Those
Left Behind
Author: DocPaul
Rating: R
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimers: The concepts
and names are the same, but the characters belong to me. I give them life, more
life than
Warnings: There
is nothing happy here. Angst.
Summary: After
Michael returned to save Max at Graduation, and the others escaped, they all
said their goodbyes as they got ready to depart in the van, leaving
Author’s note: This
is a ‘what if’ storyline. The whole premise behind Departure was too silly
to believe, that I thought of this alternative version. In this story, Liz,
leaving the graduation unprepared to run, never having the chance to retrieve
her journal. Devastation was a path they left for those left behind.
Those
Left behind
For Betty
“You
can’t go.”
“What?”
Maria couldn’t believe it. It was her decision whether she would go or not go.
It should be her decision. He made his when he stayed on Earth, and she should
have the right to decide about leaving
“I
can’t let you, Maria.”
“I’ve
thought this through, Michael. I want to be with you. I love you. I’ve always
loved you. This should be my decision.”
Michael
looked at the others, and took her arms pulling her away from the group. “I
love you too, and that is exactly why you’re not going.”
“This
is because of before.”
“Maria.”
“No,
don’t deny it. I broke up with you, and you haven’t forgiven me for that.”
Maria ran her hands through her hair, uncaring what it did to her style. “If
you love me, and I love you, and we want to be together, then it shouldn’t
matter.”
“It
does matter. We will be on the run for the rest of our lives, Maria. Forever.
Not safe. Ever.” Michael saw Max make a gesture that they needed to hurry.
“I
want to be with you.” Maria’s stomach hurt.
Michael
shook his head no. This was the way it had to be. He couldn’t risk it. Risk
her. “Maria, I already said goodbye. I meant it.”
“And
that’s it.” Maria stood back looking at him in disbelief. “It’s always
been this way.” Seeing his look of confusion, she continued. “Choosing
between the alien stuff and us. The alien stuff always rules supreme. What about
my heart? Your heart?”
“I’m
following my heart, and for the first time, my head as well. Taking you with me
would be the pinnacle of selfishness.
It would be compromising your safety and your life. Too many people have died
because of me and I can’t have you be another one. I won’t.” Michael heard
his name. “I’ve gotta go. We…” Michael paused looking at her. He wanted
to kiss her one more time, but he couldn’t. Steeling his heart, he turned and
walked away.
They
stood there in the dark watching the van’s tail lights until they faded away,
neither of them speaking. Jesse
stood a few feet away from her. There was nothing to say. They were just human.
Nothing special. Easy to let go. Not a reason to take or stay.
~~~
5
Months later…
“Max,
you’ve got to talk to him.”
Max
looked up from where he was sitting on a bed next to Liz in another cheap motel.
They were almost out of money again, so it was back to one room for the five of
them. Michael tended to sleep in the van despite the cold, and Isabel shared a
bed with Kyle, while Max and Liz, husband and wife, took the other bed.
His
wife.
Max
smiled an idiotic grin. Liz Evans.
“Snap
out of it! Michael! He’s a problem. Go deal with him.” Isabel couldn’t
take much more. Her life. It was a nightmare.
How
do you learn to hate? It was hard to say. But in six months, Isabel had learned
these facts. First, she hated her life and how it turned out. She hated her
brother Max, with a passion, and along with him, Liz Parker. She hated Michael
Guerin. And finally, she hated that they were all she had left in this world.
Max
and Liz were as simpering in marriage as they had been before the glorious,
earth-shattering event that realigned the planets, brought about world peace,
and turned the waters of the world to milk and honey.
Actually,
no.
None
of those things happened. Nada. No magical alliance. No unseen Destiny. Even
Liz’s alien powers had waned. In the last six months she had had exactly three
premonitions, and the last one didn’t even pan out. The only thing that
increased was the dolt-like, smug smile on Liz’s face as she sat next to Max,
smiling into his eyes.
Michael.
He had changed. For the worse. All the ground he made over the past few years
had dissolved before their very eyes. They had suspected it was Maria that
brought about his varied improvements over the last year or so.. Maria critics
would say she nagged and pestered him to be what she thought he should be. But
in truth, all the changes came from Michael himself, from deep within. He
changed because he wanted to be better, to be worthy of Maria. That was just how
he saw it.
For
the first time in about two years, both Isabel and Michael were unhindered by
significant others. She had left Jesse, and he had denied Maria. You’d think
they would’ve joined together, consoled each other, and maybe, by default,
tried an earlier written Destiny.
No.
Nope. Nada. The will wasn’t willing, and the flesh even less. It was a hard,
crushing reality to find that no matter how far they roamed, those they left
behind still owned their hearts, and everything else was second best, sometimes
not even that.
Michael
Guerin was the furthest thing from a dream mate Isabel could think of. He was
nasty, biting and sarcastic. He rolled his eyes at every word leaving
practically anyone’s mouth. He lost his temper constantly, never slept, and
became meaner as the days moved forward. He made ‘Alien King Michael’ look
like a Campfire boy.
He
was Michael Guerin again. Michael, pre-Maria, but even worse. For once in his
life, he had no great purpose. No search for home. No Destiny to be a soldier,
or even a stand-in King. He was nothing but a fugitive trapped with four other
people he suspected he didn’t even like.
Food
tasted like paste. And it was possible that the sky was eternally gray. He
hadn’t laughed once since they left
Using
all the hot water was grounds for a firing squad.
