Going Home
The bright light flooded into John's bedroom. His eyes fluttered, and then he snapped awake. He shielded his eyes against the harsh light when he noticed two figures standing on either side of his bed. As they reached for him, John noticed their peculiar features: their green pallor, tri-digit hands, and their elongated, pitch-black eyes.
Aliens.
"We're coming, Kaban." Their mouths did not move, but John was able to understand them. Their voices echoed in his head, filling his mind with their thoughts. "We're coming back for you."
John screamed-
And woke himself up. He sat up in his bed and looked around. His bedroom was dark. No aliens were reaching out to him. It was only a dream.
He fell back into the bed. "I think this job is getting to me," he said aloud. "I'm seeing little green men in my dreams."
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The next morning, John drove to Nick's and together they drove to work.
"And they had three fingers and each hand?" Nick asked his friends.
"Yeah, and green skin," John assured him.
"You have the weirdest dreams, John. Remember the one with Batman and the tutu?"
"Don't remind me!"
"Do you think it's because of the case?" Nick asked.
"It might be. All these weirdoes claiming to see bright lights in the sky."
They pulled into the security check of Central Intelligence. The guard peered into the car and recognized the friends. "Good morning Captain Goddard. Captain Mitchell." The guard pushed the clearance button, and they waved as they drove by.
After John parked the car, he and Nick walked to the elevator and inserted their security cards into the slot. The light turned green and the elevator doors opened.
"These security cards are a joke. What good are they?" Nick said as he pressed the button for the 14th floor. "You'd think that if we made it this far that we'd be us. We'd be safe."
"Well, they have to be certain," John replied. "The powers that be are probably paranoid as all Hades."
"They probably see little green men in their dreams too."
"Shut up, man!"
They exited the elevator at their floor and headed toward their own offices. Just as John sat down at his desk, someone knocked at his door. "Come in," he called.
"Captain Goddard," a female voice sounded as she opened the door. John recognized the woman as his boss' blond secretary. She was nice, but a little too quiet, as if she was worried about a secret.
"What can I do for you, Sabella?"
"He wants to know how the Greensburg case is going." She smiled at John, but the grin was faint.
John knew she was referring to his boss. "Tell him that I'm almost through. Just have some loose ends to tie up. A couple more interviews."
Sabella turned to leave, but stopped and about-faced. "Are you really going to Greensburg?" She walked toward the John as he nodded. "Can I go with you?"
John was a little taken aback, but he did not see a problem with it. "If he says it's okay."
Sabella gave a happy little squeak, a little on the geeky side, but she quickly regained her composure. "I'll ask him."
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An hour later, John and Sabella were on the road driving to Greensburg. The slight smile on her face made John think that she was overjoyed to be out of the office, and he could not help but agree.
He was thinking about what sort of questions to ask his target family when blaring horns snapped him to his senses. He had fallen asleep at the wheel and moved into the left lane. He quickly jerked the wheel and pulled into the correct lane. "Are you okay?" he asked, glancing at Sabella.
She was as white as a ghost. "I was about to ask the same thing."
"Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night," he explained. "Bad dream."
"What sort of bad dream?"
"Just the case getting to me. Aliens reaching for me, calling out."
Sabella looked shocked, but she soon calmed down. "How bizarre."
"Yeah, well. Go figure."
"So, Mister Mysterious," Sabella started to get comfortable with John. "Beside you weird dreams, what else should we know about you?"
"Well, I was found when I was about 2…"
"Found?"
"Yeah, my parents abandoned me, and the Goddard family found me along the road by their house. They adopted me, so I grew up with two older brothers. Unfortunately, they died before I could graduate. After high school, I went to college in New York, majored in criminal investigation but lacked the qualifications to join the police force. So I joined the CIAI when I was 26."
"That's so creepy."
"What is?"
"I'm an orphan, too," Sabella informed him. "But I knew my parents. They died in a crash."
"I'm sorry. A car crash is such a tragedy."
"Yeah," she said in a faraway voice. "A car crash."
John stared down the road. "There," he pointed. "The Greensburg exit."
He pulled off the highway and into the driveway of a little mom-and-pop diner. John chucked to himself when he saw the plastic spaceship "crashing" into the building.
"Greensburg: The Northeast's Roswell." Sabella must have noticed the ship as well. "Most sightings here than most."
"Just more crazies to question." John killed the engine, and they both exited the car.
After John knocked on the door, an elderly woman opened the door--dressed in metallic silver and antennae on her head.
"Yeah, what do you want?" she asked the duo. "We're closed."
"Um, are you Beatrice Mason?" John questioned.
"Depends. Who's askin'?"
"My name is Captain John Goddard of the CIAI. This is Sabella Garrett."
"CIAI?"
Sabella piped up. "Central Intelligence of Alien Investigation."
Beatrice's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Come in, come in." She held open the door for both of them, looking around to see if they were being watched.
The inside of the diner was just as eccentric as the owner. Chrome counters and stools were crammed into the small room.
"Sit. Sit," Beatrice commanded, while following her own demand. "Let me tell you what happened."
It was two hours before John and Sabella were allowed to leave. Beatrice slammed the door behind them.
