TWIN ALIEN
“I can’t believe that I’m left holding the bag and my sister has decided to wash her hands of the entire ordeal. Louise can be a bit of a handful, but at least I always knew that she had my back. I guess I didn’t know much about her relationship with our father. They apparently never saw eye to eye on anything, especially her mixed marriage with Thomas.” This was not the highlight of Vanessa’s week and their father had not been in the grave more than two months. She knew that this would be something that she would have to contend with eventually, but she really did think that her sister Louise would be standing right by her side.
“I’m sorry, Vanessa, but this is something that you’re going to have to deal with on your own and I just can’t stand being in that house any longer than necessary. I think it’s a good idea that we get rid of it, as soon as possible. You can even have the profits from it. I want nothing to do with it and having him out of my life has given me a sense of freedom that I’ve never had before.” Vanessa could hear the relief in her sister’s voice and she had a momentary attack of the conscience. If their relationship was that bad, then she had no choice, but to allow her sister to walk away cleanly.
“Its okay, Louise and I’ll do what I can to make this easy on you. I’m sorry that I didn’t know about the rift between you and father. I guess I had blinders on this entire time.” Vanessa was twirling her hair around on her finger and now she was biting into the strands. It was a nervous habit that she picked up from her mother. Her dark hair was the perfect contrast to her sisters blond locks. You wouldn’t even know that they were sisters, except for the slight resemblance in their faces. They had their own attitude, their own way of thinking about things and the only thing they really did have in common was a stubborn streak.
This was something that they inherited from their father, a scientist that was discredited by the community for his belief that aliens were among them. He had several pieces of documented proof, but each time that he tried to claim something in the scientific community, they would find a way to make it look like he was out of his mind. Vanessa believed in her heart that her father was grasping at straws and there were times that they had knockdown drag out fights about where his career was going.
“I know that this is not what you want to hear, Vanessa, but this is the way that it has to be. You don’t know the hell I went through caring for him, when you were off with your own life.”
Vanessa really didn’t think that she had a life and there were moments that she thought that she was just going through the motions. Her job was not something that she wanted to do for the rest of her life and her true passion was in taking photos. Unfortunately, photographers was one of those professions that were a dime a dozen.
“If only she knew that my life has not been the rosy picture that she has made it out to be. Ever since father’s death, I’ve been struggling to find my own way in the world. I want to tell my bosses that I’ve decided to move on, but without anything permanent, I feel like I’m stunted and not able to move forward.” She felt bad for trying to put her sister into a position that would find her uncomfortable. This whole thing with their father was something that came out of left field. They didn’t even know that he was sick and to find him face down in his oatmeal was a bit shocking to say the least.
“Louise, I believe that a lot of his stuff will be put out into the trash or sent to goodwill. You know his god awful suits and each time he wore one, he was proud to be one of the only ones that stood out from the rest of the crowd. I think that was one of the main problems. They just didn’t know how to take him seriously in a lime green suit.” Vanessa had never been much of the caregiver and growing up, her main problem was trying to emulate some of her heroes. Andy Warhol and Annie Liebowitz were her main inspirations to try to find that perfect picture that would make everybody stand up.
She had her cell phone in your hand, as she smoothed down her blue leather skirt and then looked at her reflection in the door of her dearly departed father’s house. The wood was chipping and if she was so inclined, she could call some handyman and do some necessary renovations to get a better price on the market.
“I’m sorry, but I really do have to go, Vanessa. Let me know how you make out.” Vanessa knew in the back of her mind that her sister really didn’t care one way or the other. It was a little disconcerting to see that their relationship had turned to only seeing each other on holidays and special occasions. Without mother and father to referee, them being in the same room could only lend to backbiting and harsh words.
“I hope she knows what she’s asking me to do. I’ve been very emotional ever since my father died. I can’t go more than a day without seeing something that reminds me of him. Now that I was back in the family homestead, I could see all of these memories flooding back. To me, he was my hero and even though he was ridiculed for his beliefs, he still managed to eke out a living doing lectures around the globe.”
