ALIEN - A Collection of Short Stories

Neptune

"Finn, get up!"

I tried, but my body wouldn't budge. I was paralyzed with fright.

"What the hell is wrong with you? We need to run, now! So get your lazy arse up!"

Every part of me knew I should have risen and bolted, but I couldn't move even if I wanted to. It was like I was a puppet, tied up in the strings of petrification.

"Ugh! Fine!" a voice yelled as I felt someone pulling my arm, dragging me along, and I desperately tried to use my legs and follow. Barely, barely did my limbs respond to my commands as I stumbled after my sister.

I dimly registered my surroundings, and even when I was forced down into a flight pod I had only a faint grasp of what was going on.

Finally, the wheels in my head started spinning again and I regained feeling in my body. "L-Lily," I stammered. "Lily, what's going on?"

"Really, Finn? 'What's going on?' What kind of question is that?" she snapped.

I stared at her dumbstruck. I really couldn't remember what had happened. All I knew was that I was so overcome with fear and grief that I was uncontrollably trembling and hot tears were streaming down my cheeks. Judging by the look on Lily's face, I probably didn't want to know what had just occurred.

Lily's expression changed once she registered my confusion. If anything, I sensed a little envy with all the sadness in her voice when she said, "You really don't remember?" She sighed. "Finn, our house just exploded. We were the last K'roonahs to be attacked. Aside from us, our entire race is now dead. Mom and Dad are d-dead."

It took me a few seconds to register the news, but when I did, it felt like a rock had struck my heart and beaten it to dust. I was swallowed by a wave of grief. I heard someone yell and only realized it was me when my throat started to burn and ache. I probably sat there, sobbing, for I don't know how long, but when I looked up, Lily's eyes were red and her face was streaked with tears, but she wasn't screaming like I was.

I sniffled and finally managed to say, "W-what are we going to do now?"

Lily rubbed her eyes and looked at me. "Finn, we've been traveling through space for the past hour. We're on our way to the planet Earth. You didn't notice that?"

"Oh." I finally looked around our flight pod. There were about a million confusing buttons of all colors and sizes, and maybe a hundred different flashing screens and lights. There was a screen in front of us that was larger than all the others. In small print above a map showing our course were the words: Earth, the Milky Way galaxy; 53 light years away.

I stared at the screen for awhile as the number gradually went down. I felt a few tears slide slowly down my face from time to time, but I was no longer bawling.

Lily broke the silence once more when she said, "You do know we're going to have to blend in on Earth, right? No talk about Plastees or K'roonahs or Neptune's war. Pretend like you've never heard of anything abnormal; we should give no one any reason to suspect us. We'll find a new f-family--" Lily's voice broke and she stifled a hiccup-- "to live with. Do you understand?" She turned to me and for once I could finally see a completely vulnerable side to my brave twin sister as her eyes shimmered with mountains of angst.

Seeing her in such despair opened my floodgates once more. I cried for what seemed like eternity until I finally passed out.

When I woke up I looked over to see a pure look of astonishment and awe on Lily's face. There was something twinkling in her eyes. I followed her gaze and felt my jaw drop.

"I-it's so..."

"Beautiful."

"Neptune was pretty, but Earth is just...breathtaking." Lily looked how I felt; absolutely swooned. If there was one thing I was certain of, it was that I would love living on Earth.

Our flight pod finally opened and we climbed out. And then I began to choke. "W-what is this?" I stammered.

"I don't kn--" Lily broke into a fit of coughs. "Earth's atmosphere isn't like Neptune's."

"What are we going to d-do?" I looked over at Lily as my eyes began to bulge and my throat started to close up.

She frantically scrambled around the pod, opening compartments and clumsily feeling around. "Aha." Lily raised her open hand to show me two little circular chips.

"What-what are they?" I asked through coughs.

"They're breathing chips." Lily huffed. "Just simply," Lily brought one up to her nape and winced a bit, "attach it to your neck and you'll be able to breathe." She inhaled deeply and smiled.

Struggling, I weakly reached over to Lily and groped around for the second chip. Finally a cold metal circle grazed my fingertips and I snatched it. I wheezed as everything turned shades of brown and yellow. I tried to pull my arm up and place it on my neck, but my whole body felt like lead and I slowly crumbled to the ground.

I faintly heard Lily gasp and saw feet rush toward me as my eyelids grew heavy and my breathing weak. I felt something cold pinch the back of my neck. Suddenly I felt as though I could breathe almost too clearly; I started to cough a bit.

After a few moments, I took a breath of Earth's fresh air. I took a few steps and enjoyed the feeling of bare earth beneath my feet. I couldn't help but cry again when I heard the birds singing. Birds! Neptune never had birds! I'd only ever read about them.

"Come on," Lily said as she took my hand. The smile on her face was longer than any river.

We ran, laughter escaping our throats every second we enjoyed Earth's beauty.

. . .

It's been almost a month now, and Lily and I have been living with this lovely family that was willing to adopt two teenagers. They have a son who's only a few months older than us.

So far, no one's suspected anything; everyone thinks we're from Earth, regular humans just like them.

I absolutely loved my life.

And then there was a banging on the door.