Chapter 3
Liz
was there. She could hear every word Max was saying to her. She was
sitting in the middle of a long tunnel. One end, the end she had come
from, was dark and scary, but the other end was light, and friendly,
and she wanted to go to it. However, she had heard Max while she was
in this tunnel. So, there she was sitting, her legs pulled to her
chest, and she was rocking slightly back and forth, back and forth.
She was terrified to go back, because it looked so unwelcoming. She
looked at the wall across from her. What had happened that made her
go in to this tunnel? She asked herself.
Normally, when you are
in this kind of state, you can't really remember too much from what
happened before you come into this state of mind. Liz, however, was
different. She was one of two of this certain type of people. There
were only two people on Earth that had died and been brought back to
life by an alien. Liz was one of them, she was slowly remembering all
of this stuff in her state of mind. Flashes came of the day Max saved
her life. She stood up from where she had been sitting and turned
towards the light. She heard soft whispers of her name, but then she
turned to the back and she heard a familar male voice telling her to
come back to him. "Liz, come back to me," the voice had
said over and over. She looked back at the warm and friendly light
and took a step towards it, but then she heard another voice coming
above the others. She saw a figure standing in her way of the
light.
"Honey bear," said the figure, shaping into her
Grandma Claudia. "Go the other way. You aren't quite ready to
come and live with me. Go home to Max." Liz looked at her
grandmother.
"But Grandma, someone told me that mom was
dead. I want to be with her," Liz said. Grandma Claudia just
smiled and took Liz's hand, leading her down the darkened
path.
"Honey bear, don't think of your mother that way.
She's very much alive. I'll let her know that you are thinking of
her, okay, honey bear?" Grandma Claudia asked. "But for
now, Max needs you, and so does the little one." Grandma Claudia
whispered, laying a hand gently on Liz's stomach. "Now go. And
don't come back sweetie." Grandma Claudia gave Liz a little push
down the dark tunnel. Liz took one more look behind her as Grandma
Claudia disappeared in a group of orbs. Liz continued on the path
that she had started. She felt, however, that she was letting someone
down with going back to the real world, but as she reached the end of
the tunnel, she felt a door knob, so she grabbed it, then twisted it
open, a bright light ahead of her.
Elizabeth Parker-Evans woke
up.
Isabel
sighed as she stood there at the edge of the woods, looking out
towards the road. Come on, Kyle, she thought to herself. It was cold
and she was worried about Liz. She was also thinking about Kivar.
Geeze, why did he have to come back? I thought I made it clear last
time that if he came back, I was going to kill him, she thought to
herself. She kept her cell phone in her hand as she crossed her arms
over her chest. Kyle, where the hell are you? She muttered, seeing
her breath. It was nearly 11 at night. Kyle had been gone for at
least four hours. She was really starting to worry. Kyle had called a
couple of hours ago, before Liz had been found, and he had said no
one was at the house, so what was taking him so long? Isabel
sighed.
She turned towards everyone else and saw that Max was
still sitting next to Liz, holding her hand and waiting for her to
come back. She watched for a minute, and then Liz's eyes opened and
Max let out a breath of relief. Isabel smiled and then turned back to
the road. She didn't want to crowd Liz. Liz and Max needed to talk
about what happened before they would tell the rest of the group. She
saw Max hug Liz and she smiled again. Though she had been pretty
worried about Liz, she knew that Liz would come back safe because she
had Max with her. She didn't want to intrude on their time. She never
did. She looked at the road, and, thinking of Jesse, started to day
dream.
"Why did I call him?" she asked herself. "How
could I have been so stupid?" She sighed, and shook her head,
rubbing her temple with her hand.
"Call who?" she heard
a voice. Kyle was standing right in front of her, and Isabel hadn't
even noticed it. She had been so lost in her thoughts about Jesse.
She looked at Kyle.
"No one," she said, "I was
just talking to myself. Just thinking about something." She
shook her head and smiled at him. "So, what took you so long? I
thought you said no one was there?" Kyle took her hand and led
them towards the group. "No," Isabel commented. "They
are making sure Liz is okay." Kyle looked at Max and Liz. "She
was attacked by something, I think it was Kivar, but anyways, news?"
Kyle nodded.
"I ended up seeing a light flash on whenever I
was driving away, so I parked the van and then walked to my house and
saw an agent interrogating my dad, about to shoot him. So I barge in
and then say that I had run off to Vegas and I married a stripper.
