It's a Love Thing (40 page)

1 minute.

His eyes fly open. Neither of us move.
Neither of us speak. I don’t know what to say. His eyes search mine
and I can tell he is waiting for me to say something. His whole
body is tense and mine is as well.

Thoughts flood my mind and overwhelm
my senses. Memories of the summer battle with the facts that I know
are true. In the middle of it all are the emotions I don’t know if
I believe or not. There’s no doubt I was in love with Xeno. He had
given me the best summer of my life. He had been my best friend. He
had made me feel smart and beautiful and everything a girl should
feel when she’s in love.

He came to Earth for the sole purpose
of kidnapping somebody. He was going to hand me over to Orin and
his commander in order to have me experimented on. My father was on
the way to kidnap him to experiment on him.

He didn’t let Orin get me. He fought
Orin to protect me and risked getting caught because of it. He did
get caught, but I can see in his eyes that he doesn’t care. He is
looking to see if I’m alright. After everything that has happened,
he still cares about me.

We continue to stare at each other and
I take a deep breath. I don’t know if I still love him. I will
never know for sure if he loved me, no matter how much I want to
believe it. There is only one thing I am sure of. He saved me from
the fate of being an experiment. I owe him the same in
return.

Without a word I walk over to the
window and fling it open. A breeze from the dark night washes over
me. There are only seconds left. Turning back to the bed I see that
Xeno has already stood and is walking toward me. Silently, he
climbs up on the windowsill, sensing the urgency of the moment.
Right before he jumps, his eyes meet mine and I can feel him almost
looking into my soul. Those green eyes that laughed at me at the
beach and stared into mine during our first date. Those same eyes
that belong to the person I want the most to hold onto, but have to
let go. This is the moment I know. I love Xeno, and I will never
stop loving him.

In this brief moment there are a
million things we could say. He could try to explain, I could
accuse him, believe him, deny him, or tell him how much this summer
has meant to me. He could tell me he loves me, and I might tell him
I love him back. It doesn’t matter. There is nothing either of us
can say now, so it’s best that we leave an infinity of things
unsaid.

He and I both know that after this,
there is no more us. He’ll have to go hide somewhere or go back to
his ship or whatever it is aliens on the run do. It’s too dangerous
for us to see each other again. We both know that; we both know
that we have only one more moment.

His hand reaches up and touches my
cheek. My skin ignites and my lips begin to form words right before
he jumps out of the window. I stand for a moment, savoring the
lingering feel of his touch, feeling the unsaid words still hanging
in my mouth. Looking out the window, I can see there is no sign of
him. Xeno has vanished from my life just as suddenly as he entered
it.

The door behind me swings open and my
father enters, looking worried and stern at the same time. His eyes
land on the empty bed and then on me. Worry turns to rage as he
stares me, demanding an explanation. I’m not paying attention to
his intense glare. All of my thoughts rest on Xeno.

I should have said it. I know I’ll
never see him again. I know there will never be a chance to tell
him that I love him and tell him that . . . that I forgive him.
That I believe him. That I know he loved me back. So as my father
waits for me to say something, I decide there’s only one thing I
can say to explain myself. It’s the last thing Xeno said to me and
the thing I never got to say to him.

“
I’m sorry.”

The End

About the Author

I am a fifteen year old student from
St. Louis, Missouri. Writing and reading are two of my favorite
hobbies, along with swimming, singing nonsensical songs when I’m
bored, and trying to make people laugh. I have an amazing family
and many friends who help me in my work.

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Contents

Ye Olde Summertime of
Love

As I stared at her glimmering face, it
took all I had to just come up with a word to say.
“Hay.”

“
What
?”

“
That’s a nice bale of hay
over there, isn’t it?” I replied shyly, feeling awkward over the
subject I used to start a conversation with her. I wasn’t used to
speaking to someone so beautiful.

“
Oh, yeah, I come down here
all the time to look at this wonderful hay,” the girl jokingly
answered. “Is that why you’re here?”

“
No!” I hurried to respond.
Not sure what to say then, I answered her question, “I came to see
if you were offering lessons on horse care. I guess I just had
‘hay’ on my mind.”

She, giving me a look questioning my
sanity perhaps, replied, “Who are you?”

“
Sorry, I’m Atticus. I am
one of King’s knights. I’m pleased to meet you.”

