by Anna Lewis
I’m lost.
“You’re stronger than this,” I say to my reflection, to the woman I once knew so well. I lift my shirt to look at my belly. I turn to the side and am amazed to see that it’s has grown since just yesterday. My daughter is so close to me, yet she feels so far. I don’t want her caught up in a world other than my own, but half of her is of another world. I find my eyes again in the mirror. “You have to be stronger than this.”
I shower, paying extra close attention to my hair. There are a pair of scissors on the counter and I cut my pants into shorts. My undershirt is clean enough that I feel comfortable enough to put it back on. I tie my hair back and try my best to look like I’m holding up well before I leave the bathroom.
Zander is asleep on the floor, a single pillow under his head. I want to wake and tell him that he can have half of the bed, but he looks so peaceful. I wish he’d shown me some of his people when he showed me the hologram of his planet. I wonder if they’re all as mystifying as he is.
When I finally settle into the bed, Zander says, “Good night, love.”
“Good night.”
***
My eyes fly open. The room is dark except for the sliver of sunlight that leaks in from the curtains. When my eyes adjust, I can see Zander standing at the door, listening. He sees me and puts a finger to his lips.
In a mashup of loud cracking and splintered wood, the door springs open. Zander is hit hard with the door and falls back onto his back. Three men storm into the room, fists ready to be thrown. Zander kicks the first man that lunges for him. Zander is on his feet in a fraction of a second. The other two men charge Zander. The first one is easily swept aside, but the second one lands a punch right in Zander’s face. He stumbles back and the three men simultaneously leap for him.
Soon enough, Zander is out of view. The men are hitting him with lamps and fists and pieces of the broken door. I hear him grunting beneath the commotion.
“Run, Eliana!”
His voice smacks me back into reality. I feel the same way I felt when I was running through the empty sidewalks of New York. I suddenly feel strong. Starting from my stomach, a rush of power surges through me, coalescing in my hands. I can feel my daughter telling me what to do. I can sense her just like Zander spoke of. I raise my hands toward the men and let out the loudest scream I think I’ve ever heard.
The entire room shakes and the three men fly through the air and smack against the back wall. They stay there, floating midair, pinned against the wall by some unseen force. My hands are still raised and I realize that it’s me that’s keeping them there. Zander is at my side, staring at me in awe.
“What am I doing?” I ask.
“I’ve never heard about this happening,” Zander says through a smile. “But keep doing it.”
The men shout from their spot on the wall. I can feel them struggling against my will. Zander grabs my shoulders and guides me toward the door. He grabs the duffel bag before guiding me outside. My connection to the men is broken.
“We need to go,” I say, turning toward Zander. “They’re free.”
“I’m sure they’re in no condition to chase us,” Zander laughs. He looks as if he’s enjoying this. Hell, maybe he does.
As we approach the car, we see that the tires are all slashed. Zander pulls me to a motorcycle a few spots away.
“We don’t have the key,” I say. “We can’t just roll away on it.”
“Again,” Zander says as he pulls a panel off of the front of the bike. “I’ve been here for a while now. I’ve learned some tricks.”
He pulls apart a few wires and reattaches them to other ones. After a minute or so, the bike roars to life. He hands me the helmet and lifts me onto the seat. Before taking his seat, Zander takes out a backpack from the duffel bag and puts it on my back, leaving the rest of the stuff on the pavement. He takes his seat and we jerk forward, nearly tipping. “Maybe not enough tricks.” He takes off again, this time a bit smoother. We zoom out of the parking lot just as I see one of the men limping down the stairs.
We’re going faster than we were going in the car and as the adrenaline dies, fear settles in. Seventeen years ago, my father died in a motorcycle accident. The sheer mention of the two-wheeled motor vehicles shakes me to my core. And now I’m riding one, going speeds I wouldn’t even dare try in a car. I can feel my hands shaking as I hold onto Zander. My breathing quickens. Strong, Eliana. You have to be strong.
But the fear is too strong. I feel myself going over the edge. “Stop, please!” I shout into Zander’s ear.
“We have to get to Boston!” he shouts back over the wind. “We’re losing time!”
It’s becoming hard for me to keep a grip around his waist. “Please, Zander!”
He pulls off the main road onto a dirt one. He stops near an abandoned church. I hop off the bike and sit at the base of a nearby tree.
“What is it?” Zander says, joining me on the ground. “We have to keep moving.”
“I can’t handle this,” I say. I’m breaking, I can feel it. I’ve run out of courage to hold myself together, to try to hide my fear from him. My face is quickly covered in tears. “I’m scared and confused and—”
And then our lips meet again. This time I want him as close to me as possible. I welcome the feeling of vulnerability because along with it is the feeling of comfort. Whether I like it or not, Zander is a part of me now. My hand is in his hair, pulling him closer to me. All the pain and fear is leaving my body the closer we get. I push him over until we’re lying next to each other in the dirt, chest against chest. I want all of him right now, but I remember our pursuers and I pull away.
“Why me?” I ask, still on the ground. “Why did you choose me?”
