Regaining Composure

by Kayla W

  “Oh.” Kyuki thought a bit, before smiling proudly. “I like looking at stars. I wanna be an astronomer.”

  Fiz giggled. “Heh, really? Out of everything you could do, you like looking at the stupid stars?”

  Kyuki frowned. “Easy for you to say. You’re an alien. You’ve probably seen the stars a million times…” She mumbled.

  “Eeeeyup.” Fiz drawled, walking over to Kyuki. “Tell ya what though, if you really do like watching balls of gas in the sky, I’ll make you an offer.”

  Kyuki raised an eyebrow, setting the device she was looking at down on a nearby table. “What kind of offer?”

  “Well, if you keep my secret a secret, and help me repair my ship, I’ll fly you up into space.”

  Kyuki furrowed her brows, confused. “Why would I want to go to space for?”

  Fiz just stared at her for a few moments, before rolling her eyes. “What do you think, to go throw yourself into oblivion? To see the stars, stupid!”

  If they were in a cartoon, Kyuki’s eyes would have comically gorged out of her head. “You mean.. we could go in space to see them up close?!”Kyuki asked.

  Fiz nodded, smiling genuinely to show she wasn’t kidding. It was actually kind of weird to not see her smirking. It was an odd thing.

  However, Kyuki nodded, smiling as well. “Okay.. I’ll keep your secret.”

  “And?”

  “And help you restore your ship.”

  Fiz shoved a gloved hand forward. “Looks like we have a deal then, human.”

  Kyuki met her hand with Fiz’s, and they shook hands.

  ...

  That night, Kyuki stared at the ceiling as she lay in bed, thinking the days events over. She met an alien. She met an alien. She, Kyuki Sayomi, the nobody, met a real life alien. Not only that, but she befriended it!

  One part of her wanted to deny it. Question it. Contradict it. Aliens didn’t exist. They were mere child’s play. Fantasy.

  But then again... it seemed to real to be a dream.

  Kyuki growled in frustration. She was exhausted, but her mind continued to ramble on. It was really gnawing on her nerves.

  With much protest from her head, Kyuki forced it to go blank, and slowly fell into a quiet sleep.

  ...

  “-And so, yarn was made.” The teacher wrote the last of the assignment on the board, and the class let out a deep, relieved sigh. Including Kyuki.

  “Alright class, we will be having a test to see how much you actually paid attention to the documentary, and my teaching on this session.” The bell rang, and to Kyuki, it was the most beautiful sound in the world. “Class dismissed.”

  Kyuki closed her textbook, grabbed her assignments and was out the door before you could blink twice.

  Most of the people in the class were happy to get out so they could go home, play videogames, watch TV, or text their girlfriends or boyfriends. Maybe even attend some extracurricular activities.

  And Kyuki?

  She was going to go help an alien repair a spaceship.

  Chapter Four

  Kyuki stood at the doorway of Fiz’s house (or, again, base). The house looked completely normal from the outside, but on the inside, you could tell it was owned by a mastermind alien.

  Kyuki knocked. A few moments later, Fiz’s voice called out, “Come in!”

  Kyuki entered the house, and could hear mumbling coming from the basement. Hesitantly she made her way down there. Once she was there, Fiz was sitting at her main computer station (which, by the way, was huge!).

  The alien was growling words into a device that Kyuki could not understand. For a moment, Kyuki just watched curiously. The words weren’t in English, obviously, so Kyuki could assume that they were in Fiz’s native language… Whatever that was.

  Fiz finally noticed that Kyuki was standing there, and put down the device. She smiled, and said a greeting. It wasn’t in English. Kyuki raised a brow. “Come again?”

  Fiz blinked a few times, before shaking her head. “My apologies. I said good evening.” Kyuki simply nodded, smiling as well. “Good evening to you too, Fiz.”

  She sighed softly, running a gloved finger over her head and messing with her antenna. Kyuki assumed that was the equivalent to a girl twirling a lock of hair.

  “Do you want to start working on the spaceship now?” She asked, walking over to where Fiz was and standing in front of her.

  Fiz yawned boredly. “Sure. It’s outside in my yard.” Standing up, Fiz lead Kyuki outside to her yard.

