I remember the Earth. How the summer breeze rustled my hair and caressed my body. I remember the birds, the animals and the plants. I remember the smell of freshly baked bread and the sound of grasshoppers when they played their orchestra of music. I remember my family and my friends. Endless summer days we spent enjoying life and the richness of our planet as we ran through the fields playing childishly. I remember being happy and innocent, away from a world of pain and despair. But most of all, I remember the day they came.

We had no warning. They arrived on an ordinary Sunday afternoon. My Labrador and I were darting around catching a Frisbee happily, when multiple huge, black beasts appeared in the sky, blocking out the sunlight; creating panic and terror. It was a worldwide frenzy. Some people called it the reckoning, others the new beginning. But we knew it was doomsday. The human race was caught in a stand-still. What did they want? Why were they here? So many questions plagued their arrival.

Many celebrated their coming; shouting from rooftops grasping handmade signs welcoming the strangers. The U.S army sent helicopters and jets up to investigate, as did the R.A.F, but the machines were deflected by a force field so unlike any we had ever created. It was protecting the mysterious ships like a fiery, electrifying shield.
What could we do but keep our transfixed gaze upon the once peaceful sky? I wish they had never come. I wish they'd never changed anything – they destroyed us and now we burn.

A week after the machines appeared, I recall a white light being shot out of the aircraft's base, illuminating the trees and plants all around us. It was like lightening; white and burning. The terror intensified when it hit the people. My father cradled me into his chest in a final attempt to protect me, but he was gone when the light reached him. Screaming was all that could be heard around me and soon after I joined in. Tears streamed down my face as I dug my hands into the dirt.

An ear shattering blast erupted from the sky dweller and thousands upon thousands of midnight crafts broke away from the main ship and whizzed in all directions. I watched in horror as one flew down towards my father's farm and landed horribly gracefully in the field I knelt in. It opened outwards as a foul stench wafted into my twin nostrils. I ran before something emerged. Bolting towards the farm house - hoping the alien wasn't following, I scrambled inside and as I locked the door behind me, heavy footsteps thundered outside. Dashing upstairs I prayed everything was nothing but a nightmare. But it was a nightmare and it would never end.

I held my breath as I hid under my father's bed, like I used to when I was little and scared of the outside world. I heard the front door fly off its hinges as it was thrown down to the floor. I heard glass shatter as our photo frames were destroyed. Memories of happier times were now lost to me. The stairs I so gleefully used to dash up creaked under the intense weight of the thing coming to find me. Then suddenly all was quiet. There was nothing to be heard. No creaking of floorboards and no sound of respiration. It was like my ear drums had burst – just like our precious belongings that rested broken on the ground floor of our house.

Just as I was about to release a sigh of relief, a strong grip clasped itself around my ankle and dragged me – not too carefully, out from my hiding place. I struggled for my life. I kicked, scratched and screamed until my voice was raw and my eyes stung, but the grip never lessoned. I remember being heaved over what I assumed to be a shoulder and carried out of the place I grew up in. The being was bipedal with incredibly long legs, I could see them striding effortlessly through my house. It also had a long, thin tail breeching from its lower back that was kept low down to the floor. I continued to fight it as my legs kicked the upper body of the being carrying me. The creature's patience never wavered. It never spoke and it never silenced me.

When we reached the outside world my sobs ceased in shock. The once green and fruitful planet was stripped bare. Everything was dead, as I knew I would be soon. No more did birds fly against the wind. No more did grass grow in this baron wasteland. It was all gone. The being holding me shifted and before I knew it, I was inside the ship which carried the alien down to me.

From a distance, the ship appeared rather compact but with closer inspection, it was the size of a small cottage. Once I was set down, the alien bound my hands together with a tar like substance. It moulded around my wrists in a vice like grip, keeping me from escaping. I kept my head down. I didn't want to see what creature had climbed out from my nightmares and I especially didn't want to humiliate myself by showing my fear to this horrific beast. Its fingers were long and thin – much like its tail, but they were soft as they applied the foreign substance to my ankles – keeping them bound as my wrists were.

The thick door to the craft was slowly closed shut and I cried as I viewed my home and the once rich Earth one last time. I couldn't see inside the craft but I knew I wasn't alone. I could sense the alien folding itself into the driver's position of the ship. Buttons were pressed and small blue lights began materializing, lighting up the dense blackness all around me. A slim finger activated something unexplained and a sweet smell – almost like sugar, entered my senses. My head began to swim and I blacked out.

