Chapter 6: Domination

I woke up the next day to another sunny morning. I hadn't forgotten about what happened last night. The fact that she treated me so lowly and once again threatened to end my life made me want to run away from my own home forever. I was afraid to even get up out of bed knowing that that mean brute would be around. I wished I never picked up that damn gem in the first place.

None the less, I knew I couldn't stay hidden in my bed forever, so I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom, starting my morning hygiene before heading into the living room. I noticed Jasper wasn't in the living room or kitchen, so I checked around the rest of the house, only to find that she was nowhere inside. I checked outside to see if she was in the front or backyard and noticed she wasn't there either.

I sighed and relief and returned to the house, feeling a bit better now. Wherever she was, exploring or doing whatever, I was just glad that she wasn't in my house at the time. Once again, I used this free time being alone to dump all my thoughts down in my journal, including what happened the other day.

Afterwards, I headed to the kitchen to make myself breakfast but stopped just as I was about to enter the room. 'Maybe I should go out to eat today.' I thought. It was pretty sunny and I figured being around other civilized, normal human beings would cheer me up a bit. I grabbed my keys and got into my car, driving off. There was a nice town not too far away, so I drove there and found a nice breakfast place to eat at. Once I stepped inside and placed my order, I sat down at a table and waited, and soon enough my order was ready.

I sat back down at the table near the windows and ate, smiling as I looked around at everyone else in the restaurant. I usually wasn't all that comfortable being around other people, but just being around people and being away from Jasper at the time made me feel so safe. Soon my problems melted away from my thoughts as I daydreamed, sipping my cup of orange juice and staring out the window. What a lovely morning.

An hour or so later, I headed back home. I dreaded returning to the place where I knew the fearsome quartz soldier Jasper would be. I wasn't sure if she was home yet, but deep down I was hoping she wasn't. Just the thought of her terrified me. It's strange, I felt more comfortable around her before when we were having a conversation on the couch, or when she helped me clean up the huge mess she left the first time, but ever since that incident with the mud, I was reminded of the situation I was really in and how easily this person would be willing to kill me.

Would I be able to control my emotions towards her, or will I flip out again and wind up getting killed? I couldn't answer that question, but all I knew was that I needed to get out of this situation before I get in big trouble.

I arrived back home some time afterwards, parking my car and heading into my house. I unlocked the door and walked in, only to see the last person I wanted to see right now. Jasper stood there in the living room and turned towards me when she saw me. She looked angry about something, making me feel extremely uncomfortable and nervous. Her angry facial expression always seemed to trigger my fight or flight response.

"You." She said in a rather agitated voice, pointing at me. "Where were you?" I shifted uncomfortably. "W-What?" I asked, confused. "You heard me. Where, were, you?" She repeated. Questions flooded my mind. Why did she seem so agitated? Did something happen while I was gone? Did it matter where I went? "I was out eating breakfast…" I answered honestly.

"And who said you were allowed to do that?" She stated, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently. 'Excuse me?' I thought. "Uuuh, I did?" I responded, raising a brow. The hell was her problem now? She snarled at me. "How do I know you're not lying? For all I know, you could be plotting against me. Did you tell someone about me?" She said, taking a step towards me.

I took a step back as she got closer. Something seemed strange about her. I didn't know much about this person but she seemed to be acting more aggressive towards me. "Hey, calm down! I didn't tell anyone, I was just eating breakfast! I'm not allowed to eat now?" I responded with a more defensive tone, hoping she'd stop acting like this.

She glared at me. "You're not allowed to leave for now on unless I say so." She said. "…what?" I scoffed, taken aback. I could feel the rage returning inside of me, that same rage I felt when she left those muddy footprints in the house and didn't bother to clean them up. A part of me was struggling to control that anger slowly rising within me. "Are you serious right now? You can't just keep me trapped in my own house." I responded.

"Yes I can. Are you forgetting who's in control here?" She asked. "Why are you acting like this? You didn't have a problem with me leaving before, but now you-" "Shut up and do what I tell you!" She barked. I twitched a bit, anger boiling inside me. You know what? Fuck this. Fuck her. If I was gonna die today then so be it, but I'll be damned if I'm letting this alien bitch boss me around like some slave.

"Who the hell do you think you are!? This is my house damn it and I'm leavin' whenever the hell I want!" I yelled at her. She looked surprise but that quickly returned back to anger. "Watch it, human." She warned. "No, YOU watch it! I'm not your god damn slave and I'm tired of you trying to control me! I don't care who you are, I will not tolerate this!"

She slowly walked closer to me. Chills ran up my body, but I continued to stand my ground. I had to fight back. I cannot let this stranger step all over me. I'm better than that. "This is your last warning, human. You better stop right now or it'll cost you your life." She said. I glared up at her. "Fuck you." I hissed.

I could tell that really set her off, because right after I said that, she lunged towards me. I gasped and quickly dodged it. I felt the fear return to me as I realized she was attacking me. I tried to remain calm, feeling unbelievably lucky each time I dodged her hits. I began to hyperventilate, throwing miscellaneous items at her that didn't seem to faze her at all.

