Alien Mister Fourth of July

by Serena Spacey

As much as I wanted to see him, I kept my promise. Motion by motion, I let him take control like the waves over a surfer. Up in the air, I had no control. No muscle to put into it from that position. All I could do was enjoy the sensations he stirred into me.

  I knew we didn’t have long. He couldn’t be found with me the next morning. I tried to push that thought back as I concentrated on the here, the now. Being together again.

  Since I was so much higher, kissing was tougher, but he was still satiating us by showing my breasts the touch and taste they needed. I moaned lightly, trying to keep it back. It was work though to stay quiet, Mister Fourth of July made me feel so good. No one could understand the rides, the sensations he pulled through me. It was like walking through a hurricane but someone saying you needed to tip-toe. All I wanted was to call out, scream out his name again as I felt that wonderful and bitter sensation that meant I had reached my paradise with him.

  But also, the end. Afterward, he brought me back down to the ground. Feeling wibbly wobbly, he supported me even there. He lifted me and pulled back the covers, placing me in bed. He got in too, but not for sex. He just made out with me for several more minutes. We enjoyed the subtle touches, like skipping rocks across the river now.

  Just like those subtle beautiful summer days though, we couldn’t have what we had last time. There was no full day to see his friends, explore fireworks, or anything else. “Thank you for coming.”

  “Thank you for letting me in,” he said with a smile as he stared at me, delicately touching my chin. “I wish there was more I could do.”

  “You did enough.” No, I shouldn’t lie. “You did what you could. Giving me a little bit of you, helps a long a way.” He seemed to want to say something to me. “I’m glad you’re paying off my mom. I never want to marry anyone.” Besides him.

  “When you turn 24, your life is yours,” he answered back with one more small kiss. He got up and put on his shirt and cut-off jeans. “You enjoy your Aunt Sarah’s. I hear you haven’t heard from her in a long time.”

  My Aunt Sarah? That’s right, we were going to go and see her. Mom did keep him informed. “It’s been a long time.”

  “You know why, right?” He asked.

  “She lives a state away?”

  “She lives two colonies from mine.” He smirked. “Not every human wants to stay. I told you that before.”

  He did, and I already understood that. Oh, I wanted to talk to her now. Find out what her life has been like since she left. Instead of pining, thinking about what I couldn’t have, I could now enjoy my visit with her. “Thanks, Mister Fourth of July. You made mine again.”

  “I can’t do much of anything right now,” he said, “not without getting drastic.” He looked toward me as the water opened the curtains and the window. “I love you, Alicia Alamillo.”

  “I love you too.” We never wanted to stop saying that, but he couldn’t risk getting caught. We weren’t silently making love with only his feet on the floor. We were making movements and sounds. The more we did that? I knew mom was on my side, but I didn’t know how far she would keep dad away if it really came down to it. I would hate to be the source of what drove my parents apart.

  I think he understood that too. I watched him jump from the window. Jump from the window? I got up out of bed and watched him.

  He stood on top of Candace’s pool of water. He had recalled it. He gestured and with a wave the water went back to Candace’s pool, this time with him riding it. He jumped off as it went down, but I couldn’t see far enough as to where he landed. All I knew is, he would survive that.

  He’d be back next year. I moved back toward my bed, my body and mind filled with positive thoughts and hazy dreams. I went to my drawer and, no longer needing my robe, switched to my cool night lingerie for the night. Nothing elegant, just a simple blue slip-on. I went to sleep expecting to see my Aunt Sarah tomorrow.

  Chapter Nine: Like Father, Like Son

  ~Alicia~

  I was awakened instead by hands grabbing me the next morning before the sun came up. I tried to fight back as my hands were bound and I was forced out of bed. Downstairs, I saw my parents, also dragged out of their beds.

  “Take a seat.” I was sat roughly onto the floor next to them. He had some small communication device on his wrist. “Got this side of the block.”

  This side of the block? Who were they? With mom and dad kneeling on the ground, and me right beside them? I knew that I needed Mister Fourth of July again. He was gone though, all I had was the little ring he gave me. The picture that I couldn’t look at. In case of emergencies, I could open it.