  You’d think it’d be dangerous for an alien to go outside, where any human eyes could peer around and see her, but luckily Fiz’s her base in a very well spaced out area. Houses were far apart, and the area was away from most civilization. It was more of a country area.

  As Fiz said, the spaceship was broken down in her yard. Pieces were scattered about, and the spaceship looked even more broken than it was last night. Maybe Fiz tried working on it by herself and failed. A lot.

  Fiz seemed to notice Kyuki’s looks at the spaceship, because she rolled her eyes. “Some humans found the ship and began to drag it away, only destroying it further.”

  Kyuki raised an eyebrow. “So what’d you do?”

  Fiz was looking at her claws in a bored manner. “Oh,you know.. Just melted their brains.”

  Kyuki almost gagged. “YOU WHAT?!”

  Fiz giggled. “What? That’s normal where I come from…”

  Kyuki shook her head. “Well, where we are now that’s ILLEGAL! That’s MURDER!”

  Fiz shrugged. “Okay.”

  Trying her best to ignore the fact that Fiz just got away with murder, Kyuki kept her eyes on the destroyed ship. She shuffled nervously. “Well… Shall we get to work then?”

  ...

  Three hours, seven Red Bulls, and a ton of spaceship repairs later, Kyuki and Fiz weren’t even halfway done with the spaceship.

  “How long is this going to take?” Kyuki asked, wiping a bead of sweat of her forehead.

  Fiz didn’t even look slightly overworked. It confused Kyuki that while Fiz was working just as hard as she was, but looked fine. She ignored the thought.

  “Eh.. I’m not sure. It’ll probably take a while. You can go home and come back tomorrow if you’d like though.” Fiz replied, wiping spaceship oil off her face.

  Kyuki nodded. “Okay. See you tomorrow.” Kyuki stood up, before walking a few steps towards the backyard gate, before pausing and turning around and looking at Fiz. “Oh.. And Fiz?”

  “Yes, human?”

  “I had fun.”

  Fiz smiled. “I did too, human. I did too…”

  Kyuki, again, turned around and walked home, a spring in her step.

  ...

  That night, Kyuki laid in bed staring at the ceiling for the second time that week. Was Fiz her friend now? The whole time while they were fixing the spaceship, they were joking around and acting like friends… But once Fiz’s spaceship was completed, would she just.. go home? Leave? Then Kyuki would be alone again..

  Kyuki sighed. Fiz wasn’t even supposed to be on this planet.. If she wanted to go home, she was certainly entitled to.

  Even if doing so would leave Kyuki alone again.

  Chapter Five

  “Wakey wakey little piggy!”

  Kyuki opened her eyes to feel someone poking her in the cheek. As soon as she did, she immediately regretted it, because the light seemed to be even brighter than usual.

  “Urrrggg, what do you wanttt…” She groaned, pulling the pillow over her head.

  All was silent for a few moments, and Kyuki actually thought the person who’d awoken her had gone away. Well, that is, until said person jabbed her in the leg with a pencil.

  “Ow! Hey, cut it out!” Kyuki yelped, pulling her face out from underneath her pillow, and glaring at the person who had stabbed her in the leg with a pointy object. Unsurprisingly, it was Fiz, who was, of course, grinning manically.

  “What do you want,
Fiz?”

  “You.”

  Kyuki was silent for a few seconds, before narrowing her eyes. “Do you know how creepy you sounded just now?”

  Fiz shrugged, smirking. “Hey, I don’t know how your planet works. Everything I say to you seems creepy.”

  Kyuki shook her head, before sitting up in her bed. “What do you want with me? I thought we weren’t working on the spaceship until nighttime.”

  For reasons unknown, Fiz began to grow very… uncharacteristically nervous. Not only that, but upon Kyuki’s question, it seemed that she was trying to avoid her gaze.

  Kyuki tilted her head, noticing this almost instantly. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  Fiz looked down, before sighing softly. “I wanted to ask you, human, if you could help me with something.”

  Kyuki raised an eyebrow. “I am helping you with something.”

  Fiz shook her head. “No, with something else… You don’t have to, if you don’t want to…”

  “Okay, what do you need help with?” Kyuki asked.

  Fiz walked over to the door, and picked up what looked like a black bag. She dumped out it’s contents on the floor, and sat down by it. Kyuki eventually got off of her bed and sat by the contents as well. Closerobservation showed it was .. blue eye contacts and a wig?