When I awoke, my eyes were blindfolded and my hands still bound; though my ankles were free. The ground was hard like stone and freezing to my body. My clothes had been removed I realised, and replaced by a short, scratchy gown which barely came to my knees. I shivered and curled up the best I could and waited. I didn't know where I was or what was going to happen to me. All I knew was that I had been taken from Earth against my will and stripped of my dignity.

I wanted to go home. I wanted my life back. I cried for everything; the old couple who lived in the cottage down the lane and the unborn baby in my Aunt's stomach. I cried for the loss of life.

After what seemed like hours, but could have been merely minutes, a door in the room I was held in was opened. Two pairs of footsteps sounded and before I knew it, unknown hands had grasped my arms and lifted me none too gently up from the floor. I struggled against their grips as best as I could, shouting all the curse words I knew, but my screams of anger were overtaken by groans of pain when something struck my side and a sharp, electric current coursed through my weak body. I let the aliens drag me to our destination after that.

We finally arrived in what I can only describe by the texture of the floor was a bathroom of some sort. I could hear water blasting away at something unknown and screams of other young humans echoing off the walls. The room stunk of blood and a strong bodily odour that I couldn't seem to place. I began to shiver in fear as I realised what this torturous room could be. It was a washroom.

Suddenly the cloth that covered me was torn off and I was lifted up by my bound hands and dangled onto what felt like a meat hook attached to the ceiling of this place. I knew what was coming. I clenched my eyes shut and mentally braced myself, but nothing could have prepared me for the sharp burst of freezing water that hit me. It took my breath away and I screamed alongside the others sharing the same treatment as I. It only lasted for a short moment but by the end I was drenched and shivering in the blistering cold chill. No clothes were given to me when I was finally lifted down from the awkward hanging position and back onto the floor. My knees gave way, but I was seized to my feet. My captives then led me out of the dreadful water room and into something much, much worse. The whole area smelt metallic and surgically clean, which frightened me to the very core of my being. There were no screams to be heard. Just the soft click of each alien's foot as it made contact with the floor.

Silent tears crept down my face as I was strapped to what I assumed to be an operating table. The aliens made no sound as I cried; they were monsters. A sharp scratch poked at my thigh and pushed in, injecting me with something while foreign hands roamed my body, poking and prodding. They were experimenting on me. Testing drugs, diseases and all sorts of inhumane illnesses with my body, until I was no longer a human being; I was a guinea pig for their sick research.

Day after day or what I can only assume were days, this procedure occurred. I didn't speak nor did I try to fight, for I knew these demons of the sky wouldn't be afraid to kill me. The days intertwined with weeks and months, until I was sure I had been stuck in this prison for at least a year. Eventually I forgot my own name; it hadn't been said in so long. I forgot the feel of another person comforting me. I forgot love and warmth for I only recognised pain and fear. I forgot what happiness felt like. My life was stolen from me, ripped away and I wondered just how many humans had been taken on that dreadful day. I was given food, but only enough to keep me alive. It was a vile and foul tasting substance that I knew I would never get used to. I was ready to die. All hope of escaping or rescue had been thrown away; there was just no point anymore. I knew my life would end in this concrete hell.

However, things changed one day. I knew something was wrong as no aliens had come to collect me for a while. I hoped they'd forgotten about me but I knew that was probably not the case and was confirmed when I heard the dense door to my cell being pushed open. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the relentless arms to grab me and drag my body to the experimentation room. I heard footsteps echo in the room and draw closer to my shivering body. But nothing happened. I flinched away when a warm hand touched my clammy cheek and stroked my filthy hair. The comforting never ceased even when I tried to back away. Suddenly the blind fold around my eyes, which was barely ever removed, was untied. Hands rested on my bony shoulders but I kept my eyes shut in blinding terror. I couldn't face whatever was in front of me. Not when I was so convinced it would just be a lie or an illusion.

A soft voice pulled me from the depths of my mind, speaking words of English I hadn't heard in so long. In a strange accent, the being spoke. "Fear not, child. I am here to help you."

My initial response was to shudder away in disbelief, but those few words the alien spoke hit my damaged heart hard and I couldn't help but choke a sob in relief, fall forwards and bawl into the surprisingly soft body of this strange alien. Arms gathered me up into its chest and soon enough I was nestled in the lap of this creature, wailing as it held me. Eventually my tears stopped and I was left only sniffling and hiccupping. I raised my head with my eyes open to look at the marvellous creature who kept me in its protecting embrace. It stared back at me with black eyes and a gentle smile. Hope filled my soul once more and it was then that I knew that as long as my heart still beat, there would always be someone to care for me, no matter how dark times got.