Laughing
at a
It
was hard. Isabel could understand because she and Michael were in the same boat.
They each had left someone they loved behind. In an act of love, they had walked
away.
Then
there was Max.
Max,
who had saved Liz Parker three years ago, thus starting a chain reaction that
slowly dissolved their safe boring lives. Max, who had broken a pact forged
between the three of them. Max, who cheated and lied, not only to them, but to
Liz. Max, who let a murderess into their lives who took Alex away. Max, who did
so much wrong, starting from the moment he saved Liz Parker. And his reward? He
got to marry the girl. He got to keep his love close. He had set everything set
in motion, and once again Max Evans had gotten everything and paid no dues.
How
do you learn to hate?
You
live with it every day.
~~~
“Can
we talk?”
Michael
looked up from the magazine he was reading. “Do I have a choice?”
“Look,
Michael…”
Michael
sat up and slammed the magazine down. “Guess that means no.” Michael got up
and grabbing his jacket, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Max
watched the door close. Glancing at Liz, he could see the sympathy in her eyes.
He sighed and picked up his coat, following Michael out to the van. Michael was
lying down on the back bench seat. It was cold. How Michael could stand sleeping
in the van was beyond Max’s comprehension.
“Is
this where you, King Max, tell me that Princess Isabel would like me to adjust
my attitude? Or is it Queenie? The all-seeing, all-knowing Great and Magical
Wizard of Roswell, Liz Parker? Oops, I mean Evans.”
Max
ignored the insults. After five months, it was par for the course. “No, this
is where I tell you to get over it.”
Michael
just snorted. “Thanks, Max. I feel better already because I’ve been ordered
to get over it.”
“I
mean it, Michael.” Max took a seat in the front and turned around to regard
his one-time best friend. “You’re pissed. About what this time is anyone’s
guess. This attitude has been a constant cloud over the entire group since we
left
Michael
sat up, his face flushed in anger. “You know nothing, Max. I suggest you shut
the fuck up before I forget that I’m
not a murderer.” He should’ve left Max there to fry. He didn’t have to
come back, but he did.
“She
wanted to come. You said no. Don’t take it out on us.”
Michael
swore and looked out into the night. “This isn’t about…” He couldn’t
say her name. Closing his eyes, he felt a need to rub them, but resisted. Max
was watching. “What? Do you even care? You’ve got your wife. You’re all
happy and sickeningly nauseating most of the time with all the cooing,
lovey-dovey names, and smug smiles…so happy, even though the rest of us are
miserable.”
“Don’t
blame us for your unhappiness. Maybe you should just admit it, Michael. You
didn’t leave her behind because you were concerned about her safety.”
“Shut
up.”
“No.
You can listen or not, but pretending wounded nobility isn’t solving or
admitting the problem.”
“And
that would be?” Michael asked nastily. Max the Magnificent always knew
everything.
“The
problem is she was right. You were still punishing her for breaking up with you.
That was why you left her behind, made her unimportant. It’s why you took away
her right to choose.”
Michael
wasn’t getting any sleep tonight. Max wasn’t going to go away. Trapped.
Michael searched for a place he could go sack out away from the others. Perhaps
he could break into an empty room and sleep in it for the night. Watch some
television. Forget.
“Are
you through? Or is there more to this lecture?”
Max
was tired. Tired of all of it. “No, that’s about it. You need to learn
forgiveness, Michael. You never forgave me for saving Liz and telling her about
us, and all the things afterward. You never even thought of Isabel in any mode,
once you learned about Kivar and her betrayal as Vilandra. You can’t forgive
Liz for being important to me. And you couldn’t forgive Maria for wanting a
life that didn’t revolve around us, you, and danger. You couldn’t forgive
her for wanting more, because that meant you weren’t enough.”
“I
forgave her. We…” Michael looked at the night again. “We were sort of back
together in an unspoken way before everything went wrong.”
“Why?
Because you two were occasionally sleeping together? She wanted more, but you
kept holding back. After we helped the Colonel, I thought things were getting
better, but you left her out there on a limb. She could have you physically, but
nothing else. Not your heart. You couldn’t forgive her that one thing, after
how many years she forgave you everything?”
“Shut
up, Max. It was none of your business. I never asked for your opinion, nor do I
want it.”
Max
opened the door and jumped down. “Too bad. You made a mistake. You let your
inability to forgive prompt you to throw away the only woman you ever loved, the
only person who ever accepted you, warts and all. And, Michael,” Max said
softly, “there are a lot of warts. So just learn to accept it, because we are
sick of it.”
Michael
didn’t even bother to acknowledge Max’s leaving.
Inability
to forgive.
The
only person he had ever loved unconditionally. No one, but her. He hadn’t
lied. There was never anyone else for him except her. There never would be.
Lying back on the bench, he ignored the cold.
“I
don’t even have a picture of you,” he said to the darkness. “Three years.
You would think that I would’ve at least taken the time to carry a picture of
you in my pocket.”
Michael
laughed bitterly at himself. The laugh turned into a barely suppressed sob. It
wasn’t supposed to hurt this much. He always knew he might have to leave.
Years had passed, and he had convinced himself it wouldn’t matter…that he
could walk away.
Michael
wiped a trembling hand over his mouth. It was wet. A cold sweat broke out on his
upper lip. He felt sick. Sleep. He needed sleep. It was too cold to sleep. That
was why he slept there. It kept him awake. He hated dreaming.
The
nightmares.
