Everglow: Friend From Far Away

7 - Ko

For a while, silence followed his question. Only the empty sounds of swaying bushes, and the distant rumble of traffic on the road was audible. The creature turned away from him again, that same look of guilt staining it's face. Fischer was beginning to wonder if it could actually make any sort of noise. The only sounds so far had been slight whimpers and cries of pain.

Then, he noticed the creature slowly turn to look at him. Head facing down, but eyes firmly set on him.

"Ko Teriatria,"

It spoke with a very soft voice. It sounded feminine, which would make sense given the creature's less than masculine appearance. It sounded quite beautiful, also matching her quite pretty appearance.

Fischer was shocked to hear such a sound come from what looked like an alien. It's voice sounded fairly human. He didn't understand why or how, but then again, nothing about the last 20 minutes had made any sense.

Looking around, trying his best to avoid direct eye contact, he tried to think of something to say back. It wasn't easy to come up with a reply, even though it was such a simple statement, a name.

"Oh. Well. . . well. . . It's. . . nice to meet you. . . Koterrarar-"

Clearly he didn't have as good a tongue as the alien when it came to pronouncing her name. Fortunately however, he didn't need it.

"Ko."

"S-sorry? Ko?"

"My name. Ko,"

Fischer slowly began to nod as he took in all the information. He couldn't believe it though, he was actually talking to an alien.

"Ok, well. . . hello Ko,"

She didn't respond, her eyes darting back to the ground. It seemed conversation wasn't really her strong suit. But he couldn't blame her. She was on a foreign planet with an enormous gash in her leg. It seemed like even she didn't know what was going on.

"I'm. . . I'm Fischer. Fischer Emerald."

Ko didn't respond verbally, but gave a slight nod at his introduction. She seemed more comfortable now, realising that he wasn't a threat.

"Can. . . you tell me where you're from?"

She shook her head slowly at his question, seemingly not wanting to tell him. That seemed strange, why would she not tell him where she came from? It didn't seem like she had come here on purpose. There was no sign of any sort of spacecraft, or any form of alien transport. Then again, for all he knew she could've teleported here.

"N. . .no? You don't want to tell me?" he asked, his voice still quite wobbly.

"Diamar," she sheepishly mumbled.

Diamar? That wasn't a planet he'd ever heard of. Then again the universe was, to put it simply, very big. There were trillions of planets out there that he'd never heard of.

"Uh. . . ok then. Well. . . welcome to Earth. Can I uh, can I ask why you're here?"

Ko didn't respond this time, turning her head back towards the ground. She clearly didn't want to reveal that sort of information to a completely different form of life.

"Ok, hey, I'm not going to hurt you in any way alright? You can stop thinking about that, I'm not going to do anything to you," he assured, trying to build at least a basic level of understanding between himself and her. The alien was still in a very fearful state, semi curled up in a ball and trying to hide most of her form with the torn rags she wore.

A thought planted itself in Fischer's mind and he checked his watch. If he didn't start to head home soon, his mother would begin to grow angry.

Well, angrier.

While talking with an alien from outer space was the main thing on his mind, he didn't want to have to explain to his mother that he was late because of said alien.

"Where. . . are you going to go?"

"Don't know,"

This answer began to worry him. He knew that she was lucky that it was him who found her. Anyone else, and she'd probably be either locked up in some sort of crazy government facility, or be riddled with bullet holes. Either way, one of those two options was bound to happen if she didn't make up her mind fast.

"Ok, well I'm going to tell you something. You have to listen to me ok Ko? This planet you're on right now, isn't a nice place. The people here aren't nice. A lot of them will hurt you if they get the chance ok? You aren't safe if you stay here, you have to find a new home otherwise you will get hurt," he warned, trying to find the nicest way to communicate such a fact. It definitely wasn't something she wanted to hear, particularly given the state she was in.

He noticed her aqua eyes turn slightly, now looking at his own. Her already enlarged pupils had opened slightly after she heard his warning.

"Wh-why? You didn't hurt me," she squeaked. Her voice had turned from a nice soft sound into a fretted mess after hearing him.

Fischer let out an audible sigh as his brow dropped. He looked at the ground for a little bit, mimicking what Ko had done when he spoke to her earlier.

"I know, I know. But I'm not like other people. I'm different. I'm not a good person, but you have to trust me when I say that there are worse people out there," he began. He noticed her eyes start to lose their twinkle slightly as he spoke. "People will hurt you if they get the chance. My race is obsessed with finding out new things, and if that means killing you, they won't hesitate. I'm sorry if I'm scaring you, but you have to know this. You can't stay here, you aren't safe. You need to go back to your own planet, you'll be safer there-"

"No!"

The sudden exclamation caught Fischer off guard. Clearly she definitely didn't want to go back to her own planet. Such an expression was evident that she was here for a reason. And the more that Fischer talked with her, the more he began to wonder if she was actually running from something.

"No? Why not?"

Ko let out a heavy sigh, her pointy snout still facing the ground. She broke eye contact with Fischer and pulled the rags she was covered in around her tighter.

"Just. . . no. No."

He began to grow even more anxious. She clearly had no interest in leaving, but staying where they were was pure suicide. Even if Fischer never told anyone, they were right next to the side of a main highway. Despite the bushes and shrubbery blocking their direct line of sight with the road and traffic, it wouldn't take long before someone else would realise her presence.

He couldn't just leave her there. He had to do something.

So he said the only thing that made sense to him at that point.

"Ok. . . alright. Do. . . do you want to come with me?"