Love From A Star: A BWWM Alien Romance Read online

  Suddenly there was a loud beeping sound. The adrenalin that was just about to return to its normal level suddenly hit the roof again; he was almost out of fuel. There was no way he could turn back now, so he sailed further, hoping to find some solitary hiding place where he could regroup and get his communicator working well enough to radio for help. There was only darkness as he plunged deeper into space. He was now over fifty thousand miles away from Solaris, much farther than he had ever been. He was beginning to think he would die out there, or drift forever, which had the same effect. He knocked the communicator several times against the seat, but nothing came from it.

  The beeping sound kept getting louder, and with each one, Antash could see his life story as a canvas before him. He had hoped he would die a noble death in battle, not drifting into outer space until he starved, or became food for something else. He was beginning to lose hope when he saw a white speck in the distance. Holding onto the last ray of hope he could find, he sped forward, hoping the fuel would take him that far. He didn’t know what object it was, but he hoped it would be friendly. As he neared he could see that it was possibly another planet, and whether they would be enemy or friends, he didn’t know; he couldn’t care at the moment.

  He pressed the control forward and as he hovered over the strange planet he was awed by its green and blue hue. He began to drift downwards until he entered the atmosphere. Just then his glider began to make even weirder noises as it shook. Antash could barely hold onto the control as the vessel took on a life of its own. He was almost sure it would be torn apart by the speed at which it propelled downwards, and he grabbed the control as he tried to pull it upwards, desperately trying to avoid a crash.

  Antash could make out what resembled the mountains on Solaris, and he hoped the texture was the same as the glider bore down on the green mound. Antash cried out as he felt the glider hit the surface and roll several times as it bounced on the ground. When it came to rest, he fell against the control panel and slid to the ground like molten lava. Antash couldn’t feel his legs, could hardly move, and as he lay there he could feel what felt like blood trickling down his forehead. His eyes slowed their blinking, and as they closed this time he could hear a crackle and some static as a voice called over the communicator.

  “Antash, come in,” the voice said. “You are way past check point. Antash! An..”

  And that was all Antash heard, when it was too late, before he lost all consciousness.

  Chapter 2

  “Dad, I am not going back,” Jalicia said as she lifted the hamper filled with dirty clothes and headed towards the back of the house.

  “Why not?” her father asked as he limped along behind her. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

  She continued to walk as she listened to him drag himself after her. He was still nursing the injury he had sustained a while back when he broke his hip. Her mother had been alive then, and it had taken him almost a year before he was able to walk comfortably on his own again. Jalicia hadn’t been there; she had been living in the city then. But everything has changed since, and she now ignored the old man as he tried once more to dig up memories of the past.

  “If you were capable, then I wouldn’t still be here would I?” she asked as she set the hamper down. She began sorting through the clothes as she separated the whites from the colors. “Besides, you are my father, and I love being here. This is where I grew up,” she said as her face took on a nostalgic expression. She paused in her duty and reflected on the little girl who would have been outside frolicking in the hay, or running wild across the farm with the neighbors’ children.

  “You love being here more than being a doctor? I didn’t want this for you Jalicia, and had Ruth not passed away, you would not have been here,” he argued for what was possibly the thousandth time. “You wanted to be a doctor ever since you were a child.” He shuffled closer to her until he was rubbing shoulders with her. He folded his arms and rested against the washer. “You know, most children wouldn’t know what they wanted to do when they grew up, and if you ask most of ‘em they will tell you they want to be a teacher, or a doctor, or a fireman.”

  “Toby wanted to be superman,” Jalicia said as she grinned at the memory. It brought a chuckle from her father as well.

  “But not you,” Samuel continued. “You stuck to being a doctor; the only thing that ever changed was the kind of doctor you wanted to be. You knew what you were about and you stuck to it, and I don’t want to stop you from being the person you were meant to be. When you got that scholarship...”

  “Dad, stop,” Jalicia said as she bent to take the remaining clothes from the hamper and stuffed them into the washer. She turned the knob and soon they could hear the sound of water running. “I wish I had this when I was a child,” she said as she tried to change the subject. Her father didn’t move, respond or take the bait. “Dad, I have to be here. End of story. Now can we drop it?”

  “No we cannot,” he said as he walked off, now behind her and into the kitchen. He had to raise his voice over the din she was creating as she moved the pots and pans about. “Would you stop that for a moment?”

  Jalicia stopped for a second, but only to dissuade the conversation. “Dad, I am tired of the talk; what’s done is done and will not be undone. Maybe the greater purpose that I am to serve is here. Have you ever thought of that? What would you do without me?”

  “I’d spend my days boasting about my daughter the doctor,” he said as he smiled sheepishly. “I’d be fine, and you know that.”

  “I don’t know that,” she said as she tossed the pan into the sink, making quite a clatter. “Maybe if I had stayed Mom would not have gotten that fever. I could have been here to help, and then maybe she wouldn’t have died.”

