The wind blows stronger than normal. Out in the middle of a field of wheat, by the road, sits a small home. By it stands a adolescent girl, having short, blonde hair as it covers her right eye. She wheres light jeans and an oversized jacket where her hands barely pop out of the sleeves, feeling the cold wind blow by. As she holds a graduation cap in her hands, she looks off into the open space, pondering what to do now.
"Well," someone says behind her. She turns to see an old man sitting in a wheelchair. She lets out a sigh before saying "well what, uncle?"
He lets out a much deeper sigh before answering. "Look at you, finally out of college. The world is open to you now, just like it was for me."
She lets out a small chuckle. "Uncle, you never went to college, this is a family business you have."
"Yeah, well…," he finds it hard to speak. "Listen, I know it's been hard on you and… your parents…," he lets out a sigh, " do you really have to go? I won't hold it against you, but…"
"Uncle, thank you for everything. Your the only family I have left and… none of what happened was your fault."
They're reminded of a tragic event, but now isn't a time for sadness. He takes in a deep breath. "Just promise me that you'll be safe on your own, okay?"
She walks over to him and hugs him. "Don't worry, Joan promised to let me stay with her until I find a job. I'll visit when I can."
"Promise?"
"Of course. Besides, I think your nurse is planning on finding new work, I would after caring for you for so long."
They laugh for a while before she grabs her bags and begins loading them into her car. She pulls out and looks to her uncle one last time, giving him a farewell.
She drives for a couple of hours, the light dying down with nothing else as she's the only car in the area. She looks to the road in a dazed state, finding the lack of detail or anything around utterly boring. She's snapped out of it when her phone rings. She taps the answer button and lets it go on speaker so she can stay focused on the road. "Hey girl, freedom at last," the voice is loud with excitement.
"Hey Joan, it's nice to be done," she answers, "but I might be running late at the airport."
"What?!" Joan answers with some annoyance. "You said you wouldn't take too long… wait…," Joan takes a long pause, "Elizabeth P. Dewitt, is a man holding you up?" she asks in an all too mocking tone.
"Joan, you know I don't have a boyfriend," she replies in an exhausted tone. "I just… miscalculated this drive. It's hard to make guesses when everything looks the same."
Joan lets out a loud sigh. "Fine, just hurry up so I can get you. I'm not wasting money for a hotel out here."
"I'll try, and just call me Liz, you know I don't like my real name."
She continues talking to her friend on the phone, unaware of the one car in front of her heading her way. Liz barely notices passing it. Suddenly, as she's about to pass it, she hits a large crack on the road. The jolt causes her to spin out of control and smash into the other car. She notices all too late as the car tumbles after being hit head on by the other car.
It's all black for her. Then, she awakens to see what happened. She jolts up from the ground and finds the car totaled, lying on its side with the roof smashed up and a massive dent in the front. She looks on in horror, not noticing the man behind her, that is, until he speaks. "I see that you're awake."
She turns and jumps up away in shock. "W-who are you?!" she asks frantically.
"I'm the guy you crashed into," he replies in a nonchalant tone, as if he doesn't grasp what has happened.
"Oh my god," she gasps in shock, "I'm… I'm sorry for what happened. I thought that…" he stops her before she continues.
"It's fine. We're all right, at least."
She looks more closely at him. He's a tall man, standing taller than anyone she has met. He wears a simple, long sleeve, button up shirt with jeans. His hair is combed with three locks spiked up on the front. He gives off a vacant stare, as if not focused. However, she notices drops of blood falling from his arm. She notices a large cut on his left arm. "Oh my god, you're hurt?!"
He looks down to his injury. "It's fine."
"Fine?!" she replies with shock, "we have to get you to a hospital!"
"I think we should exchange insurance first, maybe," he answers with no care to his injury.
Liz begins looking for her phone frantically, only to notice him holding it in front of her. She grabs it and tries calling. He gives a quick cough, "you should look closer."
She looks at it and finds the screen smashed up. "Damn it," she lets out under her breath, "listen… uh…"
"My name is Dimitri, and yours?"
"Dimitri, we need to call someone, you could get an infection or…"
"Look, miss…"
"My name is Elizabeth, but that doesn't matter because…"
She stops as she sees the wound starting to close. She stares at him for a moment before continuing.
"Wait… AM I DEAD?! IS THIS HEAVEN BECAUSE I DIED IN…"
"CALM DOWN," he says in a loud voice to stop her. She looks to him with concern. "You're not dead, I'm just not human."
"What?" she's too confused to understand this. Suddenly, he begins to remove the contacts covering his real eyes, revealing the real milky blue colors, no visible pupils or any detail. "See?"
She lets out a quick chuckle. "I did die, now I'm being mocked by an angel or something."
"Wrong again, I'm just someone who doesn't care if you know."
She sits down for about ten minutes, trying to process what is happening. "Okay, your saying I'm not dead. I just crashed into some alien disguised as a human driving in the middle of the night in an open road?"