Then the agent left, right? Well, my dad and I left his house and
picked up the van, but we made sure to check in case there was a
tracker on it, and then we went to the Crashdown. Get this, the
Parkers are still there. My dad was talking to Mr. Parker and he said
that Nancy was being broadcasted to be dead, so she had to stay up in
the apartment. No one is allowed to go up there, and it's said that
there are government agents all over the place in the Crashdown. So
we ate and stuff, right?
"Well, then I saw Sean DeLuca walk
in with Maria's mom, right? They come over to the table and Dad
smiles at her and stuff. Well, Sean asked me if I had seen Maria, and
I laughed and I was like, 'Yea, she's a big Vegas showgirl now.' Sean
rolled his eyes at me. Then he asked about Liz. I didn't know what to
say at first. But I told him, 'No, I haven't seen her, but from what
I hear, she's married.' You should've seen his face, it was friggin'
hilarious!" Kyle said with a big laugh. Isabel looked at him.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Anyways, when we left, I told
him that we were staying somewhere close and I'd call him for any
updates." Isabel nodded.
"Okay, so now all we have to
do is tell everyone what's happening," she turned to walk away,
but Kyle grabbed her arm. She turned to face him.
"Before,
who were you talking about? When you said you shouldn't have called?"
Kyle asked. Isabel looked down and then back at him, straight in the
eye. "Izzy, please." She sighed.
"Jesse," she
said lowly. Kyle looked at her to say, 'what' becaus he hadn't heard
her. "Jesse," she said louder and then walked away from
Kyle, who walked after her.
"Why did you call him? I thought
you were through with him?" Kyle asked. Isabel looked at him.
She had tears running down her cheeks.
"I never wanted to
leave Jesse in the first place. I love Jesse and not even you can
take his place!" she yelled.
Kyle
looked at Isabel with hurt eyes. She covered her mouth, realizing
what she had said. "Fine," he muttered and turned around,
putting his hands in his pockets. "Tell them yourself. I'm going
to go and live with my dad. I'm not in danger, like the rest of you."
He continued to walk, past the van and down the road back to his old
house. He walked inside, where his father and Amy DeLuca were
watching a movie, snuggled close on the couch. "Oh, sorry, Dad,
I'll just be in my room," he said, walking to his room.
Kyle
knew his dad and Amy were looking at him weird as he walked down the
hall to his room. He shut the door and then sat down on his bed. He
hadn't slept here in three years. It was too long. He looked around.
Not even a year after he had found out that Tess was a murderer, he
left. Some of her things were still in the room. He pulled down a
poster above his bed. There was some pink paint spread on the wall
from the day that he and Tess were going to 'trim their lamps'. He
smiled. As much as he hated Tess for killing Alex, they had had some
good times together. Kyle put the poster back up and then dug
underneath his bed.
He pulled out a porno magazine from 2001, the
year book from his senior year, and his old "Buddhism for
Beginners" book. He set it on his bed and then walked over to
his door. He stuck his head out just as his dad's door was closing
and he knew they would be in there for a while. "Geeze," he
muttered to himself, "why can't they ever go to the DeLuca's
house?" He shook his head and then went back into his room. He
sat down on his bed, grabbing the Buddhism book and he lay back on
his pillows, starting to read the book.
"Chapter One - The Essence of Buddhim.
What is the Essence of Buddhism?
Simply speaking, it is to avoid harming others and to help them as much as possible. Another way of expressing this is the oft-quoted verse :
Abandon
negative action,
Create perfect virtue;
Subdue your own
mind.
This is the teaching of Buddha.
By abandoning negative actions, such as hurting others, and destructive motivations, such as anger, attachment, and closedmindedness, we stop harming ourselves and others."
Kyle stopped to think for a second. "Closedmindedness?" he asked. He knew that that was what he was doing to Isabel. He wasn't letting her deal with things about Jesse, and he wasn't sitting there beside her helping her either, but it was too late for him to go back. He was sure the agents knew that he was back and they would be watching his every move. He went back to reading.
"By creating perfect virtue, we develop beneficial attitudes, such as equanimity, love, compassion, and joy and act constructively......" ( Real exerpt from Buddism for Beginners )
Maria
had fallen asleep, but she heard Max talking to someone and she
didn't hear Isabel. She opened her eyes quickly. She looked over,
seeing that Liz had awakened. She got up and hurried over. "Liz
are you okay?!" she blurted. Liz nodded at Maria, at first a
little startled. "Sorry," Maria muttered, standing back.