They
started almost immediately after they left
The
nightmares made no sense. It was like an acid backwash. A really bad trip.
Color
and noises that sounded like distorted screams. Scenes moving too fast to keep
in focus. One thing that stuck and made sense. Fear. Not a slight anxiety. This
was deep bone shaking fear.
A
month after
He
had never told anyone. He couldn’t. It made no sense. It was Maria. It had to
be. She was crying for him.
He
had left her standing in the dark. He had left her alone.
~~~
“Anything?”
Kyle
shook his head and closed the hotel door. Two days. They had searched and waited
for two days.
Michael
was gone.
Max
stood at the window and gazed into the night. Michael left that night while they
slept. He took his jacket, nothing else, and he walked away. Where the hell was
he? Maria?
“We
leave tomorrow.”
Isabel
sat up abruptly. “Max, we can’t. How will he know how to find us if we
leave?”
“He
will. Michael knows the rules. We get split up, we rendezvous at the designated
place. We follow the schedule, changing location every seven days until he finds
us again, sends word, or we get tired of waiting.” Max closed his eyes.
Hopefully Michael was paying enough attention to the code that Liz devised.
“Week
forty-three of the year is
There
were fifty-two weeks in a year. Fifty-two cards in a deck, divided into four
suits of thirteen. Each week of the year was designated by a card in the deck,
hearts being the numbers one through thirteen A, Diamonds were one through
thirteen B, Clubs were C, and Spades were D. There were twenty-six letters in
the alphabet, and so they used the alphabet twice giving each week of the year a
letter corresponding to a city. They all memorized the cities in order. Figure
out the week of the year, find the city, and at that city’s bus depot, find
the locker corresponding to the card of the deck. In that locker they would
leave messages regarding where they were, up to that week. Then they would move
on to the next city.
Liz
looked at Max, “What do we do, Max?”
“We
go where we’re supposed to be, and wait.”
What
else was there?
Isabel
looked out in the dark, and sighed. Michael was smart. He had broken free.
Isabel closed her eyes, hoping he went home to
~~~
“Jim,
I’ve got a report of a possible B & E at
“Ten-four,
Vera. I’m on my way.” Jim turned his Deputy’s SUV towards the middle of
town. It was late. Three in the morning. Normally he didn’t mind the late
shift.
“Vera,
I’ve checked.
“Roger,
Jim.”
Jim
sighed and stretched on his way back to his vehicle. Prank. High school kids
liked to call in false reports and sit at a distance and watch the police
respond. Things never changed. Getting in behind the wheel, he sat there for a
few moments in the dark. Some things did. Lonely nights. He had nothing but time
to think about it.
“Don’t
turn around.”
Jim’s
body went still at the low voice. Sitting forward he tightened his grip on the
wheel.
“Is
this vehicle bugged?”
“I
don’t believe so.” Jim wanted to turn around but he remained facing forward.
He knew that voice. Would know it anywhere.
“Then
let’s take a drive.”
Jim
started his patrol again, taking dark lonely streets, and turned out of
“Vera,
I’m off to Sutter’s pond to check on a possible Rave.”
“Roger,
Jim. Careful out there in the dark.”
“Affirmative.”
The
SUV provided the only lights in the night surrounding the small pond. Pulling up
to the pier, he got out and waited. It took only a few moments before his
passenger decided that they hadn’t been followed, and he emerged from the back
seat.
“Good
to see you, son.” Jim gave the young man a heartfelt hug. It felt like a
lifetime since he last saw Michael Guerin. “What are you doing here,
Michael?”
Michael
looked over the dark waters. Aw, the pond where Liz Parker tried to do a
striptease for Max. Pathetic. Only those two could make something sexual look
like something lame. He laughed his ass off later when Max told the whole watery
tale of the two of them trying to skinny-dip, Max having a vision about his son,
and almost drowning. They had called him, and he went to get them. Both Max and
Liz had been huddled in blankets shivering, and Michael had gotten a glimpse of
Liz’s staid white cotton underwear. It was enough to make him consider turning
gay, that was until Maria showed up wearing that scrap of nothing lace. Maria
always defined the limits. Isabel, married, looked like a June Cleaver, and Liz
was so asexual, she was wearing panties that would shame her own grandmother.
Not
Maria. Maria liked silk and lace, and she was a card carrying member of
Frederick’s and Victoria’s Secret. She wore matching panties and bras in
shameless sheer material that gave a person a glimpse of what was underneath,
and at times, she wore nothing at all. He loved how unwrapping her was always a
treat of unexpected delight, never knowing what she would have on under her
clothes. Everything about her was a surprise.
“Where
is Maria? I went to her house and sat outside it for hours. It looks
abandoned.”
Jim
swallowed hard. Looking at the water, he felt it again, that welling of emotion
behind his throat threatening to burst out of control. He couldn’t…not
alone. Jim reached into his vehicle and grabbed a sheet of paper from his
notepad. Scribbling directions and a time, he handed it to Michael. The old
copper mine.
“There
is too much to tell. This place isn’t safe. Meet me there and I’ll answer
your questions.”
Michael
shoved the paper in his pocket and nodded. “Just tell me where Maria is.”
Jim
went and stood at the end of the pier. His shoulders shook a little. He said
quietly without looking over his shoulder, “She’s gone, Michael. Gone.”
When
he turned around, Michael was gone too.
~~~
He
found a place to watch the mine undetected. Sitting there, hours before he was
scheduled to meet Valenti, he heard the words repeated in his mind over and over
again. Gone. Maria was gone.
