"Hank! What's wrong?"
"I found this mommy."
"And what's this you found?"
Kate Anderson was a mother of one and it had been that way for the longest of time. Her son was turning the grand age of six and she constantly had her hands tied with him. When she wasn't working she was taking care of her son, cooking, and cleaning. Her job as a mother was demanding but she would never throw it away. Just a few minutes ago, she had let her son out to play in the backyard and watched as he investigated a group of bushes that huddled in the corner. Once she found her son's curious face change to that of concern, she lifted herself up and jogged to his side. After inquiring what was wrong, her son pointed in the bushes, and Kate Anderson was shocked to find a man lying there.
Laying there. In her bushes.
In her backyard.
Immediately she considers calling the police.
"What's wrong with him, mommy?"
Kate Anderson bites her bottom lip as she inspects the man in the bushes. With a sigh, she brushes a few strands of hair from her face, and grabs hold of the man's ankle. She tugs and realizes that she cannot move him unless she uses her other hand too. Grabbing hold of his other ankle, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of strength, but she manages to drag him out of the bushes so she can get a better look at him. Kate is gasping for air by the time she sees him completely without the covering of leaves.
"I don't know sweetheart," she answers her son and she reaches up to the man's neck to feel a pulse.
There was a pulse.
Kate takes a deep breath.
"Kate?" A voice calls out.
"Outside!" Kate yells to her husband, who she knows has just come home from work. It would be a lot of help if her husband could help her since he was a lot stronger and more capable with heavy-lifting than her.
When her husband enters the backyard, his eyes are as round as saucers. He approaches his wife and the man on the ground cautiously, allowing Hank to shuffle behind his leg to hide from the stranger on their grass. He eyes his wife and she returns his look with that of uncertainty. Understanding that she was looking to him for help, he takes a breath, and asks, "How did this happen?"
"Found him in the bushes," Kate says, gesturing toward the bushes with her eyes, and then returning them to gaze at her husband. "I don't know how he ended up there but… I was considering calling the police but… I'm not sure I want to cause a stir in the neighborhood like that. What if he's hurt?"
"Then we would need to take him to the hospital." Kate's husband says slowly, as he thinks of what to do with this man.
"Kate."
"Yes, Tom?" Kate answers.
"What's that… thing?"
Kate looks back at the man on the grass and notices what her husband was talking about. On the man's head was something glowing a deep, dangerous red. Without warning, the man shoots up and turns to them sharply. Tom takes a step back, taking Hank with him, while Kate sprawls backward from her kneeling position.
All eye him warily.
The man blinks a few times, looking at all of them, and then at his surroundings.
"I…" The man begins, reaching a hand up to his face to rub his eyes as if he was just as uncertain as the rest of them, "where…?"
"Y-You're in our backyard," Kate tells him immediately. Her caution is replaced for worry for this stranger. "Do you remember how you got here?"
"I… no. I don't. My memory is… faulty. I don't know how I got here and… and…"
The man looks up.
"What year is it?"
Kate shares a glance with her husband.
"It's 1991."
The man stills.
"1991?" He repeats, he moves to stand up, wobbling on his feet, "No… no… this is… wrong…"
Once it's clear he's about to stumble over his own two feet, Tom reaches out to grab the man into his arms, and to help steady him up.
"I'm not supposed to be here."
.
His name was Connor.
Kate wasn't sure what he was. She knew that there was something about him, with the thing that glows on his head, and the way he carries himself. He is strange but even knowing that… she still allowed him to rest in her home. She wasn't sure what compelled her to invite the stranger home. Anyone else and she might have just directed them to the nearby homeless shelter but… well… regardless he was already here now.
She had to admit, he was handy around the house. There was nothing he couldn't do, and despite having a rocky introduction… the family was beginning to warm up to Connor. The man assured them that he would do nothing to harm their family, even going as far as suggesting they kick him out, but Kate wouldn't have it. Not after Connor had gone and repaired their bathtub's faucet. He had also fixed up the car - though when he saw it he was oddly taken aback - as if he had never seen a car so old before. Still, he seemed to know how to fix it up, and it was up and running like brand new after he was done with it. Then, after that, he had already done all of Kate's chores for her. There wasn't a sock left in sight that hadn't been washed, nor a dish, or anything else for that matter.
Kate still didn't trust the man but she knew she would feel bad for kicking him out. Especially after all that he had done for their family.
Things changed one night. Kate woke, hearing the rustling of footsteps, and went to investigate. She didn't see anyone in the living room and had peeked into the guest bedroom to check if Connor was there. Sure enough, he was there and sitting up in his bed as always. No matter what time of the night, Connor always seemed to be awake, which seemed rather strange to Kate. She thought that he had insomnia or that thing in his head was causing whatever was making him suffer a lack of sleep. Either way, she didn't pry, and so Connor asks her what seemed to be bothering her.
She tells him she hears noises.
He investigates.
When he investigates, he does it thoroughly. She has never seen someone check things out so clearly, almost like a real police investigator.
Someone lunges at Connor.
A man had been hiding in their pantry, waiting for them to look for him in there until Connor had swung the door open. The man hurls himself at Connor, fists flying, and Connor defends himself accordingly. Kate can't help herself. She screams.
She catches a glimpse of the man Connor is fighting. He also has something on the side of his head, something that looks strikingly similar to what Connor had, and it was even glowing the same color. A deep, angry red.
"Kate," Connor calls out calmly as he prevents the man from beating him to a pulp, "I need you to go to your room. Don't call the police. I have this under control."
"Don't call the police?" Kate says in disbelief.
"Trust me."
And for some reason she does.
She had retreated to her room, her husband wide awake after her scream, and she tells him that he needs to lay low with her.
It is the next morning when she finally peeks her head out.
One look around the house is enough to tell her what she needs to know.
Connor is gone.
.
Hank is a teenager when he finds a photo that Kate had tucked in the back of the family photo album. He asks her who it is and she simply smiles. Connor stands there beside she and her husband, Hank grinning goofily in her husband's arms, and then she wonders what could have happened to the man that had lived in their house in the span of a few weeks.
She tells Hank his story.
"His name was Connor," She says, "He really helped out your dad and I."
"How so?" Hank asks her.
"He fixed up a lot of stuff and defended me from an intruder."
"A burglar?" Hank questions.
"That's what I thought but now… now I'm not so sure," Kate mumbles, "Regardless, I remember how much you loved him in the short span he was here."
"Wait, I knew him too?"
"You were young." Kate hums. "I'd imagine you don't remember much about your time together. Still, he had a lot of time for you, and he'd tell you stories of a man he knew."
"Really?" Hank wrinkles his nose in thought, "I wish I remembered."
"Well, he's gone now," Kate sighs, "He was rather strange. Had something on the side of his head that glowed."
"What?" Hank stares at his mother like she's grown a second head.
"Something on his head." She taps the side of her forehead for emphasis. "I saw it myself. Made him look like an alien."
"What if he was an alien?" Her son humors her.
Kara simply smiles.
"Then we were lucky to know him."
That was the end of that conversation. They moved on to talk about Hank's grades in school and his aspirations for the future but Kate couldn't forget about the mysterious man she had encountered years ago. What, exactly had happened?
Perhaps she would never find out.
Until, one day, Hank brings home a friend.
He's an adult now. The shining star of the police workforce. Hank was a rookie cop, raising in the ranks quickly, and one day he brings someone who Kate can't forget.
"This is my partner, Connor," Hank introduces, the smile bright on his face, "A damn good cop."
Kate stares.
"Connor," She repeats.
Connor merely smiles.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Anderson."