“C-Could you guys remind me, why are we here again?” Korria said from the back seat.
“Like I said! We’re gonna summon aliens! Colada and I have been sticking our noses into research for the past week, and we’ve found the perfect place! Every year, in this exact place, people have reported UFOs flying in the sky, and I think we’re gonna find one! Just imagine it, big space battleships with huge laser beams! And light speed travel! It’ll be awesome!” Anie said, clenching her fist in front of her face.
Korria sighed and looked out the window, her bright green irises and large black sclera reflected off their car’s window. The sun had begun to set, bright orange light seeped through the shifting trees that surrounded the group.
“Well, here we are. This nature trail should lead to a clearance, which will be our opportune spot to signal our potential aliens. With my signaling ability and Anie’s copy ability, we should be able to create a joint signal strong enough to hopefully reach space. If the aliens are truly in Earth’s proximity, they will find it,” Colada said, pushing his glasses closer to his face.
“Yes! Not to mention, we’ve got an alien right here!” Anie shouted, pointing to Korria
Korria stepped back, putting her hand loosely to her chest. Anie was right. Korria’s long fangs, large eyes, and elf-like ears all pointed to her being an alien. However, Anie was the only one who truly believed her. Everyone else thought Korria was lying about her alien heritage.
The group began their hike up the trail. Twigs and fallen leaves crunched underneath their feet, and birds began to fly and chirp all around them. The empty forest that surrounded them didn’t feel like the big cities of New York at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
After some time passed, the group eventually found themselves in the clearance Colada talked about. A large lake in front of them reflected the glistening light of the now raised moon.
“That’s it! That’s where what we’re aiming for,” Anie said, pointing to the stars, “that’s where the aliens are! And we’re gonna go find ‘em!”
“Of course… However, I would appreciate it if we’d make this quick. I don’t have all day… my class has a big test tomorrow and I cannot afford to miss it,” Colada said.
“Oh, a t-test? If we’re taking your time, we can always reschedule this or something!” Korria said, waving her hands in front of her face.
“No, no, it’s quite alright… this is good training anyways. Anie, please come here and put your hand on my shoulder, we can begin now.”
Anie smiled and skipped towards Colada. She set her hand on his shoulder for a moment before letting go. Colada and Anie both struck a pose, as if they were about to power up. Their arms were at their sides, facing outwards and arching upwards a little. After a few moments of this, they began to look strained. Their muscles tensed and they looked to be struggling.
“… Now, release!” Colada shouted to Anie.
Just then, the two almost collapsed. Anie had her hands on her knees while Colada was sitting on the ground with his hand on his cloud like hair. Korria’s ear twitched as she looked around, noticing all the bats that suddenly flew out of surrounding trees. Their signal ping was loud and covered tons of distance.
Anie looked up to the stars with a big smile. Two shooting stars had swiftly pierced through the skies.
“See! Two UFOs, right there! Did you see ‘em?!” She said, looking to Korria.
Korria didn’t reciprocate Anie’s enthusiasm. She was looking down to the ground in disappointment.
“Hey… Korri, what’s up? We did it, right? There were aliens up there, you saw ‘em!” Anie said.
After a moment of silence, Anie’s heroic posture broke, “Look… I’m sorry this didn’t work the way we planned it, and I’m sorry for dragging you out here. When we first met and you said you were an alien, I was so pumped! But nobody really believed you, and I figured that was why you were so closed off. So, I thought we could come out here and find out where you really came from, but I guess it didn’t really work that way. But we can try again next year, right?!”
“Anie… Th-thanks for caring, really it means a lot… but I don’t really want to try again. I was born on Earth, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. So, thanks, b-but it’s really no big deal, I promise!” Korria said with a smile.
“I hate to interrupt the mood here, but we’ve been out here for some time now, and I’d like to get going. Could we wrap this up and make our way back to my car?” Colada said.
The trio regrouped and began their walk back down the trail, unsuccessful in their original goal to summon aliens. Anie ran up to Korria and put her hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, do you think those aliens really exist? And do you think they got big battleships, like I said earlier?” Anie said enthusiastically.
“Yeah, totally,” Korria said.
Malcolm Flynn originates from the big cities of Michigan. He’s been working with ADHD for his whole life. When he isn’t writing or brainstorming, he likes to watch TV and go outside.
