Hope you enjoy this part. I promise to get another one up soon!
Holli
Chapter Eleven: … You’re Best Friend Finds out She’s an Alien
Twenty four years ago, a woman named Claudia Parker stumbled across a cave in the middle of the woods outside of Roswell, New Mexico. It wasn’t a strange occurrence to find Claudia Parker in weird places such as the woods, the desert, or a cave, for she was an adventurous woman who made a career of learning about different cultures, especially the ancient kind.No, no one would have been shocked to find Claudia Parker in a cave; however they would have been shocked had they seen the things that Claudia had seen that night that she stumbled upon it. She hadn’t been looking for anything in particular, but what she found, would change her life forever.
She hadn’t initially been drawn to the cave, it hadn’t even been something she’d noticed until she heard yelling, lots of yelling, and her curiosity got the best of her. She crept quietly and stood outside of the cave and listened to the disagreement the three men were having.
“What would you suggest I do? It was the King’s plan!” A man shouted.
“She is not needed. The Royal four are intact the way Zan’s mother intended.”
“It’s not the way the King intended. I work for and only for King Zan. I must complete the task he asked of me.”
“King Zan is dead.” A third voice said.
There was silence for a second and Claudia Parker imagined the men staring at each other, trying to decide what to do about their predicament. Claudia, herself, was trying to make a decision about whether or not she should continue to eavesdrop or leave. She wasn’t sure what to make of this conversation involving kings and royalty. Instead of leaving, she decided to get closer, and peek in the cave.
She saw all three men standing in the cave, glaring at each other. She hid as best she could, hoping to not be seen.
“King Zan lives on, as will his late bride.” The first man said with authority.
“King Zan will be thirty years older than his wife. It takes many, many years for the hybrids to develop in the pods.” The second man argued.
The first man shook his head. “His bride will be completely human.”
“This is insane! “The second man yelled. “Completely insane! There’s a reason Zan died in the first place. He was a terrible king!”
“He was young. He did the best he could, and he and his bride are our only hope.” The first man was enraged by the others, and Claudia decided that it was probably time for her to go. This was not what she had been looking for.
She attempted to back out of the cave quietly and quickly, she did not want to be here any longer, she was actually a bit frightened. Her impatience, however, got the best of her, because she tripped over something and landed with a crash on the ground.
“What was that?” One of the men yelled.
Claudia got up as quickly as possible and started running, but she was suddenly frozen, unable to move. She tried to scream for help, but she couldn’t even open her mouth. She couldn’t even breathe. She was terrified.
“What do we have here?” The second man said as they circled around her. “A human.”
“Let her go at once Nasedo!” The first man demanded. “She is of no harm to us.”
“She knows our secret Larek!” The third man cried. “She must be disposed of!”
“NO!” Larek yelled. “No! We will not continue carelessly murdering humans for some pleasure you two get from it!”
Larek flicked his wrist towards Claudia and she felt her muscles begin to loosen and start to move.
“What are you people?” She asked breathlessly.
“I am sorry.” Larek told her. “We mean you no harm. You may go.”
“Wait!” The third man said. “Don’t you need a human incubator for the queen?”
Larek stood for a moment, thinking. “Cal, you may be on to something.” Larek turned to Claudia. “Could you help us?”
“What do you need?” Claudia asked, not having a clue what she was getting herself or her family into.
* * *
“You knew about this?” Liz turned angrily towards me, as Max explained the story that I had already heard, the story of how Liz could possibly be an alien queen.
“Yes.” I admitted.
“How could you keep this from me?” She cried. “You’re supposed to be my best friend!”
“I am your best friend!” I told her.
“We asked her not to tell you Liz. We thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know.” Max said, trying to defend me.
“I don’t care.” Liz said, standing up. “You should have told me Maria.”
“Liz, I’m so sorry.” I said, trying to keep the tears at bay. I had already been through so much this morning; just the thought of fighting with Liz was making me want to cry.
“I just can’t believe you’d keep this big of a secret from me.” She said, walking out of the room.
I followed her down the steps and out the back door, and for the second time today I found myself in the back alley fighting with one of the most important people in my life. “I wanted to tell you! I did! I just couldn’t! Michael made me promise!”
“I’m sure he did! Max made me promise not to tell you he was an alien eight years ago, but I did!”
“This is completely different Liz!” I argued. “They told me that you were safer not knowing! I thought I was helping keep you safe!”
“I don’t really care right now.” She said, obviously hurt by my betrayal.
I had expected Liz to be upset with me for not telling her what I knew, but I had never expected her to be this upset. I had really hurt her. I was apparently getting pretty good at hurting people.
“I am really sorry.” I told her, one last time.
She shrugged. “We’re not really best friends. Not anymore. I shouldn’t have expected anything from you.”
“What?” I asked, hoping I’d heard her wrong. Was I really going to have to go through this again today?
“It’s not like we’re as close as we were in high school.” She said calmly. “You rarely return my phone calls; you haven’t been home in years. Hell, we’ve spoken more in the past week than we have in the past year.”
“I’m sorry for that Liz. I’m sorry for everything!” I cried. “I really am.”
“I just really want to be alone right now.” She said, starting to cry a little bit.
“Liz, you shouldn’t…”
She held her hand up, stopping me. “I just want to be alone.”
“Okay.” I said, defeated.
I didn’t cry while I walked home which was good. I didn’t want to be seen crying in public. I wasn’t even sure if I could cry after the past few days. My tear ducts had to be out of tears, didn’t they?
As I walked I replayed the whole day in my head, and then the whole week in my head, and then the past six years. I really had done a great job of isolating myself, pushing everyone away. Maybe I wanted to be alone, maybe I wanted to be miserable.
Well, I thought to myself, you got your wish. You’re alone and miserable. Congratulations Maria.