My Alien Bride

“Something fell from the sky Niko! Oh my God!” I didn’t bother hiding the excitement from my voice. With one last look at my boyfriend, whose mouth was open in shock, I got to my feet, put my brown boots on, and ran. Towards the area where I knew the meteorite have landed.

“Wait Alena! It’s too dark! You might get hurt.” The sound of shuffling feet on the grass. Being the good boyfriend that he was, Niko was going to follow me. Adjusting the glasses on my face so it wouldn’t fall off, I hastened my steps. Pretty soon, Niko was far behind, until I didn’t hear his ragged breath on my back anymore.

He was right. It was dark. But the light from the stars overhead shone on me, as if guiding me towards my goal. Because I was the kind of person who loved to look at the constellations, I wouldn’t miss the chance to see an actual rock from space. It was the thing I lived for. Someday I wanted to work for NASA. This right here was going to be my stepping stone.

Something glimmered ahead, making me look. Was that the meteorite? I mused as I slowed my pace, my heart thumping wildly at the realization that I was finally going to catch a glimpse of it. Nearer I went to the location, parting the tall grass that went higher than me. Closer. Closer. Until I was standing right next to a very strange object with a perfectly round shape. Its size was 5 cars combined. Made entirely of a strange material I have never seen before.

I took a lungful of air, sweat drenching my white tee shirt. What kind of meteorite was this? Glancing on the surrounding areas, I was shocked to see that it didn’t leave any traces of fire, or signs that it made an impact on the ground. It was like the circular white object has always been there which was impossible. The force should have burned the grass or made a crater on the dirt.

A few seconds passed and I continued staring at the thing. It was beautiful like a pearl, all white and shiny, almost translucent. Being the curious girl I was, it didn’t take long before I stepped towards it, raising my hands in hesitation. Should I touch it?

The image of my fingers burning made me stop midway. What if this thing was toxic? It came from outer space after all. I was losing confidence by the minute, letting my hands drop on my side when a soft voice spoke and called out to me. “Alena,” it whispered. I froze in place, daring to glance at my back to ensure that no one else followed me there.

“Alena,” came the voice again. Gentle as the wind. Soft as a caress on my face. The thought that I’ve heard it somewhere before crossed my mind, though it vanished in an instant, followed by panic at the realization that I heard the voice in my head, not with my ears.

“Wh- who’s there?” I took a step back, darting my eyes left and right.

“It’s me,” she whispered soothingly.

“Who? Who exactly are you?” Goosebumps crawled from my nape, all the way to my legs. A shiver ran down my back. “If this is a joke then it’s not funny.”

The ghostly voice didn’t answer. Instead, the wind blew stronger, taking with it all the confidence I possessed prior to seeing the object. I was prepared to turn around and run away when a weird sound, like a bottle of soda being opened, air rushing from its interior caught my attention. It was only then when I noticed that somehow, the circular pearl object was starting to open a fraction from one of its sides. I was paralyzed with fear when white smoke flowed from there, all the way to my knees, then enveloped my body so I couldn’t see a thing.

I took my glasses off, trying to catch a glimpse of anything that might harm me, though I didn’t run. More like couldn’t run, even if my life depended on it. After a few seconds, the smoke began to clear, vanishing rapidly all over the area. Right then, someone or something stepped out of the circular contraption.

My mouth opened in a silent scream as I envisioned an alien with a big head and dark charcoal eyes coming from what I suspected was its spaceship. Instead, I was stunned when a breathtaking girl about my age came out, turning her head ever so slightly, catching my gaze. For a moment, her pale radiant skin blinded me to the point that I was gasping and coughing while down on my knees on the grass. When I was able to catch my breath, I took another look at her, and this time, she was smiling to me, showing pearly white teeth.

Unable to turn away, I studied her curiously, hungrily, with a touch of fear at what I was seeing. The girl had the most beautiful orange eyes that reminded me of two things- the sun as it was setting, as well as the stars in the sky. Strangely, her long hair was so pale that it was almost transparent, while everything else about her was perfection- her straight nose, her full lips, and her slender body. Even her pinkish nippl- Wait. . . It slowly dawned on me that she was naked as a baby, just standing there in all her glory. Staring at me like we were supposed to know each other.

“Alena,” her voice rang in my mind. How did she know my name?

“Please.” I took a step back. “Please don’t hurt me.” She cocked her head to the right, studying my every move, though her face didn’t reveal anything. “I promise I won’t tell anyone what I saw,” I managed to choke out. Dang Alena. As if aliens would feel threatened by anyone. When she didn’t answer, I quickly turned around, prepared to run as far away from the alien as my long legs could take me.

In a second, the entity was right in front of me, though I didn’t see her move or hear her run. Even more worse was the fact that she raised her pale hands to my face, preventing me from turning away. I was forced to stare at her orange eyes.

At first I felt like struggling, but as I returned her gaze, a falling sensation overtook my body. As if I was spiraling downward from the sky, devoid of parachute or anything that could save me. In that instant, time and space were irrelevant. Only her. Something clicked in my head. Like a key was inserted on a lock.

The alien girl moved her hand, bringing my forehead close to her mouth. No! I thought in panic. Not my forehead. She would see my biggest imperfection- a crisscrossed scar that I’ve been hiding with my bangs, and to which I’ve been insecure of all my life. It actually looked more like a tattoo, but that was beside the point.

