Susan gaped, staggering backward as if she had just been injured. She shrieked, shaking like a leaf trembling in the autumn wind. Her hands scrambled to the counter behind her, and multiple medicine bottles clashed to the floor. Pills scattered everywhere.
It took me a few moments to comprehend what was going on. Then it finally dawned over me. I glanced at the mirror nearby. Bits of elastic material were peeling off. The idenity masks dissolved too fast.
"Y-y-you're s-skin is..." Susan stuttered. She took deep breaths and put her hand on her chest. Confused by the chaos, Dr. Riley was rummaging through the doors. He hated clumsiness. But he didn't know the true story yet. By that time, I was already on Twentieth Street, panting heavily. If the cars saw me, they would think I was some face-painted teenager. But did they really know who I really was?
In seconds I was frantically opening the creaking door of the abandoned cabin. My heart pounded so quickly and loudly that I could hear the thumping in my head. I ran towards the dusty corner and pulled off the sheets. And there was the hatch of Probe 3120. It was risky to leave it open like that. Anyone could have came in and steal it for themselves.
I reached into the hatch and got the last idenity mask. Just in case anyone found me.
Thoughts rushed through my mind. Everything started last month. My mission, Mission 245, was to collect a certain number of human material and return it back to Planet Torsia. I am an alien. I am not a human, and even though thick layers of idenity masks, I never will be.
I landed on Planet Earth under the name of Elena B. Vears. My true name is Versa, which is the same if you arrange the letters of my last name. I have a bright shade of blue skin, and eyes of bioluminescent green. An alien, indeed.
Everyone in town knew me as Ms. Vears, the amazing pharmacist who never made a single mistake. That was my extraordinary ability. One time, a worker of the pharmacy, Susan, even said, "Your work is out of this world!" I was nervous at those words, thinking that Susan found out. But I then realized it was a common phrase used on Planet Earth.
Susan was always my friend, ever since I applied for the job at the pharmacy. She taught me how to do things, such as which medicine to put in which bottle and the medicines that needed to be mixed. I felt like a jerk by stealing numberous ingredients from the pantries. But that was my mission. Mission 245, to collect human materials.
It hurt to see Susan so frightened. Again, the masks dissolved too fast.
In the distance, I heard the siren of police cars coming closer to the pharmacy. Susan probably called in as an emergancy. If I didn't get out of here soon, I would be caught. My mission would fail. I made sure that all my materials were in the sealed box. I took out the DNA Remover from one of the compartments and clicked the glowing red button. This way, all my DNA was removed from Planet Earth. There was no evidence of me being on Earth. Only in the records as Elena B. Vears.
I sucked in the last breath of Planet Earth and climbed into the hatch and closed the door. In half a millisecond, I was out of Earth.
In half a millisecond, I landed on Planet Torsia.
The Probe 3120 roughly came to a halt on Planet Torsia, rolling across the rocky grounds. I peeled off the last bits of my idenity masks so General Aiken wouldn't be confused. General Aiken was not only my general, but my father as well.
I climbed out of the hatch. Sounds filled the air. I had landed in the back of the Mission Headquarters. General Aiken was playing a famous Torsian board game with Helix, as always when they had nothing to do. The aura of my hometown brought a warm feeling to my body. I inhaled the fresh Torsian air. It was nothing like the polluted aroma of Planet Earth.
I carefully removed the box that held the crucial human materials and knocked on the locked door of the Headquarters. There was a silence. Helix, my ever so annoying older brother, opened it. His first words to me in a long time were harsh. "It takes you that long to get only those things?"
Clenching my teeth, I dragged the box into the Headquarters room. General Aiken was sitting at the table. He looked up. He was no longer the father I knew as a child. Dark circles hung underneath his eyes and his skin was wrinkled. His hair turned into shades of grey. He was stressed.
"Finally collected the materials?" General Aiken was just as rude as Helix.
"Yeah, Dad."
" 'Yeah, Dad'?" General Aiken shouted, getting up from his seat. Anger burned in his eyes. I sunk back into the shadows, afraid that he would beat me up. "You already take a full month to collect those easy bits of materials, and now you learned human behavior?" He spat. "Disgusting. Go wash up. I don't want any human DNA laying around in my house."
I hate my Father. Oh, so much.
I went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. The moisture on my face was not only from the leaking pipes, but also from the disapproval of my father. What did he know? Has he ever stepped foot on Planet Earth? It was the 245th time he asked a Torsian to get materials on Planet Earth. This time it happened to be me, his daughter, to go fetch some pieces of waste from a far-away planet. What was he going to do with those materials, anyway?
My wet hair dripped as I opened the fridge to get a fruit to eat. That was when I heard Helix speaking.
"General, did you see that lady Versa met?" Helix was looking through the Visionscope. The Visionscope showed everything that happened on Earth. If the name of a town was typed in, an invisible camera would film every movement being made. "Susan. Right? Now she's in a Mental Institute!" Helix cackled. "The police didn't believe her! Idiot, if I were her, I would just keep it to myself."
I was infuriated. "You think that's funny?"
"It's a good thing," General Aiken said. "No one, and I repeat, no one on Planet Earth shall believe those who met Versa." He didn't even glance at me. When Helix walked away, I peered through the Visionscope.
Susan was being captured by people wearing masks.
Tears streamed down her face.
They thought she was crazy.
Who would believe her? There's no evidence. Who would believe someone who 'saw an alien'? No one. Only she would know. I laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I had to save her. It was a crazy thought, but why did I have to listen to General Aiken all the time? He wasn't God. One day I'll save her, I thought. Maybe that one day could be next week.
Maybe that one day could be tomorrow.