Gone?
Left
No.
He
waited as the first vehicle arrived. It was after dark, and he watched the
headlights from a distance. There were three sets. After they arrived and went
inside, he waited another hour, watching the horizon. There were no other
lights.
~~~
“Michael?
How did he look? Did he mention Liz? Are they all here?” Geoff asked, holding
his wife’s hand. She was quiet and drawn. Worry etched her face, as
conflicting emotions raced through her. Liz. She wanted to see her daughter,
but…
No.
She was still Liz. Still her child.
Philip
paced the room. “This is crazy. None of them should’ve ever returned. We
just finally got back to some type of normalcy, and now this will start it
again.”
“Philip,
maybe he has a message from Max and Isabel,” Diane said softly. She hoped that
was the case. To hear from them again would be worth almost anything. Almost.
Diane
bowed her head at the thoughts running rapidly through her mind. Almost
anything, but not everything.
“I
think he came back for Maria.” Jim said. “He came alone.”
The
group of adults exchanged glances, and slowly looked away. What could they say?
What should they say?
“What
should we tell him?” Geoff asked. He swallowed hard. Damn. It was back. A need
to cry; the need to break down.
“I…it
will be hard for him. For all of them. But, they need to know. They need to know
so they can understand why they can never come home, never contact us, and never
stop running.” Jim sat down hard on the edge of an old table covered in dust.
“We tell him the truth.”
“That
is exactly what I want,” said Michael from the top of the stairs leading into
the room.
~~~
“Michael,
are you hungry? I brought some food just in case.” Diane was busy wringing her
hands. Nancy Parker was silent in the corner, but Michael could see a hint of
tears on her eyelashes.
“I
want to know where the hell Maria went.”
There
were people missing. Most noticeable was Maria, her mother, and Jesse. The
Parkers, the Evans, and Jim Valenti all seemed to shrink into themselves.
“We
can’t tell you, Michael.” Jim hurried before Michael interrupted. “We
don’t know.”
Michael
was quiet. This was bad. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed
to be here, waiting. Angry, but waiting. She had to know he would come back for
her. She had to know that! Michael
kept repeating the sentence in his head. She wouldn’t leave, not as long as
there was a chance. Maria DeLuca never gave up.
If
she left, then things went wrong.
“What
happened? What went wrong?”
Jim
looked at the others, they all looked away, so he took the first turn.
“Everything.”
~~~
“They
didn’t even give us a chance to regroup or create a story. They came
immediately after the graduation. They took the Parkers and the Evans.”
Geoff
cleared his voice. “They searched everything. Our homes, our business, our
cars.... Everything. They packed up Liz’s room and took every scrap they could
find, even the dust and dirt. They found her journal behind a wall. They took
that too.”
Philip
nodded. “Same with us. They literally packed up our entire home, anything that
Max and Isabel had ever touched. They did the same to your apartment. They had
no reason to question what they thought they knew about you. Max standing in
front of the entire town during graduation, telling the world, confirming he was
an alien, that you were aliens, was all they needed.” Philip felt ashamed.
That one act was a death warrant. “Stupid.” What had it proved? How could
they have confessed to the world, then left behind two people the most
intimately involved?
“They
took you?” Michael asked. No. That wasn’t right. This had nothing to do with
them! They weren’t involved.
“Yes.
All of us. We were in their custody for almost two weeks. They interrogated us.
Lie detectors. Scans. Blood testing. We were considered exposed to an alien
form.” Geoff put his had on his wife’s shoulder. “Exposed to our daughter.
It…was bad.”
Michael
sensed it, sensed what they weren’t saying. Exposure. Maria. Jesse.
“Where
is Maria!?” Michael’s voice raised in fear. Oh damn. The cold sweat broke on
his skin again.
Jim
cleared his throat. “She…she and Jesse... never had a chance. No warning.
They came back to
Michael
could hardly talk. The nightmares. They had started immediately after he left
“Maria?
They have Maria and Jesse?”
Jim
walked away and stood with his back to the group, his shoulder hunched. The rest
of the group was quiet. Finally Philip Evans stood up.
“You
have to understand, Michael. We…the group of us, were considered exposed, but
for Maria and Jesse it was worse. They…they were intimately involved with aliens. Jesse with Isabel, and Maria with
you. Intimately…sexually. The government wanted to know if there were changes
because of such close exposure. They…” Philip couldn’t continue.
“They
had Liz’s journal. It had everything in it. It told them just how intimate you
and Maria were, and Jesse was understood, since he was married to Isabel. It
told them,” Geoff looked down at the floor, “everything.”
Michael
couldn’t believe it. That journal. That damn
journal, and he had given it back to her! What. An. Idiot. He should’ve
followed his instincts and destroyed it. He honestly thought Liz had. He had
been an idiot to trust her. Looking at Jim, who slowly turned around, Michael
frowned.
“Why
didn’t they take you, too? You were healed. Changed.”
Jim
shook his head. “Liz wasn’t here when it happened. She never got around to
adding it to the journal. There was Max’s death. Your rise as King. Her
interpretation that you were a homicidal maniac, willing to kill any human that
learned your secret. Your threats. So much happened, she never got a chance to
add in the stuff about me. But there was enough. My helping you. Kyle. Pierce.
It was all there.”
“They
let you go?”
