An Alienating Secret

Wait, What?!?!

--Alana—

Conner looked at his hands, different emotions struggling in his face. I waited in attentive suspense (while still keeping an eye on the red light in front of us).

Conner dropped his hands. "I'm an alien... like, from another planet."

Is he joking? I was too shocked to respond. He continued,

"That's why my blood's green. It's not some sort of birth defect; it's normal on my planet."

A million thoughts were racing through my mind. "If that's true, then why are you here? I mean, on Earth?"

Conner sighed. I started driving again when the light turned green, and noticed Conner was rubbing his arm and had calculating eyes. "Well, long story short, the government on my home planet was really corrupt, and my parents thought it was best to send me here to Earth so I could have a good life."

"Wait, you mean your parents sent you alone?"

Conner grimaced. "Well, not alone alone. I have my care-takers, my 'fake parents' I've been venting about this whole time."

"Are they aliens too?"

"They're aliens too. My real mom and dad couldn't come... Neither could my siblings and cousins."

Conner said it with such silent anger and frustration, I figured he wasn't making stuff up. And I got the feeling I shouldn't ask why his family couldn't make it. Still, I gathered the courage to ask,

"Well, you obviously don't like your 'fake parents'. How were they chosen for you? Are they like family friends, or aunts and uncles...?"

"I didn't know them before I came to Earth." Conner's face was steely. "I don't want to talk about them."

"Ok, then, um... Do you have an alien form? Like, a real, crazy one that's, you know.... not human?" I wanted to see how he would respond. A part of me still couldn't wrap my head around the fact he could be telling the truth.

"Of course." Conner answered, as if I had no reason to question it. A little smile perked at his lips, "I like that form much better than this one. But, then again, I did grow up with it."

"How do you switch between the two?" I asked with honest curiosity.

Conner's smile disappeared. "I.... It's hard to explain. I have this round metal compartment in my chest where my 'human skin' can contract into or come out of. When I put a certain code into the compartment, it makes my human disguise come and seal over my normal self. Like how a snake's scales are stuck to its muscles."

"Ok, that's a creepy analogy." I smiled awkwardly. "What about your hair then?"

"Just a wig."

"What?! Are you serious!!!" I was in shock. "Your hair is so luxurious though."

"Hah, you think? Well, I'm not surprised. Wigs from my planet are the best. Fashion's sorta our thing."

"How are they different from Earthen wigs?" I asked.

Conner breathed in and out deeply, preparing for an info-dump. "They're magnetic. We have a high concentration of metal in our skulls, so the wig has magnets on its bottom that connect to that."

"But couldn't the wigs fall off if you hit them or put your head upside down?" I asked.

"N-no. They're magnetic. Like... like, magnets." He gestured with his hands, trying to replicate the power of magnetism.