Love is spelled 'A-L-I-E-N'

By: CronaDragonTrainer

Late in the night of early spring in 1930, a young boy walked alone in the rain toward a tavern. He walked inside and sat at the bartender's table twiddling his thumbs. "Something the matter?" the bartender asked as he cleaned out a mug. "Just waiting…" the boy said, still twiddling his thumbs. A paused followed his answer; until he asked "Can I order a pint?" while he stopped twiddling his thumbs. "What! Of course not! You're far too young for a drink." The bartender replied back obviously annoyed with the question as he continued to clean the mug. The boy slunk back in his chair annoyed. "I hate being trapped in this body, do I not look 18" he thought to himself as he reached up and touched the marking on his face.

Several minutes past since the boy entered the tavern. He kept glancing at the clock as people entered and left. Soon a group of men walked in wearing the same black tuxedos. They sat and stayed quietly in the corner of the tavern. "Where is she?" he thought to himself, soon after thinking that thought a girl walked in wearing a red shirt and her brownish blond hair down; the boy smiled greeting her. "Long time no see Joel." She said, sitting next to him. "Same to you, Colleen" Replied Joel as she ruffled his brown hair. He and Colleen had been friends since they were kids, but some years ago they were separated because of family reasons. They hadn't seen each other for years, and Joel needed to confess something to her; something he had been holding back for years and made his stomach turn with just the thought of not telling her.

She had always had his back since they were kids, she had always been there for him and Joel knew that the time to keep secrets was about to end. "So what's been new?" she asked disrupting his thoughts. So Joel began telling her about his life. As he spoke one of the men sitting in the corner of the tavern, pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unraveled it revealing a wanted poster with Joel's face on it.

After Joel told Yu about his life, he got quiet looking away from Colleen and at the men sitting at the table. "Listen Colleen, I need to be honest with you." He spoke quietly. She stared at him, perplexed. "I'm not really who I told you I am. In fact I have been lying to you for so many years, all the letters I sent, filled with lies and the reason why I had to move. More lies." Joel spoke, beginning to choke on tears. "I didn't want to! I had to, in order to protect you. You see those men at the table?" he asked motioning his eyes toward. She nodded understanding, but still confused. "GET DOWN!" Joel shouted as he grabbed Yu's arm and brought her behind the bartender's shelf as the men in the corner pulled out concealed weapons and started shouting at the bartender's table."Look Yu, I didn't mean for this to happen!" Joel shouted over the sound of bullets. Yu had covered her head with her arms as the bullets flew by. "Colleen, do you remember how we met?" Joel asked as the second wave of bullets began flying over them.

Colleen's memory triggered to reveal the memory of when they met for the first time. She remembered how she had been walking in a field of flowers and she came across a small entrance of a small cave where she saw Joel alone and gripping his side in pain. He had looked as if he was cut up everywhere. She had taken him home and patched him up. Then they started talking, and he mentioned how he thought her kindness was very generous. So they met up a couple more times and then became true friends; soon they were separated from each others lives.

As the memory faded, Joel spoke "please understand, I lied to protect you!" She stared at him as the some of the men walked closer to the table. "Then who are you?" she finally asked. "I'm…a wanted criminal and I'm an extraterrestrial life form." Joel said as he slowly stood up and walked over to the men. "These men are here to turn me in for escaping a high security prison and for selling illegal secrets to help my escape; this mark is a mark of my species, not just a tattoo. I'm a Tamague, a rare species who takes the form of humans, but also very corrupted by power to try and gain more of it, but you showed me that power isn't needed in this world. So now it's time for me to give up. I can't keep putting your life on the line just for my greed." He said as they cuffed him and brought him to the car parked outside as the ran disguised his tears.

As the car drove off, Colleen stood outside in the now pouring rain watching it. "I'm glad to have met you…Joel."