by Arthurs, Nia
Each time she cursed me out.
It was the funniest thing.
As soon as we parked in front of our respective homes, Tess jumped out of the car and launched herself at me, claws extended.
“What the heck was that?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, enjoying her fiery eyes.
“I could have beaten you if you’d just let me overtake you sometimes.”
“But then you would have rushed away and you could have caused an accident.”
“Don’t act like you care.”
“I don’t care for you,” I teased. “Some innocent bystander may have been hurt because of your pride. Now, where’s that cupboard?”
I walked toward her house. Tess would never let a comment like that slide. Her reaction would be priceless.
In three, two…
“If I’m so expendable, why did you agree to come to the Family Day?”
Bingo.
“I answered that already.”
“You gave me a pat, shallow answer, but that was before I knew that you thought so little of me.”
“When did I say I thought little of you, Tess?”
She was so darn beautiful. The way her brown skin glowed in the evening light. The way her eyes sparked with spirit. The way her lips parted and her nose flared. I loved every inch of her.
Th-thump. Th-thump.
Tess’s heart was… racing. Did she feel it too? This connection that sizzled between us and refused to let me go?
“You said it just now!” she yelled. “You said you didn’t care for me.”
Her eyes shifted and she covered her chest as if to disguise her beating heart, but I could hear it. In fact, looking at her made it thump harder.
“Do you want me to care for you?” I interpreted the sound.
“No…”
I stepped toward her, delighted when the rushing beat intensified.
“Would you be able to handle it if I let my walls down and invited you in, Tess? Do you understand what it would mean?”
“No?”
She tried to step away but I had her backed into the corner of the porch. Tess glanced behind her and then stared up at me.
I leaned close, drawn by the pink tint of her lips. Kissing her was the only thing on my mind.
Th-thump. Th-thump.
Did she have any idea what she did to me? How resolutely she had changed me.
How could I not fall in love with her? How could I not admire her strength, her kindness, and all her little quirks?
Tess whimpered and I stopped just short of tasting her lips. She did not know me and I was not in a place to explore a relationship with her.
I drew back. All I could offer were words, a shallow gift, a rope bridge.
“I care for you,” I said.
I love you.
Unable to say the words aloud, I turned away and walked into her house. Tess remained outside.
As soon as I focused on my surroundings, I winced.
Papers, papers were everywhere. Folder sheets lined with translucent blue and filled with penned scribbles sat on every surface.
If possible, her living room was even messier than it had been the last time I came in here. Was Tess always this untidy?
I scanned the room. With my speed, I could make quick work of this chaos. My fingers itched to clean it up, but I held still.
A small, brown box stuck out from beneath Tess’s couch. I recalled seeing the package on her doorstep earlier.
I shouldn’t…
My conscience warned me away from the box, but I ignored it.
Stooping down, I cleared the essay sheets away from the container and held it in my hands.
The brown paper had no marks or postcards atop it. Had Mr. Pat sent this? I tore the lid off, expecting to find chocolates or love letters.
Instead, I discovered a ream of official printouts. These weren’t just any documents. It was Paul’s research!
“Tess!” I yelled.
She rushed into the living room. I held the box up.
“When did you get this?”
She grabbed it from me, her expression clearly not appreciative that I had snooped.
“Yesterday. It came in the mail. I plan to give it to my friend when they get in contact with Paul Sterm’s mother.”
Mrs. Sterm? Had she returned to Belize? While the wheels turned in my head, Tess continued to speak. I missed most of what she said.
“I have to go,” I interrupted her.
“But… didn’t you want to see my Oreo cupboard?”
“Another time,” I called as I raced toward the door.
Safely outside, I relaxed my fist. Crinkled within my palms was a yellow note.
‘Paul will not be silenced’
I hoped that missive had come from Mrs. Sterm. If I was wrong and someone else knew about me, about who I really was, Tess could be in a lot of danger.
This wasn’t her fight. It was mine. If I got dragged down during my last days on earth, I would be dragged down alone.
Tess would stand tall without me.
Chapter 21
Early the next morning, I took a trip to the States.
The scent of desert flowers filled the air as I sat on the cushioned chair and accepted the glass of sweet tea that Monica Bravelly, Mrs. Sterm’s sister, set into my hands.
“Could you repeat that, Mrs. Bravelly?” I asked as the elderly woman lowered herself into the rocking chair.
“Of course, young man,” she cooed and sipped on her own tea before responding. “Well, it was a few nights ago. Diane was crying in her room. She’s done that ever since her son passed.”
I nodded. With all that had developed between me and Tess, I had forgotten how devastating Sterm’s death had been for his mother.
The man had been her world and he’d doted on her. I regretted that Mrs. Sterm had to leave all her memories of Paul behind, but it could not be helped.
“So I said,” the woman disrupted my thoughts, “‘why don’t you head down to your old house and take a look around. Grieve in peace’.”
“Tell me she didn’t.”