  This qualified. I didn’t understand what was going on but the flick of my next finger over from the ring, I flicked it open, like starting a match. I have no idea what that did, but if it was in case of emergency, it had to do something.

  I saw nothing happen though, just felt a little bit of water fall on my hand.

  “Alamillo!” One of the men came toward my dad. “I can’t believe you tried to make me hold the bag for this.”

  “What?” My father was stunned. “What do you want with me?”

  “What do I want with you?” He held up a contract to my father. “You are trying to move out and buy another home on the other side of Earth.” He dropped the paper to the floor and punched my father. “You conniving weasel, why are you running?”

  “I don’t understand,” my father pleaded. “Who are you?”

  I didn’t understand. Moving? He was going to try and move us away? All the way on the other side of the Earth. That would have never stopped Mister Fourth of July, but it was still dirty. These people didn’t seem to understand why he was moving though.

  “Who am I? I am your boss,” he warned him. “You are fired.”

  “Why are you threatening my family in the middle of the night if you’re my boss?” My dad didn’t get it.

  I was starting to. My family ran a meat company. Our food, a limited supply, was about the only thing the colonies and planets away from here could get. Imported. “You’ve been importing something illegal.” I shouldn’t have said anything as I felt myself being pushed lower to the ground and a gun at my head. Mister Fourth of July! I screamed his name in my head knowing it was all almost over.

  “I never did anything wrong, stop, don’t hurt her!” My dad tried to move, to make his point. “She’s been seeing a boy and he’s very determined. I decided to move to try and break them apart. He’s not an Earthling and I didn’t want him associating with her. That’s all!”

  “A boy?” His boss looked toward me. “This whole affair is about a boy?”

  “Yes,” my father insisted. “So, please. Let us go.”

  His boss grunted, yelled, and then directed the gun from me to my dad. “Stupid. I can’t do that. I would just need one person to say, ‘they held my family at gunpoint’. This isn’t a ‘sorry’ situation, just a sorry situation. I apologize for my lack of knowledge about the incident.” He sniffed. “That’s all you’re going to get. Kill them.”

  Kill them. Such a solid command. I closed my eyes and waited for the end.

  “She’s got a hero ring on her, boss.”

  My father’s boss cursed and yelled, “stop!” He came over to the back of my hand. “You opened this ugly ring! Those things are getting better camouflaged every day.” I felt him tear it right off my finger so hard it hurt. “Fine. I know this picture, and I know how to get rid of him.” He showed me my ring and clamped it in his hand. “Like father? Like son.”

  “Like . . . father?” No. No, they couldn’t be serious! I struggled and they hit me to stop my struggling. My mom and dad begged them to leave me alone.

  Instead, they took me out front to the lawn along with my mom and dad. I watched as our neighbors, including Candace, were piling up fireworks by gunpoint. This man had the power to take over the whole neighborhood. Please, Mister Fourth of July. Stay away.

  I didn’t want to see this. They were putting up a
stake. I never should have opened the ring. What if he came? What if he didn’t? Would he be able to stop this or not? This was no way for him to go.

  “He’s got five minutes,” My father’s boss said as he came over to us. “If he’s too traumatized to show? Then his little girlfriend goes up there.” He winked at me. “If he does? He’ll go first, and then you.” He grabbed me by the top of my lingerie and then grinned. A nasty grin. “A Happy Fourth of July to Champion Adventurer Vininickivendizianordi.”

  His name, he could say his name! “You aren’t from Earth,” I accused him. “You are from First!”

  “I’m more than from A111111,” he said, “I am the distributor that got tired of Vininickivendizianordi’s father butting into my business. It’s not easy to build up a bunch of villains. Everyone wants to be leader, but for the right price, and the right incentives? The impossible becomes possible.”

  I watched as his men started to put other explosives down around the stake, even strapping them to it.

  Five minutes. Mister Fourth of July would have been back on his colony hours ago. It took thirty minutes to get here. How would he-?

  “Stop!”