  Kyuki tilted her head, very confused. “Fiz? What’s all this stuff for?”

  Fiz ignored her, putting on the contacts and wig on. She then looked Kyuki, her new fake eyes big and nervous.

  Kyuki quickly grew impatient, and poked Fiz in the shoulder, bothered by the alien’s silence. “Hello?”

  Fiz blinked. “Hi.” She replied.

  Ignoring Fiz’s lack of knowledge on sarcasm, Kyuki repeated her question. “What’s the stuff for?”

  Fiz sighed oncemore, her eyes drifting away from her and to the carpet of the floor. She picked at it recklessly as she spoke. “I wanted to appear more human.”

  Kyuki furrowed my brow. “Why?” she asked.

  “So I can appear normal..” She furrowed her brows. “Well, normal compared to you, of course. Humans are your race, not aliens. What if someone comes to my house and sees me? It’ll be more than obvious that I’m foreign. Plus, my equivalent look to a human is a teenager, so I could easily fit in. So I was going to ask if I could go to that learning facility with you.”

  “School?” Kyuki offered, raising a brow.

  “Yeah! School! I need to go there because.. well, that’s where you human teenagers go.. Right?” Fiz said, slumping down slightly.

  Kyuki nodded. “Well, I guess.. But.. Won’t someone notice if you don’t have a nose or ears?” She asked, pointing at the blank spot where Fiz’s nose and ears would be if she were human. “Plus, you only have four fingers on each hand.”

  “I could just say I have a really bad skin condition.”

  Kyuki thought this over. After a moment, she sighed. “Fine. But this is really risky, Fiz. Seriously.. If someone finds you out, you could be on a autopsy table and being dissected. All it takes is for someone to bump into you and your wig comes off, then-”

  Fiz smiled brightly, her fake eyes shining happily. “I’ll be fine! I promise you!”She interrupted.

  The alien proceeded to hug the human tightly, and Kyuki found it hard to breathe, being hugged so tightly. Hesitantly, she put her arms around Fiz as well, a warm smile finding her face.

  They didn’t depart for some time, and even when Kyuki’s uncle yelled for her, it simply dismissed. They didn’t depart until they heard a slam and angry stomping, heading directly towards Kyuki’s room. Before they knew it, the door was wide open, and Kyuki’s uncle was standing in the doorway, huffing in anger, his face red.

  Lots of different reactions and emotions were spread amongst the room. Fiz shared a look of confusion at the man, Kyuki looked downright terrified, and Kyuki’s uncle looked like he was about to kill someone.

  Fiz tilted her head at Uncle Chad. “Hello.” She greeted politely, but he paid her no mind. Instead, he grabbed Kyuki by the collar of her hoodie and held her up, anger taking up any space in his mind for the logical consequences that could occur.

  “YOU!” He growled, eyes narrowed at the child. “I knew it was you who stole the secret wad of cash I kept in the safe!” Kyuki struggled, trying to kick her legs and squirm out of her uncles grasp, but It was no use. Who knew her drunken uncle would be able to lift a teenager by her hoodie collar with one hand?

  “Teresa told me everything! I’m going to make sure you wish you were never born, you dastardly brat!”

  “Teresa is probably the one who stole from you!” Kyuki managed to choke out, still struggling greatly. Why wasn’t Fiz helping her?!

  That remark seemed to only anger Uncle Chad even more. The last thing Kyuki felt was hot white burning pain, and then dark eerie silence.

  Chapter Six

  “Human! Human! Huuuumaannnn..”

  A loud whining filled Kyuki’s ears, and she groaned loudly. She wanted to ask ‘what’, but her mouth hurt so much that she ditched the idea.. Not only that, but her head felt like it was going to explode..

  “Human! Hello?! It’s been too long.. No.. no.. C’mon! Answer me! Are you dead? Oh my god, please don’t be dead! What in the world would I do with your carcass?!”

  “I’m not dead!” Kyuki whined back, her throat burning as she did so. It felt like she had been screaming forever, and now her throat was hoarse..

  Kyuki didn’t need to open her eyes to know that Fiz was beaming happily. It was almost as if she could feel the alien’s aura. Before she knew it, Kyuki was being grabbed, and hugged so tightly the breath was knocked out of her.