  “We know that’s not true. Ruth was already weakened physically, what with the chemotherapy she had undergone before. She had no fight left, and she knew it. She asked that you didn’t come,” he replied sadly.

  “That was wrong of you. I could have done something,” she said as the emotions of a year ago returned to her like a tidal wave and she gripped the edge of the counter for support.

  Samuel reached over and gripped his daughter on the shoulders. “Look at me,” he commanded sternly. Jalicia turned slowly to face him, and he could see the tears glistening on her cheek. He softened as he witnessed the liquid show. “You will not blame yourself for this, you hear me? There was nothing you could have done. She wanted you to stay there. There was nothing you could have done other than watch her die.” He held his daughter close to him as her sobs rocked her petite frame. “Now, no more talk of this.”

  “I know you would rather I go back to Washington, but I am staying here. You can’t do this alone,” she said as she dried her face on her sleeve and wiped her hand across her nose. “Maybe one day I will go back, but not now.”

  “One day, when I die you mean?” he asked as he walked away.

  “I won’t allow it,” she said as she turned her back to him. “Supper will be ready in a few minutes,” she told him.

  He grunted in response and lugged himself up the single flight of wooden steps. Jalicia heard when his door closed, and she couldn’t help the escape of a few more tears. She missed her mother and the times they often spent making dinner, and sitting on the porch laughing, or raking hay in the barn. Each time she did any of these activities, she was reminded of the gaping hole she left in her heart when she died. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get over it, but being here seemed to be the only way she could.

  She had always wanted to be a medical doctor. She felt her life had to have meaning, and the best thing she could think of was helping save lives. She'd had one more year left in medical school when she got the news. It hadn’t even come from her father, and he was surprised when she had turned up. Mrs. Jacobs from across the way had thought she should know, and though they had asked her to pledge her secrecy, she had known Jalicia would have wanted to be there. Especially whe
n it was obvious she didn’t have much longer to live.

  It was a small town in Kentucky, and not much activity took place here. Who knows, maybe she could wind up being the doctor in town-the only doctor in town. She smiled at the thought as she rummaged in the cupboards and the refrigerator, looking for the ingredients to make supper.

  “Seems I am right on time,” she heard someone say from the door.

  She looked around to see her freckle faced neighbor poking his head through the kitchen door. “To take out the trash?” she asked as she looked at him. “It’s right over there.”

  “Very funny,” he said as his entire body emerged into the space. “But I will, since you are being so awfully nice,” he said as he walked over and leaned against the counter. “What ya cooking?”

  “Ned, go away,” Jalicia said as she moved about.

  “Ouch,” he said as he winced. “That left an exit wound.” He slapped his hand over his heart.

  Jalicia laughed at his idiocy. “If only that was enough to drive you away.” She set the pan on the stove and ignited it.

  “You can’t get rid of me pretty lady,” he said as he grinned. “Need any help?”

  “No, I’m good thanks,” she responded. “It’s mostly leftovers anyway.” Ned walked around the kitchen like he either had something to say but wasn’t sure how to say it, or like someone with far too much time on their hands and nothing to do with it. “How’s the academy?” Jalicia asked him.

  “It’s alright. I only like going to the range,” he said and flashed her a broad grin. She couldn’t help smiling back at him.

  “You do realize you won’t get to use that feature much, right?” she asked him.

  “Yeah I know,” he responded sadly as he kicked a piece of paper on the floor and dug his hands into his pocket. “The most action I’d probably get here is helping old man Bill drive his cattle across the street. And maybe if I am really lucky, it will cause a pile up I will have to clear.”

  Jalicia was laughing so hard now she had to stop cooking to gain her composure. “It isn’t that bad. As a matter of fact it can’t be bad living in a town where there is no crime to speak of that needs controlling. You should count your blessings.”

  “I want to be out there making a difference. Maybe I will go to work in Washington too. Who knows, some day I might wind up being a member of the FBI or the Secret Service. I don’t know how you came back. There is nothing to do here but shovel hay and cross cattle.”

  “Not you too,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Dad was just on me about going back to Washington,” she said as her eyes drifted in the direction of his room.

  “I think he is right. You should go back,” he encouraged. “You would make a great doctor.”

  “That’s what I keep telling her,” Samuel said as he made a reappearance.

  “Great. Now I have the both of you ganging up on me,” she said as she went back to cooking. “Dad, could you please set the table?”

  Samuel just rolled his eyes as he took the dishes from the cupboard and laid them on the table next to the silverware. No one made any further comment as Jalicia scooped a serving of vegetables onto the three plates. She had grown accustomed to Ned who had become like a fixture since she returned. He had been her childhood friend, and she remembered the days they would go exploring by the creek, or chase butterflies and dissect frogs. But she was no longer that girl, and Ned was not the scrawny kid she had remembered. He had matured into a handsome man that even the freckles on his face seemed to give him added personality and charm; the same freckles that had been like a plague to him all throughout middle school.