Jim
nodded. “It was Kyle they wanted. Not me. They had no reason to want me. At
least not yet. They ran blood tests on me and a few others. They all came back
normal. No residual effects. I haven’t started to change yet. Don’t know if
I ever will.”
Michael
paced the room. “You should leave while you can.”
Philip
Evans and Geoff Parker both stood. Philip shook his head. “No. Jim stays. This
is his home. He was born and raised here. He belongs here. They will never
know.” Philip looked around at all the adults. “We’ll make sure of
that.”
The
five of them. They had taken over the younger generation’s place. Once it was
the three aliens, and their three human friends. Now it appeared that the adults
had their secret, their alien, and an alien would continue to live in
“You’re
choosing a hard life. I know. I’ve lived it all my life.”
“We
know. But if Jim leaves, they will know. This way he doesn’t become a
target.” Philip had it all worked out. He and Geoff had thought it through.
Jim
just shrugged. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Not anymore. Amy was gone.
Maria gone. And Jesse…God! Jesse...
“They
have Maria,” Michael said hollowly. He left her. His pride made him leave
her…
“No.”
Jim said. “There’s more.”
~~~
5
Months ago…
Jesse
tried to keep the car on the road. It was hard. His hands were shaking so badly,
and he couldn’t keep his mind from wandering. Maria sat next to him, and she
was crying. Really crying. She was bent over, with her head on her knees, and
the weeping was almost too much for him. He could feel responding moisture
behind his own eyes.
Pulling
over in front of the ‘Welcome to
His
hands faltered, and he couldn’t move. Isabel.
Leaning
his head back against the headrest, he closed his eyes and gulped. She was gone.
She left. He was sorry. All the trouble they had since he learned. His coldness.
It wasn’t supposed to be forever. They were supposed to be forever.
“Maria.”
What could he say? There was nothing to say. The aliens of
“I
can’t believe this. I just can’t believe this.”
Disbelief.
He understood. All that they had done. All their love. None of it was never good
enough, or sufficient. They had just left.
“It
will be okay.” Those works choked him. Bullshit.
Maria
looked up at him, her tear stained face pale and tear rimmed eyes just stared in
disbelief. Jesse nodded. Okay, so he lied.
“What
do we do now? How do we go on?” Maria looked out the window. “My heart is
breaking. I can’t breathe. I don’t…I can’t see tomorrow. I just want to
sleep. Maybe I’ll wake up and it will just be a bad dream.” Maria laughed
bitterly. “I thought the same thing when Alex died. Sleeping didn’t change a
thing.” Maria gave another laugh that dissolved into a small sound of
hysteria. “He just left. I’m so sick of being left behind.”
“Maria.”
There was nothing he could say. He felt the same, but she had years of
experience on him in dealing with their alien significant others. “Let me get
you home. We can’t do anything tonight.”
“We
can’t do anything ever. It was never our choice. They stole that from us, just
like they stole our hearts and our lives.”
Jesse
started the car and headed home to
Jesse
watched as Maria slowly peeled herself out of the car. He reached over and
squeezed her hand. “Try. Try to get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Maria just nodded. They both knew there would be no rest for either of them for
a long time.
It
happened so fast, he couldn’t register it at first. Getting ready to back out
of the drive, he saw the light on the porch come on, and Amy DeLuca stepping
out. Maria was walking slowly…almost like she had aged fifty years in one
night.
They
came fast and swift. Dressed all in black, they blended with the night. Two
grabbed Maria. One with his hand over her mouth, and the other took her legs.
It
was the Amy’s scream that woke him from his stupor. Reaching for the door to
get out, to rescue Maria, it took a few moments for him to realize that there
was no door. Hands. Reaching for him. Struggling, he tried to get free. Hands
under his arms kept him restrained, and then a rag with something on it…then
nothing. His last thought before the chloroform took him over was that at least
someone thought he and Maria were important.
It
was dark in
~~~
It
hurt. The lights. Maria struggled to her feet in the room. No furniture. A bank
of mirrors, but nothing else. It was too light. Whiteness.
Bending
over, she retched. Her stomach emptying as she felt sicker and sicker.
Struggling,
she crawled along the floor searching for a door, her hands banging on the wall.
Crying. She moved as fast as she could. Her stomach was sour and cramping.
“Maria?”
Maria
looked around trying to pinpoint the sound. It came again.
“Maria?”
“Jesse?”
“Yeah.”
Maria found where it was coming from. An air vent, up high on the wall.
Jesse’s voice was filtering through. “I heard you crying.”
Maria
had the mind to snort. He was being kind. He meant to say, he heard her having a
hysterical fit. White room. It was a White Room. Oh, God!
“Jesse,
my mom. I remember seeing my mom before they took me.”
“She
was on the porch. I think they left her alone.” Jesse couldn’t say for sure,
but it was his feeling. Searching his prison, he couldn’t find a way out. His
stomach was sick, and he could hardly stand on his feet. It was good to hear
Maria’s voice. It was good not to feel alone.
“What
do they want?”
Jesse
sat down against the wall next to the air duct. “To know where they went.”
“We
don’t know.”
“I
know. We just have to convince them of that.” Jesse rubbed his face. His head
hurt, and his mouth was dry. He’d kill for a drink of water. “It will be
okay, Maria. Just tell them what you know.” There was no way for him at that
moment to even imagine how bad it was. How bad it could get.
