THE LIGHT

I stalked silently down the long, grey metal corridor. My mind was crowded with thoughts.

Would she come back? When? Where?

Whispers intruded on my thoughts.

"What's up with him?" a marine whispered to another.

"Dunno. Some say he's going bonkers." he shrugged.

"Shut up you idiots!" chastised their commanding officer.

Everyone glanced nervously at the tall, long legged figure. It had stopped.

I was indifferent to some teases or whisperings, I was used to it. But not this full on barrage of them. I was a freak. I was crazy. I was weird. I hated it. I was not good with words, so I couldn't fight back without actually hurting them, which was against UNSC regulations. I sighed. Emily could solve this so easily, give the marines a tongue lashing they'd never forget. The thought of her lightened my mood slightly. I could never be truly happy, no matter how hard I tried to break past those mental barriers that training and experience had set up. The thought should disturb me, but of course it does not. Sometimes I actually hated my surgical enhancements. Especially the hearing. I could hear anything within a ten meter radius. One example, I thought, was that as I was walking to the dormitories, I could clearly hear two young marines slobbering over each other inside their room. I shuddered inwardly. I had never loved anything. I didn't understand why people wasted so much of their time kissing each other when the whole purpose of a "date" and a "wife" was to produce offspring. It wasted time. I-

I cut off my thought. What was happening to me? I….I can't compensate for these rogue thoughts. They were completely irrelevant, yet sometimes they keep annoying me. My lifestyle did not allow these…..presumes of love. I halted outside my door, room 117.

What a fabulous coincidence, I thought. My own number, randomly selected on a database of the ship. I opened the door carefully, I didn't want to have to go and beg another engineer to fix it for me. The aluminium was too flimsy and completely stupid. What if The Infinity was attacked and she was boarded? An alien, a Covenant, could simply touch the door and it would come down. I sat on the bed, grabbing a pencil from the desk and chewing on the end. I had seen Emily doing it, it tasted disgusting, the cured wood, but it helped me think. My leg was long enough to just kick the door shut. It closed, but as I pulled my boot away, I saw I had left a dent mark. I sighed. Everything was too fragile. It annoyed me greatly having to restrain myself every time I touched something, or picked it up or even came near anything. I suddenly felt the urge to do what Emily had done one morning after Cortana had woken her up.(We had replayed the footage for my and Lasky's amusement.) I turned and face planted into the pillow. I smiled stiffly. It felt oddly satisfying.

"Idolising children, are we?" said a woman's voice.

I shot upwards, my muscles responding quickly and smoothly. To any normal human it would have seemed I was lying down, and then sitting upright with a blur. I sprung into a ready stance. I relaxed when I realised it was just Cortana. Her hologram had a new hairdo, something she did often. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes she was helpful or just plain annoying. I secretly hoped she hadn't come to be the latter.

"I see you have done something to your hair. Again." I stated flatly.

"I see you noticed. Aren't you mister funny today? I was also wondering if you would like your…..injury to be looked over by one of the medics. You haven't let anyone near it since the accident."

I narrowed my eyes. Sarah Palmer had shot me. I didn't hold anything personal; I got straight back into being…..friends somewhat with Lasky and her afterwards. It had been a month, but the wound was healing nicely and I didn't see any reason to check on it.

"No. I am fine. I do not like unnecessary fussing. I am not a child." I said firmly.

"I will notify them, quoting your words. I was….Wait."

She stopped abruptly. Her hologram looked about. I shot up standing, glaring around the room.

"No..It's okay. I'm detecting a slipspace anomaly."

I noticed a growing light in the corner of my room. Oh…..Not "it" again. As I watched it drifted closer. I stared at it.

"Is it dangerous?"

"No. It's very stable, like a portal. It won't collapse."

I was curious. It bobbed up and down, like it was beckoning.

"I'm going to let it take me."

"What?!"

"Tell Lasky and Palmer where I have gone. Goodbye, Cortana."

I ran forward, throwing myself at the strange light. It felt like I was still moving, but I couldn't see. A tingling sensation ran over my skin. The light hurt my delicate enhanced eyes, so I shut them.

