YOULKAY

two; wait... aliens are real?

I was starting to wonder why I trusted Elliot Torres's tale.

Like Jay Lee O'Connor had said, they were probably high.

Still, here I was, standing on top of this big rock, in the middle of a forest,a few meters from the trailside.
And I was searching the trails of a spaceship that was probably made out of Torres' mind when they were smoking drugs. (Anyone got the little DEH reference?)

The sky was clear and I could clearly see the stars.
Bright and beautiful.
They were calling me.
And I had no way to call them back.

I sighed and sat down.

If a spaceship really did pass by here, it didn't seem like there was any left over coming from it.

I was alone.

Completely alone.

So for the first time in what felt like forever, I let myself be a bit more myself.

Who would come here at night anyway? At 3 AM?

I wasn't human.
Never been.
Never will.
I wish I was.
Things would be simpler.

I wish I wasn't a metamorphic, psychic alien.
I wish I just had died on my planet, instead of being sent away.
It reminds me too much of Superman.
I never liked Superman.

So my hair grew blue and my skin became purple. I always liked those colors.

I passed few minutes there, just amusing myself by changing physical colors.

I was able to do so much more than just that.

I was so much more than just an orphan kid.

Even through my people, people from Youlkay, I was outstanding.
I wasn't like the others.

Every Youlkuuns could change their appearance.

But not every Youlkuuns could do what I could.

Because I was the damn pr...

"Oh fiddlesticks! Am I high and didn't even know?"

I was dumb.
I was careless.
He told me about this place, why wouldn't he come here!

My physical colors became normal again, according to human status quo.

"You're definitely high." I declared, looking at them, dead serious in the eyes.

"I definitely can't wait to make a fool of myself by telling this in front of the others at lunch, tomorrow." They laughed.
"No you won't!" I exclaimed.
"Okay, but seriously, what are you?"

Were they really serious?

"Aren't you scared?"
"I still think this is all a dream or something."

Of course they would.

"Are you, like, an escaped test subject from area 51 or something? Or maybe you're just Russian?"
"Why would that makes sense?"
"Hey, it's not like if I had a clue of what's happening in that country. For all I know, you could be a Russian experimental spy or something."

At that moment, I had the brightest idea ever, I thought, maybe they would keep quiet if I tell them the truth.

"I'm an extraterrestrial refugee from Youlkay, here on Earth because my planet has been invaded by Himav'ews, who are basically what you, humans, call yetis. And you cannot tell this to anyone, okay?"
"Okay."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise."

Why did I believe them?

The next day, during lunch time, as soon as I saw Nicole storming off to me, I knew Elliot had opened their mouth.

"So, princess, spilling out your secrets to anyone, I see!"

She was basically red with fury.

I kept quiet.

"Do you wanna get caught! How irresponsible of you! How could you..."
"Says the girl who keeps running away from home as soon she gets a little argument with Patrick or Carol. They just worry for you."

She was now red of embarassment.

"We are NOT talking about me. It's about you, Lovell. Do you even know what would have happened if it wasn't Elliot who saw you yesterday?"
"I think I know more than anyone." I replied.
"No you don't! You're not human, you don't know how we think, you can't even begin to understand what would have happened to you!" She accused.

I hated it. I hated it when she would say things like that. That I couldn't understand because I wasn't human.
I wanted to be human.
I wanted to understand.

"But you, you kept the secret about me!"
"It's different! You're my little sister!" She yelled, offended.

It was often like that, with her. Someday, she would count me as her dear little sister, someday, she wanted to do as if she never even knew me. That I was no one to her. I hated it. I hated how she could make me feel hope, hope that we could really be sisters.

"Oh so now I'm your sister?" I asked bitterly. "I thought I was just a dirty alien to you. Isn't it what you said, a week ago?"

A week ago, she went home high. First thing she did when she entered our room, was yell at me.

A mix of guilt and anger flashed in her eyes.

"You know I wasn't serious! And anyway, we are NOT talking about this right now."

Nicole was really good at making sure the subject doesn't start drifting.

"What do you want me to say? 'I'm sorry'? 'I won't do it again'? 'I'll be more careful next time'? "

"I want to make sure you won't pull that sort of stunt again! It's not just your life that this could ruin! Ever thought how, me, Patrick and Carol would feel if you were taken by the government?"

"Ah! So now, you worry about what Patrick and Carol feel?"

So she finally bursted.

"UGH! YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON'T CARE! Why would I even worry about you!" She yelled, loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear.

She turned on her heels and went back to her friends, frustrated, red in the face.

I felt guilty.
Maybe I could have been more understanding.
Maybe I should have just shut up.

I told the truth. Was it bad?
Should have I lied?
Maybe it would have been a more human like reaction.

If I continue at this rate, I won't be able to fool anyone.

So I just sat there, staring down at my lunch. Alone, in this big cafeteria filled with students.

Alone.

A lunch tray was roughly placed next to mine.

Someone sat next to me.

Elliot Torres sat next to me.

They sat there, saying nothing, just staring at me, eating their spaghetti.

Their eyes were glued on me.

I felt my face warm up under their gaze.

"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm eating my spaghetti." They replied simply.

I felt stupid by what I said, but it wasn't what I meant to say.

"Why are you here?"
"Because it's lunch time. I won't eat my spaghetti in my locker."

Were they joking?

"Why would you eat, with me, at the same table as me?"

They paused and let their fork down.

"You're someone quite interesting, Lovell, and you seemed lonely. So here I am!"

I didn't say anything to that.
In front of them, I felt like I was loosing words to say.

"Wanna see what I kept from the spaceship that I was talking about?"