  “Fiz- Gah- Let go you crazy alien!” Fiz giggled at Kyuki’s response, before letting her go. Kyuki took the time to finally open her eyes and realize she was in a darkly lit room that was certainly not her house. She sat up, (after she found herself lying on a couch) and stared at Fiz questioningly, who was now out of her disguise.

  “What happened?” Kyuki asked, rubbing her temples.

  Fiz’s antennae twitched. Kyuki had began to notice that they did that when Fiz was nervous. The notion filled Kyuki with a slight amount of dread.

  “Your uncle.. was being really aggressive with you.. Laying his filthy human hands on you.. Screaming at you..” Fiz attempted to explain. “Eventually he walked out of your room. And, well, you were leaking this weird red liquid out of your face and head, and you were unconscious, so I took you here to my base and gave you medicine.” She frowned. “Well, your body rejected the Salphonian medicine pretty quickly, and I was sure I killed you.” Her eyes grew sad. “You’ve been out for three days.”

  “THREE DAYS?!”Kyuki yelped, sitting all the way up now. “I’ve been out… for THREE DAYS?!”

  Fiz rolled her eyes. “Duh, I just said that. Stupid humans, never listen, do they?”

  Kyuki slowly fell back down on the couch. “My uncle.. is going… to kill me..” She breathed slowly, a cold sweat dripping down her face.

  Fiz’s face suddenly grew dark, and a sinister grin was on her face. “You don’t have to worry about him hurting you ever again, little piggy..~”

  Kyuki suddenly froze at Fiz’s words. “Fiz…”

  She grinned sheepishly. “Yes, my little human pet?”

  “You didn’t...”

  Fiz broke into a small laughter. “Of course I did! Don’t be silly!” She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture.

  Kyuki shook slightly. This couldn’t be right. “You killed him?”

  Fiz noticed the horror written on Kyuki’s face and a look of concern immediately found her.

  “What? He was hurting you, human. What was I supposed to let him do?”

  “I don’t know! Stop him, call someone; Anything other then KILLING him!” Kyuki shouted. “YOU COMMITED MURDER!” After a moment, Kyuki added, “AGAIN!”

  Fiz frowned. “But I was trying to help.”

  Kyuki couldn’t even stand
looking at the alien. “Fiz, you killed the person who had to take care of me. I’m going to get sent to a foster home now, and have to be around strangers a large fragment of my life, just because you couldn’t use your head and think! This is all your fault! All of it!”

  The alien didn’t reply. Kyuki actually thought she left the room, but when she looked at Fiz, her head was staring at the ground, her antennae flat against her head. She had a sad look plastered on her face.

  Maybe I’ll get an apology. Kyuki thought. Like that’d do anything, though. She killed my uncle.

  “Get out.”

  Kyuki snapped her head up at Fiz. “What?” She asked.

  “Get out.” Fiz repeated, her fists clutched at her side.

  Kyuki didn’t move. She just stared in disbelief at the alien. What happened to her good demeanor that she had not a minute earlier?

  Kyuki took note into what she said. Maybe it hurt Fiz’s feelings? But.. still.. Again, she killed her uncle!

  “Fiz, look, I’m sorry but you-“

  “I SAID GET OUT!” The alien screamed, her eyes flaming with fury and hatred, her fists clutched so tight to her sides now. Kyuki wasn’t sure if she was afraid or angry back.

  “Fine!” Kyuki yelled back, standing up. Her legs made a crack sound.

  The female stormed out of the house, and the moment she was out of the doorway, the door slammed shut, and she could hear an angry huff on the other side.

  “What am I going to do?” Kyuki mumbled to herself, staring at the pavement as she walked. Her uncle was dead, and she wasn’t sure if Fiz was even accurate on that. Thinking it over, it was pretty likely that he was just injured and Fiz didn’t know how to tell someone dead or alive. Either way, the alien was probably a lot stronger than a human… Anything was possible in this case.

  A few minutes later, Kyuki arrived at her house. She stared at the door, lingering. I don’t want to see his corpse.. I don’t want to see his corpse.. God, please don’t let me see his corpse… Kyuki thought desperately in her mind. Forcing herself to swallow the lump in her throat, Kyuki brushed her hand against the silver metal handle. A moment later, she opened the door. Unlocked. Someone had been there.