Arynthe's Story

Hysteria

(continuation)

My mother stared out of the rear window. 

"Our home," she sobbed again.

I turned my head back to the screen in front of me. The sensors showed more pods were following us. There were also a few enormous battleships ahead, but they seemed to ignore us. 

"Doesn't this thing have some kind of weapon?" I asked. "Those aliens should get their asses kicked." 
"We shouldn't draw their attention," my father said. "Don't let your emotions control you, Arynthe. We wouldn't even stand a chance against that thing."
My mother started laughing hysterically. "That's it then!" she screamed. "They're destroying everything we ever had, and here we are, fleeing like a bunch of cowards instead of protecting it! They'll go scout free!"
"Isn't it hilarious..." my father mumbled. 
My mother let herself fall over. "NO! NO! NO!" she cried, so loudly I had to cover my ears.

My father bent over to me and spoke only just loud enough: "Arynthe, would you mind helping your slightly frustrated mother accept the situation?" 
I nodded. 
"Excellent," my father laughed. "The medkit is right under your chair." 

I reached under my chair and found the familiar bright grey suitcase. If your mother is as emotionally sensitive as Mara you've got to be prepared at all times, my father would say. It was far from the first time I'd dealt with her getting an attack like that. 

Suddenly the light went out. We slowly came to a full stop. 

"We're getting scanned," my father explained. "I entered rock mode." 

The fingertips of my left hand felt slightly numb as I reached in the medkit and tried to find the trikat in the complete darkness. 

I didn't get much time. Behind me sounded a teleporter beam. When I spun my chair around I saw an alien had materialized. 

My mother screamed. 
As an answer, the alien fired his weapon at her, but the green shards it launched bounced right off her anteron. 

I found the trikat. The little lit screen told me it was already loaded. I suddenly got a plan. 

"Get away from my mother," I commanded. 
The alien slowly turned to me. He aimed his weapon at my right side. 
"How dare you," I said calmly. 
The alien laughed.
I fired the trikat. I fired at way too high intensity. The moment the ray hit his skin, he collapsed to the floor. His body wasn't able to handle the instant overdose. 

My mother was silent. She looked down at the dead alien, then up at me, then back at the alien.

"You murdered," she finally said breathlessly. 
"He would've murdered you," I simply replied. 
"You're a child!"
"Near adult!" I felt insulted. Me, a child? I bore my responsibilities better than she did! "I'm eight! Don't you th-"

But I fell silent. Out of the window I saw planet Ashiria exploding. A loud bang and a blinding flash of light, and everything we ever had was gone forever. 

At that moment, it was like there some switch in my mind had flicked from "dadditude" to "momditude". I felt a strangely strong urge to scream, and I just couldn't resist it anymore. I screamed and screamed like I had never screamed before. 

I could've expected it was a matter of seconds until I felt the warm ray of the trikat right on my chest. Instantly, my legs stopped being able to support me. My mind grew hazy. As I slumped against the wall and felt my eyes closing, I realized that despite everything, I would finally succeed to fall asleep this night.