Soon I realized I was backed into the wall of the other side of the living room. I whimpered and quickly looked around, my brain scrambled. I then got an idea and waited for the perfect moment where she was close enough, then pushed the bookshelf down on Jasper. Jasper yelped, getting buried beneath the books and bookshelf. I took this chance to dart out the front door while she was buried beneath the books, not hesitating for a second.

It didn't take her long to recover, angrily tossing the bookshelf off of her. She growled and chased me once again. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me as I ran, trying my best not to look back. I could hear her heavy footsteps drawing nearer, but suddenly heard a strange sound. It was like a whooshing sound, quickly coming nearer.

I looked back and saw her charging at me in some sort of fiery ball, something similar to Sonic the Hedgehog's spin dash. I screamed and ended up falling, ducking underneath her as she charged right past me from above. She ended up colliding against a huge tree and caused it to knock over. "W-What the fuck?" I said in a panicky voice. I couldn't believe my eyes. Was this really happening? Am I crazy?

She landed on her feet then looked around before turning around to spot me. "Eep!" I quickly stood up and started running back towards the house. I didn't have much of a plan, I just kept telling myself to keep running. Jasper curled back into her spin ball thingy and launched back towards me. I screamed, dodging, ducking and trying my best to avoid this dangerous attack of hers. She collided into the ground several times and a few more trees as she attempted to hit me. 'So fast!' I thought to myself as she quickly kept recovering and charging at me.

I suddenly got an idea, running back inside the house and towards the kitchen. I quickly grabbed an item off of the counter but before I could put my plan into action, Jasper quickly appeared and kicked me onto the ground. "Oof-!" I landed on the ground face down, groaning. I clutched the object in my hand tightly but made sure it was out of her sight. I trembled and slowly sat up onto my knees.

"So pathetic." Jasper said, slowly making her way towards me. "You can't outrun me. You can't escape." She crouched down behind me and slowly reached her hand out to grab me. "You're nothing but a worthless, puny, little, hu-" Before she could finish, I quickly flipped around and stabbed her right in the gut with the sharp kitchen knife I held in my hand. She gasped and froze in place, her eyes widening in shock. "Fuck you, Jasper." I said one more time, glaring at her in fury, fear but overall, determination.

Before she could responded, she suddenly poofed, a cloud of beige colored smoke erupting as if she exploded. I jumped then gasped and looked around, her body nowhere to be seen. The knife I held stuck out in the air that was just inside Jasper not too long ago. I dropped the knife in confusion then suddenly noticed something.

I looked down and saw Jasper's gemstone lying on the floor, exactly how it was when I first saw the stone on the beach that day. What does this mean? Is she still alive in there? Is she going to take form again soon? I hesitantly picked up the gemstone and examined it, unsure of what to do. I could only assume she was going to form again soon, which would not be good.

I carried Jasper's gem outside and set it on the ground before pacing back and forth, trying to think of a plan. I could hand her over to the police and let them handle her. No, that won't work, I can't just tell them that this stone is actually a dangerous alien woman from space who's trying to kill me. They'd think I'm crazy. I could just leave her somewhere in the middle of nowhere so that I wouldn't have to deal with her again. But that would be kind of cruel to just leave her in the middle of nowhere… Not to mention she might end up hurting someone else. Or would've she somehow manages to track me down and kill me?

I continue to pace and think for hours, not realizing how quickly the time was passing. I felt like I was going crazy. Suddenly, the gem on the ground began to glow. I gasped and quickly backed away, watching it rise into the air. Slowly a familiar shape took form and – as I expected – Jasper returned, landing on the ground. She stood up and dusted herself off, then looked up and noticed me.

I trembled badly, holding my knife out threateningly to her. "S-Stay back! Stay away from me or else! I-I'll stab you again, I-I mean it!" I threatened. I expected her to be even angrier than she was before, but shockingly, she wasn't. She stared at me for a moment with a blank expression then suddenly chuckled, shaking her head a bit. I blinked in confusion.

She then looked back up at me with a somewhat calm expression. "You're tougher than I thought you were, human." Jasper said. "You even managed to take me out. Of course it was only luck since you did catch me off guard, but it was still…something." I felt so surprised and confused, but her not attacking or yelling at me made me feel better. I continued to watch her silently. "…"

She straightened herself up then looked back at me again. "You've earned my respect, human. I will no longer treat you like I would treat a pearl. I will still be staying here for the time being, though." She said. I slowly lowered my knife a bit. "S-So…you're not going to kill me? Or tell me what to do?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No." She responded casually. A huge feeling of relief swept over me. I sighed heavily in relief, dropping my knife. I chuckled then laughed, a new set of mixed emotions flooding inside me. I felt like a gun had just been pulled away from my head. I laughed louder, holding onto my stomach with one hand and my other hand on my head. Someone would've definitely thought I was crazy seeing me like this. I felt cold but sweaty, my hair was a mess, dirt stains and scrapes covered parts of me from when I fell, and everything was just a mess. All these emotions and feelings soon became too much to handle and I began to feel dizzy.

Jasper looked at me confusingly and somewhat concerned. "Zoey…?" She called out. I didn't really respond. I was too caught up in my own messy thoughts. I giggled one last time, stumbling over, then collapsed onto the ground and passed out.