She was about to say something, but Louise hung up and left her standing there with only the dial tone. Vanessa placed the key into the lock and listened to the telltale click of the mechanism falling into place. She opened the door and was immediately accosted with the smell of cigars. There were no windows open and she quite hastily went around to air out the place. This was the first time that she had the courage to walk into the place. Just being there at the doorway was enough to bring back a vivid image of him standing in the kitchen when she was three years old burning dinner. They had to order takeout and mother wasn’t very happy about finding old pizza boxes when she came back from work.
“This is not going to be easy, but I only have a couple of days off. I’m just going to have to dive in head first. I think the best way to do that is to tackle downstairs in his office.” Vanessa walked downstairs hearing the creaking of the house and looking at the various awards that he had gotten early on in his career. “I’ll always remember you as a friend and somebody that I could rely on to take into my confidence. You often just sat there and listened, never judged and that was worth more to me than you could ever know.”
Vanessa had on her customary brown leather coat with the leather belt tied at the waist. It was vintage and she found that bringing the old back in style was something that she got from her father.
It was a little chilly on this October morning and there was the first frost of the season on the ground. She could actually see a semblance of her breath in the air.
She took a deep breath and opened up the door to his office. At first, she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Her father was mostly anal about everything, but his office looked like a cyclone went through it. There was no denying that somebody was interested or at least looking for something that her father had. There was no way that her father would keep things in such disarray.
“Father, I know that this wasn’t your doing, which leads me to believe that somebody has been here without my permission. I did not see any signs of a break in upstairs. There were no windows broken and the door lock didn’t look like it had been played with. That only tells me that either the person knew you quite well, or somebody with a unique skill set was sent in here to retrieve something.”
It was still pretty early in the morning and even when she arrived, there was nobody up at this time. There were no joggers or those that were out walking their dog. It was her wish that nobody was going to interfere in the business at hand.
Looking out the window, she noticed that the lawn had a medley of different colored leaves on the ground. They would need to be cleaned up.
Vanessa sat down at his desk and could feel this presence, like he was standing over her shoulder. He did that, while she was doing her homework. Mother was mostly away on business, but it was soon learned that some of that business was not exactly concerning her job. Her parents’ marriage wasn’t what she thought it was. They divorced when she was 18 and Louise was only 16. Louise opted to stay with their mother and Vanessa, feeling sorry for her father decided to stay with him.
Unfortunately, when their father got a bit of dementia, Vanessa made every effort to be out of town, as much as possible. She begged and pleaded on bended knee to her bosses that she could handle being away from home for days on end. Thankfully, they needed somebody to make some international calls and her volunteering had given them a way out.
Vanessa might have only been 5 foot four, 115 pounds, but she had enough baggage that would make any relationship fold under from the very beginning. She was always judging and measuring those men that came into her life. They didn’t know it, but that measuring stick came in the form of her father. If they couldn’t match up to her expectations, she would show them the door in short order.
For the next 2 hours, she boxed up various pieces of information and labeled them to make sure that she knew exactly where everything was. Vanessa was tempted to call the police, but there didn’t seem to be any need. He was gone and there was nothing that anybody could do to him ever again. He was at peace and there wasn’t much here that was worth anything. Some of it was ramblings and when he started to get dementia, things began to unravel in a hurry.
The office was almost completely empty with only boxes left behind to inform anybody that this was his legacy. Vanessa laid back and looked at the ceiling, when she noticed something sticking out from one of the overhead beams. Standing on the chair, she balanced herself and reached up. Straining every muscle, she felt like her shoulder was going to give out, when she finally grasped onto this blue sphere.
At first, she thought it might be some kind of stone or maybe even a shell that was found on a beach somewhere. She never did take her father to be the outdoorsy type. Looking at the blue sphere in her hand, she weighed it and handled it very carefully. There seemed to be some sort of heat emanating from within.
“I remember something in one of these files that mentioned a blue sphere. I thought it was just another one of his mental breakdowns. If I recall, I believe he said that this was some sort of device to contact a civilization known as Tu’Fallian. Wouldn’t it be something if I could actually visit another world? I could bring back photographs and become a sensation overnight. There would be no stopping how far I could go. I only wish that something like that could happen.” The blue sphere began to glow and then there was some kind of voice coming from within. It was garbled and didn’t sound human. It stopped, as soon as it began. She placed the sphere on the table and walked away from it, having no idea what kind of Pandora’s Box she opened.