She watched as Max told Liz what had happened, then Isabel came over,
looking upset. She sat down next to Maria.
"Kyle came back,
but he left again," she said slowly, looking at the ground. "He
said that he went to his house and there was an agent there, and the
agent was threatening to kill his father, but then Kyle told him that
he had been in Vegas with some random girl. Then he said that he and
his dad went to the Crashdown." Isabel looked at Liz. "Your
mom isn't dead. Valenti was talking to Mr. Parker and he said that
Mrs. Parker is being held hostage upstairs and no one is allowed up
there. There is said to be a ton of government agents up there."
Liz looked at Isabel, relieved but scared. She remained silent. Max
was messing with the little black thing he had removed from Liz's
abdomen.
"Max, what is that thing?" Maria asked. "It
definitely looks alien." Michael walked over. He had gone to the
bushes to relieve himself. He saw that Liz was back awake and
everyone was around there.
"So, what's going on now?"
he asked. They re-explained what was happening at the Crashdown and
then Michael took the little thing from Max. "You know, it looks
like something you described, Maxwell, back whenever you and Tess
were doing memory retrieval. You, or it could have been Tess, said
something about a little black thing, shaped like this that was used
to kill enemies." Max looked at the thing, a saddened look on
his face. Maria gaped in horror.
"But who would want to kill
Liz?" she asked, scared. Everyone was silent for a few minutes.
They were all glancing off into space, thinking. Then Isabel said
something.
"Kivar," she muttered. Everyone turned to
look at her. She was still gazing down at the ground. It was more
like she had said it to herself rather than to everyone
else.
"What?" Maria asked. Isabel looked up, and then
glanced around the group. Everyone, except Liz, was looking at her.
Maria watched silently, waiting for an answer.
"Kivar,"
Isabel repeated. "I had a vision at the scene of where Liz was
found. I saw the attack on her. That face. I would never forget that
face. I told him that if he ever came back I would kill him myself."
She glanced around. Maria shook her head.
"Why would Kivar
want to kill Liz? What has Liz ever done to him?" Maria said,
feeling rage that she could think that an alien would want to kill
Liz. Isabel shrugged her shoulders and once again they sat in
silence. Maria looked at poor Liz. She was probably in shock of the
whole attack on her, so that was probably why she wasn't talking to
anyone. Then Maria looked at Michael. He was busy studying the little
thing. Isabel was busy staring at the pattern of the blanket, but
Maria knew that Isabel was just thinking. She looked at Max, who was
holding Liz's hand and trying to get her to say something. She sighed
deeply. It was going to be a long night. But somehow, deep down,
Maria knew that Liz knew what Kivar had attacked her for, she just
wasn't telling anyone.
Michael
was staring at the thing. Come on, reveal your secrets to me, he
thought to himself, okay that sounded so dorky. He was getting
frustrated with it. He just could not figure out if it was really
something Max had described to him. Maybe it had been Tess, he
thought, that cold-hearted bitch probably knew all of our home
planet's torture devices. He shook his head, handing the thing back
to Max.
"Maxwell, I don't know what it is, but I'm too tired
to study it tonight. Where's Kyle?" he asked, glancing at
Isabel. Isabel cowered a little.
"He and I got into a sort
of fight," she said, in a low voice. "I was missing Jesse
and I yelled at him. I said that that I loved Jesse and not even he
could take Jesse's place. He stormed off. He said he really isn't
part of the group, so he left and went back to his house with his
dad." She sighed. Michael touched Isabel on the
shoulder.
"Don't worry, Izzy, everything will turn out
okay," he said, soothingly. It wasn't like MIchael to be a
caring person, but since the whole leaving Roswell thing, he had
become more considerate of others' feelings. He yawned, making Isabel
yawn. "Okay, I'm sorry to break up the party, but I'm tired, and
we have got to get out of Roswell tomorrow. So--"
"Get
out of Roswell?!" erupted Isabel. "I don't think so! We
can't leave yet, Michael!" She looked at him, with piercing
eyes. Michael looked at her.
"Isabel, geeze, don't yell.
You'll just be telling the government where we are," he
muttered, standing up. "We have to go. If we don't, we'll get
caught, then who knows what they'll do to us? Test us, torture us,
exterminate us? As you used to say." Isabel stood up.
