Chapter Six: Hiding

"What is it doing here? Are you crazy?" Shrill. Berating. Demanding. Female.

"I couldn't let her die, or be sold off – there was something in her expression. She seemed…sad. Almost regretful! I just couldn't let anything happen to her!" Male. Pleading.

"Regretful that a prawn was ending her life! You can't just accept that humans are all the same, can you?" The voice lowered to a dangerous hum, "And you're calling it a her? Sometimes you're so despicable! I can't live with this – thing!"

"She didn't do anything to you, Mom." A third voice. Male. He was young, but strong. I could feel his presence – it pushed at me lazily. Purring, slinking up my legs.

"Great! Just great! Look what you've done, Michael – Daniel is a human lover, too!" The middle-aged female's fist made contact with another figure – probably the older male, Michael, "You've ruined us! Ugh!"

I forgot the family around me for a moment – a shock of pain bolted through my head, and I became aware of a dull throbbing.

"Ahhhh." I couldn't help it – painful word vomit. Hell, I felt like vomiting.

My eyes cracked open as silence fell over the room. Stifling silence. I wanted to collapse, but instead began sitting up.

I fell back, arching my back in agony. Pain pulsed within me. Almost alive, like a parasite, feeding off me. Bashing against my brain – a throb with every heart beat.

Thump, thump, thump. Quick pounds against my skull.

"Shit! It's awake!" Her words were whispers.

"I'm – I'm not an it." I moaned out, holding my head. I felt my legs involuntarily curl.

A screech hissed my ears.

"Michael! How does – what did you do? How is it speaking our language?"

"I'm sorry." He whispered, then left.

"Michael! Come back here! Christopher or someone else can deal with this! I won't have that thing near me!" She chased after him, anger in her words.

Their…language? What? I spoke in English! I thought, confused, in pain. Stars danced across the black velvet of my inner eyelids.

I felt a finger gently caress the skin under my scrunched eyelids. "He taught you how to speak like us, and you didn't even know it. You understand us, I bet. Can tell whether I'm male or female, my age, my inflections."

Slowly, my eyes creeped open. Somehow, the pounding seemed less intense. Like it was hiding. Creating a nest within my mind. Waiting for later.

A tall, strong-looking prawn stood over me. This one was near eight feet in height, and insistently male. He wore a smile that showed compassion and understanding – something I was surprised to recognize.

"When I was young, I was taken by MNU into their laboratories. A sympathetic human freed me, but I underwent some tests before that. There were humans in there, too, though." He looked into the distance, seeing a distant memory. Sharp and painful, it pricked at his face. Blood dripped from the injuries of his past, "We're all suffering in this, together. As one. Not many can see that, though."

He offered his hand – alien, scaled, and only thrice-appendaged – to my own, small, soft, five fingered hand. They joined, and for a moment, we both stared. What was it in that moment that stilled us?

The joining of races, I realized. One paired with the other. Growing, sprouting within us. A seed that would shake the roots of all other plants on this Earth.

Daniel, as he had been called, pulled me up into a sitting position. He wore fairly nice clothing for a prawn – a shirt that had few holes, and shorts that were once pants, with paint stains. He looked down, and smiled embarrassedly.

"You raid trash cans, first. Most wait for the trash dumps." He looked me in the eyes – serious and sad, "You do what you have to in District 9."

"Not just in District 9." Clicks. From my own throat. Eyes wide, fingers shaking, I felt my lips, my throat. Still the same, on the outside.

"Sorry – I think talking to us might be shocking. If you talk to a prawn..it'll be like that."

"Always?" I gulped. Again. It was there. From me. Click, click, click.

"Perhaps."

I felt a more pressing matter against my lower stomach. I awkwardly looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"What is it? I can try to get my father to change it – but there's no guarantee, so.."

"No, i-it's not that. I have to..go to the bathroom."

"Oh. Uh.." He looked around, awkwardly, "One second." Rummaging sounded from outside. Looking around, I realized this might be one of the nicest shacks here. They were all one room – but this one was neat, orderly. Not every possession was a piece of junk, at least, in my eyes.

Who are they among the prawns? To have control over others, and now this..it's strange.

Daniel returned with a pot. I stared at it awkwardly.

"Our waste system is a bit..different from yours. This is as close as I can get to comfortable, I guess." Foot to foot. He was nervously shifting. "I'll go outside until you're done, and then dump it for you."

His eyes. Kindness, and awkwardness. He was just like any human in this situation, except for his physical appearance.

An arm reached behind his head. Scratch.

He was cute, I decided.

"Um..I'll leave it here for you." Daniel quickly deposited the deteriorating pot by my side, and retreated outside.

I stared at my feet. "Thank you." Whispers. I felt so timid. It wasn't fear, not really. Not of an alien. Just of a fellow being.

How am I supposed to stand on my own like this?

It was many moments before I could reach standing point. With my shorts dropped, I did my business – feeling nervous, wondering if the prawn outside could hear me. When I finished, I called his name. It was in their language. I felt my throat again as he entered.

"Um – here." A pot between us. Filled with my urine. I down casted my view.

He exited again. Mortified, and I'm sure red-faced, I sat down on the blanket-covered table.

My head hurt. I felt like throwing up again.

Daniel entered again, holding his upper arms. "I should probably tell you..you really shouldn't go outside. When you're out there, other prawns will maul you, regardless of who my father is."

I nodded. "Yeah. I figured."

Silence lazily swam around us.

"Who…is your father?" I faced him. His eyes were faced down, and his lips tight. Quickly, he exited the shack, slamming the door behind him.

Alone. Again.