by Zara Zenia
“I am sorry,” he says as he crouches down beside me. “But now you know.”
“Know what?”
My voice escapes out of my throat like an agonized croak. I reach out a hand and see the violent tremor that’s running through my fingers.
“What do I know? Tell me!” I beg.
“That I’m an alien.”
He says it with a cool calmness as though he’s uttering the most normal thing in the world, but it shakes the ground beneath me. I’m lightheaded, my vision blurring slightly at the sides, then I’m weightless. The last thing I see is the bottom of the heart shaped bed as I fall beside it. Underneath there’s a cigarette butt and a balled-up stocking. I wonder how long they’ve been there.
“Wake up. Please wake up.”
I can feel cold fingers against my cheek.
“Flick. Flick!”
I open my eyes and see the blue face once again. My heart begins to race, but then I see the concern in his eyes.
“What happened?” I ask as I get my bearings.
“You fainted,” he says. “I must have really terrified you.”
“You did.”
Now that the shock has faded I can see him better, can see the texture of his dark, blue skin and the way his muscles are still bulging. I sit up and let my eyes adjust to the light.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“Just a few seconds?” he says as he rubs my back. “Again, I’m really sorry. I feel terrible for scaring you like that.”
“You know, I thought that maybe it was all a dream but it’s all true, isn’t it? You’re really an alien.”
“I’m really an alien,” he says proudly. “A humble resident of planet Orba.”
“This is not what I had planned for my first night on the job,” I say to myself.
Then I look up at him and see the sadness on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
I stroke the side of his arm and feel the frigid temperature of his skin.
“This is the end for me, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’ll turn me in to the authorities and they’ll come and kill me. Humans are hostile creatures. They don’t like outsiders. They see us as a threat.”
“I won’t tell anybody,” I reassure him. “I promise, I won’t tell a soul.”
A wave of relief washes over him and his shoulder slump as he breathes out a long sigh.
“Thank you!”
He hugs me tight.
“Thank you! You have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
“I understand,” I say. “At least I think I do.”
I pull away and take a good look at him. Running a finger down the side of his face I feel his alien skin. He doesn’t seem to have pores like I do so his skin is smooth like porcelain but blue like the deepest ocean. His eyes seem to radiate different colors depending on what mood he’s in. Right now, they’re a light violet, soft and pretty, but as he begins to speak, they change to an Earthier green.
“I am scared,” he says.
“Of what?”
“There are people looking for me. That’s why I had to hide in a human form.”
“Who’s looking for you? Are they dangerous?”
He looks away, staring off into the distance as his eyes glaze over with a faraway memory.
“So you believe me then?” he asked.
“Believe you?” I repeated.
“You believe that I am an alien?”
“Yes… I suppose I don’t have much of a choice now, do I?”
“I guess not,” he says with a weak smile. “It must have been quite a shock to you.”
“You scared the crap out of me! But in a way, I’m happy,” I said.
“Oh really?” he raises a single eyebrow.
“Yeah! I mean there are only a handful of people on Earth who have ever seen an alien and most people don’t believe them anyway. They’re thought to be crazy, country folk who drank too much moonshine or- “
“Moonshine!” he interrupts me. “What is this?”
“It’s a drink, a disgusting one that’ll put you on your ass after a couple mouthfuls.”
“And it comes from the moon? It is made from the shine of the moon?”
His eyes flicker a mesmerizing, light blue. His enthusiasm, I must admit, is rather sweet but I can’t help but laugh at him.
“I don’t know why it’s called moonshine. I mean, it has nothing to do with the moon but that’s what it’s called anyway.”
He looks a little disappointed and sits back, resting his back along the edge of the bed.
“It sounds a little like something we have on Orba. I cannot think of an Earthen word to translate it into but we would call it something like the nectar of Venus.”
“Sounds pretty magical.”
“It is and it can, how do you say it, put you on your ass too.”
We both share a chuckle.
“So, I must ask you something. Humans are aware of aliens?”
“Yes! Well, I mean. We like to think they exist. They seem fun.”
“Fun?”
“Yeah… Like in the same way ghosts are.”
“What are ghosts?” he asks with a confused look on his face.
For a second I can’t think how to describe them to someone who hasn’t been on this planet before. The notion seems so peculiar and abstract.
“It’s basically, like, when someone dies, it’s only their bodies that die but their personality lives on and lives in a place the living can’t reach, not until they die too.”
“That sounds unbearably sad,” he shakes his head. “Imagine being split apart from someone you love and having to wait until you die to see them.”
“We all have to wait. It’s all we can do.”
“I think humans must be very tough then, to live through the sadness of something like that.”
“I think so too.”
Outside a car pulls up into the parking lot with hip-hop blaring out its speakers. We both look up to the window and see its headlights cast shapes across the room as shadows rise and fall over the furniture. Standing up, I look out the window and see a young couple exit the blacked-out car and hurry into the room next door in a frenzy of desperate kisses and excited giggles. Is she a working girl?
