It was a stormy night in early May of 2009. The forecast for the day was a moderate chance of rain that started around noon and was expected to let up just before seven o' clock. The rain continued, and even intensified by the time it turned seven-thirty. The clouds over Nasseu grew and darkened as the crack of thunder echoed across the town. The speed that the rain fell was so much that hardly anybody was on the road. It had been coming down so hard that the roof of any car could be mistaken for gunfire.
Out on I-95 the rain seemed to bounce off of the pavement and into the air only to fall back onto the ground. Any cars that would drive on the road as it was now were risking losing their ride to the water and crashing into one of the side railings. Fortunately, the general populace was smart enough to avoid the highways of Maine if at all possible normally, so when intense rains fell down it only made the choice that much easier.
Not every car was off the highway on that night—far from it. A red car was barreling down I-95 all by its lonesome which was definitely more than rare for the season. The car was a one-of-a-kind ZX Hybrid that came built with a new set of wheels that fit to any groove and bump in the road—ensuring the smoothest of rides no matter what lay ahead. In the backseat of the Hybrid sat the sleeping infant that would—in approximately an hour and a half arrive on the doorstep of the unfortunate couple who happened to live only a block and a half away from the family who would eventually adopt that very child.
Right now, the child slumbered while the figure behind the wheel laid back in its seat and grasped the wheel with a four-toed paw. It wasn't really much of a hand that clasped the wheel tight…its scaly texture gripped tight against the wheel. It wasn't any lizard that was naturally born on Earth; it was a pure white form, and the bumpy rough texture of the skin was more of an approximation for what the shape should feel like. The figure was approximately human-sized and normally traveled through shadows. It was the superior method of travel compared to driving down a flood path, but this was the sacrifice that had to be made when it concerned the child. She was human, so she couldn't travel the same way that he could.
Ormus had plenty of important things it could have been doing at that exact time. He didn't expect he'd end up here transporting the child...part of him hoped that one of the others would have taken up the task. His beady eyes crossed the child once in the rear-view mirror. The child made a small sound as she exhaled. It was so strange to him how small she was. He had to force himself to look at the road again. He could have stared at her forever.
The others didn't understand what made the child so special. He was sure Sakonna would have considered a single star in a sky full of a million of them. She wasn't much into specifics over large, sweeping ideas. Sakonna always looked at the bigger picture. In that way she was very much like Father.
The only one that was like him was Issachar, but he feared that he might be too far onto that path. He always viewed Issachar like a younger brother. He was sure that he was viewed much the same by Sakonna, but things were different between brothers. He saw the best of himself in Issachar, but he also saw the worst of himself magnified. He cared too much about the people of this planet. He saw that in this child…but he couldn't allow himself to see it in anybody else. They came to this planet. If he wanted to care about these people he wouldn't have come. It was as simple as that. There was a time when even Father had cared for this place.
He birthed the weapon that would harm him significantly—almost kill him. He had cared…but then he saw just how harmful that these people were underneath the flesh. He saw how poisonous their light was, and he nearly died for it. Only by hiding out on their planet was he able to recover and help us cross over. I came a few hundred years after Sakonna. The Eye would tell you differently, I'm sure of it, but do you really believe that, anyway? People write falsehoods all the time.
Father wrote the book through the Arctic Employee's hand. It's a special talent of ours. Sometimes we speak through others, and sometimes we walk through others. We cannot fit into human bodies for long, however. We don't have nearly enough energy to sustain them. That is why we have come to this planet…we need more energy.
Sakonna is…difficult. She is almost comparable to a human politician. She's the oldest, so she's got the closest bond with Father. She shares his views the most, and most importantly she tends to his side most of the time. She hasn't gotten to experience much outside of Father's work. I don't even think she's been having the dreams. At least, if she does, she doesn't tell.
When the ZX Hybrid finally made it to its destination he placed his odd toes over the gear shaft as a human would and set the car in park. Ormus slipped through the door and landed on his feet outside the driver side door. He stood tall—about seven feet tall total with long thin legs that branched at the ground like a shadow. He walked to the back door and opened it up, pulling out the sleeping child, shielding her head with his extended toes so that the rain didn't wake her.
Behind him a flash of lightning screamed across the sky illuminating everything around him, and without a second thought he extended his arm out in the direction of the flash and the light dimmed immediately. He lowered his arm and let the light spill into the ground where it formed into a circle of pure white.
