She seems 'fine'?

Alina struggled to her feet as she shook off her grogginess, her weird dream already a foggy memory getting foggier. She stumbled her way to the kitchen, leaning against the wall for support. Her legs felt as if they were made of jelly. Her throat was parched but slimy? The returning feeling of the alien proboscis entering her throat sent shivers down her spine, and made her gag again.

She made her way to the sink, turning on the tap and directly drinking from it with her hands. Splashing some on her face and hair in an effort to wake herself up from this nightmare, but it wasn't a dream. The icy cold water simply stung her face, but she didn't wake up. She tiptoed back to the kitchen doorway and peered down the hallway, the creature was still there, unmoving.

She returned back to the kitchen, turned off the sink and made her way to the nearby bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, her dark, disheveled hair were wet and sticky from the water. Her eyes, dead and lifeless stared back at her. Time had definitely taken a toll on the middle aged woman, wrinkles lining her face. Her cheeks, hollowed and sagging. The mental trauma, and sleepless nights forming dark baggy circles under her eyes, starkly visible against her pale complexion.

Other than her haggard and wet face, which was nothing new, she didn't really "feel" that different. She stepped back from the mirror, taking off her gown and looked over her body. Her sagging, blemished skin and undernourished skinny body greeted her. Stretch marks over her breasts and sides were nothing new. She even peeked under her bra and panties, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Alina's mind drifted back to the alien grabbing her neck and forcing itself inside her mouth. She instinctively reached for her neck, looking closely. She couldn't see any bruise of any kind left behind by the creature's tail. Her mind entertained the thought of the alien putting something inside her, so she instinctively grabbed her stomach, running her hands up and down her torso trying to feel for anything unnatural.

But everything seemed fine.

She put on her gown again, grabbing a nearby broom with the longest handle she could find and made her way over to the creature. Against her better judgement, she poked it with the broom trying to keep as much distance, and bracing herself in case it tried to jump at her again, but it simply slumped over. It was definitely dead, but she couldn't answer how or why. The limbs already seemed to be stiffening due to rigor mortis.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but was still unsure of what to do with the weird creature. She could go tell the police or something, but didn't really like the idea of getting the government involved. She was old enough and had enough life experience to know how that would end up. She didn't really want to talk to anyone at all really, especially a stranger considering her 'vow of silence'.

But this case wasn't a normal case! She was "attacked" by a creature of unknown origin, goddamnit!

Her brain was constantly waging a war with itself, but ultimately she decided to not hand herself over for any probing questions to anyone. Moreover, she preferred being alone. She had handled the emotional burden she had for more than a decade, she could handle this too, she thought.

She put on some disposable gloves and picked up the creature by its tail. Keeping it at arms length, she dumped it back into the package she received, minus the broken glass box that lay in pieces in her living room floor. She sealed the box with as much duct tape she could find, almost using up 2 whole rolls. Putting on some clothes more suited for the oncoming winter weather, she grabbed her car keys and the box. She made a mental note to find out some clues as to who sent her this package.

She had decided to dump away this creature in the middle of the night. Her neighbours would definitely question her if she did this during the day because she didn't go out of her house often, if at all. They were pretty nosy sometimes. Also, she had less chance to be noticed in the dark forest at this time.

So she made her way to the garage and inside the car, her husband's car, one of his cherished belongings still with her. It chugged to life almost ****, mainly due to the cold weather. She tried to be as silent as the old thing could muster, as she made her way out of the neighborhood. Only speeding up once out of the suburbs.

After a 20 minute drive, she reached a secluded spot on the road inside the forest. Nobody was around for miles. She parked the car away from the road, a bit inside the forest, out of sight from any passing cars, just in case. She got a small shovel from the old toolbox inside the trunk, and grabbed a flashlight. Taking along the box with the dead creature, she went deeper in the forest trying to hide her light as best she can. After, finding a suitable spot she dug a hole as deep as her aging body's stamina could allow, and buried the box inside. Covering it up best she could, she stood up, out of breath. Today was the most physical exertion she had put herself through in years, and it was very apparent in her gasping for air. The cold forest air felt as if it was freezing her lungs.

There was another tight feeling developing in her chest near her heart, but Alina didn't pay it much attention, chalking it up to her exhaustion. She walked back to her car cautiously, and checking around her for someone if they had saw her. Finding no one, she drove back home.

The ride home was difficult to say the least, the tight feeling in her chest kept getting harder to ignore. She somehow managed to park the car inside the garage, sweating heavily despite the cold. She stumbled her way inside, making her way to the kitchen and throwing away her gloves. She once again turned on the sink, drinking the cold water as if trying to stop the burning hot sensation spreading from her core, and unwind the tight knot in her chest, which was quickly getting painful.

It didn't seem to help much however. Alina now knew something was definitely wrong. Her breathing was laboured and ragged, her heart seemed to beat irregularly and she was absolutely drenched in sweat. 'Cardiac arrest?' she thought to herself.

Maybe today's bizarre events and physical exertion were finally too much for her poor heart, already broken in pieces years ago, and heavy with the trauma of her loss. Perhaps it was finally giving up. Alina's instincts of self preservation screamed at her to call 911 or someone for help, but another part of her yearned for the sweet release of ****.

Maybe she can see her betrothed once again after this? Alina's mind tried to justify to itself. It's not like she had much to live for anyways. She had promised herself to keep living on for her husband and child's sake, but over the past decade, she had been living no better than an undead zombie. Merely clinging to life, but bored and suffering in silence. It might have been a selfish decision but she didn't mind leaving this plane of existence behind now.

She somehow, slowly and painfully made her way upstairs to her room. Locking the door behind her, she shed the clothes weighing her down, as if it would help take off the burden on her soul. She laid down on the bed, making sure to close the curtains and turning off the lights. The convulsions in her chest started getting worse now, she wanted to scream from the agony but held on. This pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain she had been through. She had drenched the bedsheets in her sweat, as she felt herself losing feeling in her limbs and her breaths slowing. The knot in her chest seemed to grow larger, and larger. Pushing outwards?

She wanted to scream, but couldn't. Silent tears streamed down her face, until inhaling became impossible for her. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of something tearing its way out of her chest...