I yawned widely. I was reading Rangers Apprentice, but it was now getting kind of boring. It was a normal Thursday. I was going to place called Wirraglen, (home schooling get together for kids and their parents) in about two hours. It was only eight AM anyway. I climbed down from my bed, the warmth had softened me up, so when I launched down my bed's steps I was freezing cold. I ignored it and proceeded to rummage through my many boxes. My hand groped around inside a pink one and found it. I pulled out two shiny objects things on a chain. The memories flooded back. The Infinity. Spartans. John. Halo. I put away the dog tags, sitting down to think. My butt never hit the floor. A white light flooded the corner of my room, and I dropped my book. Standing in front of me was John-117, his icy-blue eyes focusing slowly on my own.

Holy crap! I thought. A million things screamed through my head. One wanted to hug John, one wanted to punch him for scaring me, and one told me to hide him. I obeyed that one. He could not be seen. My mother would go psycho and call the police or secret agents or something.

"What, THE HELL JOHN?! Never mind, reunion later! You can't be seen! You'll get caught and detained and other horrible stuff."

His eyes glittered with understanding. They searched about, obviously looking for somewhere to hide. They settled on the wardrobe. I grabbed his arm and yanked it frantically. I was shocked by how dense it was. I likened it to squeezing a rock.

"COME ON! In! In!" I whispered, opening the wardrobe door. He tried to fit, but his shoulders were too wide. He tried backwards. By this time I was so nervous I just tried to squish him in. I threw all my weight at his chest and he slipped backwards and landed sitting down, his legs folded awkwardly in front of him, his arms crushed to his sides. Gravity then intervened and a jacket fell on John's head. I had to. I just HAD TO.

I laughed.

The jacket slid off his short, spiky black hair to reveal glaring eyes.

I laughed harder.

His mouth flattened and …..WAIT! WHAT? Was that a blush I spied? My mind turned to ruthless, cruel teasing but snapped back to the present when John finally spoke.

"Are you willing to tell me where I am? Or are your insides exploding with laughter?" he said completely seriously, in trademark John voice. One of his eyebrows rose slightly.

"Heh. Sure. You're in my world, 2014, Australia, Queensland."

The eyebrow proceeded to rise even further.

"What? Emily, who are you talking to?" said a voice from the end of the hallway.

I chewed my nail nervously.

"Err…No-one mum, just thinking."

I glanced back at the curious man in my closet. If she caught me…

John cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, that was my-"

"I'm listening." John interrupted.

I shut my trap and observed quietly. His eyes were unfocused and their pupils seemed to expand and contract like a cat's.

"She is coming. Close the door."

I did as he said, shutting it quietly. I sat quickly onto my chair and pretended to read. True to John's warning, she walked in twenty seconds later.

"Emily, pick up your jumper and hang it up, and get ready, we are going soon."

"Yes mum."

She walked out, probably to make her breakfast. I picked up my jumper and opened the wardrobe door. I reached over John to grab a coat hanger.

"So how did you get here anyway?" I asked while I was putting the jacket on the coat hanger.

"The same way you came to me." responded John sharply.

"Ah, I see, the "light" speed express." I joked.

John's eyebrow rose once more, His eyes searching my face. He was observing me, and I hated it. I reached over him again, putting the coat hanger back on the metal bar that ran along the roof of my wardrobe. I stepped back, and looked extremely closely at his face, attempting to copy his quiet, observant behaviour. His face was covered in small scars, but one slashed straight down his left eye. Whatever had caused it, John was lucky to still have that eye. His eyebrows were quite thin and angled so that he always looks like he was frowning. He was also very white, probably from being in his armour for so long. I suddenly realised I had fallen into a trick. I blushed. I had been staring for too long. His eyes gained a small amount of amusement.

I had led her right into my trap. I smirked inwardly. I had tricked her into a stalemate. Then I realised why she had blushed so strongly and turned away. I had heard that people stared at each other when they "loved" each other. Understanding flowed in my brain. I had shoved Emily into a completely new and weird situation. It was the same for me too. For the most part I felt strangely happy, actually saying more in a few minutes than I do in two hours.

"You should probably get ready. You were going somewhere?" I changed the subject quite deliberately, signalling all was forgiven.