“I should be back out there,” I say, my eyes still fixed on the darkness outside.
“Outside?”
“Yeah, back out on the street. I need to earn money. I’m flat broke right now,” I told him.
“What will you do out there?” he asks with a tinge of anxiety lurking in his voice.
“I’ll do what I did with you, but for money…”
“Oh…”
I turn to face him and see him hanging his head.
“What’s wrong?” I inquired.
“Nothing,” he mumbles.
“Shut up, no one looks like that for nothing. Tell me what’s wrong.”
He looks up and sighs.
“Stay with me, please, just for a little while,” he cajoled.
“Um… I really should be out there for- “
“Please! Just until I can change back into a human form. It won’t be much longer,” he pleaded.
“Ok,” I relent. “I don’t see why not.”
We both lie back on the bed and stare up at the ceiling.
“You must be so lonely here,” I say. “Where is your family?”
“I left them all behind.”
“So you’re here on Earth alone?”
“There were others but… I don’t know where they are.”
He gulps as though he’s choking on tears but when I turn to him he’s not crying. Maybe where he comes from they don’t cry, or maybe they don’t know how to.
“I don’t think we’re too different,” I say.
He rolls over to face me.
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, you’re alone without a family because you left the
m all behind. I did that too, I’m all alone. You don’t have any money and neither do I and we’re both trying to desperately survive on a hostile planet.”
He smiles.
“You’re right. We’re not too different at all.”
Looking up past the ceiling fan, I see the cigarette butt that’s still holding on tight like a dying cockroach.
“You never told me your name,” I suddenly blurt out. “You know I’m Flick but you never told me your name.”
“It’s Voland,” he says.
“Well, Voland. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Chapter 8
Voland
When I open my eyes, the sun is shining through the broken metal blinds. It’s freezing in the room in the cold light of the morning, I can see how truly dirty the place is. As I roll over and pull the covers up over me, I see her lying beside me, her blonde hair fanned out across the pillow and her soft features illuminated by the soft sunlight. For a moment, I watch as her chest rises and falls with each breath, her breasts pert and erect in the cool air.
I try to be careful as I crawl off the bed but the springs beneath me creak as I stand. She stirs in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent in her dreams before rolling over and going silent. Now that I’m back in my human form, I pull on my uniquely human clothes. Walking into the bathroom, I catch sight of myself in the broken mirror above the sink. I look normal once again, well, normal for planet Earth anyway. Although, as I look down, I can see my clothes are starting to get dirty. It won’t be long until I must buy more.
“Hey handsome,” a voice comes from behind me.
I jump and spin around to see Flick in the doorway wearing nothing but a smile.
“Where do you think you’re off to?”
“Nowhere,” I say. “Just didn’t feel much like sleeping anymore.”
She’s looking me up and down, her eyes lingering on my body.
“I like you better like this,” she says. “You’re less scary.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“You wanna come back to bed. I mean, we don’t have to do anything, we can just cuddle.”
I don’t want to do that but I don’t want to offend her either.
“This room is kinda closing in on me,” I say. “You wanna take a walk instead.”
“Sure,” she smiles. “I’m starving.”
Outside the sun is shining bright but the air is bitterly cold and stings at my ear and whips across my scalp. I shiver and pull my flimsy shirt around me. Meanwhile, Felicity is wrapped up in a big, puffed up coat and her hands are thrust into a pair of gloves. She takes my hand in hers and I notice that the gloves are fluffy. I look down to inspect them further.
“What are these made of?” I ask.
She laughs and pulls away and I’m embarrassed for my ignorance of Earthen clothing.
“They’re made of wool.”
“What’s that?”
“It comes from sheep, you know, the fluffy, white stuff.”
My eyes widen.
“So you eat AND wear sheep?”
“That’s right. It seems kinda strange when you say it like that.”
“And what do the sheep have to say about that?”
She laughs again, her voice light and airy as it carries in the wind.
“Oh, honey. The sheep don’t have a choice.”
She slaps me on the back.
“That seems rather unfair,” I muse.
She gives me a strange look out the corner of her eye.
“Life is unfair,” she says. “Get used to it.”
We make our way to the main road where shops and restaurants line the streets. The place looks so different in the daylight, more human and less threatening. In the distance, I can see the large chimneys that sit upon the factories but there’s no sign of the terrifying tribe that live between their walls.
“What are you looking at?” she asks, reaching up on tiptoes to follow my gaze.
“I met some nasty people last night. Just don’t wanna bump into them again.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
I look down at her and wonder how a little thing like her could protect me from anything other than a slight gust of wind. Still, I appreciate the sentiment.
“Thank you,” I say.
