Sunny's POV

How could I keep cowering like this? How could I make everyone feel guilty for even trying to approach me, even if it was just to say hello? I felt bad for Kyle, having to constantly be around me, my nerves getting the better of me every moment of every day.

I may have been smaller than most of the humans in the caves, but that didn't mean I had to be afraid of everyone. I was doing my best to be stronger, to become more courageous and be able to leave Kyle alone for just a little while, but I was so afraid.

He loved Jodi, the human's body I had stolen, not me. I told myself this every time he held my hand and told me he loved me. I should have been able to understand that he didn't mean those words for me, but for the woman who I had unconsciously killed. Wanda, another alien like me, had managed to keep Melanie alive long enough to bring her back home and to the man who loved her. Not only had she done that, but she had received a new body and fallen in love with the wonderful Ian.

I tried to take deep breaths in the little corner I preferred when Kyle wasn't around. Wanda had told me about the hole that the humans had kept her in when she first arrived, and I had adopted it as my own sort of prison. It was the prison of my weakness, my cowardice. It was the place where I could feel somewhat safe without the giant buffer that was Kyle.

When I had first been placed in this body, I had been flooded with the memories of a giant blonde man who had loved me as much as I had loved him. The memories had been so strong and emotional, that I had stopped distinguishing between the memories' love and mine. I grew to love everything about Kyle, the way he spoke to this body, the way he cared for the body, and most of all, the way he could make everything feel like home.

The day that Kyle came and stole me back, I couldn't believe that he was real. I thought that it was another of the memories that had long stopped flooding my mind. I had watched the memories so many times that it seemed that I had actually lived them and when Kyle came to rescue his Jodi, I actually thought that he was rescuing me.

Thankfully, my mind was smart enough to tamp that thought out and replace it with one of cautious elation. I loved him like Wanda had loved Jared: I loved him because of the memories Jodi had of him. This thought always brought me to tears. If I couldn't love someone because I wanted to, how was I ever going to gather the courage to wander out by myself and prove to Kyle that I was strong? How was I going to make him love me back?

Wanda told me that she had been scared at first too, the humans anger at her arrival usually instigating a violent reaction and she feared for her and Melanie's life. Even her lover Jared had tried to kill her at one point.

I could feel the cool moisture that was the air in the volcanic tunnels, breathing it in deep and remembering my own memory of the sun. I missed the sun-warmed air, the beauty of the light of summer. Kyle comforted me during these bouts of sadness, telling me that one day maybe we would be able to live out in the open again, going to stores and enjoying life as we would have before my race invaded his world.

I didn't enjoy the feeling of guilt that I felt whenever I thought about accidentally killing his Joni. I hadn't even heard her voice as Wanda had said she had heard Melanie. All I had felt were memories of Kyle and people who I had met, but only after they had been replaced with my kind.

"Sunny, are you in there again? It's okay if you are. I can come and sit with you if you want." The voice seemed to appear whenever I hid myself in this hole. I didn't know how they managed to find me, but they did.

"Yes. It's okay if you sit with me."

Jared managed to cram himself next to me despite his large frame. I couldn't believe that he had been the one to always try and give me courage. From what Melanie told me, he hadn't been too welcoming when Wanda had first brought her back.

"You know that you don't have to be afraid of me," he said. I didn't know why, but just like Kyle, Jared didn't scare me.

"I know."

"No one is going to try and hurt you like they did Wanda."

"I know."

Jared and I went through this same conversation every time he found me here, and the responses were always the same. I don't know if Melanie knew that Jared would cram himself in her former prison with me, but she didn't have to worry. Yes, Jared was one of the most handsome men I had ever seen, but he was no Kyle. He didn't have Kyle's eyes or hair, nor did he have his deep, rumbling voice.

"Would you like some help coming out?"

This was new. Usually we just sat here until Jared's legs became too tired to stay in the tight space anymore.

I thought about it. Could I go out without Kyle? Could I begin my journey towards courage? Would Kyle be mad if he thought that I was spending more time with Jared than I should have?

"Kyle knows I'm in here."

If he was lying, he was very good at it and he knew exactly what to say to bring me out of my self-imposed prison.

I placed my hand in his and let him pull me out. We were walking out of the storage tunnel when I caught Kyle's gaze on me. He smiled even though my hand was still in Jared's. Maybe I could do this. Maybe I could make Kyle love me.

Even if I couldn't, I sure was going to try.