Ormus turned back toward the large house he had parked in front of and walked slowly toward the front steps. Thankfully, the area right outside had been shaded from the rain, so when he sat her down she was dry, still sleeping soundlessly. He clicked the doorbell and walks off of the front porch. As soon as one of his legs touches the white puddle he sinks deep inside. He reached out and touched the back of the ZX Hybrid with his right paw and it too began to get sucked into the puddle. In another moment they were both gone, and the front door to the house opened.
~…~
Tyson woke up thirteen years later to the sound of his fan shorting out. It hadn't happened in quite some time so he assumed that the issue had been fixed, but obviously it didn't seem that was the case. He hated lying down without his fan going—not only to help suppress the hot August heat, but also because the sound helped him focus on falling asleep. He always had the hardest time falling asleep because his mind was always so active. He couldn't stop thinking about school or Carleigh or any of it unless he had a constant source of quiet noise to carry his mind away from consciousness.
He yawned once and slowly sat up, reaching his left arm behind his head and began to stretch it. On the desk opposite his bed his fan was stuck between two oscillating points and the blades were only slowly spinning as if trying for dear life to keep moving.
He got up out of his bed and stood. He stretched and cracked his back, releasing the tension built up through the night and sighed a sound of relief. He took a few steps over to the fan and bent down to look at it. It was most likely Carlos's doing. They were playing video games a few weeks back in his room. Carlos isn't one to sit still. When they played he took all the energy in the room and transferred it to his legs. That guy couldn't sit calm if you paid him.
They were playing a game Carlos brought over. It was a competitive multiplayer game because those were the only kinds of games Carlos owned. In it you fought king of the hill style on floating platforms. Winner was whoever could remain on the platforms and not get smashed off the side. Carlos may have been the game's owner, but his inability to sit still cost him a lot of focus, so it was Tyson who typically ended up the victor in the end.
Sure enough, Tyson had won, he taunted Carlos just to rub salt in the wound, and set his controller down, laughing. Carlos dived for him with an attempt at saying "Come on! No fair! That's bullshit!" It all came out at once and without any pause so it sounded like "comonofaithasbulshit!"
Tyson backed up out of the way and Carlos managed to slam into the desk which bumped the fan off of the top and it crashed to the ground. It still seemed to turn on so it was tossed back up without a care. Now he wished more than anything that he just replaced the damn thing already.
He sighed, banging his hand against it once, twice, and then the third time it sputtered back to normal speed. It blew chilled air into his face, and he smiled. He looked over to his alarm clock and saw that it was 6:22 in the morning. Great, can't even go back to sleep, stupid thing goes off in eight minutes anyway.
He stretched once more and walked over to his dresser, got himself dressed, and then stopped in his room a moment longer. He took in a deep breath and shook his head before walking over to his desk and pulling the bottom drawer open. There were some magazines stacked inside which he grabbed by the handful and placed them on the top of his desk. He then put both of his hands inside the empty drawer and removed the panel that had been hiding something underneath. Inside was an 8.5 inch pocket knife, tucked tidily away in a leather sheath. He stuck it in his back pocket and tucked it underneath his shirt.
His phone vibrated on the night table beside his bed. He made his way over to it and swiped it open.
Carleigh: Hey, I know it's early and I don't want to wake you, but I know I'll forget if I don't ask you now. Can you wear something like…nicer to my party today? My friends are going to be there and I don't want them thinking the wrong thing about you. Text me when you get up, I love you xoxo
He looked at it with despondency stared at it for a moment longer. The fan behind him started to sputter again and he looked at it through the corner of his eyes.
Tyson: Yeah. That's fine…
He turned off the display and tossed the phone onto the bed. It vibrated again, but he didn't look at it. He turned slowly and sent his fist slamming hard into the fan and sent it into the wall where the whole thing moved for the last time. He shook his head and walked out of his room, closing the door and leaving his phone behind, still vibrating.
Carleigh: Listen, I'm sorry. I love you, you know that right? It's just…weird. Not for me, for them, and I just don't want things to be tense. You understand, right?
Carleigh: Hello?
Carleigh: Are you…mad at me?
*Missed Call from Carleigh Heights*
Carleigh: I'm sorry. I've told you I'm sorry a thousand times that that won't happen again. Please just answer me.
*Missed Call from Carleigh Heights*
Carleigh: Tyson.
Carleigh: Tyson…
*Missed Call from Carleigh Heights*
Carleigh: Answer your phone! God damn it. I'm worried. Don't do anything dumb.