“
Well, hello, Sir Atticus.
I’m Lyrica. I haven’t seen you before. Where are you
from?”

“
I just arrived in the
kingdom. I used to live just north of here. The people weren’t too
friendly there. I was strolling along and came upon your town and,
after showing King what skills I have, he knighted me. You’re
looking at the newest general in King’s army.” I proudly stated my
achievement to Lyrica, hoping it would impress such a
beauty.

“
You appear young to be a
general. Anyway, let’s get back to business.” Now she was looking
at me with a perplexed, almost worried, look. “So you want to learn
how to care for a horse? That’s not one of the many ‘skills’ you
have?”

“
Not yet,” I said, puffing
my chest out, trying to act like a tough guy. “But I’m hoping that
it will be soon!”

Lyrica led me around the corner of the
little stable to where the horses were, the whole time watching me
with a look of what might be interpreted as fear. “What are the
names of these sturdy looking steeds?” I asked, trying to put her
at ease.

“
That short one is Jeff,”
she pointed. “And the one missing a leg over there is named
Humphrey.” She looked puzzled at my question. “What would you like
to know how to do first?”

“
What’s your favorite thing
to do when caring for horses?” I asked, trying to start a fun
conversation with her.

“
It’s a toss-up between
everything, really. Each thing is just as bad as the other.” The
fear was beginning to take over her face again, though I couldn’t
fathom why. I thought my questions were benign enough.

I tried again. “How about we do
something you do enjoy then?”

“
I’m not too sure of you
yet, to be honest. You look friendly enough. I just can’t figure
you out.”

“
Then give me a
chance.”

“
Give yourself a chance;
don’t make me do it for you.” The fear in her face was becoming
clearer.

“
Then trust me,” I
whispered to her as I smiled gently, while slowly reaching for her
hand and going to my knee in a gesture of humility.

Lyrica hesitantly grabbed my hand.
Looking up at her perfect face, I couldn’t help but let my smile
grow. I got up and lead her quickly along through the village. We
were rushing by houses and shacks, both of us looking at each
other, laughing a bit as we almost ran into multiple strangers. I
took her to the edge of town and up a little hill.

“
This is the first place I
saw your town,” I told her as we stopped at the crest and glanced
back down on the town. “That path that I took you along was the
first path that I walked in your city. Right now, I’m happy I took
that path. It’s the first place I saw you. I knew I had to see King
first but the moment I finished with him I immediately came
back.”

Lyrica, now looking a little shy,
although some of the fear had drained out of her face, said, “You
may not be so bad after all, Mister General.”

Standing on top of the little hill
looking over the whole town and castle, we stood in silence. I took
her hand as we watch the sunset, and she allowed it. Once night
fell, I looked at her and whispered in her sweet little ear, “Guess
what happens now?”

“
I can’t . . . for some
reason . . .” she replied with the same fear as before, but much
more intense now.

“
Look down there.” I
directed her toward the back side of the hill where, one by one,
little fireflies started to float up into the sky.

“
This is amazing . . .” In
an instant, all of the fear was gone from her face.

“
Why were you so worried
before?”

“
I don’t know if I can tell
you.” She seemed to debate internally, until with much reluctance,
Lyrica finally spit out, “Okay. I’ll tell you, but you must promise
not to tell anyone!”

“
I swear not to tell a
single living person about anything you ask me not to. I’ll take
whatever you’re about to tell me to the grave.”

“
. . . Okay . . . I can see
. . .” Lyrica seemed hesitant to say, “Time.”

“
You can what?” I responded
in confusion.

“
I can see the recent past
and near future of people I’m near.”

“
So what number am I going
to say in four seconds?” I tested.

“
I can’t tell!” Lyrica
shouted in response. “For some reason, I can’t tell anything about
you! You’re a complete mystery to me!”

“
How can you do
that?”

She spoke quietly, “I don’t know,
though there are others similar to me. I actually work as part of a
secret defense council for King.”

“
. . . There are others
like you as well?” I asked in such disbelief I fear I sounded like
a fool.

“
Yes, the other main member
of the council can turn invisible and communicate with
thought.”

“
How long have you been
able to see people’s lives?”

“
As long as I can remember
I’ve been seeing things that are about to happen to me.”

“
Well, can you see this?” I
gently spoke as I leaned in and kissed her.