So there I was gobbling up the last few pieces of my General Tso’s chicken at our favorite chinese restaurant with my 3 best friends: Jack, Phillip, and Pablo. The waiter delivers the check with fortune cookies and hands them to Phillip. He lays them on the table in a line and we all call out which ones we want; it’s our tradition.

“Third!” I spit out quickly, I always get the third of anything and all my friends know that.
“Second!” bellows Jack, the biggest of us all.
“First,” said Pablo less enthusiastically. His favorite is always the second.
“That means I get fourth,” mumbles Phillip.

I pry the wrapper apart with my fingers and delicately pull the cookie out not wanting to break it. Next I crack the golden brown cookie in half and pluck the fortune out. For some reason it doesn’t look as official as usual. It reads: You are in danger. Watch your back. Bad things are around the corner. What could that possibly mean? As my friends read theirs aloud I make up a little white lie stating I have to be home in ten minutes.

I jump on my bike and start to pedal faster and faster. The gears clicking as I change them to fit with my increasing speed.

“Bqooosh!” My bike swerves almost sending me flying in front of a passing semi-truck. I fight to regain control, and manage to in the nick of time. I slam into the curb and am sent flying over the handlebars but luckily I land with a thud in the grass. My bike was not so lucky, it flipped back into the busy street and is crushed. I now had no way to go the mile and a half to my house other than walking when something bad is supposedly going to happen to me. Ahead of me a man in a long, black trench coat storms out of an unfamiliar building. As he walks past me he slaps a manilla folder into my arms. I turn around and try to see who it is but the man is already gone. I immediately pry open the seal and curiously pull out the picture. What could it be of? IT WAS A PICTURE OF MY THREE BEST FRIENDS! How did they get this picture? Did they take my friends? What were they gonna do to them? On the bottom it states: If you ever want to see them again, meet me on the corner of Wilson and State at 10 tonight. What had happened?

The meeting place is only two blocks from where I live so I walk. I am terrified that something might happen on the way there. When I arrive at the corner not a person is in sight, but there is a piece of paper stapled to the wooden electric pole fluttering in the wind. As I got close I began reading it: Return back to your home. Why would they be at my home? No one was home but my little sister Sarah who I was supposed to be babysitting for the night. Uh-Oh! I turn and sprint as fast as I could. I fling open the door and search for Sarah but she was nowhere to be found. But there was a note taped to the TV screen: I have all the important people in your life here with me now. My plan is almost ready to go but I need one more thing. YOU!

“KNOCK, KNOCK” I don’t even think, I turn and bolt out of the back door. I scale fences as I gasp for air. Who was doing this? Something races ahead of me, a black blur in the night. The thing tackles me and pins me down, I can’t tell what it is but what feels like slobber drips onto my face. I fight to get free, trying to roll away. But I see two shadowy figures sprint around the house and they slowly slip a bag over my head. I try to scream to let somebody know what was happening but a hand shot to my mouth.

“Stay quiet!” angrily whispers the first of my masked attackers, then they fully pulled up the bag and I could see no more. I get picked up and thrown into some sort of vehicle and the engine revs.

Someone pulls the bag down and I find a large, bright light shining down on me. I look around for Sarah or any of my friends or my parents but all I can see are bare metal walls. I try stand up but I am bolted to the chair. The person who took the bag off my head comes around and sits down in the chair across from me.
“I assume you are wondering why you have been taken as well as your family and friends?” says the man in a raspy voice. “We are not who you think we are…” the man stops mid sentence. He begins to peel away at his face. What was he doing? When he fully took his face off a narrow, green face stared back at me. He was hideous. He had no ears and long black eyebrows. It was a rather peculiar shaped face almost like a pear. When he began talking for the first time with his real face exposed his voice was much deeper and raspier than before. He was very disturbing when he spoke, like all his muscles were spasming out refusing to say the words.

“I am part of an alien race from the planet of Aberdonia, we are seeking world domination and we are well on our way to achieving that goal,” he pauses. “We randomly extract people from their lives and we will study them, then replace them with robotic versions of them that respond to us. Once we have enough robotic humans, we will set our plan in motion and Earth will be ours,” explains the creature. “As for you, prepare to be sent to Aberdonia where you will become an exhibit in one of our largest and most popular zoos.”

“What makes you think I’m gonna go to some stupid planet and be in a zoo?” I spit back at this creature.

“You’re in no position to refuse.” The creature pulls something out of his pocket and presses a button and I can see the electricity buzzing in the device. He thrusts it forward into my abdomen and then it all goes black.
“Wher.. where am I?” I ask as I try to gather my surroundings.

“We are on the spaceship to Aberdonia sadly.”

“Phillip! Oh it is so good to see you again. Where are Jack and Pablo?” I whisper.

“They are locked in another room and I saw Sarah and your parents in a different one too.”

“Whoosh!” The door to the room opens and four of the aliens rush in and each alien grabs an arm. They push Phillip and I to our feet and lead us to a large room buzzing with the sounds of bizarre machines. In the middle of the room were seven plastic portals running from the floor to ceiling connected to plenty of tubes. They throw us into separate portals and we sit there wide eyed looking back at them. Why had they taken us? What were they going to do with us? The door whips open and and Jack and Pablo trudge in and go to their portal. Once they saw us they had a look of surprise in their face. Then came my family, who did not look so good and I was immediately sick to my stomach. Why had they chosen us, why not someone else? My family is led to their portals and their doors close. A loud whirring noise starts and the lights began to come alive. Suddenly the floor shoots out from beneath me. I look below and I see a light rapidly approaching me. I was freefalling. Was I plummeting to my death? Where was I going? I shot through the light and strained to see where I was. All around me was vast land with cages of exotic creatures all of which I had never seen. I had to admit I would want to be here if I wasn’t going to become an exhibit. The portal began to slow down as I slowly approached an empty exhibit. This must be home from now on. The door swings open and I begin to explore and I find a house that looks exactly like mine did. All of the other portals touch down and a we have a small reunion. A raspy voice comes over a loudspeaker.

“Welcome to your new home, all of your will live here for the rest of your life and I hope you enjoy being our new star exhibit”