"Yeah, just to a community get together for home schoolers. A kinda social thing."

"Social thingy? I do not understand. What is a home schooler?"

"Urrm….Well a social "thingy" sorry for the weird grammar- but I'm an Aussie, is that a lot of people come together and talk and to have fun, and a home schooler is someone who is educated at home, by their mum or dad. It's really fun!"

"I see." he said sarcastically.

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I should go. I'll explain the details when I'm done."

I closed the door on those prying, piercing eyes.

Thirty minutes later
"So I'll be gone for about two to three hours. You can do whatever you want, my brothers have all moved out and my dad is at work. I'm taking my mother with me, so you'll be all by yourself. There's food in the pantry so make a sandwich or something."

John was silent. He got up slowly, stretching his long legs. Poor guy. I felt sorry for him.

"Ok. Gotta run, bye,"

"Goodbye, Emily."

I ran down the hallway, jumped down the steps at the end, and ran through the kitchen and into the garage, grabbing my bag as I went.

I stalked about, my hands behind my back as I patrolled the house. I didn't know what a "sandwich" was so I didn't "make" one. My long strides covered the length of the house quickly. To my explorations- down from Emily's room was a hallway, with two rooms branching off to the right, and a toilet and bathroom off to the left. At the end was a large expanse, with a few comfy looking chairs and a small black box. I guessed it was a "TV". Straight off to the left was a medium sized, very messy room with a whiteboard and markers. On it were some numbers which looked like fractions and algebra. I guessed this must be where Emily does her "home schooling". I had a look at the worksheets scatted on the round table in the middle of the room. The writing was in pencil and quite sloppy. I could tell she had got them right though, just at first glance. I didn't mind the sloppy penmanship as long as it functioned and she got her answers right. I had to resist the effort to clean up the room. The hallway continued on, branching once again, to the left, which was her parents' bedroom, and to the right, where there were even more comfy lounges and a huge TV. As the hallway ended it veered to the left and there was a comparatively small black box and what looked like an old computer tower. (It was old to me, anyway.) I had a good look around in Emily's room as well. There were a lot of books and a shelf full of plastic aeroplanes, helicopters, cars, and trucks called "LEGO".( The labels told me so) I also guessed with some accuracy that Emily was a huge tomboy, as there were many aircraft models littering her bed's desk. There were also many books on them, which I flicked through, feeling slight amusement at the old World War Two planes and their propellers.

I took a deep breath as I walked past the doors again. The air here was so clean, for once it wasn't artificial, smelt of fumes or was toxic. My stomach growled. I sighed. Sometimes being so big was not always an advantage. My super reflexes and strength gave me a high metabolism, so if I needed to eat, it was often and in large quantities. I could ignore hunger though. I reviewed a "sandwich". It was obviously food. I decided I would just wait for Emily.

At Wirraglen

"Hey Em!"

"Hi Chloe and Oliver! How's it shakin?" I grinned at my slang.

"Yeah, all good mate." replied Chloe.

"Got any new computer game epic fails?" asked Oliver.

"Ja! Course."

Of course I didn't tell them that I had a computer game character in my house.

"Yay! To the Gazebo!"

Oliver charged down to the small building. It was where everyone could choose to have their lunch or discuss stuff. I had other things on my mind, so I just kept walking to the Wirraglen building, a small, squat brick house with a kitchen and not much else. I halted and attempted to copy John's stalking. I felt in command and important doing it.

"What are you doing?"

I turned around. Oliver was staring at me with a weird look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"You are parading about and scowling. If that's not weird I don't know what is."

"Oh. I was just copying someone I know."

"Well who do you know who walks like that? You look like a commander or something."

"I uh….I can't tell you."

Oliver looked sad.

Maybe I should? A wave of doubt smashed into me. He would think I was joking, and then ring the hospital to have my head examined. Then it hit me. Oliver was coming over to my house on Friday anyway and today was Thursday. I should tell him now.

"Umm…..Okay….But you can't tell anyone."

I told him everything. The weird light, the gun, Thomas Lasky, Sarah Palmer, Halo, and that right now John-117 was in my house. In short, everything.

He blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. I winced. Would he take me seriously?

"Do you believe me?"

"Umm….I don't think you would lie about something this serious."

"You are coming over to my house this Friday so you can see for yourself I'm telling you the truth. I'm not joking."

"Emily? Try telling that to Chloe."

I turned. She was standing right behind me.

"Are you serious Emily? You went to the Halo world, met the Master Chief and escaped from life as a Spartan?" she said incredulously.

"Yeah, but don't tell anyone! I can't let John get captured."

"Why?"

"Because they will study him or something?! I don't know! Don't tell anyone! Please?"

"Ok, but only because I think you're telling porkers."

One hour later

I heard the car coming from Emily's room. It was about two hundred meters down the road. I was in no rush as I calmly packed away Emily's books. They had provided me with my only entertainment while she was gone. By the time the garage door opened I had squeezed myself back into the wardrobe, sitting down inside. I took out the active camouflage ball, just in case someone besides Emily opened the door. The ball was designed by aliens, to provide invisibility. The bearer wasn't totally invisible, however. Someone who knew what they were looking for could see me easily. Emily didn't know I had it. I felt a little bad lying about it, but I was used to it. The garage door opened and the car's engine turned off. I heard small, light footsteps, so I put away the camo ball. The wardrobe door opened.

"Hey, John. I gotta have a shower, I'm really dirty. Be back soon."

I cocked my head to the side. Dirty was an understatement. Filthy would describe Emily better.

"Hey. You know you look strange when you do that."

I was confused for a short while. I already thought I was strange. I decided to play this game for a little longer. I tilted my head further to the side.

"Yeah. That."

"In what way?" I asked curiously.

"Um….It's hard to say this, but you look like a puppy begging for food. Cute."

My lips twitched with barely contained amusement. No one had ever announced I was "cute" before. If this child wanted to say something, she would. She would not take shortcuts. Ever since she had appeared in front of me, there was something in her that I liked.

"Emily! Why aren't you having your shower yet?"

John pursed his lips.

"Yeah, I AM I'm just getting my CLOTHES mum!"

I grabbed them and closed the wardrobe door.

"Emily." The deep voice halted me before I ran to the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"I am sorry. But I need to eat something." John sounded slightly embarrassed.

Strange. Why would you feel embarrassed if you were hungry? I groaned.

"I'll deal with it after my shower."

Ten minutes later

I peered through the crack in the door. A voice whispered from the hallway.

"I errmm….I forgot my clothes in my rush. So could you, you know, not look?"

I mentally face palmed. How could she forget anything more vitally important than clothes? However I obeyed and closed my eyes.

"Done."

There was a fair amount of rustling and some muttered words which I obviously shouldn't have heard.

"M'kay. I'm done."

The door opened. Emily looked down at me, impressively dressed. She was wearing a striped shirt with deep red pants. She seemed to examine my fashion sense. I was only wearing a standard UNSC shirt, long sleeved and grey. I had black pants, boots and belt. Emily tutted.

"Darling, that look is just not working for you, nuh uh."

I glared. I was hungry and she was forgetting. I was not interested in clothes. She seemed to catch my eyes.

"Oh. Ok. Food. I'll try to make a sandwich for myself, and then take it up to you. She closed the door and marched off importantly. I listened for ten minutes. My left leg was starting to fall asleep. I stretched it vertically upwards. I heard quick footsteps and the door opened. In came a hand, and arm, and a plate with two pieces of bread "sandwiched" together. I took the plate. How could this…..simple thing, be a sandwich?

"Don't look at it like it's an alien with a plasma rifle aimed at you. It's yummy! It has my honey on it. Look I have to go. I won't be back for a while."

She closed the door. I sniffed the sandwich. It smelled sugary and it was very sticky. I took an experimental bite. My eyes widened. This was heaven on Earth, it was delicious. I woolfed it down. I stretched out to wait for Emily. There was no sunlight streaming in through the door when I saw her again.

"Okay. Its seven pm John. My parents are going to bed soon and you can come out then."

She examined my hair for a little while, staring closely at it. She seemed to be choking.

"What?" I said seriously.

