CRATER LAKE

By Kora Knight

 

A 300-word short featured in 

Queer Sci Fi's flash fiction anthology, Impact

 

 

 

They’ve spotted me.

I lurch to my feet, having just wriggled under the detention center’s chain-link fence. Typically, I’m more careful not to be seen, but tonight I’m anxious, which evidently has also made me sloppy. But tomorrow I’m transferring to a high-security facility, so it’s now or never now that I’ve made my decision.

I tear into the woods toward the place I always go. Aside from tonight, I always return when I sneak out. That way no one knows and I can keep on having my rendezvous. Not like I have anywhere else to go. I’d take this shithole over home with my step-father any day.

I shake him from my mind and dash through the forest as fast as I can. Already, I can hear the guards chasing after me.

My heart hammers wildly. A quarter mile and I’ll be there. A part of me still can’t believe I’m going to do this. Am I crazy? I must be. What I definitely am without a doubt?

A guy in love.

With someone who isn’t human.

I trip over a downed branch and nearly go sprawling. Righting myself, I keep sprinting. Night bugs teem all around.

Almost there, I think, panting.

My pursuers are catching up.

Dashing from the trees, I race to the water’s edge of the lake. Or rather, the crater, made by a meteor impact millions of years ago.

I dive deep and Malic is there. His glowing eyes say it all. He knows why I’ve come. That I’ve accepted his offer. To take me away and make me like him, an entity of extraterrestrial origins.

I grin at the sight of him, all handsome and silvery blue. Crushing my mouth to his, he gives me his breath—then softly croons and whisks me away.