by Arthurs, Nia
As a victim of fermented ale myself, I knew how much one could lose their mind to the liquid devil.
“I see you’re busy,” I quipped. “I’ll be on my way.”
“You should come in!” said the first woman.
Tess and I shook our heads at the same time. The women ignored us.
“We ordered fried chicken and chop suey. It’s good!” The second woman tempted.
“Thank you, ladies, but I’m not interested.”
“Oh, don’t be silly!”
Before I knew it, the girls were pulling on my arms and tugging me inside.
“Wait, guys!” Tess protested.
I shot her a helpless look, but the women slammed the door, locking her outside and blocking all eye contact.
Their fingernails dug into my arms. I could easily disappear, but using my abilities in front of a gaggle of women was not ideal.
I held still until the women let me go. Their hands were like bands of steel. I smoothed the wrinkled sleeves of my shirt while I subtly returned the flow of blood to my wrists.
When I looked up, I realized that the room was unnaturally quiet. My gaze scanned the four corners of the living room.
As one, each lady had her eyes fixed upon me. No one moved. No one even breathed. My ears picked up the rush of heartbeats.
I cleared my throat and waved hello, hoping to inspire calmness and peace. Instead, a dark-skinned woman with short black hair threatened to topple to the ground.
Her arms pin wheeled at her sides and she righted herself just before falling flat on her face. The woman shoved the hair out of her face.
I watched her, waiting for her to say something.
“What a beautiful stripper!” she yelled.
I was visibly shocked. In my five hundred years of life I had been called many things––sorcerer, wizard, fraud.
‘Stripper’ was a first.
“Riley!” Tess groaned. “He’s not a stripper. He’s my neighbor.”
“Oooh,” the women cooed as one.
I took a step backward, realizing that I was out of my element. I needed to get out. Now.
Before I could swivel fully toward the door, Tess’s dog rushed my foot.
Glad to see a friendly–not crazy–face, I stooped down to one knee and rubbed the dog’s neck. He preened in response.
Dogs had been a constant comfort during my tenure on this star. They had no expectations and asked no questions.
“What’s he doing here then?” the woman who had mistaken me for a stripper demanded.
“He’s here to hang with us!”
That comment came from a girl that I had yet to be introduced to.
“No, I’m really not––”
“He’s not,” Tess stalked over to me and grabbed my arm.
She jerked the limb and tugged me behind her like a mama bear gone wild. I cowered behind her fierce expression and aggressive stance.
“Are you sure he’s not a stripper?” asked the girl on the sofa handle.
I frowned. Did these women not understand the meaning of ‘politeness’?
What was the proper human protocol in a situation like this?
In the Joseon era, leaving a room without being dismissed was a great dishonor.
Though I had travelled many place, the lessons I had learned in that period remained. I could not simply walk out.
While the women I giggled, I debated what to do.
“Alright, that’s enough!” Tess Hardey stomped her foot.
Every eye turned toward the petite woman who was doing her best to look taller than she was.
“I’m sorry, ladies. My neighbor is busy tonight.” Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me outside.
The women groaned.
I looked down. All I could see was the top of Tess Hardey’s head, but I did not need to see her face.
The determination in her grip was probably as intense as her expression.
I opened my mouth to ask her to let me go when the thunderous sound of footsteps roared behind us.
I glanced backward and was stunned to find the women rushing the front door. Their laughter and quiet banter balled up in a cloud of ‘he’s cute’ and ‘where can I get me one’.
I kept Tess’s hand in mine and used her as a shield until we had passed through her gate. Thankfully, the women stopped there.
“Goodnight, ladies.” I nodded at them from a safe distance away.
“Bye!”
“See you!”
I expected Tess Hardey to release me. Her friends remained behind the chain link fence separating our yards.
Though they pulled the links and chattered like children, they no longer posed a threat to me.
Instead, she dragged me directly in front of my door. With labored breath, Tess eyed me.
“I’m so sorry about them.”
I tilted my head and listened to the beating of her heart. Unlike her friends, Tess’s heartbeat was running at a normal rate.
Did I not affect her?
I placed a hand over my own heart. The thudding pulse rocked against my fingertips. Her brown eyes fixed on mine, beautiful and frank.
The ends of her curly hair lifted in the breeze and tickled the front of her face, alighting on her nose.
When Tess moved her hand to brush the tendril away, it shifted on its own. The long brown strand tucked itself behind her ear.
I glanced down and realized that my abilities had worked without my consent. I had lost control. Warning bells clanged in my ears.
Struggling to regain my stoic demeanor I spoke to her in a gruff voice.
“Just try to keep it down.”
Quickly, before I subconsciously lifted her entire body off the ground or revealed my powers in some other way, I darted into my house and slammed the door.
I stuffed my hands into my pockets to quell their mutiny.
“Show’s over, guys!” Tess yelled outside.
The women’s voice faded. I peeked through the curtains just to be sure they had left.
Indeed, the group had disappeared behind Tess’s front door. I sighed and stared again at my hands.