Zander stands and then helps me up. “I was on Earth for four months before I met you that night. The rest had settled with the first person that they met, but I wanted to find someone special. And then I saw you. On my planet, love at first sight isn’t a rare occurrence. We believe that every soul in the entire universe has its perfect match. I found mine.”
Again, like the first time that we talked, I can’t help but believe him. And again, like last night in the motel, I can’t help but push him away again. “We should get going,” I say, starting toward the motorcycle.
We’re back on the road in silence. I lock my hands around his waist and pretend that I’m on a boat in the middle of some ocean. I try to think of other things, but my mind is overtaken by thoughts of Zander and his last words to me.
We get to Boston just as the sun begins to set. Zander drives through the crowded streets just as he did on the empty highways. A few cars honk and Zander laughs in response. He stops the bike in front of a tiny little house just outside the main city.
“Another safe house?” I ask as I hop off the bike.
“Something like that,” Zander says. He walks toward the front door and I follow. To my surprise, he knocks. No answer. He tries the door and looks back at me in surprise when it opens. I follow behind him as he enters the home. As we pass by an arch into the kitchen, a figure swings a fist into Zander’s face. He catches it and pulls the attacker into him, arm pinned behind their back. “Zacara, it’s me.”
Zander lets the attacker go. It’s a woman, a tall one, with beautiful blond hair that falls to her butt in a thick braid. Her face is angelic, perfectly sculpted by the most divine being. Her eyes, like Zander’s, are the color of lilacs. The woman, Zacara, smiles widely and embraces Zander. Distantly, I feel the ping of jealousy.
Zander turns to me and smiles. “Zacara, this is Eliana. The mother of my child.”
Zacara shoots a confused look at Zander and then focuses on me. She approaches, towering over me. “Hello, there, little one. How did it feel to have my fiancé inside of you?”
I choke. I’ve never been a violent person, but I’ve also never been the person to let someone disrespect me, alien goddess or not. “Just as good as this,” I say as I throw my fist at her face.
Also like Zander, she’s fast. She catches my fist without so much as a flinch. She squeezes, harder and harder until I’m sure a finger is broken. She smiles at me, like I’m some child being scolded. The power surge returns and like before, I know exactly what to do. I shove my left hand into Zacara’s abdomen and she’s tossed through the air, crashing hard into a now shattered mirror.
“You bitch!” she screams and she charges toward me, wielding a dagger that she seems to have manifested from thin air.
Before she can reach me, Zander grabs her by the throat and disarms her. He drags her into the living room as she shouts, “I’ll kill her!”
“Give us a few minutes,” Zander says to me as he throws her onto the couch. “See if there’s any food in there.”
I smile at Zacara before leaving them for the kitchen.
I should have known that his whole confession of love speech was just to get me back onto the motorcycle. Why would he want me when he could have that life-sized Barbie doll that he’s probably making out with right now? I’m not angry though, just a bit disappointed in myself for falling for his crap. At least now I know that I only have myself.
There’s no food in any of the cabinets or in the fridge, not that I could eat anything right now anyway. I sit at the table until Zander appears in the archway.
“I’m sorry about that,” he says, smirk and all. “She can be quite a handful. I should have warned you.”
“Do you think this is funny?” I say, standing. “Do you enjoy manipulating me with your exotic eyes and your alluring accent? Am I some game to you?”
His face contorts. “What are you talking about, love?”
“Stop calling me that! You don’t care about me! She’s your fiancé? Really? You confess your love for me and then you bring me here? I don’t understand what for.”
“She’s not my fiancé, Eliana,” Zander says as he reaches for my hand. I pull away and he looks genuinely hurt, but I don’t fall for his tricks anymore. “Our families have been trying to get us to marry for centuries now, but like I told you earlier, I’ve been looking for someone special. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why are we even here?” I ask.
“We’re leaving, this time with Zacara.”
“Great, another road trip and now with her?”
“No, I mean we’re leaving Earth.”
“What?!” I shout. After being told that he was an alien, this is the second craziest thing that he’s told me. “You expect me to leave my home?”
“Eliana, please, we don’t have a choice. The Elders, our parents, have called us home. They didn’t know, none of us knew, the war that we’d enter by coming here. You can come back after you have the baby, but we have to go. I’m sorry.”
My mom is the first person I think of. I haven’t visited her in almost a year. My life has been so frantic lately that I’ve forgotten to visit my own mother. She calls from time to time, asking when I’ll be over, and I kept telling her that I’ll visit soon. And now Zander wants to take me to a far away planet. I see Bridgette, and my sister, and even Hank. But then I see another face, the face of an unborn child: my daughter. Like Zander said, there’s no choice. If this is the safest option for my baby, then it’s the only option.
I fall into his arms. I’m a strong woman, which is most likely why Adam left me. But being held by Zander right now is the only thing I need. I lift my head to kiss him, but he turns his head.
“Not here,” he says, and he lifts me into his arms. He carries me past the living room, which is empty of crazy, white Amazonian warriors. “Don’t worry, she went out for a while.” He must have caught my gaze. “It’s just us tonight.”
