1: Prison
The warden threw us in the cell.
"Welcome to your new home. For the rest of your lives." He laughed, throwing his head back. The sound echoed off the walls of the underground tunnel. He slammed the door, locking the bolts tight.
I turned to my brother and sister. They stared back with blank, unreadable faces.
"What are we supposed to do now?" I asked as soon as the footsteps faded.
"Maybe we should be good; they might let us out if we behave." She said.
"Don't you understand? They are never going to let us out!" I shouted, gesturing to the door with shaking hands.
I looked up at my brother, my last resort.
"If they won't let us out, then we must break out." He said that as if it was simple.
My brother was the smart one of the family, but why did he give such a stupid idea?
"It's not a stupid idea," My sister said sharply. "At least he's actually thinking instead of whining and winging to everyone."
I sighed in defeat and lay back on the steel bed frame. I drew my knees up and rested my chin on them.
My family wasn't like yours or anyone else's.
We weren't from Earth. Out home planet was a spec compared to Pluto. We orbited next to Earth, scientists completely unaware of our being.
But then our planet began to die, pollution taking over. We fled to Earth, it being the closest inhabitable planet, and lived in peace for a few years.
Then, the government noticed that we were different and sent the army to capture and kill our race.
Some were kept for experiments, caged and feed Human food. Many died because of this.
I know what you're thinking, aliens are green and slimy and say 'We come in peace' but we don't. Well, we do come in peace but the looks are just a stereotype.
Us aliens look like humans. It is camouflage. I mean, what would you do if you saw us in our real form walking down the street?
But my family has powers, too. My sister can read minds; she's the most powerful. My brother is a super genius. Take Albert Einstein and all the famous inventors you can think of and that's ¼ of his genius.
And then there's me, the baby of the family. My power is a mind shield; I could make a force field around my self or anyone around me.
We all had a bond, and that bond kept us strong.
None of us slept that night; worry and stress keeping our eyes from shutting. I stared up at the sky through the caged cell window, looking at the star that was the closest to my home planet, Cascade.
"We could trick one of the guards," My brother began another idea. "Maybe read there thoughts and see all the tunnels and entries here."
Me and my sister shrugged, our minds elsewhere.
"What if we do get out of here? We don't have a spaceship of any sort. We'll be forced to lead lives as humans and -" My brother shook me.
"Then we must be prepared. If we're going to become humans, we must have human names. I used a satellite one time on Cascade and channelled it to receive sound from Earth. It was a school and they were teaching English in France. They were talking about names." He said.
"What were they?" I asked. He shrugged.
"Amy, Emma, Jamie, Mia…" He listed more and more.
"I like Andie. It's short and snappy." My sister said, smiling at the thought.
"I'm going with Jacob." My brother announced.
"Quinn… sounds good?" I said, unsure. My brother and sister nodded.
Quinn. I liked that. I liked that a lot.
2: Ideas
"Hey, no fair! Your bigger than me." I shouted to my brother, Jonah. He put me down.
"Don't care. Stay out of my room, squirt." Jonah slammed the door in my face. A few minutes later, his stereo was blaring through the walls. I swear you could hear it from outside.
I walked into my room, Jeep (my Labrador) jumping up and barking madly.
"Down boy, down." I crooned, ruffling the hair on his head. He propped himself up onto my bed and lay down, yawning.
I smiled, grabbing the remote and switched it on. The news came up on the screen.
"… The government has captured three more alien suspects. They were found in an underground train station last night. Pictures were leaked onto the internet," A picture of three kids came on. They looked human with ears and two eyes like me. They looked like ordinary homeless children.
"… A riot has started up on the army prison grounds, men and women protesting for the government to let these so-called children out. The president is now included in the plan to test these aliens for any abnormalities. There will be more news about this tomorrow…" I turned the volume to normal, my brothers' music playing over the reporters.
I sighed, climbing onto my bed. Jeep crawled onto me, whimpering.
"I know, I know. How can the president not do anything about this? Innocent kids locked up for being accused as aliens." Jeep nodded, resting his head on my stomach.
"What if we go rescue them?" I asked. Jeep stayed silent.
"What if it was you who was cooped up in a cold cell, nothing but scraps and toilet water for food and drink, hmm?" I questioned him. Jeep seemed to like that idea. I had forgotten the concept that he was a dog and not human.
"Fine," I groaned, looking down at him. "What if it was me who was in jail? No one except Jonah and Mom to feed you. And you know how Jonah is," I scoffed, looking up at the ceiling, then back down at him. "And mom's no good either…" I trailed off. Jeep lifted his head and barked. I laughed.
"So you're in?" I cocked my head to the side. Jeep nodded excitedly, licking my face until it was covered in a film of Rich's Meaty Chunks-stinking dog slobber.