“Why yes she did,” Mrs. Bravelly said.
I set the tea on the wooden table and tried to wrap my mind around Mrs. Sterm’s decision to leave her safe house.
The threat to her life had not ended because a few weeks had passed. The first place this Crenley character would look after her house in Belize was her old home in L.A.
Surely, she knew better than to head there.
“Did you know if Mrs. Sterm received any strange packages or disturbing calls leading up to this decision?”
“No.”
I nodded and prepared to take my leave. “Thank you for your time then…”
“Actually,” Mrs. Bravelly stopped rocking her chair. “There was one night, two days ago. Diane and I were snapping peas when someone rang up the house phone.”
“Do you know who was on the other end of the line or hear what they discussed?”
“No, I didn’t,” she shook her head. “But Diane was real shaken up afterwards. She went straight up to her room and didn’t come down for dinner. I had to finish the peas by myself.”
“That helps, Ms. Bravelly. I really appreciate this.”
“No,” Mrs. Bravelly fanned herself, stirring hot wind toward her face. “I’m the one who should be grateful to you. It’s not every day such a strong, sexy man comes to my front door.”
I blushed at her descriptions.
“You have a woman?”
I looked down at my hands as my mind pictured Tess’s face. The answer to that was ‘no’, but I wished I could say something else.
“Oh, you do…” she teased.
“It’s not like that.”
“It never is. Let me tell you something. I was married for forty years before my Harold passed away. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about relationships, it’s that they’re never easy.”
“You have no idea,” I mumbled.
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure this woman is a gem. If you want love to grow, you’ve got to work on the hard things. Commitment, honor, faithfulness. Too many of you young men think relationships are easy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Alright then. Don’t let me keep you.”
“Good bye, Mrs. Bravelly. And if Mrs. Sterm comes back, you’ve got my number.”
“Yes,” she held up the scrap of paper. A sudden breeze tore it from her hands. “Oh shoot!”
I raced to grab it but the wind carried it further. I jumped the fence and followed it deeper into the backyard.
At last I caught the note in front of a wooden structure. A small, circular hole in the wall piqued my curiosity.
Though it was a bit ramshackle, the shack was perfect for a crude observatory.
I glanced back to where Mrs. Bravelly waited on the porch. Deciding to snoop a bit, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The scent of old wood and dust assaulted my senses. Immediately, my eyes zoomed in on an old cabinet.
Did anyone else in the Sterm family have an interest in the stars? As far as I understood it, only Sterm had been obsessed with astrology. Did these cabinets belong to him?
The locks looked old and rusted. I waved my hands over their burnished surface. My abilities could make quick work of those.
Nothing happened.
I frowned and held my hands up. Looked like my abilities were taking a break today. I shook my head and pried the lock off with my fists.
It sprang free with a groan. I pulled the files and stepped back in shock. Nearly every folder was stamped with a picture of the alien tattoo.
Within the folders were reams of research on documented ‘alien’ encounters dating back to the early 1800’s.
Had Sterm known about my existence before our meeting?
I flipped through a few of the files.
Some of these accounts were too historical to be easily retrieved by a middle class meteorologist. What had Sterm been involved with? And more importantly, who?
“Yoo-hoo!” Mrs. Bravelly called. “Did you get lost back there?”
I backed out of the room and closed the door. Heading toward the porch, I held the lost paper in the air.
“Found it!”
“Great,” the elderly woman smiled.
I grabbed my coat and waved. “I really have to go.”
“I’ll call if Diane reaches out!”
“Thank you!”
I rounded the house and headed through a narrow alley. In the next moment, I teleported across borders and appeared in a Belize City grocery store.
Shoppers sent me confused stares as I stumbled forward. I narrowly missed a huge pyramid of dog food set in the front of the shop.
The sign over the door read ‘Barney’s Superstore’. I winced. This had not been my intended location.
It had been a while since my powers had malfunctioned back to back. At least I’d teleported thoroughly across the borders.
I didn’t have a passport. At least I didn’t have a current one. My last passport expired in 1987.
“Sir, are you alright?” A woman dressed in the green apron with the store’s name emblazoned on the pocket touched my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I said.
She lingered, unsure if I was telling the truth. I smiled awkwardly at her and rushed out of the store.
As I strolled, I tried to piece all the information I’d garnered into a cohesive piece.
Last night, I’d snuck into Tess’s house and retrieved the box.
Though I’d only done a cursory skim of the documents, I realized that I held the key to my ship’s location in my hands.
I had a sneaking suspicion that the box had come from Mrs. Sterm which was what led me to visiting her sister this morning.
Though I’d expected to hear that Diane Sterm had run away, I had not anticipated finding evidence of her son’s involvement in extra-terrestrial research.
The specific image of the alien revealed that he had been searching for my star long before we teamed up.
It didn’t make any sense. If Sterm worked for Crenley, why hadn’t he turned me in when he learned of my identity?
