Midnight Bloom: Tales of an Alien and a Human

“The whole city is taken within this whole alien fever”, “Tell me about it, my parents have quit their jobs to hunt for it, the prize money is huge”, ”My daddy is gonna buy me a house, a pony, and I am begging for a small piece of a country with that money”, I roll my eyes to Amaya’s sassiness.

Final exams for school ended, and everyone was hunting. The prize money was at least 5 million dollars, and in this low-funded village, everyone could really use some money. These scientists badly want to capture this alien detected, young or old, everyone is into hunting now. School had been emptied, half the teachers were on leave. Students also bunked school, they came for attendance then escaped. The whole village may have the same goal, but everyone is rivals with each other. 

As the sun sets I head back home, my family has kept a schedule to help catch the alien. We suspected where the alien could be hiding, a place that is calm, no people, every survival thing it needs. So we each took turns looking by the flower garden. I have a night shift today, honestly I hate them, nobody is around, it’s so scary just all alone. You never know when an alien creeps up behind you, dad taught me how to use a couple of weapons. I can’t call for help since someone else could take credit for catching the alien. None of us like this job, but this is the only place an alien has chances to be, dad makes soup again, carrots and onion pieces float around. Dad tells me to stop playing with my food, I try my best to take my time, night shifts are not exciting. “Lyra hurry up, no time to waste” dad hurries me up getting my coat and the weapon bag ready. I snuffled down the soup quickly, and slipped into my worn out sandals, dad handed me my coat and the golf bag filled with weapons. Dad gives me some money to ride an guto to the flower garden. I walk down the alley to the main road with a little shortcut, multiple guto’s (taxi in my language)  and cars pass by. I scream GUTO GUTO  raising my right arm for someone to notice, a young person driving stops by, “The outskirts flower garden please”, “178 dollars”, I look down at the money in my hand, 140 was all I had, “Please 120” I bargain looking at my worn out shoes in puppy eyes, “130 last deal”. Before he could finish I hop inside, “Your family must be in the alien fever huh?”, “No not at all, my friend wanted this stuff” I lied to him, my parents told me not to tell a single soul where we went to hunt in case they followed us. “Did you know the lead in this whole observation is John Chesapeake, he plans to test the limits of the alien and how they work” the guto driver counties telling me more, but it only gets more violent .We soon arrive, the moon is fully up, and the clouds have darkened, I turn my torchlight on, I go to my usual spot, right in between where all the moonflowers were. The farmer of the garden was with my family, the farmer was to take 10% of the prize money. 

I set down my weapons and a foldable chair from the bag. I hold the spear, to me it was very trust worthy, I hold it up as I sit, slowly I doze off.

RUMBLE, SHAKE SHAKE

I hear something, I wake up to noises like somebody is walking, my feet shoot up, “HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” I scream, I don’t hear anything at first, soon as I go back at ease and sit,I do hear footsteps. THOMP, SQEAK,  like rubber boots in the mud filled with something heavy. I get back up and hold the torchlight in one hand and in another is the spear holding it so tight like it could pop. I walk towards the squeaky footsteps and soon it stops where a person is there, it’s probably the scarecrow the farmer newly installed, the farmer told me it is a high powered sensor scarecrow that make footstep sounds to scare of birds at night.I still walk to the scarecrow to make sure it is a scarecrow. But the more steps I took, the more the shape of the scarecrow looked different in its shape. There were 3 ears, 1 arm but 3 hands attached and 2 legs. ALIEN!

