Chapter 7
November, 29th, 2006
Jenni sat across from Ethan. She felt sick. She had never felt as sick in her life, as she did at that moment. Ethan was looking at her. She could feel his intense focus work around her face. He was trying to work out what was wrong with her. She’d been sitting with him in perfect silence for at least a half an hour.
He clicked his fingers loudly in front of her face and smiled, when she jumped. “What’s wrong with you today? Don’t you have any more questions to ask me?”
She frowned. He didn’t understand. He didn’t know what was going to happen. “No, I’ve still got a few left to ask,” she shook her head softly.
“Then why aren’t you asking them?” he leant forward. “I thought you didn’t want to waste your time with me?”
She sighed. He was bringing up their first proper conversation together, where she’d threatened to walk out. “I guess, things change,” she shrugged.
“Seriously,” his voice sharpened. “What’s wrong with you? Normally, you never appear this down.”
Jenni frowned at him again. “They’re going to kill you,” she told him weakly. “When I’m done with the questions, they’re going to kill you.”
Ethan laughed. “Is that what’s on your mind?”
She nodded. “How can you laugh? Don’t you understand? They’re not empty threats. They are really going to do it.”
“I know,” Ethan told her seriously. “I’ve known since the moment they caught me. I mean, what else could they do? They were never going to let me go.”
“How can you be so cool about all of this?” Jenni asked him.
He shrugged. “I guess I’ve just had time to get used to it. It’s not like I haven’t had a long life. Everything that is made must break down at some point.”
“How old are you?” Jenni asked him curiously.
“Is that one of their questions?”
“No,” Jenni told him quickly. “I’m just curious”
“I’m two hundred and nine,” Ethan smiled.
“Wow,” Jenni said. “You weren’t lying about living a long life.”
He shrugged. “My kind can live to be many thousands of years old.”
“Are there many of your kind?”
“Yes.”
“Are they all on earth?”
He shook his head. “When we’re born, we travel the universe far and wide. It’s not often we land on planets. I doubt there are any others of my kind here.”
“Then why did you come here?”
He sighed. “The skies weren’t enough for me. I wanted more. I wanted to learn about other life forms. I wanted to learn about cultures and what it felt like to have my feet on the ground. I landed on a planet about a hundred years ago, which was relatively close to this one. The people there were good people, but easily frightened. I shifted one day by accident. They’d never seen anything like me before. They thought that I was a demon sent to destroy them all. They managed to capture me and sent me away from their planet in a shuttle. That’s when I landed here.”
“Why didn’t you just change back into a person? No one would have caught you. You could have melded into the people on this planet easily enough.”
A sad look filled his eyes. “I spent fifty years on their planet. I saw babies grow into people. I saw children have grandchildren. Every single one of them was my friend, until they weren’t. I didn’t want to do that again. I didn’t want people to turn their backs on me. I thought it would be easier if you all knew up front, that I was a monster.”
“Are you a monster though?” Jenni let her eyes fix on his. “I don’t think you are.”
“You’ve seen me in my other form, how can you say that?”
“Yes, I saw you in your other form,” she nodded. “I also saw the way you didn’t harm the two guys I sent in to chain you. In fact, in the many years you’ve been held, you haven’t hurt a single person.”
“So?”
“So, how can you be a monster?”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he told her softly. “I can see the monster than your people believe me to be. There will be no changing of their minds. They will kill me.”
“It isn’t fair.”
“It never is,” he smiled and reached across the table. “You look beautiful today,” his hand lingered over hers for a second, before he pulled it away.
Jenni didn’t say anything, but she felt her cheeks flush. “I can’t let you die,” she said under her breath.
Ethan heard her. “There’s nothing you can do Jenni and there’s nothing I expect you to do. Some things are just how are they are. There is no way to fight fate.”
“You’re wrong,” Jenni shook her head. “If fate and destiny is woven into our lives, then I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to unpick it.”
“Jenni,” Ethan paused. “You have to let this happen. I won’t see you get into trouble because of me.”
“Then don’t,” Jenni smiled at him.
“What do you mean?” Ethan looked at her desperately.
“Take me with you,” she told him with her heart racing. “If I manage to get you out of here, then you take me with you.”
“Jenni, I would have to leave the planet,” Ethan frowned. “I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t take you away from your home and your family.”
“How many planets do you know of, that have an atmosphere I could survive in?” she asked him quickly.
He looked thoughtful for a minute. “Probably around a hundred or so,” he said. “Why?”
“So, I could stay here, on one planet, with a father who is only interested in bettering the family name, or,” she paused for a second, as she considered the alternative to the furthest realms of possibility. “I could go with you, and travel the stars.”
“Is that really what you would want?” Ethan asked her.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
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