Heart's desire

"Whether I want to or not, I am to teach the alien children my language. I must prepare their food and dress them for play. I am to play games from my childhood with them. The biggest alien tells me this with growls and gestures. I must not grimace at their shiny carapaces and light-catching limbs. Or the elongated faces that look vaguely human with eye-holes and mouths that smile and chitter. They make me sick. He makes me sick."

"I am afraid. There is no way home. There is no more home. The big alien made me watch it burn from the ship's porthole. My mum, my dad, my friends, my entire planet is no more. I should not cry. I must not cry. It is not his fault. I should be grateful to be rescued. I am grateful. So very, very, grateful. I will not cry any more. I will not. The big alien gets busy and ignores me."

A twelve-year-old human watches the planet burn and is compelled by a large alien to teach, feed, clothe, and play with alien children despite revulsion. The child suppresses grief and insists on gratitude for rescue while fearing and loathing the aliens’ appearances. The alien caregivers present authority and ignore the child's suffering. Separately, alien younglings receive a rescued human woman as their Mother; she initially flinches, clings to memories, and remains withdrawn. The younglings seek her affection and language. She ages rapidly, remains sullen, but eventually begins to tell stories about water, animals, sky, and new games.

Read at Nature