She laughed. I was confused. How was my hair funny? Sometimes I did not know what was funny with Emily. She seemed to think everything was. I reached up and felt it. Oh. There was a large clump of it stuck upwards.

"Here. Lemme get that."

She reached over. Before I knew it, my hand was instinctively moving to stop hers. I grabbed her wrist. She froze. I didn't know what she meant by "Get that." I let her wrist go. I didn't want to scare her.

I stayed stock still while he had my wrist in his hand. I didn't blame him, his training probably took over. I looked into his eyes. There was some apprehension in them. He obviously was wondering what I was going to do. I ignored that fact and continued my hand's journey to his hair. He did nothing this time, just watched me with that same expression he had when he had hugged me on the Infinity. His body stiffened as my fingers came into contact with his hair, attempting to calm down the outrageous spiked up bits. He eventually relaxed and his eyes closed, the corners of his mouth twitching up slightly.

I didn't know what she was doing, but I didn't care, it felt amazing. I had never been touched in that way ever. My head had never been massaged before. I was content to let her sit there and do that for ever.

I giggled. I reckoned John was on the brink of purring. The expression on his face was one of utter bliss. I fixed up the crazy bits on his black hair and pulled away. His eyes snapped open and he seemed like he was trying to suppress a sigh. I grinned. He tilted his head in the strange way, so I copied him. He folded his arms and pursed his lips so I did the same. This time the side of his mouth slid properly upwards. He had smiled. I pulled a stupid face and threw a bag at him. His hand was already there to catch it before it had even reached him. He then promptly opened it and shoved it over my head.

"Mppfffft!" I pulled it off.

I couldn't believe it. The Master Chief was playfighting with me, out of all things.

"Oi!" I cried indignantly.

"Oh yeah. I also forgot to tell you, my friend Oliver is coming over tomorrow, but don't worry cause he already knows enough about you to not gawk and go psycho."

John's eyes narrowed sharply.

"He already….knows?"

I slapped a palm on my forehead. I forgot. I already knew about him as well, even before I met him.

"Ok. You see, in my world there is a computer game called Halo and you are the main character. And me and Ethan have played it so we um…..Already know you saved the universe and stuff."

I rummaged around in one of my boxes and pulled out a photo of the Master Chief in his armour that I got off the internet and handed it to John. He glared at it, his eyes narrowing further.

"You lied. You said to Lasky that you didn't even know where you were."

His gaze raked over the inside of the wardrobe and reached me.

"I couldn't tell….it would only make things harder…"

"So I'm just a computer game character am I? For your entertainment?"

"No! You're not….I mean….yes…NO! You are NOT! You are not a machine. Others in your world might think you are but I know you aren't."

He was silent, but he continued to glare. I pressed my forehead into the floor and held back tears. I didn't want him to hate me. I wanted him to be my friend. I liked him. I sobbed quietly into the carpet. The lights went out. Mum and Dad had gone to bed. All of a sudden, I was weightless, lifted by strong arms. They pulled me into John's chest. I cried into it. I cried because of other things, the stress of hiding him, the stress of keeping the massive secret. After a while I ran out of reasons to cry and just rested my head on John's chest. He didn't say anything, but I knew all was forgiven. I listened to the quiet rhythm of his heart and lungs for a while. John was my best friend. Not even Oliver could top this. The regular expanding and contracting of his chest sent me off into dreamland.

Emily was asleep, but I was not. I had stayed up all night thinking. Emily was almost like an extension of me, she opposed my nature so squarely, yet she complemented me well. She had wrapped her warm, clammy arms around my neck some time ago. Her head was now resting on my shoulder. The only revolting thing was that she had drooled for a little while, one droplet snaking down my neck and down my shirt somewhere. I shivered. I had faced aliens, ancient evil, and yet I was terrified by a droplet of spit. I felt strange today. My emotions had completely defeated my training and run rampant. Somehow this child was developing me. I was also in a small state of shock after I learnt that I was a computer game character, of all things. It was time for Emily to wake up. She needed to prepare for Oliver. I also needed some time alone. I didn't like being in such….close company with someone for too long.

"Emily." called a faint voice. It sounded oddly familiar.