"You
want to leave, go ahead, Michael. I'm not going. I'm going to go into
Roswell. If they catch me, well then they catch me, but you all can
leave. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of living my life in constant
fear. I never wanted to be part alien. I wish I were human," she
sighed. "Life would be so much easier." Michael looked at
her.
"You know, I try to comfort you, Isabel, and then I
suggest we leave, because it's best, and then you blow up on me!"
Michael said. "We have to leave. We can't ever come back here,
remember?" He ran his hands through his hair and then stormed
off to his blanket about twenty feet away. He sat down on it, looking
away from the group. All was silent. Michael continued to stare at
the woods. "We can't go into Roswell. They'll catch us and kill
us." He continued to talk to himself. Maria came over and sat
next to him.
"Michael," she said softly. "We can't
leave, not yet." Michael didn't look at her. "We have to
figure out what to do about Liz and her parents. We have got to
figure this out. I don't want to leave here." Michael looked at
her.
"You wanted to come along in the first place, Maria. It
was your decision to run away with us. Are you saying, you would
rather risk getting yourself killed than running off and being safe
with me?" he asked, acussingly. Maria didn't say anything.
Michael put his arm around her. "I'm not going to let that
happen. We can stay 'til we figure out what to do, then we have to
get out of here. It's so dangerous for us to be here." He kissed
her forehead. "I know I shouldn't have blown up on Isabel. I
just don't think it's safe for us to just sit around here. Especially
now since Kyle is gone, we don't have a spy. If Kyle would have
continually drove here and back to town, they would have know he was
hiding something here, but we still need someone to sneak in."
Maria pulled away from him and looked at him, but he was laying down
on the blanket.
"I can go into Roswell," she said,
laying down beside him, but she didn't want to do that. She didn't
want to risk getting caught.
Max
watched Michael and Maria as they lay down, then he looked back at
Liz. She was looking at him. She hadn't said a single thing since she
had woken up. She just looked around. It was like she was autistic.
Oh no, Max thought to himself, please don't let it have changed her.
He looked around. Everyone else was dozing, but he and Liz were wide
awake.
"Liz," he said. "Say something to me."
He whispered that so softly into her ear. "Let me know that you
are okay. Please." Liz had been laying down, but she sat up,
staring at Max. He knew she wanted to say something, but she was
holding herself back. "Baby," he kissed her hand, "just
tell me you're okay. Just let me make sure that you are fine. I need
to know that. Please." He was so sensitive when it came to Liz.
He was sad because all she did was sit there and stare. It reminded
him of an autistic child he once knew. His name was Samuel. Max had
met him around Christmas time a couple of years back and he had made
Max realize that Liz was his family, no matter what. He continued to
stare at her. "Liz, I love you," he said, on the verge of
tears now. He put a hand next to her face. "Don't let me lose
you now."
Liz continued to sit there, staring at him. He
could see in her eyes that there was something she wanted to say, but
she just couldn't. Max took her face in his hands and pulled her face
gently towards his. He kissed her softly on the lips, and, as usual,
there were flashes, but this time there was something other than the
usual flashes. He was seeing parts of her being attacked. He was
seeing things from Liz's point of view. She had fallen, then
something dark and shadowy towered above her. Something was being
thrusted into her stomach through her belly button. Then he saw her
laying there, battered. He broke the kiss and looked at her.
"Oh,
baby," he said slowly, pulling her into a hug. "I'm going
to kill him." Max hadn't been sure who it was. It was very
possible that it was Kivar who wanted to kill Liz. "You're going
to be okay. I promise you. I won't let anyone hurt you again."
He continued to hug her. "I just need you to talk to me. Tell me
why he would come after you. I know you know." She pulled away
from his hug. For the first time she was actually looking at him, not
through him, like it seemed. It looked like she was there, and she
was coming back to herself. "Liz?" He put her head in his
hands and gazed into her eyes. "Honey, talk to me, please."
He heard her clear her throat a little.
"It was Kivar,"
she said, in a raspy sort of voice. "He wants to kill me
because.." She started to cough. Max reached over and grabbed a
bottle of water, helping her to drink it.
"Now, why does he
want to kill you?" Max asked. Liz swallowed the water and rubbed
her throat a little. Max looked into her eyes. "It's okay. I
won't let him hurt you now." Liz looked away from Max for a
minute.
"You can't freak out on me,"
she said, slowly, "if I tell you the truth." She looked at
Max. He shook his head. "Kivar wants me dead because I'm
carrying the heir to Antar."