~~~
“Where
is my daughter, Jim?” Amy paced her home. Hours. It had been hours. She had
called the police, and Jim Valenti answered the call. Jim. She hadn’t really
seen him since last summer. They saw each other on the street, but no more
dating. Amy never really could figure out what went wrong, why things changed,
but one day she was dating him and suddenly just like that, he stopped calling.
“I
don’t know.”
Amy
stopped and looked at the man. He was lying. She knew enough to spot a lie.
Hell, she had a teenage daughter. Maria was a master, but at times even she
couldn’t slide by.
“All
this time, after all this time, DO NOT lie to me, Jim Valenti.” Amy held her
ground and stood in front of the man. “Where is my daughter!?”
“I
don’t know.” Jim held up his hand. “But I know who has her. They took the
Evans and the Parkers as well.”
“Who?”
Amy wiped the moisture from her forehead. People she knew were gone. Taken. This
was unreal. “Who? And don’t say Alien abduction.” If Maria was part of the
hoax Max Evans was playing on the town, making it a travesty…Amy didn’t know
what she would do.
“No.
FBI Special Unit. They’re looking for aliens.”
Amy
sat down fast. Fuck. Fuck Jim Valenti
if he didn’t give her a real answer! “Funny, Jim. I’m serious here. If you
don’t tell me something, I’ll make sure that new Deputy’s badge is gone.
Do you understand?”
Jim
sank to his knees in front of her. “I’m not lying, Amy. Kyle is gone too.
They didn’t take him. He went. He went with the aliens.”
“Aliens?”
Amy just shook her head. Aliens? He
was crazy if he thought she was going to put up with this. “What aliens?”
“Max
and Isabel Evans, and Michael Guerin.”
Amy’s
hand flew to her mouth. “Oh god! That explains the hair!”
~~~
“Mrs.
Parker, where is your daughter?”
“I
don’t know. I don’t know.” The woman couldn’t move. Terrified. The
bright light. Her arm hurt. They took her blood, and a man with a scalpel sliced
a piece of her skin. It hurt. Burned. Her hair. They took her hair too. X-rays.
A MRI and CAT scan. Gynecological exam. Heart assessment. She couldn’t breath.
Her chest felt heavy, and it hurt. Wasn’t she supposed to be able to breathe?
“My
daughter is Elizabeth Parker. She is my child. Mine. I carried her. Birthed her,
and cared for her every day of her life. She is a good girl. Never in trouble
until she met Max Evans. She is going to be a biologist. Go to Harvard,
Stanford, or Northwestern, anywhere away from Max Evans. My daughter…you have
made a mistake.”
“When
did she change? Was it when she was shot in the Crashdown three years ago?”
The voice asked behind the light.
“My
daughter was never shot! She spilled ketchup. The bullet missed her…”
“Let
me read something to you, Mrs. Parker.”
“I
am Liz Parker, and yesterday I died.” The
voice read the journal flat and without effect, making the girlish ramblings
somehow more inane and contrived.
“That’s
not Liz. No. My daughter, she would never lie to me, to my husband. She respects
and loves us too much. You don’t know her! You don’t know her…”
~~~
The
man watched the interviews, read the reports. It was all the same. The Parkers
were genuinely shocked, but the Evans knew. Only for a short while. The stories
were the same. None of the tests showed anything out of the ordinary.
Mrs.
Parker had a weak heart. During a test, she had a heart attack, but they brought
her back. Otherwise, the parents were all normal. Normal parents. Clueless. Lied
to and deceived by their children. If apathy and not paying attention was a
crime, then this group of parents was paying for three years of being duped.
“The
Sheriff’s son was changed. He’ll turn like the Parker girl. Bring in the
Sheriff…Deputy. I want him tested as well. He had one living in his home, and
his son is becoming something else.”
Leitchner
watched as a few agents took off. They were in special medical labs outside of
“The
children he saved that one Christmas. Bring them in.”
One
of the doctors looked at Leitchner. “We found the adoption agency and tracked
down the alien baby, Zan.”
“I
want him as well. Nothing is to be left undone. Find this
“Yes,
Sir.”
The
parents. He watched them in their holding cells. The monitor flipped from cell
to cell. Changing the monitor, he looked in on the girl, and the husband to an
alien. Almost ten days, and they both were breaking. The girl stopped talking.
Stopped crying. Stopped asking for her mother. They had only done a few tests on
her, but the man... They needed to concentrate on him. The girl would have to
wait. She had a bigger purpose now.
“Cut
the parents loose. Advise them they are being monitored and if they have any
contact with their children, they are to inform us immediately.”
Leitchner
stared at Maria DeLuca. She was pale and thin. Her hair hung lifelessly about
her face, and her lips were pale as well. She looked ill.
“The
girl. Is she eating?”
“Not
much. She can’t hold it down, and complains of no appetite.”
“Put
in an IV. Tell her if she doesn’t eat, we will force feed her through a
tube.” Leitchner turned away. Pregnant. The report came back conclusive this
morning. He had an alien child on the way. The girl was useful, at least until
after she delivered the baby. “Concentrate all tests on the man. He is
expendable. No more drugs for the girl. She is to eat, sleep, and exercise. You
can do superficial tests, but nothing physically harming. I don’t want her
harmed.” Yet. It was a word that hung in the air. Not until they had they
alien child.
“Yes,
Sir.”
“How
soon can we move to more secure laboratories?”
“Estimation
is that it will take at least four more weeks to get all the altered steel and
metal into a complex in
Leitchner
nodded.
He
flipped a switch and looked in on an interview session with Maria.
