Never Let Me Go

Chapter 2: Welcome to Earth

When we landed on Earth, we saw that it was nighttime. It was also nighttime on Aragorn. We landed in the middle of somewhere I couldn't seem to identify. But then again, it was dark and probably too hard to make out where we were. We were somewhere that had water and sand. It was a big place, I could tell. Humans probably come here as a place of leisure. But wherever we were, it was a huge place.

        "Well, honey, I guess this is it," Mom said with nervous laughter. Even she had no clue where in the world we were.

        "Is this a place that Madeeras come to visit a lot?" I asked.

        "I would believe so," Mom said. Then we went back into the UFO and flew to somewhere else. Earth was a pretty strange planet, but I knew it had a lot of great places. We ended up at a neighborhood full of houses and apartments. I also knew that humans dwelt in these buildings. Houses were shelters for the Madeeras, just like planet Aragorn was my shelter.

        Eventually, Mom and I found a house that was empty. We landed the UFO in the back of the house so nobody would suspect that there were strange people—or creatures—living in this area. We went inside the house and were awed by its amazing beauty. It was a very big house. The living room had loveseat sofas, and there were three bathrooms. I went down to the basement to check it out. The basement had a pool room and other activities humans do for fun. Next to the basement was a place that had indoor water, similar to the water we saw when we were outside. I wondered if the water was safe to drink from. You could never really tell. I was fascinated. There was also a bed in the basement. The house had three bedrooms, and I wanted to make the basement my bedroom. It felt convenient for me.

        "Narissa, are you okay down there?" Mom called from upstairs.

        "I am," I replied. "I think I may have just found my bedroom." The bathroom was across from the bed, which made it pretty cool. I think I would love living in this house.

        "It's after nine o'clock right now," Mom said as she came downstairs and helped me settle down all my belongings. "It is a Thursday night, and you probably have school tomorrow. But I don't know where to drop you off."

        I wondered about education on Earth. On Aragorn, schools were small and there were usually about fifteen students in each class. We always respected each other on Aragorn—well, most of the time. I wondered what schools on Earth were like. Probably not the same, but then again, that's why I'm here.

        As I went to sleep, I started missing Aragorn a little. What was that feeling called? That's right---homesickness. I was here on Earth for the first time, and I didn't know anything about anything. I also felt a little scared too. Madeeras were known for hurting each other, whether out of spite or unintentionally, and I guess I didn't want anything like that to happen to me. But then, my father had once told me, "Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional," before he died. When he died, it left a lot of pain for Mom and me. But then I learned how to be a fighter, and I chose to stay strong and move on. I was brave in that way. I wanted to know what human experiences were like, so I started falling asleep right now. Until many hours later....

        Ring-ring-ring-ring! I woke up to a strange sound, which startled me so. I saw that it was an alarm clock, which was a device built to waking humans up from a certain time after they have gone to sleep. Much to my surprise, I actually got enough amount of sleep last night. It was 7:00 on Friday morning, and I knew it was a school day. I've had most of my insomniac moments while back on Aragorn for whatever reason, but now for the first time while I am on Earth, I learned to sleep very soundly. It was amazing.

        Mom came down to the basement. "Are you ready for school, dear?" she said in an excited tone. I didn't see what could possibly be so exciting about going to school. Our only problem was transportation.