She had no reason to leave the public beach and had no intention of stopping in the middle of her shot.

"Why should I?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring into the cave. "I'm not doing anything that should bother you, so just ignore me. I'll leave when I'm done."

"Just get out of here, find someone else to bother!" he shouted aggressively, his voice closer to her now.

She turned her head in his direction, locating his voice even though she still couldn't see him.

"If you don't leave now, then I'll—"

"Do whatever you want, I'm not leaving!" she challenged him, turning back to her camera as it captured the setting sun. From behind her she heard steady footsteps and turned with her eyes wide. Cara's body tensed as the footsteps grew closer, and a spark of fear lit in the corner of her mind.

The light from the opening of the cavern faintly caught the stranger's movement as he drifted closer, his outline becoming more distinct with each step. From the curtain of darkness a tall inhuman figure emerged, staring at her with yellow eyes that squinted in the bright sunlight. Her assured expression changed to confusion as she studied him. His pale skin almost glowed in the afternoon light, the same color as the sand that shifted under his six-toed feet. He lifted a hand to block the sun and Cara could see that he had six fingers as well. He glared at her as an ocean breeze rolled past them, shifting his long white hair around his pointed ears. Cara was in awe at the being before her, unable to stop her eyes from tracing the handsome and foreign features of his nude body. She should have felt embarrassed, but her curiosity overwhelmed her senses as she stared, open mouthed, at the aggravated creature.

"What... are you?"

3

Cara instinctively reached for her camera bag, pulling out an old polaroid camera she had gotten as a teenager. With her mind in a haze, she pulled the viewfinder to her eye, unable to comprehend what stood before her. Her finger smashed the shutter button, pulling her attention from the creature as she yanked the fresh photograph from her antique machine. In the picture she saw traces of confusion and concern clear on the subject's face. When her gaze lifted again, the strange man had vanished back into the darkness.

"Wait!" she called urgently as she dove headlong into the depths after him. After a steep descent, the cave path turned upward, and Cara could see that the back of the cave was lit by strange technology not visible from the outside. The stranger walked quickly ahead of her, making his way to a house-like structure.

"Wait," she said again, catching up to him, "I don't understand, are you an elf?" she asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"No," he replied vaguely.

His annoyance was evident as she was sure he was recovering from her reaction to his appearance. He obviously had intended for her to be afraid of him, probably hoping she would run away and leave him alone. However, she wasn't afraid, she was completely intrigued.

"You have pointy ears though, and you live in a cave. You know, in nature with the ocean and forest and mountains all around, so…" she trailed off, realizing the assumption