“I
swear, I don’t know! I don’t know where they went. They left me behind.”
Maria looked around frantically trying to see beyond the light. Jesse. Where did
they take him this time? Last time he was so sick. In pain. They were giving her
drugs, and she couldn’t remember what day it was. Jesse. They were hurting
him.
She
could hear his screams of pain. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I told
you! We’re not important. They left us because we were just human…unchanged.
Leave him alone. God, please! He’s
suffered enough.” They weren’t listening. No one ever did. Not before. Not
now. Maria couldn’t take any more. “Leave him alone, and I’ll tell you
anything you want to know. I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt
him!”
He
was their bargaining chip to control her. “Good, then Ms. DeLuca you will
start by eating.”
~~~
“Jesse?”
Maria rested against the wall on the floor. They had furnished her room. A bed.
Comfortable. A quilt and food. Lots of food and water. Juice. They gave her a
phone so she could call if she needed anything. The bathroom. Go for a walk.
Shower.
They
followed her to the shower. A guard watched her. It was hard at first showering
naked in front of him, but after a few days, she learned to turn her back on him
and get it done quickly. He never really looked at her. She was nothing. Just a
piece of meat. An experiment. Something to poke and prod, to use and discard.
Sounded so fucking familiar.
The
bathroom was the hardest. The toilet was behind a small half wall, and the guard
could see her head. She couldn’t go. It was humiliating. “I can’t do this
with you watching. Can’t you just turn around for a moment?” The guard
didn’t even blink, or acknowledge that she spoke. “I can’t do it!”
A
voice came from overhead. “What is wrong, Maria?”
“I
can’t do this with someone watching. Privacy! Would be appreciated!”
“Maria,
just make a poop, and let the nice guard escort you back to your room.”
“I
can’t!
“Maria,
you will, or else…”
Maria
sat on the floor trying to get Jesse to talk to her. He was the ‘or else’.
“God!
Jesse, please!” Her hand reached upward to rest on the wall not meeting the
air vent.
“Maria…I
can’t talk right now.” His voice was so strained. Pain. It was in every
vowel, every sound.
“What
did they do to you?” Maria asked in a low horrified whisper.
“Maria.”
“Just
tell me!” It was her fault. She would behave. Do what they asked.
“My
bones. They surgically took bone samples. They cut a bone out of my leg. One in
my arm. My hip, pelvis, and collarbone.”
“They…”
Maria tried to understand what he was saying. “Jesse, you’re still using
those bones! How can…”
“They
grafted, plated and pinned metal in place of the missing bone.” Jesse
couldn’t breathe. The drugs were wearing off. He hurt. All over. They were
going to start chemical treatments tomorrow. Radiation. Maria. “I have to
sleep. Rest, Maria. Just rest.”
“Jesse…”
Maria’s hand stretched up the wall. “Jesse, no...”
For
once, he couldn’t talk to her. It hurt too much. He wished he could see her
one last time. Maybe hold her close. Feel her body, warm and alive. Maria. He
wanted to touch her, anything. Maybe just stare. She was his lifeline. Jesse put
his head down on his knees and slowly let sleep drain him of consciousness.
He
was in love with Maria DeLuca. Her voice. The dreams of her in his head. She
looked like an angel. He couldn’t even hardly remember his wife’s name.
Didn’t want to either. One thing was certain, meeting her was the worst thing
that had ever happened to him. All he could remember was that he hated her.
Isabel. Vilandra. Didn’t matter anymore. He hated her. Not as much as he hated
Max Evans, but damn close.
Michael
Guerin could have her. They deserved each other. He wanted Maria. Only Maria. If
he listened closely, at night he could hear her voice singing softly. Lulling
him. Leading him home.
“Thro’
many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought
me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”
“Do
you still love him?”
Maria
paused in her singing. Alex. The song reminded her of Alex. “Who?”
“Michael.”
Maria winced as Jesse spit out the name. Michael. Maria looked up at the ceiling
of her cell. Did she still love him? Her hand crept over her body. Pregnant.
They said she was pregnant.
It
wasn’t real to her, but Michael was. He was somewhere. Living. He was her only
hope that somehow, some way, he would sense his child like Max did, and he would
come to save it. Him or her. Their baby. She would be gone. It didn’t take a
genius, or a great intellect to figure out why they made her comfortable. At
first she thought it was Stockholm’s syndrome. They were going to make her
like it there. Then they told her about the baby.
They
could control her with her baby, but she remained stubborn and refused to budge
unless they treated Jesse better. It worked…a little. Not much. But it was the
best she could do.
Did
she still love Michael?
“No,”
she said softly. Jesse sighed a breath of relief. Maria closed her eyes and
prayed to God. Forgive me. She would always love Michael Guerin, but Jesse
couldn’t handle hearing that, so she lied.
Maria
rubbed her flat stomach in wonder. A baby. How the heck did that slip in? It had
to be after they saved Connie and her father. She had punched him playfully, and
he sat in the back seat of the Cheville with her. She eluded him. He invaded her
space. He was so cute about it, that she couldn’t help laughing. They stopped
at his apartment, and she ran in for her jacket. That was the first time. It had
to be later. He was complaining about her confiscating another one of his
shirts. So she, in a snit, pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it at him.
It might have worked had she at least had a stitch of clothing on under it.
Sex.