  He no longer saw Jalicia as before, and he had tried on several occasions to get her to go to dinner or to a barn dance, but she had declined on the grounds that she didn’t want to leave her father home alone. He knew she was only making excuses, but he hadn’t pushed her. Instead he had satisfied himself with being her friend during the interim. He had hoped she would have come around, but she hadn’t, so now he was like a part of the family. Besides, he had Maggie now, and he seemed to adore her. Still, he found the time to visit Jalicia as often as possible, under the guise of safety for herself and her father. Though safety from what would be anyone’s guess.

  “This tastes even better second time around,” Samuel said as he dug into his meatloaf.

  “See, you need me,” she said as she smiled at him.

  “I know how to make a meatloaf,” he argued.

  “Forget it. I’d never forgive myself if I left and anything happened to you,” she told him.

  Samuel knew his daughter was stubborn, so he resigned from the task of getting her back to Washington for the night.

  Ned sat there looking at Jalicia; he had liked her from the start. Her parents had bought the farm next to his when she was just about five years old. He had wandered over to say hello, fascinated that her skin was different from his, and that she looked so different than anyone else he had ever met before. His cheeks colored as his memory embarrassed him. He hadn’t been out of the town before then, and he had thought she had gotten burnt. He had asked her about it, and she had told him that was how her skin was.

  “Oh, you’re black,” the small voice said as it echoed from twenty years ago.

  “Yes, and you are white,” she had said.

  He had been fascinated by her from then on, as were so many other children who had never actually met a black person before. She had been quite the sensation, but it wasn’t just because of her dark skin; she was the most loving child, and everyone wanted to be her friend. Ned had called dibs on her, and she almost slapped the white off of him when he had told her about it years later.

  “You don’t own me,” the younger Jalicia had said.

  “I know, but you live closest to me. It’s only right that I am number one on your list of friends. I didn’t want anyone coming too close to take you away, so I called dibs,” he had said.

  Jalicia had laughed then, and her curly hair shook as she did. The two had been close ever since.

  “What are you smiling at?” she asked him when she saw the smirk on his face.

  “I was just remembering when we were children. I asked you if you had been burnt,” he said as he laughed. “I can’t believe what a hillbilly I must have sounded like then.”

  Both Jalicia and Samuel laughed at Ned. “Yes you did,” Samuel said. “I have to admit, before then, I had never been described as that before.”

  “Man, I need to go out and see more of the world,” he said, and then slapped his hand over his mouth when he saw the look Samuel gave Jalicia. “Sorry,” he mouthed as she shot daggers at him with his eyes.

  “Help me clear the dishes,” she told him as she scraped her chair back.

  Just as they were placing the last of them in the sink there was a honk outside. Jalicia moved the curtains and then turned to Ned. “It’s Maggie,” she said.

  “Shoot, I forgot she wanted my help. See you around toadsy,” he said as he ruffled her hair and reminded her of the nickname he had given her since their days of dissecting frogs. “Thanks for supper,” he said as his voice trailed off.

  She looked around and saw that she was alone once more; her father must have gone back to his room. He slept early and rose early like the sun, and she used the silence to catch up on reading, the news or her thoughts. Her eyes read more into the soap suds accumulating around the dishes as her hands slithered over the slippery surface of the dinnerware. Then they searched beyond the farm and into the darkness for a greater purpose she was sure was out there. She knew her father wanted more for her than this, but how could she have abandoned him. She had been the only child to Ruth and Samuel Guthrie, and she had felt it her duty to help run the farm that had provided her with the means to make it to college in the first place. Samuel had no one else, and she would not turn her back on him. Ever!

  Still, she couldn’t help thinking about how life would have been if she h
ad stayed in Washington. She had only one year left in medical school before she would start her internship at Memorial. She had been looking forward to it, and then her dreams had been cut short when she received the phone call. She hadn’t thought twice about deferring her remaining time in the program. Hopefully she could go back, but her family came first, so she left college, and she left Aaron.

  He had been her doting boyfriend of two years, and it had pained her to end the relationship, but Washington was too far from Kentucky to maintain anything and she had thought it best if they made a clean cut. She had thought about him often then, but time was both a cruel and gentle teacher, and soon the pain of abandoning him was replaced by grief, and then responsibility. So lost was she in thought she didn’t even realize she had finished washing up until she splashed water on her blouse. She finished wiping the counter and then looked over to the garbage bag.

  “I guess it’s just you and me tonight,” she said to the bin. She walked over and reached down to tie a knot at the top before heaving the bag from the bin and onto the floor. She pulled it along behind her until she got to the door. Just as she opened it, she saw a flash of light in the distance. She stood there, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Maybe it was a meteor rock, like Smallville, she thought as she smiled and stepped onto the porch.

  She closed her eyes as her feet landed on the dirt at the bottom of the steps. She liked feeling the cool evening breeze as it caressed her skin, and she sucked in a breath of air as she eased herself into it. Then she reopened her eyes and walked to the dumpster at the back of the house. Maybe she could burn it in the morning. She turned and was heading back to the house when she happened to look back to where she had seen the flash before. Now she could make out a red light blinking in the distance.