"The point of these interviews isn't to tell the person that he or she is crazy!" John yelled at Sabella.
"I'm sorry," she rebuffed. "But please, red plashing lights on a flying saucer? If it looks like a Frisbee and flies like a Frisbee, it's a Frisbee."
"Look," John started to yell at her again, but a wave of pain stopped him. He fell to the ground, cringing in agony, as it felt like something was crushing his heart from the inside.
"John!" Sabella screamed, rushing to his side.
John was grasping for breath now. 'I'm too young for a heart attack,' he kept thinking. 'Too young for this.'
As he slowly faded into blackness, he faintly heard Sabella talking to him. "I have to get you away from here. The pulse is too strong for you." But he couldn't understand the words.
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John awoke in his bed, with Sabella sitting beside him. "Good morning, sunshine," she mocked as he struggled to sit up.
"What happened?" he asked, reaching for a glass of water that Sabella had placed on the nightstand.
Sabella's face grew somber. "Do you want the truth or a lie?"
'Oh, God. I did have a heart attack,' he thought. "The truth," he told her.
She took a deep breath to prepare herself. "Your body reacted to the pulse of the crash, um, residue I think is the best word."
"Okay, I must have hit my head when I collapsed because I barely understood any of that. What's 'crash residue'? What are you talking about?"
"Well, let's start with this: you need to realize that you're not human."
"What?"
"You're not even of this solar system. You and I are from…another place."
"You're just as bad as the other crazies!" He started to get out of bed, but Sabella stopped him.
"The pain you felt is only apparent to our kind. It's kind of like how ants follow a trail. It's a signal left by where a ship crashed."
John stopped trying to leave and finally listened to Sabella.
"I felt it too, but I'm used to it. The signal was too strong for your first time."
"Okay, so I'm an alien?" John asked. "How'd I get here?"
"Twenty five years ago, your family had been assigned as science scouts. They had traveled here to explore, but when they had to leave, you had wandered off. So, they had to abandon you."
"And you?"
"My father, mother, and I were sent here to rescue you. Our ship crashed though, and my parents died." Sabella was close to tears. "Since then, I've watched over you, making sure we didn't fail in our mission."
"How long has that been?" John queried.
"About eleven years. It takes about that long to travel from our world to this one."
"Okay Miss I-Have-An-Answer-To-Everything, I look very human, I bleed red blood, and I don't think that any woman I've slept with has had a kid with two heads or green skin. Explain that."
"In Earth's atmosphere, we look human. It isn't until we get away from Earth that we look like the real us."
John could not handle it. He was glad that he was sitting down, otherwise he would have fainted.
Sabella stood up. "I know this is a lot to take in. I'll leave you alone."
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Ring.
"Hello?"
The person on the other side of the line took a deep breath. Then, he spoke, "Nick?"
"Who is this?"
"Nick, I need to talk to you. Can you come over?"
"John, is that you?"
"Please come over."
Click.
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Nick sped over to John's. He barged through the door and into John's bedroom. "John! Where are you? What's wrong?"
John was sitting up in the middle of the bed with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He stared blankly at the wall.
"John?" Nick walked up to his friend, trying to gain John's glance. Finally, John looked straight at Nick.
"It wasn't a dream."
"John, what are you talking about?"
"It was a vision. A message. My…family…is coming for me."
"What are you saying!? Your family? This case is getting to you too much. You need a vacation."
"No, I don't. Look, I know it sounds weird, but it's true."
"You're insane!"
"No I'm NOT!" Right as John said that, a shower of green sparks flew from John's hand straight at Nick. Nick barely ducked in time before the sparks flew overhead--and set the lampshade on fire.
"Oh my God," they said in unison.
"Man, I'm sorry. I didn't know…" John could not find the right words.
"You weren't lying." Nick looked like a deer caught in the headlight of an oncoming car. "You really are an…an…"
"Alien."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Nick was crushed. "I mean, I'm your best friend and…"
John spoke up in his defense. "I just found out. Today. As in an hour ago."
"Oh."
"Look, they're coming to bring me home, wherever that is. I had been left here by mistake."
"Who knows about this?"
"Just you, me and Sabella."
"Sabella? How does she know?"
"Because she's like me. She told me." John looked intently at his friend. "Nick, you can't tell anyone! They might come after me."
"John, listen to yourself! I mean, you and me. We are the 'they!'"
"Calm down, man."
"Okay, okay." Nick started walking out the door. "I need to think on this. I'll see you at work tomorrow. Don't worry about giving me a ride."
John watched Nick leave the bedroom and walk out the door. "Damn it!" He punched his pillow.
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The next morning, John left his home early so that he could find Sabella and talk to her. When he found her, John grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty conference room.
"John, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Why didn't you tell me about the spark thing?"
"What spark thing?"
"The green sparks that, like, poofed from my hand? I nearly took Nick's head off!"
Sabella went deep in thought. "The…spark…thing?" Then, it hit her. "Oh my gosh." She pointed her palm at one of the chairs. A green glow surrounded her hand and the chair started to smoke. She put her hand down seconds before the chair caught fire.