AHHHHHHHHHHH, quickly I cover my mouth and then scream to cause any attention at 2 am.
We just need to turn it into a scientist and we can be filthy rich, no more sore feet from worn out shoes, and we can finally get our house fixed up and get a car!  As soon as the alien turns the head, the alien runs away. I get my spear ready to shoot, throwing it when it stops for a breath. I miss terribly, “STOPPP I WANT TO HELP YOU” I yell out but in reality it was more like you’re helping me. The alien stops and walks towards me, “Eli’ra sha’ven mi? Vaelor sa’keth mi ra’ha.”, “Huh?”, the alien pulls out a device. It is a small glass piece like a phone with no case and fully transparent but much smaller. It pulls it out and gives me a piece of gum, “Yeesh just tell me if my breath smells, don’t need to give me gum” I say offendly. I take the gum and start chewing, this is not the best choice taking food from an unknown species, but I kind of am desperate. I chew the gum observing the alien, he presses a lot of words, definitely not any language I know. The gum changes flavors, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, chocolate, mango, broccoli, radish, and carrot. After 10 more minutes the alien shows its hands out asking for the gum back, I spit it out in its hands. It mutters something, “Ew poor mannered human” it says, “HEY I AM NOT POOR MANNERED…you asked for the gum back” I defend back. Slowly I realize I can now talk to the alien!

Now which is the best way to start a conversation, “Hi I would like to shoot a spear through you so I can get rich” or is “Hello alien I want to help you hide from this society and lose the chance of 5 million dollars” better. “This town is crazy, everyone trying to unalive me” it tells me, I nod agreeing with it. I fake a smile to look nice so I could trick it into going to the scientist’s place. “Hi there I am Elizal, my pronouns are he/his”, darn my welcoming smile, just an invite to tell-me-more-about-you conversation. He doesn’t stop there yet, “My dad is human and dad is alien, aliens are really nice and trustable, we can believe anything, and my dad used that advantage of trust with my mom, to experiment on aliens, on me, so me and my mom moved to another universe, later on I was toursighting milky way galaxy, and soon as I arrived I got sucked into this village”. That actually guilt tripped me, suddenly the prize money wasn’t that bright as it seemed for trying to unalive Elizal. “Look Elizal you cannot live here, this town wants to hold to captured within the scientist, and if the lead in this, John Chesapeake finds you, you’re cooked”, “John Chesapeake, mhh name sounds really familiar, but I can’t leave just yet from here, my spaceship is broken it can take a while for it to fix itself back”. “Fine, I will come back with some clothing for disguise, but do you have any money on you?”, he searches himself around for some money, he sheepishly chuckles. “Fine I’m buying you something but you owe me” I tell him sternly. BEEP BEEP BEEP, my dads old watch rings in reminder to let me know my shift is over. “I have to leave Elizal, but you must get out of here ASAP”.

The next day when I come back for my shift, Elizal was there, he was at the same place we first met, “Hi Lyra, you’re back, I was waiting for you yesterday for the disguise”, “Sorry about that, I forgot it was my dad’s shift yesterday, either way I got some of my old clothes, I think this will fit you”. I close my eyes and he tries it on, it doesn’t fit him well, but it was something. I put a beanie on him, his ears look more normal then I fold the sleeves to make him look armless. “Better, now I have to teach you norms never said but followed” he nods eagerly. “Here, lemme think, ooh I got one, when someone finds you, what are you gonna say?”, “Hi I’m Elizal, I know you want me to turn in to John Chesapeake but trust me, I am not here to test on”, I slap my forehead, this kid needs a whole lot of work. “Elizal if you want to live, you have to lie”, “It’s against being an alien, no way”, “I get it you don’t want to live”, “NO I do want to live, what should I say?”, “Hi there I am Elizal, I am a guard at this farm making sure no aliens or rabbits chew these up’ that’s what you should say if someone catches you at night”, “We are only alive at night, in day we turn invisible and mentally unconscious ”. Wow, that’s really cool, no wonder why they want to use him for experiments. Could be useful for humans, especially in my village, the more he shows his powers the more I could think about the money I can get turning him in. But at the same time I don’t want to risk a life. “Hey Elizal, I’m gonna help you stay here, and I will teach you until you’re back on your feet”, his  smile becomes much bigger. 

Just like that I take my parents shifts telling them they need a break and I teach him how to be more of a normal human. I teach him walking, sarcasm, homophones, and one day I bring some leftovers to show him how to eat human food. 