  Then, there he was. Mister Fourth of July wasn’t in a muscle shirt or cut-off jeans. He was dressed head to toe in his blue uniform, stopping me from rejecting reality. He wasn’t there to shoot off fireworks, he was ready to tangle with them. I cried out his name through my tears, but he wasn’t moving.

  ~Mister Fourth of July~

  Dean, that bastard. He really did it. Mom was right, one day he would try to stop me, just like he did my dad. It was so predictable. He even had Candace and the whole neighborhood donate their fireworks for my big send off. He changed locations. Instead of being in my colony, he chose Earth to make sure no heroes could make it in time to help. It was a smart thing I gave Alicia a hero ring. It automatically communicated with my ring once opened. Still, half an hour was too long, and not every hero had every power out there. I could survive in water though, so I didn’t run to a shuttle.

  I grabbed the nearest water source and rode it out. With no gravity, in water, I had more control over it since it didn’t have any flow.

  I had absolute control. I shot it straight here, to her.

  I went toward the pole. Alicia was worried and she had every right to be, but I didn’t deal all those years with fireworks for nothing. I was not scared to risk everything for her, just like my father once did for my mother.

  They strapped me up nice and tight, giving me the same warning. Use my powers to put out the flames and they’d kill the one I loved. Alicia. “This is all you could get?” I tried my dad’s way of stalling for time, but it wouldn’t work. There was an entire neighborhood of fireworks around me. I just heard a bunch of laughter, but I wouldn’t let it get to me. “Yeah, I know, that excuse won’t work. This is actually a healthy supply.” The more I stayed calm, the better my chances. “Oh, hey, I recognize those. Candace, did you get those this year?” I called to my cousin.

  She was staying calm too. “Nah, too rich for me.”

  “Oh, you were going to use the cheap ones again,” I said to her. “Tsk, tsk. Fourth of July comes once a year and you are an Earthling. Have some pride.” I grinned at Alicia. “Make her buy colored smoke bombs next year, all whites are just cop outs.” I could feel the anger start to burn in Dean, but being the huge arch villain he was like my father. He wasn’t going to stick around.

  “Torch him,” he instructed as he started to walk away to his car.

  I heard Alicia yell and beg as I watched the fuse get lit. Right over by her. That was the thing about Dean, he thought recreating events was fun. That was his downfall. As it started to come toward me, I remained calm. If somehow, I didn’t make it? “Don’t let this change you, Alicia,” I called out to her. “Don’t ever change.” I watched the end of the fuse getting closer.

  Then, Trixie, Adventurer Hero’s wife came out from the side of the house. Her knuckles dragged along the ground as she jumped off the side, dodging bullets and rescuing Alicia and her parents. On the other side, Adventurer Hero was doing the same thing as his wife on the next neighbor’s house, except he was taking out the enemies without mercy. He wasn’t a mixed elemental like me, but he was a skilled elemental. He had animal DNA coursing through his veins. Those guys were dead before they even hit the ground.

  Knowing Alicia and her family was safe, I took the nearest water I could get, the particles that splashed from Alicia’s hand when she opened my ring and aimed them straight at the fuse. Once I took that precaution, I took Candace’s whole pool and split it up into sections. One part was over me while another part past back and forth, quickly, against the enemies I already knew were hiding. I heard their screams as the water showed them the power that had polished and cut and shaped Earth’s surface for eons.

  As they themselves were being polished, I let the rest of the pool water fall on me, soaking everything around it. No fireworks near me would ever work again, some pieces completely shattered.

  Except the annoying white-colored smoke bombs. Seriously, Candace needed to invest in some better ones. Alicia ran over to me, eager to free me. Adventurer Hero and Trixie gave her the hand she needed.

  “Mister Fourth of July!” Sobbing and crying, she held onto me. I knew that feeling. I felt it when I lost my dad. I looked toward Hero. “Thanks for the favor.”

  “A party is a party.” Adventurer Hero shrugged and Trixie hugged him on his side.

  “How did they know?” Alicia looked at me, her eyes questioning.