I shifted.

"Five more minutes mum." I mumbled.

I felt a dull, but sharp pain on my arm. I opened my eyes, focusing on a face. It was scarred and very serious. I wondered who it was. The pain intensified. I shook myself apart from the clutches of sleep, glaring at the icy-blue eyes that were looking down at me. My brain's cogs started to turn. HOW DARE HE? John was pinching me!

"OW! Hey!"

John had no comment, but he pulled his fingers away from my skin. I scrambled upright, throwing open the wardrobe door, and flinging myself out. I turned to look at John. He was serious again.

"Emily, how are you going to….show me to Oliver?"

"I don't know, you're the genius, combat trained professional. You think of the plans."

"I am not used to dealing with such situations."

"Well, what do you have that can help us?"

"I did bring this."

John pulled a sphere out of his pocket. It was a purplish-grey.

"Oooo! Is that what I think it is? Active camouflage?"

He nodded. He squeezed the sphere and his form blurred, then disappeared, save for a slight shimmering of where he was.

"Now you can actually walk around."

I stepped aside. It was creepy; I could feel a slight breeze as he strode past me.

"Okay. That's cool. But back to the situation, I better go get ready. I can't restrict you now, so go where ever you want."

Two hours later

"Hi Oliver!"

"Hi Ems!"

He ran forward and hugged me. I played with him for a little while, trying to distract him from charging straight into my room and flinging the wardrobe door open.

"I think it's time now."

Oliver nodded. I ran to my bedroom with him in tow and shut the door.

"So where is this amazing guy then?"

I tapped my foot, and John appeared. He was across the room, as far away as he could get from Oliver. I remembered that he didn't really like you until he knew he could trust you. He was standing straight, with his hands in fists by his side, his face set into an emotionless mask. His steely gaze was trained directly on Oliver. Even I had trouble even glancing over his face. Oliver's jaw dropped open, and he took a step back.

"That's….him?"

"Yup. The first person I met in his world, although I didn't know it then."

Oliver stepped forward, reaching out toward John. He flinched backwards.

"Don't do that. He doesn't like it."

I reached past and poked John to prove he was real.

"That was active camo he just had on, wasn't it?"

"Yep. Pretty cool huh?"

"So what you gonna do with him? You can't keep him."

"Yeah, but now that I know he has camo, he can walk around without getting spotted."

"But you can still see him, just not very well."

John was watching the exchange quietly. His gaze flicked to Emily, then to Oliver and back again.

"He's actually not all that ba-"

John interrupted.

"Why are you talking about me like I am not even here?" he said.

"He talks?"

"Dur."

I glanced at John. He was becoming somewhat annoyed. Well, it looked like it anyway. You couldn't really tell with him. Oliver clicked his fingers.

"That voice. It's him, alright."

"I know. I told you. He is real."

"I almost thou-"

John interrupted again,

"You're mothers are coming."

And he disappeared. I pretended I was messing with my RC helicopters and Oliver pretended to annoy me.(Actually I didn't know if he was actually pretending.)The door opened and Oliver's mother strode in, his little sister Daisy tagging along behind.

"Oliver, no shutting out your sister."

"Errm….It's my fault Rose. She can come in now."

Emily took the blame. I was proud of her. What? Rewind! What made me think that I should be supervising her? Did I consider her almost…my responsibility? I asked myself why that would be. It was because I had never taken the handlebars on my life. Everything I did was either ordered or necessary. My thoughts felt so…alien in my own head. Then it hit me what that strange, choking feeling that was in my chest was. For the first time in years.

I was scared.

Three hours later

"Bye Oliver."

"CYA Emily. Keep me posted."

"Okay. Sure, will do."

The car drove down the driveway and down the road. I turned and went inside.

"Are you happy now? I invited your friend over." my mother asked me.

"Yeah, but now I feel really tired."

"Go and have a sleep then."

"Okay."

I marched into my room, and closed the door. John reappeared in front of me.

"I don't like the way Oliver stared at me."

"You're John-117, the legendary hero. Course he's gonna stare."