She turned to John. "That means they're almost here. We have to get back to Greensburg."
Together they left the conference room--and right into a group of their fellow employees. Nick stood in the front of the group.
"I told you they were in there together," Nick said to the group. "They're probably planning to take over Earth."
"Nick, what are you doing?" John asked.
"Sorry John, but we can't allow you to threaten our planet. We might be friends, but my world comes first."
"John, run!" Sabella screamed. She pointed her hand at the oncoming riot and a ring of fire surrounded them.
The couple ran out of the building and over to John's car. "Hurry!" Sabella yelled. "That fire won't stop them for long!"
They peeled out of the parking garage and toward the highway. As they did, they quickly looked back and saw everyone else taking after them. John hit the gas so that they sped down the highway.
"Why did you tell Nick?" Sabella asked.
"I thought I could trust him," John answered. "Plus, I nearly killed him with those sparks. Why are we going back to Greensburg?"
"That's where we always land," she explained. "It's kind of like a beacon."
"So Beatrice Mason had seen a UFO?" he asked.
"No, she was crazy. We don't fly in Frisbees."
"Oh."
John looked in the rearview mirror. "Oh crap! They're gaining!"
"Floor it!"
They sped up and almost missed the Greensburg exit. John pulled a hard right and felt the right side tires lift from the ground. They quickly slammed back to the street and they headed for the field.
As they drove up, John noticed flashing bright lights behind some trees. He turned the car and went off road, scattering dust as he did.
"They're catching up!" Sabella yelled. "Go faster!"
"I can't!"
After the longest five seconds of John's life, they crashed through the trees-- and almost rammed into the side of a huge metallic orb. He slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of the orb.
The two of them jumped out of the car. Outside of the orb stood a man and a woman, both remarkably resembling John. They both stepped forward and embraced John.
"We finally have you back," the woman said. "Our dear, dear Kaban."
'Their Kaban?' John thought. 'These are my real parents?'
"I'm sorry to interrupt this family reunion," Sabella stated. "But we have company."
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The angry mob soon drove over the field and barged through the trees. The squeals of brakes sounded when they saw the orb and the four "people" standing in front of it, facing them.
Nick jumped out of his car, and the others followed his lead. They all walked toward the quartet, some carrying baseball bats or wrenches that they had stowed in their cars.
Nick stood facing John. "Come on, John," he said. "What makes you think that we're just gonna let you and your so-called family leave?"
"Back off, Nick." John stood his ground. "You have no right to get involved in this."
"It's my job, John! It's our job. I have every right."
The mob started getting restless, and Nick noticed.
"Look, these people are out for blood. Your blood. Either you all come with us calmly and peacefully, or we'll take you kicking and screaming. Your choice."
John looked at Sabella, and she nodded. He turned back to Nick. "We're leaving. Now."
Right as he said that, the people behind Nick broke into a run straight for them. Just before they reached the four, John and the other three raised hands, palms facing the oncoming mob. A bright green flash covered the entire clearing, so bright that John had to shut his eyes to block its intensity. When the light faded, John opened his eyes and saw the entire mob sprawled all over the area.
"Oh God, did we just kill them all?" John asked.
Sabella smiled. "No, they're just unconscious. They'll wake up after we're gone."
"Oh, okay."
Sabella turned to the older man. "Dalo, is the ship running?"
He faced her. "No, but it will be."
As the four of them turned to enter the ship, they didn't notice Nick start to get up…until he drew his gun and staggered toward the group. John saw Nick's shadow pass over him and quickly spun around.
"No!!" he screamed, grabbing the attention of the others. Nick aimed the gun, and John felt his eyes start to burn. Sabella and John's family watched in surprise as John's body became totally covered with the green glow, and his eyes turned an even brighter green. Just as Nick's finger started to tighten around the trigger, bolts of green lightning shot from John's eyes, hitting the gunman. Nick tremored as the electricity surged through him. Finally, he stopped shaking and fell to the ground, burnt beyond recognition. John's eyes changed back to normal, and he went to stand over by his former friend. Sabella went to be next to him.
"Well, that was new," she said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"The lightning. I've never seen any of our kind do that before."
John knelt down beside Nick's body. Next to Nick's charred arm lay a small white card. John picked it up and recognized it as Nick's security pass.
"Hey Nick," he said as tears welled up in his eyes. "I know what the security cards are good for. Now I'll have something to remember you by." John wiped his eyes and put the card in his pocket. Sabella sympathetically placed her hand on John's shoulder. He patted her hand with his, and got up from the ground.
Apparently, Dalo had started the ship, because a low-pitched buzz started to emit from the orb.
"Are you ready to go?" Sabella asked.
"Yeah, I'm cool. Let's go."
The couple walked to the orb. Taking one last look at Earth, John walked up the ramp and entered the ship. There was a brief tremor and suddenly they were airborne. John watched as the Earth became smaller, smaller, and finally disappeared.
After thirty minutes, Sabella sat next to where John had settled. "Any regrets?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "Nope. There was nothing holding me back. Nothing to miss." He looked out at the vastness of space. "I'm ready to start anew. My life in space."
She smiled at him and they were silent for hours.
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