The Earth Above Us

Farewell

Her life could have been so nice and perfect after that. And for a short moment, it was.

Eth's parents were proud of her, and she liked the thought that she had accomplished something more or less regarded as important by her society. Etheodra had used the afternoon to walk around her town, wondering what she could show Tom next. When she came home in the evening, she wasn't aware that something had changed right away. Her parents were out of the house pretty often, so it didn't pass her as odd as she entered her living room and found nobody there. She proceeded to walk upstairs and into her bedroom, hoping her note pad had loaded its batteries over the day. She reached the end of the stairs, walked down the short corridor, not aware what was going to come.

Her steps came to an abrupt hold when she reached her door frame.

„Etheodra." Her dad asked in a stern voice, and her mother looked both confused and, frankly, scared. „Would you care to explain all... this?" He held up some of her drawings, the rest of them scattered around the floor.

Eth stood still. Finally taking a deep breath, she stuttered „I can... explain..."

„Explain?" Her mother sounded less stern, but nearly hysterical. „What is there to explain? We need to get you checked out right now! I mean, apart from it being... unnatural... to do this, whatever you did do. These... things... appear to be hallucinations! Oh, why do we deserve this! And what is a Tom?"

„Please, just listen to me. Give me a chance okay?" Eth could hear the desperation in her own voice. She didn't like it.

„Okay. You've got five minutes." Her father announced.

„I... I need a little time to order..."

And then her note pad rang and announced she was being called.

Eth glanced sideways, quickly looking at her note pad. So did her parents.

„Young lady, who is calling you now?" Her dad grabbed her note pad and stared at her. „Give me your code, will you?"

„No, I will not!" Eth called out and tried to get a hold of her note pad. Her mother joined in, also holding onto the device. „Etheodra, you will give us the code now!"

Beep. „The owner of the phone is in reach. The phone will answer itself in 5-4-3-2-1.."

„Oh, no...." Eth let her shoulders drop a little, then her body tensed up. She wasn't sure how to evaluate this situation, her parents. How would they react?

„Hey Spacegirl... Oh.. Who are you?" Tom's voice sounded strangely different this time. It had been like this a couple of nights before, too, but she didn't know why. Right now, Eth thought it might come from the fact that her parents were looking at him instead of her.

„Tom?" She called out, loudly, „Meet my parents. Mum, dad, this is Tom... Say hi."

Shellshocked, her parents answered „Hi, Tom." in unity.

„Hi, Eth's mum and dad." The display replied, and he waved awkwardly.

„Who exactly is this?" Her dad's voice was dark and loud now, but also wondering.

Eth shrugged. Why not? Maybe Tom might even help her in her explanation. „Long story short? This is Tom. Tom is from a planet called Earth. It's a blue planet where plants live and the vehicles are made with wheels. You can google it if you want to... Google is a search website I have access to..."

„What?" Her mother exclaimed, and her father, one of the brightest scientists Eth knew, looked puzzled for once.

„I should probably start from the beginning. Tom, would you help me?"