His already thunderous frown deepened. He was silent. I could almost see the inner turmoil breaking out. I shrugged inwardly. I would give him a big hug to fix everything. I attempted to pin his arms to his sides when I proceeded with my plan, but I failed and they extracted themselves from my grip. I hugged him anyway, even though I didn't even come up to his chest. He stiffened automatically. These things did not come easily to him. He eventually relaxed, though, becoming somewhat squishy and huggable. Okay, for some reason I like a 35-45 year old badass supersoldier. It was weird. But apparently to many people I was already weird, so I didn't really care. John let out a silent sigh.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"You are helping me to….to….be normal." he said with difficulty.

"I…Errmm….It's okay, I s'pose."

I pulled away, remembering something. I rummaged around in one of my boxes and pulled out John's dogtags, and I held them out to him.

"Here. I always wanted to give them back."

He took them and put the chain over his head.

"Thank you again."

"So….Um…How you gonna get back to your world? And why did you even come here in the first place? Cause you know that light isn't going to take you to safe places all the time."

John frowned and chewed his lip.

"I do not know."

I sniffed. John kinda needed a shower. He'd been in my hot, stuffy wardrobe for the equivalent of two days. He glanced at me.

"I can't shower when you aren't. It would attract attention." he explained.

"Yeah well, you're a boy and I'm a girl, so no."

"I won't look?"

"Nope. Not a chance."

"Then put up with my smell."

I folded my arms, lifting up my head, attempting to look haughty.

"Americans."

I did my best impression of John's American burr.

"I do not sound that that."

"I do not sound like that." I mimicked.

"Children." he growled.

I stuck out my tongue. I picked up my book, threw myself down onto my chair and read. John crouched and seemed to begin a strange examination of my carpet.

"Your floor is dirty."

"Mhm."

"You should clean it."

"Nah."

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I sniffed again.

"Can I at least spray perfume on you?"

"I do not want to smell….pretty." he said with disdain.

"It would suit you." I giggled.

He glared at me, so I stuck my tongue out again. He lifted his head and began to copy my haughty look. He obviously found it interesting. I flung my book at him, but he caught it expertly and slid his finger inside to save my page.

"I wonder what we have to do to get you back to your world?"

"The gateway only seems to open when it wants to."

"Then let's make it." I growled menacingly.

John shook his head.

"Ask it?"

"No."

"Wish it?"

"No."

"Aha! How about we get you to reveal yourself?"

"What?"

"No, not like that, as in show people that you are real!"

He seemed to think for a moment.

"It's plausible."

"But its Friday! The next Wirraglen day is on Tuesday! I'll have to keep you hidden and feed you until then."

He looked at me.

"Okay! Okay!"

Four days later

I woke up and paced around Emily's room. I needed to think. Only Oliver would really know who I was.

"Hey! John. You ready?"

"Yes. But you are not."

She had only just woken up and almost fell down her bed's steps. I had to catch her.

"Can you stop acting like a drill sergeant?"

"I am not. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

I was totally serious. I would be screaming at her if I was one.

"Ermm…No thanks."

She had eventually let me have a shower, but insisted that I be blindfolded when it was her turn. When it was mine, she timed me exactly, giving me eight minutes to get dressed. I was already done by the time she had finished counting, she had opened her eyes to find my face 3 inches away, glaring at her. I was a little annoyed at how much of a brat she was. I wanted to scare some sense into her. She had been silent all that morning.

"Heeey? John? Hellooo?" she said, snapping her fingers in my face.

I jolted from my memories.

"Pardon?"

She huffed irritably.

"I said, hurry up and get ready because we are going soon."

She stormed out. I sighed quietly. I was not the best at dealing with…..children. Emily was one exception, I could ignore her but eventually she got overwhelming. She didn't seem to mind she was annoying me, someone who could harm her. She treated me like I was normal, something I enjoyed.

1 hour later

I plopped down into the car seat. John needn't get in the car, all he had to do was run alongside, and his enhancements meant he could easily keep up. Mum started up the car and off we went. I glanced out the window, thinking I could make out a shimmering shape running. I wondered what he was feeling, about how I thought we could get him back to his world. He couldn't stay here, Oliver and himself had made that perfectly clear. He had to show everyone that he was there. They didn't need to know who he was, but it must be hard for John to expose himself like that, after on the Infinity I could clearly see that he absolutely hated attention. I settled down to wait for our impending arrival at Wirraglen.