That they could do. They sort of found a quiet relationship together without the
words. No talks about what they were or where they were going. No promises. For
once, Maria remained silent. She wanted him back, so she just ‘went with the
flow’ and followed his lead. They weren’t together, but it felt like it. He
sought her out. Wanted her in his bed. Tapped on her window to see if she wanted
to catch the late movie. Bitched about the video she selected to watch. He did
everything but make a commitment one way or another.
She
might have given up and cut her losses, if it weren’t for sex and the way he
touched her. That was all hers. He couldn’t lie, hide, or disguise what he was
feeling. Not any longer, and never from her. And she wasn’t beyond using sex
and their attraction to each other to let him understand how much she missed
him, loved him, and wanted him back. Using what they had during sex, the
connection to tell him without the words what he didn’t want to hear or deal
with, was her only outlet. He responded to it with a breathless ‘Oh wow!’,
and the most incredible moments together. It was those times that gave her
confidence that they would find their way, until they had run out of time.
“What
was Alex like?”
Maria
had forgotten he was still awake. Lost in her own thoughts. Alex. He was…
“Beautiful.
He was the best of us.” Maria paused. “He was my best friend in the whole
world.”
Jesse
uncurled himself and tried to concentrate on not screaming in pain. He didn’t
want to scare Maria. “I thought Liz was that.”
Maria
curled to her side, towards the wall from where Jesse’s voice came. A tear ran
down her cheek.
“She
was. Once. I never had a sister, and Liz was that. But things changed. We tried.
We tried for two years to hold our friendship together, but it was hard. Boys do
that. They come between the best of friends, and alien boys…they’re the
worst.”
“You
always seemed real close to me.”
“This
last year?” Maria thought about it. “No. Not really. Still friends. Bound by
a common secret. But no. Alex, he was my friend. Thick or thin, Alex would be
there. Liz was so obsessed after Tess left. She wanted to be everything to Max.
Erase Tess from his brain. But the baby was haunting him. She compromised who
she was, what she was, all for this ‘great’ all-inspiring love that
couldn’t even keep his dick out of another woman.”
Maria
let her anger show through. Tess. That bitch killed Alex! Liz forgave Max for
that! Forgot Alex. Put him aside until Tess came back. Suddenly she had
‘powers’ and could push Tess a little, but was it really about Alex? Then
there was the whole voting to terminate Tess. Like butter couldn’t melt in her
mouth, Liz voted no, forgetting Alex again, because ‘she wasn’t a
murderer.’ Not like the rest of them. Of course, that fact hadn’t stopped
her from suggesting they might have to kill Michael when he was King. Add in
after the crest transferred back to Max, her snotty ‘Max is King’ while
trying to run her foot up his leg…it all sickened her. Maria couldn’t take
it anymore.
Her
friend. Liz. The real Liz Parker was never so vain and self-centered. Never
needed to be the woman with a powerful man. But when they needed to leave, Liz
didn’t even try to understand what Maria was saying, how she was losing her
entire life. Her best friend let them leave her behind without even a goodbye.
She never understood how devastating it was to Maria. Liz wasn’t leaving for
college, to come home on vacations, but forever. Liz walked away forever without
a look back at a lifelong friend who was closer than a sister. And she left a
journal documenting everything.
No.
Alex was her best friend. And he was gone. Sacrificed to a cause that made no
sense, and with him was the real Liz Parker. Her Liz would’ve found it
impossible to leave Maria behind. But the new, alien improved Liz didn’t need
anything. She didn’t need parents. Didn’t need friends. She didn’t need
dreams. She just needed to know how to say, ‘What do we do now, Max?’
Jesse
was quiet for a moment as Maria was thinking. No. Maria was wrong. She and Liz
were good friends, but everything was clouding that fact. She was letting being
left behind color how she saw her life, and the past year. Maria was letting the
pain of being tortured and the White Room change her views of past events. A new
perspective wasn’t always a good thing, but it could be enlightening.
“You’re
just angry with her.”
Maria
thought about it a moment. Another tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away
angrily. “No. Not angry, Jesse. Disappointed. Discarded. Abandoned. Heart
broken.”
“You
will forgive her, Maria. Next time you see her, you’ll forget you were hurt
and upset.”
“Will
you forgive Isabel? When you see her, will all you feel be gratitude to have her
back?” Maria asked, curling a hand under her cheek as her eyes became so
heavy. Tired. She was tired a lot lately.
Jesse
was silent. No. Never. As long as he lived, for whatever remained of his life,
he would hate Isabel Evans. If she had told him from the start, it would’ve
been different. He could’ve made a choice to accept the danger. Instead he
woke up in it, with her pleading and begging him to understand, to support and
love her. He did. He put away the betrayal of her silence, and accepted her to
have it tossed back with his wedding ring as she drove off in the night. No.
Love was a two-way street. It had to give back as much as it gave, and he
would’ve never left her behind if the circumstances had been reversed. He
would’ve found a way to keep his love with him.
~~~
“Jim!”
Amy DeLuca was out of the booth and rushing to Jim Valenti’s side. It was
after hours and the Crashdown was closed. The parents took to meeting there
almost every night, almost as a vigil, waiting for news of their children, and
those taken.
The
others quickly joined him.
“Are
you okay?” Diane asked, scared. He looked tired and old.
Jim
nodded as he took a seat at the bar, and Geoff went to the other side to pour
him a cup of coffee.
“Can I make you anything?” Nancy was uncertain what to do. Ten days. They took Jim the day they released the rest of them. It was twenty days since their child