He carries me to a bedroom on the second floor where he throws me onto the bed. He stands at the foot of the bed and pulls his shirt over his head. His shoulder-length hair halos his head in a golden sheen. His body is so finely tuned that I’m sure he could take on a lion with his bare hands. And those eyes, they’re what really draws me in. He unbuttons his pants and then pauses.
“Can we?” he asks in the softest tone that I’ve heard from him.
The fear of letting him in is gnawing inside of me, but I force it down. I barely know this man that stands in front of me and yet I feel like I met him years ago. Maybe I’ve found my soul mate as well.
I nod.
Zander continues to undress until he stands in front of me completely naked. And there, on his upper thigh, is a two-inch-long scar. I smile because now I know that he’s real. But still, his imperfection only makes him more perfect. His body, every inch of it, is magical.
He crawls to me on the bed until our lips meet. The kiss takes me to a place that I’ve never been before. I’m floating on clouds of love and lust. The only thing on my mind is me and him. We’re alone, nobody else exists. He rolls me over on top of him. I pull my shirt off and he does the same to my bra. He smiles up at me, a full smile, not the smirk that I’m used to. I kiss him again, falling onto my side. We lay here, our legs intertwined, for what feels like an eternity. In that eternity, my pants and panties make it to the floor.
Zander pulls away and looks at me. “I promise to protect you until the day that I die, love.”
I laugh. “I’ve been doing much of the protecting too.”
“I’m sorry,” he says after a short laugh. “I promise to let you protect me until the day that I die.”
And then we go to a place together that we haven’t been to in over six months. He’s inside of me, and yet I want him to be closer. My nails dig into his back as he thrusts. My back arches and a moan escapes my lips. He quickens his pace. Soon I become high on his loving and I feel as if I’m floating in a sea of pleasure.
Zander turns over onto his back so that I’m on top of him. I grind back and forth, relishing in the sheer excitement of it all. My body is electrified; every inch feels like a live wire. He bites his lip as I bounce up and down. His pleasure only intensifies my own and I go faster and faster, moaning louder and louder, until he lets out a moan of his own and flips me back onto my back.
He takes control again, cradling my neck with one hand and massaging my breast with the other. With every thrust comes a moan and with every moan comes rush of energy through my body. He drops his hands down to the bed and kisses me, tongue included. He bites my lip and the pain makes the pleasure feel that much better. He pulls away from the kiss, his hair falling around his head.
“More?” he asks.
“More.” I say.
We reach the climax of our night and together we pronounce to the world our love.
I sleep harder than I have in a long time.
***
In the morning, Zander brings me a full breakfast while I still lay naked in bed. “You went to the store?”
“No,” he says, sitting next to me. “Zacara did.”
“Thank you,” I say. “It looks delicious.” I haven’t eaten in so long and the food is just what I need after last night.
“When you’re finished, shower quickly. There are clothes for you to wear in the bathroom. We want to get out of here as soon as possible,” Zander says, standing. “I’m going to go finalize our flights to the UK.” Zander smiles and leaves me alone in the room.
I eat the food in a matter of seconds. Just like he said, there are fresh clothes on the counter in the bathroom. They look new. I shower and dress in the black shirt and pants that Zander provided.
I know I shouldn’t be, but I get nervous to see Zacara as I descend the stairs. I see Zander first, standing near the front door. He sees me and smiles. “Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say as I reach his side. “Where are we going exactly?”
“Stonehenge, sweetheart,” Zacara says, appearing from the kitchen. “Try not to get killed on the way there. Or not.”
I roll my eyes. “My dad told me that the ancient ruins scattered about the Earth were sites for aliens to land their ships,” I say to Zander as we leave the house.
I ignore the second half of her comment and say, “Yeah, he was.”
They both catch the operative word in my sentence and neither say anything. Zander grabs my hand and squeezes it. I look up at him, but he’s staring at the car at the end of the sidewalk. Zacara throws the bag that she carries into the trunk and Zander does the same with his backpack. He opens the back door for me and he sits in the passenger seat.
And then, for what feels like the tenth time in the past two days, I’m off on another adventure.
When we reach the airport, I break off from the other two when they get our boarding passes, saying that I’m going to sit. After asking an elderly woman for some change, I find the nearest payphone and dial Bridgette’s number.
“Hello?”
“Bridgette, it’s me.”
“El?!”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Oh my gosh, I’ve been so worried. You haven’t been answering my calls. You’ve missed school.”
“I know, I know. I’ll explain it all later. Look, there’s something I need you to do—”
“You want me to get your mail? I’ve already done that. I’ve been at your house since last night. I came to see if you were here and you weren’t answering so I let myself in with the spare key. I decided to stay and wait for you to get back for another day before I’d call the cops. Rob’s really been bugging me.”
“No, no. Bridgette listen to me. I’m going to be going away for a while and I need you to take care of some things for me. Can you do that?”
“El, what are you talking about?” I can hear the concern in her voice. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I… I… I’m just going on a self-healing trip, like you and Rob did a few years ago. I want you to tell my mom and my sister that I love them and that I’ll be back soon. Can you do that?”