Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,2

warm feeling spread through my chest. This was the reassurance I needed. Everything would be fine. Things could always be worked out between people, even if they came from two different planets.

“Aww, Lily. Thank you.” I placed my hand next to her face on the screen, missing her and the rest of my family, now. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, sweetie. And don’t worry,” she added hurriedly. “You’ll do great. You’re super easy to get along with. I’ll be waiting for your messages, though.”

I’d been told I would be able to send written messages to my family on a weekly basis and could have video communication with them on special occasions.

“I’ll write every week,” I promised.

Lily paused for a moment. Her desire to keep it positive was clearly warring with the big sister’s need to warn and protect.

“If anything goes wrong or something doesn’t work out...” she started.

“It’ll be fine,” I assured her. “In the worst-case scenario, I’d just come back to Earth in a year. Either way, it’ll be an adventure.”

As excited as I’d been to receive the confirmation letter, I had made sure to read the Marriage Contract very carefully before signing it. There was a condition that stated both parties had the right to dissolve the agreement for any reason, after the first full year of the union.

The way I viewed it, this was a year-long employment opportunity on another planet, with an added possibility for romance, which made it that much more exciting.

“Oh, I almost forgot, Daisy.” Lily suddenly appeared uncharacteristically flustered. “There is this video that came to your email account here just after you’ve left. I asked the Committee to forward it to you. It’s from the Colonel...”

“A video? From the Colonel?” A new wave of excitement flushed over me. He did send me something, after all. I’d just missed it by having boarded the spaceship already.

“Yes. I can’t believe I almost forgot, but it’s been five months now, and it slipped my mind... I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright.” I waved off her apologies. “I can watch it right now, then.”

“Yeah, well.” She bit her lip again. “Good luck, Daisy. Be careful, okay? And get out of there as soon as you can if anything goes wrong...”

We said our goodbyes, and I tried not to dwell too much on the reasons behind the worry on my sister’s face. Instead, I allowed the excitement from finally getting a video to take over.

I quickly logged onto the ship’s internal system and found the folder with my name. It contained all the information I had collected on Voran so far. The forwarded video file was also there.

The video took a few moments to load, and I got up from my seat in the ship’s communication room to stretch my legs. Glancing at the progress bar from time to time, I paced the small room.

The ship was enormous, with a private cabin for me. My bed proved comfortable enough, but I was looking forward to feeling the ground of a planet under my feet, soon.

I wished I knew more about my destination, too. Waiting for the video to load, I wondered what would be in it.

I hoped this would be the Colonel’s home video. The twins’ birthday celebration, maybe? Or a family trip? Maybe a dinner with the Colonel and the boys. I would love to see a holiday celebration.

My favorite holiday had always been Christmas. Grandma and I used to bake and decorate early when she’d been alive. I even brought her favorite ornament to Neron with me. Since I would celebrate Christmas away from home this year, I wanted to have something with me that would remind me of my family and of Grandma.

A dinging sound announced the loading of the video was complete, and I rushed back to the screen.

It would be nice to see the Colonel in a casual setting. The one and only picture I had was of him in the dress uniform of the Voranian Army. In it, he was staring straight into the camera. Maybe that was what made his eyes look so exceptionally red? No one turned out good in official photos, right? I had my share of awkward pictures and often used pretty filters when posting photos of myself on social media.

The video opened.

Within seconds, I realized this was not a family celebration. The first image that came up was that of a metal wall. Then, a screeching sound hurt my ears. The wall split open, letting