From Outer Space

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Lauren groans and opens her eyes slowly. The sound of airplane engines in the distance and the sight of her girlfriend next to her calm her a little, but her headache is getting worse. Camila explained that their bodies have to get used to the gravity again, which can cause dizziness, falling over and muscle aches.

Lauren can feel all of those. She has been dizzy since they touched the ground, fell over a few times already and every muscle in her body hurts. It seems like the most impossible task to lift her arm up to grab her bottle of water and even her tongue feels heavy in her mouth. The gravity is pushing down on her and it makes her feel weak.

How are they ever supposed to go after their son if they can't even walk?

Lauren sighs and shifts in her seat. There are people of NASA on the plane with them and Camila is asleep in the seat next to her, those are the only facts the technician is sure of. She looks over at her girlfriend and watches the uneasy expression on her face. She's restless, and Lauren can say the same about herself.

''Lauren?'' a woman calls out, making the technician look away from Camila and turn to one of her NASA colleagues.

''Yes?'' Even speaking feels weird. Who knew how heavy your jaw actually is?

''I've got a phone call for you from your boss. Roy.'' She tells her quietly to not wake Camila up and Lauren tries to reach her hand out to take over the phone, but her arm falls down into her lap immediately.

''Ugh.. sorry, can you maybe..?'' Lauren trails off shyly, hating to be this dependent of other people.

''Of course.'' The woman smiles and reaches out to hold the phone against Lauren's ear.

''Hey Roy?''

''Lauren, how are you? How was your trip down?''

The technician wants to shrug, but she can't seem to lift her shoulders high enough for a proper one. ''It was okay, Camila got us down perfectly. Have you heard anything new?''

Lauren wastes no time in asking her boss about their son, needing to know all the details and updates immediately. She hears her boss hum softly before speaking up.

''Yes, that's what I called you for. Is Camila there too?''

''No, she's finally sleeping. I'll update her as soon as she's awake. We have four more hours to fly anyway so waking her up so she can worry some more wouldn't help her.''

''Alright,'' Roy agrees. ''I just got a call back from Ally. The police has gotten in contact with an elderly couple who saw Brody and Kyano's pictures on TV and they think they've seen them in Florence, Oregon.'' He tells her.

Lauren frowns in worry while the pace of her heart picks up. ''They've seen them? What happened? Did they tell the police?'' she asks quickly.

''Yes, they called immediately. The couple told them they saw them in the mall nearby a McDonalds so the police searched the whole mall but they couldn't find them. They checked the camera footage and just confirmed to Ally that it was indeed them.'' He answers calmly while Lauren's heart nearly bursts out of her chest.

''So they're close? Was Kyano okay?'' she rushes out, needing to know about the well-being of her son as soon as possible.

''Yes. He looked very okay. Happy even, he was smiling a lot. Which makes us wonder what Brody has told him. Maybe Kyano sees it as a fun trip.'' Roy speculates carefully.

Lauren lets out a deep breath, feeling intense relieve from knowing Kyano is okay and didn't look scared or hurt. But at the same time a weird, unknown feeling rises from deep within her because of the uncertainty. What has Brody told him? What is he doing? What is going on in Kyano's little mind?