Danny Flash and the Alien Crash

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I fell into lockstep with my father as we exited the building.  I grabbed his hand and looked at him, beaming with pride.  I tugged on his hand slightly, pulling him a little bit closer towards me.

"Watch out for that spaceship," I said.

"Huh?" he responded, casually looking over his right shoulder at a space spaceship that was floating just a few feet off the ground - about shoulder's length.  My father stopped and turned slowly towards the spaceship and inevitably the alien that was keeping it afloat.  He strained his eyes to focus and he rubbed them twice, making sure that what he was seeing was not an illusion.

It was, I realized, the first time he was really noticing what he was seeing.  Several aliens levitating about half as many spaceships as there were aliens.

"I-- I--" my Dad stuttered.

"Yes?" I responded, trying to calm his nerves, keeping his hand firmly held in mine, as if this father-son-alien moment was one of the most natural things in the world.

"Am I seeing things?" he asked, more to himself than to me.

"What did they do to us in there?" my mother asked.  She sat down on the grass, something my mother would normally not do for fear of bug bites, which probably seemed like a trivial fear in comparison to life on other planets.

"Mom. Dad. This is my little alien friend, and these are its little alien friends," I said, gesturing to the group.

"Little alien friend..." my mother repeated.  "Nice to meet you."

"Hey-lo," my little alien friend said in its best version of broken English.

"Hey-lo," my mother responded.  My father let out a soft chuckle.

"So, this is what you've been up to?"

"This is what I've been up to," I said.  "There's a lot I got to tell you guys, but first..."  I knelt down and put my palm out so my little alien friend could climb into it.  I picked my alien up and held my alien close to my body.

"I'm gonna miss you, little friend."

"Miss you," my alien friend repeated.  "Whalsome Kazim,"

"Whalsome Kazim," I repeated back.  My alien friend hugged me as best it could ,with its tiny little hands wrapping around my wrist.

"Wand," my alien friend said, pointing at my wand, which I still held in my other hand. I was gripping it so tightly that it had become almost a part of me, as I didn't even realize I was holding it.  I fished the box out of my backpack and placed it gently back in.

"Thank you," I said again.  "For everything."  My little alien friend turned to the others and gave a small speech, none of which I understood.  I imagine that it had something to do with all being together, leaving our planet having accomplished their mission, seeds in hand, and how they would fly back to their planet in triumph.

After my alien friend finished, one by one the other aliens filtered into their little spaceships.  My alien turned before boarding his, and gave me one last wave.  For a brief moment I thought my alien friend may run back to me, deciding to stay here, and just let the others go on back.  But, that did not happen.  I felt my heart break a little as my alien friend got on the ship, the smooth door closing me off from ever seeing my alien friend again.  The metallic cylinders of the ships cast off rays of light in all directions as the sun beamed down from overhead.  It was a beautiful sight, if it wasn't for the sorry that I felt in equal proportions 

I heard the tiny engines whirl to life.  My mother took my father's hand, my father took Annabelle's hand, Annabelle took my hand, and I reached to my right and took Penny's hand.  She held Andrew's hand and we all stepped back, making room for the spaceships to go up.  One by one they started to lift; at first slowly, like feathers floating off the ground in a gentle breeze, but then one at a time they zipped away, high into the sky, disappearing into a burst of purple and blue light.  A small yellow flame burnt quickly and then was gone.