Since the turn of the year, my abilities had become sporadic. Objects flew faster or slower than I anticipated. I teleported in the opposite direction than I intended.
The side effect of my alien DNA and my human body at war was becoming more and more apparent.
Was my reaction to Tess Hardey another symptom or a true indication of my heart?
The answer was too frightening to consider.
Chapter 12
I fully intended to ignore Tess Hardey for the rest of my days. I wrote her from my mind. Determined in my heart to stare straight ahead when she passed by as I had been doing for the past week.
It was a clear mission.
Ten minutes after my brave declaration, I heard the one word that changed everything.
“Paul hasn’t contacted me…”
My sensitive ears picked up the conversation between my neighbor and her … boisterous friend.
“Riley!” Tess said.
“What?”
“Paul is dead.”
I was eavesdropping on an emotional moment, but I could not stop even if I wanted to.
As the girls cried, I paced to the window. Thoughts spun around in my head and I strained to hold on to one.
Because of my human body’s crazy reaction to Tess Hardey, I had lost sight of her as a piece to the puzzle.
Tess was a prime witness to Paul’s murder.
Come to think of it, I had neither seen nor heard signs of a police investigation.
It had been over seven days. No police officer had visited Tess Hardey nor had any announcements been posted on the news.
The silence was strange. Belize was not as sophisticated a city as I was used to. The people were friendly and warm. The sun was always shining. And the tropical plants leant to a laidback air.
But the police department had to be capable of a simp
le investigation. Even though Mrs. Sterm hid in the States, Paul Sterm should have been reported missing by now.
In the distance, I heard a key slide into a lock. I rushed to the window and ducked to keep out of sight.
Tess and her friend Riley strolled out of the house. I watched their slow trek to Tess’s car. Where were they going at this hour?
The sound of the engine turning over resounded in the night. Oreo barked, enthusiastically bidding his owner good bye.
I watched the trunk of the small blue car head down the street.
Don’t do it, River.
I took a step forward.
Don’t.
I stepped back and headed toward my bedroom. Sleep. I needed sleep.
But what if Tess was in danger?
She’s not your problem.
In the distance, car tires swept against concrete. The hushed cadence of quiet conversation echoed in the cab of a truck.
Tess’s truck.
I could catch up to her now if I wanted. Fisting my hands, I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.
Three seconds later, I stood on a tall balcony overlooking the quiet Belizean streets. An elm tree spread its leaves like a thick coat of hair.
I relied on my auditory senses to track the direction of Tess’s car. The click of an indicator rang like a gun in my head.
She was turning left.
I waited a spell and then followed after her, appearing on a flat rooftop this time. Clotheslines strung behind and in front held me in place.
The scent of laundry detergent filled the air though the lines were bare. I held the string in my hands as I leaned forward. The thick material cut against my palm.
“Turn here,” Riley directed.
Could it be? Were the girls heading for the Sterm’s? Did Tess know something about that night?
I teleported to the very place where Mrs. Sterm had wept in my arms when she heard her son was dead.
The trunk was thick and strong. I pressed my hand against its smooth bark and spied on the women across the street.
“It’s dark,” Tess said.
“Maybe she’s sleeping.”
“Mrs. Sterm?”
I spied the utilities notice in the door the very same moment that Tess did. The white paper reminded me that I needed to take care of those bills.
“Riley,” Tess drew her friend near. “Can you take that out?”
The girls perused the bill. I waited impatiently for them to set it away. I would need to get to that sheet so I could pay it.
Whether or not it had worked out in the past, I always did my best to keep my promises.
Always.
I leaned against the tree and ran a hand through my hair.
Mrs. Sterm was gone. Short of the girls breaking in to check on the elderly woman there was nothing they could do here tonight.
I prepared to teleport back home when I heard the mechanical snap of a lock clicking into place.
It couldn’t be…
I peered past the tree trunk to find Tess and Riley opening the front door and sneaking in.
Of all the hair-brained, foolish things…
My plan to step out of my hiding place and reveal myself was cut short when a small, elderly woman stalked up the Sterm’s verandah.
I knew the exact moment the woman ran into Riley and Tess. The screams were loud enough to wake the neighborhood. It set several dogs to barking.
I covered my mouth, muffling my laughter. The girls were in no sort of danger, but it was amusing to hear their fright.
“Hey, hey!” the woman in the doorway limped into the house. “Shut your pie-holes!”
I would have paid a hefty sum to see Tess Hardey’s face when she realized that the person who had startled her was a feeble, old woman.
The screaming ended abruptly. The trio conversed for a bit and then they exited the Sterm house. I took the opportunity to dart across the street and retrieve the bill that Tess had held earlier.
I strolled into the house, but stopped short when I spotted the chaos around me. Documents littered every surface of the living room, dining room and kitchen.
I stooped to one knee and observed the pages. They were summaries of Paul’s research.
The muscles in my jaw bunched.
Was Paul’s murder somehow connected to me? Had the meteorologist shared my secret with someone?
