I was woken up abruptly by the sound of glass shattering above us. The wind was howling outside, and water was leaking into the basement. I could only assume that a window had broken open just as I suspected one might.

Ellie, who had been asleep beside me, was now sitting up and just as alarmed as I was. I wasn't sure how we both managed to fall asleep, but there was no hope for us returning to slumber anytime soon.

I lit the candle that had blown out somehow when we were asleep, and sat so close to Ellie that the sides of both our bodies were pressed against each other. "This hurricane is going to last all night." I said, though it were entirely obvious.

Ellie nodded his head, but said nothing. Being this close to him felt strange. He smelt of paint, and despite there only being faint candle light allowing us to see, I noticed paint marks tattooed on his skin.

I found it amusing that he was just as messy of a painter as I was.

"You have paint on your arm." I told him, and pointed to a red blotch on his elbow.

"Yes, that is inevitable." He said, not even bothering to look at the paint I was referring to.

"You should clean it, it's not good to be on your skin."

"My skin is different from yours."

"Not entirely."

"Entirely." He argued, but didn't press it further.

We sat in silence, listening to nothing but the wind and the rain beating up against the house in unison. I found myself thinking what would happen if the house collapsed, if somehow, it couldn't withstand the pressure of the hurricane, how would I fix it? How would I be able to contain Ellie in such a horrific situation?

To be clear, I'm still not entirely convinced Ellie will always be a rabid creature around others. I feel he is bound to get used to people eventually.

He got used to me pretty damn quick.

If Ellie did ever get used to people, he'd be no different than anyone else. Granted, we'd probably live together for the rest of our lives, but he could go out, go shopping, get his driver's license, go to school if he wanted to.

He could get a girlfriend.

I nearly choked on the air I was breathing. Ellie getting a girlfriend has never crossed my mind before. I don't think he's even capable of romantic attraction. Nobody would want to date a boy created in a lab.

Still, I never thought Ellie was capable of human emotion, and yet, he's able to feel as much as I can. Who am I to say he can't fall in love?

Though it did intrigue me to think about, the fact that Ellie could go to college. He's so brilliant, I could even see him become a doctor, if he wanted to be.

Or a scientist, just like my father.

Then again, what if he felt inspired to make more creatures like him? If he were to fall in love with anyone, it'd be with someone who was his equal.

My mind began to wander to subjects I didn't particularly want to think about. The fact that someone would be attracted to Ellie was strange to me. Of course someone is bound to fall for him, he isn't bad looking.

Is he capable of having kids? Would he ever. . . try?

I shook my head quickly. My face felt as if it were getting red, and for once I was glad for the darkness of the basement. Suddenly, I didn't want to be so close to him. To be touching him.

I stood up.

He glanced up at me, and I avoided eye contact, humiliated that I actually went as far as thinking about Ellie and if he'd ever have sexual intercourse.

A loud crash of thunder broke me away from my miniature pity party and managed to rumble the entire house. I used it as an opportunity to walk away and find something in the basement that my mind could focus on, instead of other things. The room was dark, so I took another candle and lit it, and began rummaging through boxes, and shelves, and my father's many cabinets full of chemicals and labels, and things a normal person would not have had in their basement, or fifty feet near their house.

Unfortunately, Ellie walked up beside me, and watched as I kept pulling different random things out of a drawer. I tried my best to ignore him, as he watched my every move. It wasn't until he picked up a bottle of liquid acid that I intervened and took it from him. "Don't touch these." I warned him, "They are incredibly lethal."

"Lethal."

"Deadly." I confirmed, "They could severely hurt you, if you're lucky enough to survive."

"Your father used these." He said, more of a question than a statement.

I nodded, "My father wasn't a chemist, but he was brilliant enough to be one. It's how he made you, with chemicals I've never even heard of, he gave you your life." I glanced at him wearily, the subject of my father was always an uncomfortable thing to be talking about. Especially with Ellie.

"Why did you father make me?"

"He wanted to achieve the impossible." I replied, and placed the liquid acid gently in the cabinet below. "Something about the government wanting to create artificial life. Unfortunately for them, they fired my father when they couldn't quite get the err. . . ingredients right. That's when he returned back here, created the lab in the basement, and came up with his own solution for your existence."

"You mean the American government."

"Yeah."

"They wanted me?"

"They wanted a different form of you, which is why they can't know you exist. If they did, they'd take you away from me. That wouldn't be good."

"Why would it not be good?"

I shrugged, and began looking through some jars on a table, many of them were filled with nails, screws, and oddly, matches. "I'm not sure what the government does to people behind closed doors, but from the movies and books I've read, I can only assume the worst."

"The worst?"

"Torture, dissection, total imprisonment. The nightmarish stuff most people don't like to think about."

Ellie was quiet for a long moment, which caused me to look at him. He was staring at his reflection that was displayed on the metal table in front of us. "Don't worry." I assured him, and he looked up at me. "As long as you act normal, no one will know you aren't totally human."

"I'm not human."

I opened a jar, expecting something like paperclips, or bolts, but instead, I was greeted with a jar full of live maggots. I screamed and dropped the jar onto the floor. Glass shattered everywhere, along with the bugs.

"What the hell!" I hissed, and brushed off my clothes, despite not having any bugs on them, paranoia get the better of me.

Ellie bent down onto the floor, "These creatures." He said, as if he had just remembered something, "They intrigued me."

"What?"

He picked up a handful, and the crawled around his hand. I shivered at the sight.

"Why the hell are you holding them? Put them down, that's disgusting."

"They are not disgusting." He protested, "They are useful." He held his hand out towards me, and I grimaced.

"I'm not touching them."

"They eat infection."

"Gross."

"You father used them a lot. I watched him."

"You watched him do experiments?"

Ellie nodded and stood back up, "He would teach me."

This was news to me. My father never would involve me with his experiments. The only exception was Ellie, and that's because he wanted to give Ellie a sense of innocence, he wanted to allow Ellie some life-life memories, despite living full time in a lab.

"He taught you how to work in the lab?"

"Yes, of course."

I was in shock, what was so different about Ellie that he couldn't have taught me? I was his daughter, he should have wanted me by his side.

"What else did he tell you?"

Ellie picked up one of the bugs on his hand, and placed it gently on the metal table. "Obey Ripley." He said, with no emotion.

"Obey me?" I questioned, "What did he mean by that?"

"Follow Ripley."

"Follow-"

"Protect Ripley."

"Ellie-"

"Help Ripley."

"Now hold on-"

"Love Ripley."

I stared at him, and he stared at me. We stood there together in silence. I knew my father kept secrets, but something like this, I should have known.

He had created Ellie entirely for me.

"He told you to do all those things?" I asked, knowing it was true, I still wanted him to confirm it.

"Yes." He said, not taking his eyes off mine, "I will do as you father told me to do, Ripley, I will not leave."