***** Vol.7 Chap.7 The host arrived *****

She grew tired of her imaginations. Then she remembered that she had nothing to eat for quite a while.

“Okay, I want some fresh fruits and a nice glass of freshly squeezed orange juice!” She said aloud just to amuse herself.

Part of the wall in front of her became fuzzy. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. This time, her heart leaped into her mouth. Right in front of her on the wall was another ledge. She blinked to be sure that she was not seeing an illusion. Sure enough, there was a ledge there. She sprang up and saw that on top of the ledge, there was a basket of fresh fruits, a glass, and a jug of freshly squeezed orange juice. On the wall was inscribed the following words in English:

“Dr. Kristin Sobrinowski. Please enjoy the provisions.”

Hallucination was the immediate reaction within her.

She went forward and touched the provisions. The fruits looked very real to his sight, to his touch, and to his smell.

This must be a trick. She will be poisoned. Where did the food come from?

Don’t touch it, Kristin, she told herself.

Notwithstanding, she was feeling hungry and so without a second thought, she picked up an apple and chomped down on it. She then poured herself a big glass of orange juice. It was so fresh and tasted so good. It was as if the juice was just freshly squeezed from ripe oranges freshly picked off the tree moments ago. After downing the glass, she felt energized and empowered. She gobbled down a pear and a star fruit. Now that her hunger had been satiated, she was ready to return to her escape plans.

While the utensils for the provisions were not very useful for her escape plans, the ledge appears to be a valuable place to stand on. She figured that if the provisions were here, the ledge would not disappear. She moved the basket to one side intending to stand on top of the ledge. She figured that if she could stand on top of the ledge, she should be able to reach the ceiling and perhaps pushed the top open.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

She cleared the utensils to one side and pushed hard on the ledge to hoist herself up.

She fell flat on her face. Rubbing the bump on her face, she looked at the ledge, the ledge had shortened. The length of the ledge was just enough to hold the utensils.

Undaunted, she moved the fruit basket to the edge of the ledge so that it was half way hanging out. Right in front of her eyes, the ledge lengthened at the part where the basket was hanging out. She moved the basket in a little bit, the ledge shortened. It seemed that the ledge was always just long enough to hold the contents.

She stared at it for a while and formulated a plan. She would move the basket to one side and the jug to the other side. She figured that this arrangement would give her some room in the middle to stand on.

Following her best formulated plans for the moment, she proceeded to move the basket further out. Dutifully, the ledge was extended. She moved the basket out a little more, and the ledge was extended a little more. OK, the plan was working. She moved the basket out even further and the ledge also was extended further, but to her dismay, the ledge was now broken in the middle and became two short ledges: one holding the basket and the other the jug and the glass.

Well, so much for her cockamamie plan. She gave up feeling like a laboratory animal being tested for intelligence.

She slowly backed up to the other end of the wall. Suddenly, she jumped when she felt something poked at her back. She swung around and came face to face with a door. A protruded doorknob was poking at her back.

Her jaws dropped when a door suddenly appeared in her cubicle. All this time she was trying in vain to find a way to leave the cubicle. And here is the door. She could not believe her eyes but she knew instantly that the answer to all her questions was on the other side of the door.

“Dr. Sobrinowski?”

She jumped at the voice.

“Dr. Sobrinowski?” the voice repeated.

Not knowing what to expect, she reached out and opened the door.

She was not prepared to meet whoever was on the other side. A ghostly figure, not as tall as she was, stood in front of her.

She pointed to the figure, “What…Who are you?”

Elijah smiled.

“My name is Elijah. Please come with me, Dr. Sobrinowski.”

In stammering tongue, Kristin spoke, “You speak English, though I cannot place your accent.” Clearly, she was still very much in shock.

Again, Elijah smiled.

“All in good time. For now, let me lead you to the conference room. You have an acquaintance there.”

“Lead the way.”

Like an obedient puppy dog, she followed him.