  “The same way I knew I had to conquer my fear,” I told her. “I made sure that every year at Candace’s party, there was always more than one hero watching over it too.” I watched out for more than just my colony. “They switch from year to year.” Nobody minded protecting the Earth. Not only was it our origin, we hardly got to visit it. It was an honor. Plus, a pool party was fun, no matter where it had been.

  “You.” Adventurer Hero marched toward Alicia’s father. “Bad dealings?”

  “I didn’t know.” Her father was no longer a yapping puppy. “I didn’t know at all, Sir, I just-“

  Adventurer Hero raised his hand. “Shut up, this isn’t my area to defend. I’m just helping.” He nodded toward me. “Take it for what it’s worth, I would.”

  “Don’t take it for what it’s worth,” Trixie disagreed. She looked toward Alicia. “Take it for something though.”

  They both left and I was there, soaked with Alicia, and the whole neighborhood staring.

  “Kiss her!” Candace yelled, trying to aggravate the situation.

  She didn’t have to yell it; Alicia already made the first move. Everyone cheered for us, all around us. I didn’t know whether Hero or Trixie was right, but I’d try both. “I’m glad you are safe, Alicia.”

  “You could have died if they didn’t come up with something,” Alicia was still so emotional. “You even joked while they were- while they were . . .”

  “To keep you calm,” I assured her. “Whether it ended bad or good, I didn’t want you to lose yourself. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Alicia shared another kiss with me. I left her lips though, I had to. I knew she was an Earthling but this one day a year thing. Especially with villains now knowing about her. “Would you . . . come live on the colony with me?”

  “She can’t do that unless she marries you,” her father interrupted of course.

  “Which I say yes to, if she says yes,” Her mother chipped in. “Alicia?”

  I waited, watching her. If she wasn’t ready, I understood, but I had to try. “Alicia?”

  “I always take a little extra time for big move decisions,” she answered. “I don’t have to this time. I’ve known for so long. Yes, Mister Fourth of July.” She hugged me extra tight. “Yes!”

  Everyone cheered more than ever as I held her tightly. She would do it. She would leave her friends, her family, her entire planet and all the traditions she
had known for a new way of life with me.

  Chapter Ten: Mrs. Fourth of July

  ~Alicia~

  I didn’t have the most unique wedding dress, but the recent bride of the neighborhood I didn’t know, donated hers until Ani came. Ani had been ready with measurements for a light blue wedding dress covered in sequins and waves of flowing lace that flowed outward from it like water. She also came back to Earth with a ceremony official and an assortment of others who were there. Some heroes maybe. Candace was there with part of the family that had arrived early. It couldn’t have been more improvised, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have much time for an emergency wedding before I would have to leave the Earth for a whole year, like him.

  To thank Adventurer Hero and Trixie for helping us survive, I had Trixie be a bridesmaid. She wasn’t the happiest to be in yellow, neither was Candace, but they were donated from the recent bride in the neighborhood too. Adventurer Hero had been the best man, a little shocking for him and a tad uncomfortable for the both of them, but it was needed. This was still Earth and tradition was important.

  Mother had given me an assortment of summer flowers to hold, wrapping the bottom in packaging tape as best she could. “I’m sorry we couldn’t have a huge blowout or that nobody had colorful tissue at the very least for this.” She spoke through tears, but she was happy for me. I could see that. “I believe you are making the right choice, Alicia. Remember never to forget visiting.”

  Once a year. I didn’t know which day annually yet, but I didn’t want it to be this day. I wanted to spend this day with Mister Fourth of July. “I’ll never forget. Once a year.”

  Someone in the neighborhood had apparently had music too. There was a small music group, no one famous, just a bunch of eighteen and nineteen-year olds that loved what they did. They played gentle beats with drums, cymbals, and a guitar. It had a laid-back summer sort of beat to it.

  Mister Fourth of July and his ally Hero had been up front, waiting in their uniforms. Blue from head to toe for my soon-to-be husband, and solid black for Adventurer Hero. Apparently, a Champion Adventurer always had to be ready with their uniform to go into action. There was only one thing missing.