"Firstly, I'm a mutate," he answers with unyielding ease and calm, "secondly, I haven't received a thanks for saving you from the crash."
She lets out a sigh. "Thank you, I guess. Is this the part where you say I'm on some hidden camera show?" she begins waving jazz hands.
"...You're welcome," he begins walking away, "now, I called 911 earlier before your phone actually died. They'll be here shortly and I'll be on my way," he places the contacts back in his eyes.
"Wait," he turns to hear her calling him, "where are you going?"
"I'm off to Ralton City."
"Ralton?" she says with curiosity, "I'm heading there too, but… you're not just gonna walk there, are you? It's two states away. Or are you hitching a ride with the camera man somewhere?"
He remains unphased by her mocking remarks. "Well, I have a plane ticket, so I just need to make it to the airport," he continues his walk.
She begins thinking before stopping him again. "Wait, I'm heading there too. If you wait, you could hitch a ride with me."
He turns to her with only a hint of surprise. "I'm sorry, but did the fact that I'm not human slip your mind?"
"I know, but…," she looks him over one more time, "you don't really scare me. Besides, you could just be pranking me still or something. Just another pair of contacts or something, and maybe a fake cut with a bunch of ketchup."
He sees she's finding it hard to believe his story, but he rolls with it. "Well, if you're okay with me tagging along, I don't see why not."
They end up having their cars towed away and catching a ride in an Uber. Dimitri managed to pull her luggage out of the wreck without it sustaining damage, aside from dents in the bag and a cracked wheel. They both sit in the back seats as the driver heads to their destination. "Jesus," she begins, "I never thought an uber would be this far out."
"Well, I guess this guy has the most relaxed job then," he answers her.
She looks back to where the crash happened before turning back to him. "I'm sorry, again, about your car."
"To tell you the truth, it wasn't mine, not that I stole it. I just got it today."
"Well, Mr. Mutate," she gives are quotes, "why is someone like you going to Ralton?"
He looks to her for a moment, showing his continuous lack of expression. "Well, long story short, me and my cousin decided to go on a trip abroad, see the world and what not. You can imagine my dad not wanting me to do this, so we managed to sneak off and leave no trace behind."
"And?" she finds this bizarre. "What were you planning on doing, and why your cousin, that seems random, almost like a lie."
He lets out a chuckle. "To be honest, he's felt more like a brother to me, seeing as we spent a lot of time together as kids. As for this, we thought about coming back in… I don't know, a year or two."
"Well, Dimitri, if that's your real name…"
"It is," he interrupts her for a moment.
"Right," she continues, "is he waiting for you at the airport. Because at this pace, he's gonna be their through the night."
"Meh, sleep was never his deal when he has things to do."
The drive lasts about another hour, the two continue to speak in that time, learning more about each other. But, at this point, Liz couldn't tell what was a joke anymore and what was genuinely true. Dimitri saw these conflicting thoughts written on her face. "Excuse me," he asks the driver, "can you stop here?"
The driver questions this. "Are you sure, it'll be a half hour walk from here?" he looks to Liz. "Are you okay with this, Miss, or will you stay?"
She looks to Dimitri, seeing him finally change his expression, one that asks 'Trust me.'
She lets out a sigh, "I guess."
The driver lets them and her luggage off by the street, the airport just barely in sight. "Okay," she asks Dimitri, "what is it that we had to stop. You finally showing the cameras or… "
He answers her, rolling up his arm sleeves. "I don't know why, but I'd feel more at ease if you took me seriously. Maybe it's just you doubting me, but…," he shows her his arms. She stares at it for a moment before her eyes widen with shock. Growths begin to appear, like plates of glowing armor. His nails are replaced with clawed tips, and the overall pale skin becomes a dark blue. She looks up to him, only finding that same blank smile, widening ever slightly. "Oh my god," she tries to get out, "...you… you really are a…," she begins to fall to the ground, but Dimitri catches her in a second. Without warning, she feels a strong breeze for a few seconds and, before she knew it, they stood in front of the airport. As he puts her down, his arms return to normal before anyone else sees, and she spins around, trying to process this. She finally stops and asks. "W...why? Why did you tell me this?"
He looks to the ground for a moment before answering. "I have no idea, but I trust you can hold a secret. Besides," he holds up both their tickets, "it seems we have seats next to each other, so I thought being honest would make the ride more… comfortable."
She loads her luggage onto the scales and everything, having him follow close behind. The whole time they spend is in silence as she processes what's happening in her mind.
'He told me everything, me, a complete stranger. And he's…,' she looks to him as he buys a neck pillow for the plane ride, '... never mind. He's a nice… person… at least.'
He looks to her and gives a friendly wave before they leave for the terminal. They board the plane and sit right next to each other. As he reads a small book he pulled from his shirt pocket, she finally lets her thoughts wander until she says "hey?" He looks to her for a moment.
"You were right, this is more comfortable."
He gives her a small smile. "Glad to hear that, but to tell the truth, I hate flying."
"Yeah," she answers, "same here."
"You'd rather drive or take a boat?"
"...Yeah."