The Moon Childe (COMPLETED)

Chapter 6: Losing A Member

The Admiral was driving surprisingly well for being an alien. Amelia wasn't pouting, but she also wasn't talking; she was embarrassed that she allowed herself to have him listen to her give up on life. Taking small bites of her sandwich, Amelia used her small meal as an excuse to not talk to him; she didn't have to be a psychic to realize that he was upset her. He drove around corners and down long streets, stopping at stop signs and red lights, driving exactly like a human would. However, he didn't have an type of disguise on. The windows were rolled up, the heater was lightly blowing warm air of Amelia's pale face, and The Admiral keep his shoulders up and his arms a constant distance from the steering wheel; he was obviously a defensive driver.

"You can relax when you drive you know." She muttered to him, showing that she was uneasy with the way he positioned himself for such an easy task.

He glanced at his sluggish passenger with a blank face and unreadable eyes. Amelia looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, giving an expression as if saying "just a suggestion." A loud sigh came from his snout as he stopped at the line for a red light.

"Have you already given up on your future?" He asked to change the topic, and to get an answer for such an important question. Amelia looked out the window of her mother's pickup truck; trying to give a silent answer. The Admiral didn't stand for it; he was determined to get a response from her. "Is it because your family went missing?"

"Don't bullshit me." She said, still avoiding eye contact with him. "I'm sure you all saw that sight with all the blood on the sidewalk in front of my house; they were murdered."

"You are unaware of how much blood your bodies can capable of holding." he pointed out, but didn't give any hand gestures, so he wouldn't have to move his hands from the 10 and 2 position on the wheel. "There wasn't that much blood, and even if there was, both your mother and sister were kidnapped. So, either of them lost enough blood to have died."

"Yeah, but, Nikki has abnormally thin blood; if she gets a big enough cut, or anything, she'll bleed out insanely." Amelia corrected him on his supposed knowledge of Nikki's body. The Admiral drove through the four-way intersection after the light changed colors; Amelia kept giving her reasons to doubt her mother and sister were alive. "And Mom is a type one diabetic, if she doesn't keep her blood sugar leveled, she could go into a comma, and without the proper support, she'll die in minutes."

That shut The Admiral up; but only now the topic of her family. After merging into the right lane, he began to talk again.

"Why is that you call your sister by her name, but call your mother by a title? Why not call Nikki 'Sister'?"

His question was very random to her, but she was able to come up with a suitable answer. "It's like a respect thing. Mom gave me life, so she deserves to be called Mom."

"What about your sister?"

"Well," she began and had to stop. The response that she was going to give would have sounded terrible and she wasn't really in the mood to talk about her family anymore. She quickly rephrased her answer and said, "the title 'sister' or 'brother' isn't like 'mother' of 'father.' There's a difference; Mom and Dad, together gave birth to me, so they get a second, more respectful title. Nikki and Brandon had no say in my creation, so they don't get another title, as important."

However, her rephrased answer confused The Admiral even more. So, he kept asking questions about human families and then later about the culture they come from and how the cultures differ. He began drilling her about difficult questions that had simple answers, but was hard to explain. He constantly pronged deeper into every answer she gave; not being any slightly satisfied with any type of answer she gave. Amelia felt as if she was explaining how the Internet worked to the elderly who were born before its creation. Amelia wasn't sure if her answers were even correct anymore after a while; but they were to her, so that must be good enough. It seemed like, to Amelia, that all he was really doing was rephrasing each question repeatably. She tried to explain as much as she could, but he kept questioning her answer. It was like going around in a circle; she often found that he repeated some questions verbatim. After his wonders went from her missing family to the human race as a whole, her attitude lightened and she began showing some emotion in her answers to such questions like, "Why do most humans understand that fast food restaurants are bad for their health, yet consume the product anyways?" "Because it's cheap and quick." "But why risk their health for a cheap, quick meal?" "Its only if that person eats the food excessively, like four times in a week, will their health really be in danger." "But why jeopardize one's health for such a meal?" "Because it's cheap, quick, and decent tasting!" These questions would continue in the never ending circle, slowly making Amelia find pleasure in confusing The Admiral. As his questions soon became an informal discussion about the human race, Amelia began to pay more attention to her answers or responses instead of remembering where The Admiral was driving. This was exactly what he wanted; he planned to occupy most of her conscious mind into something besides where their base was located, so then if she was captured by the Jusnors, she didn't have to lie. Amelia, to focused on her diction, didn't realize that these questions and deep discussions were for her own safety,