Vanilla Twilight

6

'So you don't believe in aliens, then?' Psyche asked while putting her face towel above Norman because it was getting late and cold out. 'I cannot believe that you're skeptical about them. What's there not to believe?'

'That's not what I'm saying,' I defended. 'I meant, I don't fully accept the theory that they exist but I consider the possibility. It's like being agnostic but not with God.'

She rolled her eyes, she kept insisting that aliens are real and that we, humans, might just be simulations.

'I'm telling you! Why do your feet fall asleep sometimes and all goes weird and electric, huh?' She provoked, though obviously unsure of what she's saying. But the crazy part is that I understand. 'Because the aliens didn't recharge us enough!'

'Oh, yeah. A decade and more of studying, all a waste.'

'The government's hiding it, Ashley. That's why we have science classes.' Psyche nodded slowly, my left brow raised.

'You're such a believer of things.'

'And you're so skeptical. Life is boring that way, sticking to the facts.' She air quoted the last word. 'The brightest people in the world once thought the earth was flat, how different could it be now?' She gave a look that screams checkmate. I inwardly smiled.

'Duh? We now have actual satellite images and people literally leaving the planet for research. Don't tell me you don't buy that.'

Psyche just shrugged.

'Oh my God, you don't!'

'It's better this way. Imagine just being given things to believe in instead of having your own perception of everything. It's so sad, like why can't I think of a tree and think of it as a world inside this one with things and people and creatures living in it for example?' She stared at the barely starry sky above us. 'The ocean is so fucking big, there's no way we'd have discovered everything that lives in there.'

Shivering because of the wind, I nodded. I never looked at the world and everything under the sun in this point of view. Psyche kept on telling me things to think about, and the more words her deep voice spat, the more I widen my mind about them. I tried forgetting prior knowledge about space, time, culture, and basically every freaking thing, and I thought it was amazing.

'You're shaking. Let's get back to the car.' She carried Norman with her left hand and offered her other to pull me up. I turned the camera on to shoot our departure. she suddenly barged into the frame and started striking poses. I happily filmed her in dark, the only light illuminating her face was the moon's.

'I drive this time. You can take a nap or whatever.' I said, opening the door of the car. It really was cold outside so I rubbed my hands together and placed it on my cheeks.

Starting the car was easy, driving safely is too, but deciding which way to go is hard. It was so late there are only a few cars passing by, we decided to find a proper place to sleep in as it is our last official night.

Norman was now sleeping at the back and Psyche was busy tracing the lines painted on my Starry Night backpack.

She then grabbed something beside the kitten, I didn't really see because it was so dark out, and I'm afraid I would hit anything if I turn around or blink even for a split second.

I heard a strum, she was playing the ukulele she brought but never used until now. It was a wooden uke with sunflower painting in the front. I wondered if she did that herself or if she bough it that way.

'Dad painted it, keep your eyes on the road.' She scolded and apparently used legilimence with me.

She strummed it again, this time not a single one, but a pattern.