ALIEN - A Collection of Short Stories

I Believe. Do You?

Dear reader,

I believe in aliens. I honestly think somewhere in the vast void that is space, there are other living beings. Perhaps they're just microorganisms, or maybe they're more developed than we are and are searching for ways to conquer other planets. Whatever the case, I don't think we're alone. No, I know we're not alone. I've seen proof; I believe. Do you?

Where to begin? I suppose it's best if I introduce myself first. My name is Carlin Dorcas and I live on the planet Fretzgerld. I'm not some freakish alien with green goo oozing out of me or slimy tentacles, I'm just a 14-year-old boy. I've just started final academics school, and so far life has been going pretty well. I'm one of the top students in my class, on the track team, a part of my school's band, and I'm practically dating one of the most amazing girls in my school. Despite past hardships, my parents are finally starting to work through their issues and reconcile. My life honestly could not be any better. That was until a few months ago...

I had been riding my biwheeler when something strange happened. Nothing crazy ever happened in my town, even on days like today when our two suns showed, but I'm pretty sure I saw something crash-land in the field near my school. My curiosity urged me to pedal over and investigate, but I was already running late to help my mother at her eatery, so I didn't have any time to be a detective...yet. As I biwheed away, I made a mental note to return to the site later.

I worked at my mother's eatery like I did every Friday. I bused tables, served dishes when needed, gave refills, and occasionally took ordites. It was a normal day as far as anyone else knew, but every time I almost forgot about it, the odd sight of the crash popped into my head, demanding my full attention. And my state of distraction didn't go unnoticed.

The regs at the eatery almost immediately picked up on my preoccupation. One of them even decided to slide a drinket towards me. He must've thought he was being funny, but I wasn't laughing when there was pop on my front and glass by my feet. Everyone that saw what occurred was getting their laughs in, but the entire eatery seemed to go mute when my mother happened upon the scene.

My mother is, in ways, like a volcano. She doesn't erupt very easily, she's quite patient actually, but when she does go off, she explodes. Everything that's in her path is swamped in her words of lava. That's why I joke that she's scarier than my father. He looks more intimidating, but he couldn't hurt a fly.  My mother could probably make a fly give up its will to live just by glaring at it.

So there I was, half drenched and afraid to move, not because there was glass, but because my mother was bee-lining towards me. My mind raced to think of explanations, but all I could focus on was the stupid crash. The crash that would probably get me fired. I started to stammer as my mother loomed closer, but I knew full well that I could not utter a single word.

All eyes flew to me as my mother boomed, "CARLIN LEE DORCAS! What on Fretz did you do?!"

My voice had abandoned me and my legs were shaking. I wanted to speak more than ever before, but I couldn't get out a peep. My silence seemed to fuel the rage growing in my mother, I could see it in her eyes. I frantically looked around hoping someone would come to my rescue, but the people in my town never stood up for one another; no one took the blame if they didn't have to. 

I'm still unsure what about the incident made my mother so upset. Perhaps she'd just had a really bad day that day. Maybe she couldn't stand her "perfect" son erring in front of her patrons. Possibly she hadn't had many victories lately, and a broken drinket wasn't helping, especially since it was the first appliance her eatery had ever seen broken. Whatever the case, my mother was a volcano that day.

And so I was forced to clear away the broken glass by hand, give up my tipes to the eatery, and go to our abode early to contemplate what I had done wrong. On top of that, my socializing privileges were temporarily revoked.