I Remember Area 51

Chapter 8

I turned to see Blake in the doorway, he looked like he was about to say something, but couldn't. He looked between my shocked face and Isabel, and Isabel looked between my shocked face and Blake's shocked face. I looked between Blake and Isabel, they looked similar, same brown hair, same eyes, same tough face to hide a hard life, and very similar faces.

"Belinda? Are you Belinda?" Blake sounded mystified and shocked. Why did he say Belinda? Isabel's eyes were tearing up.

"Hey, guys? What's the hold up? Aspen is that your testpartner? Wait..." Kim realized what was going on.

"It's you! Blake! It's you! It's been six years! Finally! It's you!" Isabel yelled.

"Isabel, is this your brother?" I asked.

"Isabel? Belinda, did you tell her your name is Isabel?" Blake asked.

"I didn't trust her," She looked at me, "Sorry, I'm Belinda, but I hate my name, so call me Lynn."

"OK! What's going on?! I can't see a thing! Move, Kim!" Joan was the most confused.

"I'll explain on the way to dinner. Let's go!" Blake walked by Lynn. "You've gotten taller, and you seem less... girly." I probably wasn't supposed to be hearing this.

"Having your only sibling killed does that to you. You've gotten taller too, ya' know. We all thought you died, that we would never see you again." Lynn gave Blake a hug.

"They thought I died... I'm sorry for scaring you." Blake said, "How is everyone now?"

"Grandmother died." Lynn didn't even try to soften the blow. "Aunt April had twins about a year after you left, they don't know about you."

"How did they all take my.... Death?" Blake inquired.

"Not well, the adults didn't even tell us what happened, Brooke was the first to guess what happened, she told brody, he told me. They thought Mas Terr had taken you as a slave." Lynn said. Joan fell back to where they were.

"So, either of you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked.

"Joan, this is my sister, Be- Lynn, sorry. Lynn this is Joan." Blake said, not used to his sister's new name choice.

"Everyone's got family here except for me now." Joan said.

"We'll still talk to you. Plus, you're family to me, Joan" Kim said sweetly. Suddenly looking 11 years old.

"Thanks, but I wasn't asking for the lovey-family mushy stuff," Joan said, "I was just pointing out it's kind of odd, right? Two sets of family?"

"Two? There's more than just Blake and me?" Lynn asked.

"Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you, this is my cousin, Kim." I introduced. Kim waved, and Lynn nodded, understanding.

Lynn and Blake caught each other up.

"So, have you been paired with a human, too?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah," Blake became more serious, "I was, he, he's in critical condition, he's on the brink of death."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea." Lynn said, even though I had told her, she probably wants to hear it all again from someone she knew. She changed the subject, "Why have the people chosen us? Is there anyone else here we know?"

"Not that I know of. We have all been selected for reasons we don't know. Some of us end up with powers, others don't." Blake said as we entered the cafeteria.

"Do you have powers? Do the others have powers?" Lynn asked. She didn't know our names and referred to us all as the 'others'. Thanks.

"Yeah, I have all of Michael's memories. Before you came, I thought I was Michael, I didn't tell Aspen this, because that isn't something she would need to know, but she seems smart enough to be able to figure it out." Blake said making me blush, though he couldn't see.

"I think she might have mentioned something like that. Who's Michael? Why did you think you were him? Wouldn't it be obvious that you aren't from this planet?" Lynn asked.

"There actually isn't a physical difference that I know of. Michael is my test partner, like Aspen is for you. I thought I was him, because, I was eight. I had the choice of being a boy from Earth, with everything we don't have on Xenon, electricity all day, health care, and food everyday, or a boy from Xenon, who was almost always sick and hungry, and nothing was being done about it. As an eight year old, it was easy, I chose the better childhood, where everything was perfect. At least in comparison. There's still that whole problem of all these kids being brought here against their will." Blake looked away as we stood in line for dinner.

"There's electricity all day long? That's amazing! Lot's of food? Medical care? Next thing I know you're going to say there's clean water!" Lynn laughed.

"There really is. People get pills here headaches, or of they can't sleep. If they fall, and get scraped, they can put a sticky piece of fabric on their cut to help it heal." Blake said to Lynn's fascination.

"Do they have guards?" Lynn asked.

"Not like back on Xenon, guards here help keep people safe. They don't drag random small children to work for an evil ruler. They have people who put out fires instead of starting them." Blake said.

"Woah," I said, "People start fires, like, on houses?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, What else would you do to a law breaker?" Lynn asked incredulously.

"Don't you guys have jails?" I asked back.

"No. You can escape a jail, a burning house is a little harder." Blake looked a little distant.

"Did you know anyone who had their house burned down?" Kim asked.

"My neighbors did. We hid their youngest for a month before he died." Joan shrugged like it was normal for a little kid to die like that. Maybe because it was. There.

"No one I knew had their house burn down. But it's a sick thought." Blake said. Lynn looked taken aback.

"That is not a sick thought! It's horrible! How could you say something like that?" She exploded.

"What do you mean?" Blake said taken aback.

"Aspen said sick means awesome!" Lynn said pointing at me, "It's not awesome!"

"Oh, I see the problem. Sick can mean awful or awesome depending on the context."

"Why are there so many words here that have weird meanings?" Lynn complained, she looked at the food on Kim's plate. "What's that?"

"You've never seen pizza before?" Kim looked at her plate, "This is a sad introduction."

She was right, the cheese was off colored, and the pepperoni had suspicious colored spots.

Lynn was handed a plate with a slice, she picked it up cautiously, and bit off the tip.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Lynn exclaimed. She made her point by taking a much larger bite, getting grease all over her face.

I accepted my piece. I took a bite, and it tasted like cardboard.