I panted, not puffed. I wasn't tired, just hot. Running that fast produced a lot of heat from my muscles. I had arrived just after Emily; I had to slacken my pace for a short while. I may have super strength, but even I couldn't run that fast for very long. I watched as Emily leapt out of the car. Doubt swirled around in my head. I didn't want to make myself known. I didn't want other people to know what a freak I was. I stepped forward and tapped Emily's shoulder. She turned and whispered.

"I can't interact with you while there are people around. It would look weird."

She turned abruptly and started walking towards a small, bricked building surrounded by trees. I breathed in deeply, testing the air. It was sweet and smelt of nature; it was even better than the air in Emily's home. I followed about five meters away from Emily, making sure not to step in any patches of sunlight. They made my shimmer more visible. I also stayed away from large groups of people. I found that harder and harder to attempt when over the course of two hours, more people arrived. I took the time to observe other children. Emily seemed vastly different yet similar at the same time. They seemed to talk a lot about something called "Minecraft". I was confused a lot at some of the things they discussed. I knew they were something unique to this time. Emily and I had made up a sort of signal; she kicked the ground four times when she wanted me to come. She was doing that just now. One, two, three, four. I marched over and pulled on her hair gently.

"Okay. I think it's time. Somehow Oliver got everyone into the Gazebo." she announced.

"I will come."

I walked over to the small building that would be where John would show himself. I could just hear quiet footsteps behind me. I was shocked that a person of John's size could walk so quietly. I ceased to hear them when I came close to the Gazebo; it sounded like a zoo in there.

"Oi! EVERYONE! IVE GOT SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!" I hollered.

Everyone shut up and looked at me. I felt a slight breeze; I knew John had walked past. I waited patiently. Then he appeared, standing as he had when he had showed himself to Oliver, his blue eyes hard and cold, glaring about. He towered pretty much over everyone.

"Who is THAT!?" there was a collective gasp.

"He appeared out of nowhere?"

"Is he an alien?"

"Why is he so tall?"

"He's creepy!"

I looked about intently behind John's back, looking for that pesky light.

"And what is-"

People were cut off as the light appeared, right behind them. John stiffened. He would have to barge between them to get to it. I punched the air.

"Aha! I am ze genius! You shall call me Einstein!" I crowed triumphantly.

At that point, John had had enough of the whispers and ran toward the light. Just before he reached it he stopped.

"Thank you Emily. You gave me a chance to be….human."

"Aww…shucks. Thanks. But you should go. They look like their eyeballs are gonna pop out of their head."

John's lips twitched and I resisted the urge to punch him. He turned and jumped into the portal light thingy. I smiled. That guy was fun, interesting, annoying,(I returned the favour sometimes) and completely AWESOME! But something was happening. I was moving. Towards the light. I dug in my heels and leaned backwards. It was taking me with it! I screamed. No! I don't know where it could take me! It could dump me into a lava pit for all I knew. I lost the desperate battle and I flew forwards. This time, the trip didn't take more than five seconds, dumping me roughly on the ground from 3 feet up. I opened my eyes. I was sitting on my (painfully bruised) bottom. The sand and dirt around me was ash grey and some of it looked like glass. There was a huge, broken up spaceship in front of me. It was at least as long as a skyscraper, and it was torn in half. The sky around me was dark grey, and there were many fires. Then I saw the bodies. I almost hurled up. There were alien and human carcasses. I looked away quickly, picking up a piece of the strange glass. It was dirty, and I realised, something had melted the dirt into the glass. I raced through my mind's memory banks. What could melt dirt. Lightning? No. This was definitely not Earth, and I didn't know what planets had lightning. Fire? No. The only fires seemed to be contained in the spaceship. Plasma? Yes. There were dead aliens. Aliens had plasma rifles. Then it hit me. I knew exactly where I was.

On a battlefield. And the battle-doers had all died.

And John was crouched ten meters away.

And his face was tear streaked.

Emily Taylor – The Light Page 19