I longed to dwell on the possibility, but a solid heartbeat disturbed the quiet. I tilted my head and closed my eyes, focusing on the sound.
Ka-Thump… ka-thump.
The slow, steady pace spoke of someone with control and confidence. I glanced at my watch, sensing that it would not be prudent to meet the lurker face-to-face.
I teleported to my hiding place beneath the tree on the opposite side of the street. In the darkness, I could make out a tall, broad-shouldered figure slinking in the shadows.
The man wore a black shirt and heavy black jeans. The fabric rustled as he walked around Tess’s car. He took pictures and tapped something on his phone.
I ached to confront him, but held myself steady. Whoever he was, I couldn’t reveal my involvement yet.
If Paul had spoken of my true origins, a whole door of problems had opened up. I would need a new name and a new identity. It would be a headache.
The stranger looked over his shoulder. I dived behind a tree, listening to the steady pace of his heart. I had not been spotted.
In the silence, the man’s retreating footsteps reverberated against the pavement. I peeked past the tree trunk and stared at his back.
There was possibility that someone had discovered my secret. Though I could be wrong, I would rather err on the side of caution. To uncover the truth I needed more evidence.
With one last look at the brightly lit window of the elderly woman’s home, I followed the suspicious stranger.
He turned down a corner and got into a boxy, black SUV. I hid behind a large fence and took note of the digits.
BZ-20223
The engine started with a grumble. Tires squealed against the pavement as the car shot down the road.
I stepped out of my hiding place and stared after the vehicle as it faded into the distance. The facts simply were not adding up.
Paul Sterm was murdered last Friday.
Tess Hardey may have seen or heard the true intentions behind the killing. She was linked to Paul as a witness to the murder and an associate to the thugs who carried out the order.
The documents strewn all along the Sterm house linked Paul’s murder to his study of my star and the meteor shower that brought my colleagues to this planet every five hundred years.
The man in the SUV and the man slinking around the house tonight could be the same.
I kicked my foot against the pavement. When had things become so complicated?
“What did you do, Paul,” I whispered.
The night air responded by rushing through the tree leaves. The whistling sound screamed an answer that I could not distinguish.
The Caribbean Sea thrashed its outrage and dogs barked in agreement. Things were still unclear, but I doubted they would remain so.
The truth had an uncanny way of coming to the light.
“Thanks for the tea, Pearl!” I recognized Tess’s voice.
Unaware of the cloak and dagger maneuvers of this night, she seemed upbeat and hopeful. I recalled the man’s interest in her car.
Tess was in danger.
Though I had vowed to leave her be, the least I could do was see her safely home one last time.
The group shuffled toward the sidewalk. The elderly woman waved goodbye and Tess turned her head in my direction.
I raced away, seconds before her eyes met mine. I squeezed my eyes shut and hit the back of my head against the concrete wall of the neighboring house.
That was close. If Tess had seen me, there would have been a load of questions to evade.
Her involvement in Paul’s murder had not been forgotten. T
he tortured moans that she cried during her nightmares told me so.
It wouldn’t take much for the intelligent woman to become suspicious of me. I had to make sure that Tess never had cause to link me to Paul Sterm in any way.
The small SUV moved down the street. Black shadows swallowed the vehicle until it was out of my sight.
I sighed. Tess was more embroiled in this than I had first anticipated. What would I do if she was somehow related to the conspiracy?
“Excuse me, is someone there?”
I froze. The elderly woman who had caught Tess and Riley snooping in the Sterm place neared my hiding spot.
I closed my eyes and pictured my living room. A rush of wind surrounded me, but when my vision cleared I was far from home.
I glanced down. The roughly hewn stone steps of a Mayan mountain met my gaze. I jogged to the edge of the flat plateau.
All around the green lawn of a Mayan site glittered in the moonlight. Stone structures similar to the ruin I stood on rose like sentinels in the night.
I kicked at the gravel. My abilities were out of whack, but they had seldom been so random. I had never visited this Mayan site before.
How on earth had I made the jump from downtown Belize City to a Belizean attraction?
“Just try again,” I whispered to the still air.
This time when I teleported, I landed on the soft carpet of my hall. I flopped into the sofa and held an arm over my eyes.
Tonight’s near discovery by both Tess and the old woman, the suspicious man who tailed Tess’s car, and the jump gone wrong weighed me down.
My answers lay somewhere out of this world. I needed to find Paul’s coordinates soon. The weaker my human body grew, the worse my abilities would perform.
Even if someone had learned of my true origins, I would be unable to defend myself if I couldn’t rely on my powers.
I shook my head and headed for the backroom to lug my telescope into the yard.
I wanted to go home and looking up at the sky was the closest I could get for now.
Chapter 13
The four spokes of the telescope burrowed into the thick, dark earth. I positioned the device upward, tilting it at an angle so I didn’t have to stoop too far.
Bright stars twinkled overhead, especially cheery against the black pattern of the sky. I pressed my face to the eyepiece and adjusted the focus.