“Lyra my ship is gonna be ready tomorrow night, so after I see you tomorrow, I will leave the milky way galaxy” Elizal tells me soberly, “oh”, so that’s it, for a long time it felt like I finally had a friend, a real friend. “Here Elizal you can’t stay in the middle of the flower garden, lemme show you around”. I pull his hand and show him the flowers around, the tulip beds, hollyhocks, roses. “It’s beautiful” he tells me, “In my culture there is a myth that moonflowers bloom on full moon days”, “There are moonflowers in this garden”, I take a look at the sky, I yank his hand and run to the moonflowers. 

The flowers start to bloom by the time we get to it, the light of the moon shines brightly at the flowers. “So tomorrow is goodbye?”, “Oh yeaa”, “Well I have taught you about the humans, your turn now”, “Wow thought you would never ask” Elizal chuckles as I eye roll with a grin. 

We spend the rest of the night talking to each other about his universe, the organizations, the powers they have, the food, and other cultures. My watch beeps telling me it’s time to go just as the sun rises, I tell him bye. On the ride back home, I found an extra 4 dollars from my wallet. I stopped at a store, there was the most eye-catching scarf with moonflowers embroidered, immediately I purchased that. Elizal would love that. 

The next day at evening I make sure to take the scarf in my jacket hidden, just as I rush my dinner to go say goodbye to Elizal the last time, dad places his hand on my shoulder frightening me, “Sweetie, you have been going to the farm excited all of a sudden, why don’t I go check it out”, “No dad, I should go give my elders rest time”. No matter what dad wouldn’t let me go, he made me stay back, I stayed home praying and hoping Elizal isn’t caught. 5 hours later dad comes back way earlier smiling, oh no, no no no.

“We are now rich my dear!” dad screams jumping around. “DAD, ELIZAL IS MY FRIEND, JOHN CHESAPEAK WILL UNALIVE HIM WITH EXPERIMENTS, DO YOU MONEY OR RISK A LIFE”. This money was enough to help at least 10 families in my village but was risking a life worth it for all. I give dad a minute to think right, he doesn’t say anything. The situation was in my hands, I wore my coat and I headed straight out the door as I grabbed the megaspeaker. I find a high pillar in the centre of the village, just the place for attention .”FARMER VILLAGE CITIZENS, MAY I GET YOU ATTENTION, I scream as everyone gathers around. “WE ALL WANTED THE MONEY. I WANTED IT TOO. I WANTED SHOES THAT DIDN’T HURT AND A HOUSE THAT DIDN’T LEAK. BUT ELIZAL IS NOT A PRIZE. He is scared. He has a family. If we sell him, we become worse than the people who made us desperate.”, everyone screams and boos in disagreement. Until someone blows a whistle, “The child is right, if the alien was a person I knew, I cannot bear to lose them. The alien knows people too”. One by one people clap in agreement starting to realise. “NOW WE MUST GO SAVE THE ALIEN” I scream on top of my lungs this time. I climb down as we all start to march to the department. “NO HARM, NO HARM” we chant in repeat marching till we arrived. When we arrived at the department, John Chesapeake was standing at the entrance with 2 van drivers unloading a box long enough to hold Elizal that had been labeled DANGEROUS OBJECT INSIDE . How dare they call my friend an object!

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, GET AWAY FROM MY EXPERIMENT, I CAN CHARGE 200$ FINES PER PERSON FOR TRESPASSING” John Chesapeake growls grabbing onto the box.  I walk up close and ask him “What is this experiment for and second, we can’t be charged for trespass, this is a public area”. “This alien could change medicine, technology, even human survival. Are you really going to let a child stop scientific progress?”, “ALL IN RISK OF A LIFE!?” I tell everyone confidently. The citizens don’t know if they want to risk a life for human survival or let a person to  .“You ought to scram” a man calls out, another person yells “GET OUT OF HERE”. Slowly in fear John Chesapeake escapes running back inside. 

We all cheered as I ran up to the box opening it, “Lyra!” Elizal screams in excitement and relief. “Elizal I can’t see you”, “I’m invisible, its bright outside”, “Do you have to go back today right now”, “Yes I have to in fact any moment I will be beamed to my spaceship flying me back”, before I could forget, I give him the scarf, or I try to but when I hand it to him, it drops down. He’s gone now.