As we walk past the various shops, I’m overcome with hunger. There are different smells coming from each building, each one tempting me with the tantalizing scent of food. My stomach rumbles so loud that Felicity hears it.
“Aw, when was the last time you ate?”
“I have no idea,” I answer.
“Me neither,” she says. “I’m broke but we can maybe get breakfast.”
She pulls a little pouch out of her bag and looks inside.
“This is all I’ve got left in the world.”
I see it’s a twenty-dollar bill.
“What can we get with that?”
“Not much,” she shrugs. “But we’ll figure it out.”
She points toward a diner at the end of the road. I recognize it from my wanderings last night but it was empty before with the lights off and no people inside. Now each table is packed with families and single men who are forcing big forkfuls of pie into their jam lined mouths.
“I hope you like pancakes,” Felicity says.
Stepping inside, I feel as though I’m close to fainting. Everything smells so good and as we walk past each table, I need to stop myself reaching out and snatching food off people’s plates. We slide into a booth at the very end and a waitress approaches with a scowl and a large number of creases in her skin. She’s powdered them a chalky beige as though she thinks we somehow won’t notice them. It amuses me, and I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my sniggering.
“What you havin’?” she asks with a harsh voice.
“Coffee,” Felicity says. “And pancakes for two?”
“Blueberries?”
“Nah.”
“Alright then,” and she disappears behind a black door and shouts something to someone.
“What’s so funny, eh?”
Felicity pokes me in the ribs.
“Her face!” I laugh.
She bursts out laughing too.
“You’re so mean!” she says as she playfully punches me in the arm.
“I can’t help it! She tried to cover all her flaws in weird powders and colors but it only makes her look worse!”
Felicity laughs so hard she makes a strange snorting noise as she claps her hands together. Eventually, she manages to calm down and take a deep breath.
“Look, one thing you’re going to have to get used to here on Earth is that women do the strangest things in a futile attempt at being beautiful. Seriously, we all do it. We all want to be pretty so badly that we’ll spend all our money on little bottles of goo just so we can leave the house without feeling ashamed.”
“But what are you trying to hide with all these goos?”
I’m bewildered. From my previous understanding, human women would paint their lips and elongate their eyelashes to attract a mate but that’s not what Felicity is talking about.
“We just want to be pretty,” she nods. “Because to be pretty means to have an easy life.”
I don’t understand but I nod as though I do.
“Got it, but what is so bad about showing your flaws? Why must you cover them? After all, isn’t it our unique flaws that make us who we are?”
She looks a little sad for a moment and starts fidgeting with a paper napkin on the table.
“I wish all men thought like that,” she huffs.
I watch as she begins shredding the napkin in her fingers, pulling segments apart before letting them drop to the ground in a flurry. Outside, a gust of wind howls and rattles the windows. All the little hairs on my body stand up on end and I rub at my arms to make them lie back down again.
“We’re going to need to find you a coat,” she says. “You can’t walk around all day freezing.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Before I can speak, the waitress arrives with two steaming plates then she comes back a moment later with a glass pot of black liquid and pours two cups.
“Enjoy,” she says with a surly face and walks away with a wiggle of her hips.
I look at the food and can’t hold back. Picking up a hot pancake with my bare hands, I roll it up and cram it into my mouth, a great, big river of sweet stickiness running down my chin. Felicity looks at me with an open mouth but I don’t care. I’m starving and this is spectacular, so utterly delectable that I can’t stop eating. Across the room, a couple is watching me as though I have two heads. But I don’t stop eating and groaning with happiness, licking the syrup off my fingertips as I feel my belly swell with the satisfaction of having been fed.
“That was…”
“Crazy,” Felicity interrupts. “Never heard of a knife and fork?”
“No.”
She delicately tucks into her food with a set of metal utensils that I now notice is also on my side of the table. The couple across the room is still staring as I wipe at my face, their eyes quietly judging me as they eat. Meanwhile, I stare down at my empty plate and wish I had more.
“What were those?” I ask.
“You mean the pancakes? Well, they’re exactly what they sound like. They’re cakes made in pans.”
“They were the best thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“I could see that,” she says with a full mouth.
Her cheeks are chubby and stuffed with food as she chews enthusiastically.
“Here,” she pushes a cup over to me. “Drink your coffee.”
“What’s coffee?”
She rolls her eyes.
“It’s magic juice, stuff that’ll make you feel like a new person. Just drink it.”
I do as I’m told, scalding my lips as the bitter substance reaches my tongue. I take a vigorous gulp and grimace. It’s acrid and vile and makes my mouth twist up. Felicity laughs at me and takes a sip of her own coffee as though it’s perfectly lovely.
“Bleurgh!” I splutter into a napkin.
Then I notice something begin to happen to my brain. It’s alert and alive like never before. It’s as though I can think a hundred times faster, no, a thousand times faster! I’m aware of everyone around me, I feel as though I could sprint into the distance without ever tiring.