And why did Crenley order his death?
The budding roof of my split level came into view. I checked my watch. It was nearly seven thirty.
My human body begged for rest. I’d spent most of last night studying the most recent update to Sterm’s research.
In the wee hours of the morning, I visited Mrs. Sterm’s sister. Given the time difference, I’d arrived in Arizona at eight o’clock on the dot.
The States was a few hours behind Belize so when I made the jump through the Americas, Belizeans were just heading out for work.
I opened my front door and slipped inside. Exhaustion pulled at my eyelids. I barely managed to take off my shoes and shirt before I padded to my bedroom and flopped onto the bed.
I had just closed my eyes to sleep when I heard three determined knocks on the door. I groaned. That was probably Tess.
I was too tired to deal with her just then and ignored the sound of her pounding fists against my door.
“River!” she yelled. “River!”
I dragged myself out of bed and headed for my front door. “What?”
Tess stared at me with a frazzled expression. She shuffled from side to side and blurted. “You’re coming to my parent’s house tonight.”
I was exhausted and pretty sure I’d heard her incorrectly. Tess Hardey surely hadn’t ordered me to meet her parents.
“Wait, what?”
She turned and scrambled backwards, heading for my gate. Was she running away from me?
Fully awake now, I chased her.
“Tess, what do you mean I’m going to your parent’s tonight?”
“My dad heard that we’re dating and they invited us over.” she said.
“But I don’t want to go,”
“Well then, you shouldn’t have agreed to the Fun Day. If we’re going to do this, let’s go all the way.”
I simply stared at her. After all the revelations about Sterm and his involvement in an organization dedicated to locating me, it was hard to process this new development.
I opened my mouth to argue some more, but Tess jumped into her car and wound the window down.
“I’ll pick you up at five thirty. You don’t have a class then, right?”
“No, but your parents? I don’t think-”
“Sorry, I’m really late for work. Talk later! Bye!”
She drove off.
What just happened?
Dinner with the parents?
I cared about this woman, but standing in the middle of my yard wearing nothing but my slacks, I wondered exactly how it had happened.
Tess was more complicated to figure out than Sterm’s research.
I sighed and headed back inside before my neighbors stepped out and saw me half-naked. I wiped my feet against the welcome mat.
Instead of heading for my bedroom, I returned to the kitchen table where all of the documents sent in the mysterious box waited.
Tess had succeeded in fully waking me up. I might as well zero in on the answers that had eluded me since Sterm’s passing.
I picked up the first document and booted up my laptop. For the next few hours, I got sucked into algorithms and probabilities.
A few minutes before noon, I got the alert that I’d been searching for.
Kendley Park, Korea at 1300.
I stared at the words parading across the computer screen for a long, long time. This was it. Everything that I’d longed for in a few characters and lines.
It was a strangely empty sensation. I could go home. My ticket was stamped out in plain letters before me.
So why didn’t I feel relief? In less than two weeks, I would be back on my star, far away from humans and their shallow, narrow existence.
I could l
eave the mystery of Sterm’s death, the man responsible for ordering his killing, and the organization interested in my identity.
I would leave Tess.
It was then that I realized why the moment held no victory. I didn’t want to leave her.
“River!” Jones yelled.
I shook my head to clear the thoughts and opened my front door.
Jones, dressed in a rumpled white shirt and long khaki pants stepped into my living room.
He pointed to the mess on my kitchen table. “Long night?”
“Yeah,” I ran a hand through my hair. “I found it.”
“Found what?” He made himself comfortable on the couch.
“What Sterm wanted to tell me before he died. I found the key to my return.”
Jones popped out of the chair and threw his arms around my shoulders. “That’s great! Congratulations.”
I smiled, but the expression held no true joy. My friend noticed and stepped back slowly.
“What’s wrong? That’s great news! It’s what we’ve been hoping for since you shared your secret.”
I turned away from him, unable to speak. It seemed I didn’t need to. Jones let out an exasperated sigh.
“It’s that woman again, isn’t it? You’re having second thoughts because of her.”
I could not defend myself. Jones spoke the truth.
Chapter 22
I straightened my blazer and stared at my reflection. Was this too much? I appraised my white shirt, black jacket and black slacks with a critical eye.
It was too much. I looked like I was going to a funeral, not a harmless dinner with my ‘girlfriend’s’ parents.
I flung the jacket on the bed and loosened the top button of my shirt. There! Much better. I looked like a normal average Joe. Though I was the farthest thing from one.
Knock, knock!
“River!”
I smiled. Tess’s yelling was unnecessary, but I was growing used to her boisterous greetings.
It would be a sad day if she knocked on my door without trying to wake the dead.
I grabbed my wallet and slapped a watch on my hand before opening the front door. When I saw the woman on my threshold, I was doubly glad I’d ditched the jacket.
Though she wore nothing fancy, Tess was stunning in a pink T-shirt and shorts. My eyes trailed the length of her legs.