The girl was pretty insistent, and soon her lips were touching the scar. Heat radiated from her mouth to my forehead. Something moved, though I didn’t know what it was. Little by little, the heat began to spread all over my body, until it settled comfortably at the tips of my fingers. Then the alien smiled, saying something in English for the first time. “You’re my bride.”

The world fell silent after that.

8 Hours Before

“Where should I put this Mrs. H?” Niko, my boyfriend of 2 years asked my mom. On his arms were freshly laundered linens, the size and amount of it nearly obscuring his face.

“Please put them in the cabinet dearie.” Mom, who was also known as Mrs. H to the locals and basically everyone in the countryside answered with a polite smile. When Niko vanished inside the room, she turned to me. I was currently manning behind the desk of our big inn which my parent owned. Parent, meaning my 64 year old mother. Dad died a few years ago. If he didn’t, he would have been the same age as mom.

You might find it weird that a 17 year old girl had an old mom. That was because I was adopted. To cut the long story short, they found me on the farm one night, took me in as their own, and gave me the sort of life that my “real parents” didn’t want to give me, wherever they were.

“Your boyfriend is very kind. He even accompanied you here for summer.” Mom smoothed her grayish hair which was styled in a bun. “He’s handsome too,” she said with a twinkle in her matching grey eyes.

I looked up from my novel. “Who? Niko?”

“Did I hear someone mention my name?” My boyfriend’s head poked out from the room, a silly smile on his face. I resumed my reading, ignoring him. Sighing, my mom left the vicinity, probably aiming to tend to the guests. Summer would be over in a few days, then school would start for me and Niko, but the inn was still packed with people. That’s what you get when your place in the countryside is ideal for stargazing and sightseeing.

“So. . .” Niko tapped the book in my hand, hoping to catch my attention. “It’s not even time for school yet, but you’re already reading.”

“I’m always reading,” I mumbled, turning the page.

“And looking at the stars.” He leaned on the counter that separated us. I could feel his eyes on me, though I didn’t look up. “Wish I was a star so you’d finally notice me.”

The wistfulness in his voice caught my attention. I finally closed the book, pushing it to the side. “Am I being a bad girlfriend again?”

“No,” he sighed. “Guess I just like you more than you like me. That’s all.”

I met his baby blue eyes. As I studied him, I ticked off the list one by one. Curly brown hair. Nice built that earned him a position for the rugby team in our school. One of the coolest and most popular guys around. Yup! That was my boyfriend Niko in summary. Yet here I was being a total jerk to him. Nice.

“That’s not true at all. You know I like you. You were the only one nice to me.” Which I don’t get at all. He could have gone out with anyone he wanted, and here he was, sticking with a weirdo of a girlfriend like me. “What do you see in me anyway? I’m not like the girls who want to date you.”

“That’s exactly why I’m with you. Because you’re not like any of them.” He smiled naughtily, snatching the glasses away from my eyes.

“Hey!” I said irritated. “Give that back.”

Niko wore the glasses instead. “I don’t get why you have to wear this Alena. Your eyesight is perfect.” I pouted at him. “Don’t lie to me because I asked the school nurse, and she said you have 20/20 vision. So why are you hiding that gorgeous dark eyes?” He stared at me intently. “Wait! Don’t tell me you like superman? Cause both of you grew up in the countryside and he was adopted too. You’re not an alien right?”

I snatched the glasses back, placing it where it belonged. “I’m one hundred percent sure that I’m human Nikolai.”

“Uh oh! The girlfriend called me by my full name,” he laughed. I glared at him. “Ok, ok don’t get mad. I just hate the fact that you’re hiding that beautiful face under your glasses and wavy hair.” He started to brush my black locks away from my forehead.

“Don’t!” I took a step back.

“Alena,” he said gently. “You’re beautiful. That scar on your forehead is not a flaw. It’s you.”

“Just don’t, ok? I’m not comfortable with it.”

“Can you give me a hand here Niko?” my mom said from the hallway.

“Sure Mrs. H,” he called out. “We’ll talk about this later when I finish doing your mom’s request,” he murmured to me before jogging away from the receiving desk, disappearing as he turned the corner.

Fearing that I wouldn’t get back to the story even if I wanted to, I took one last longing look to my novel, then went outside for a walk. As I stood under the glare of the afternoon sun, I had to shield my eyes with my hands. “Dang!” I cursed under my breath as I let my eyes adjust. This was exactly the reason why I wore glasses. Because of the sun.

Call me a freak all you want, but growing up, my eyes would glow subtly whenever the harsh rays of the sun made contact. I was teased by the other kids because of it. That was why I attended school in the city as soon as I turned 14, because the bullying was too much. My parents made a doctors appointment, trying to figure out what was wrong with me, but they didn’t have a clue.

It was a rare disease I guess. One that I wanted to hide at all cost, least I wanted to get bullied again. Thankfully, as I grew older, the glowing became tamer. If it looked like a flashlight before whenever I was first exposed to the sun, it was a comfortable radiant now, almost unnoticeable. But I would rather die than have people in my high school find out about my dirty little secret, especially Niko. He would call me an alien, and that would hurt too much.

For a few hours, I lost my way on the grassy area, several kilometers from the inn. Even if I hated the way the sun made my eyes glow like a freak before it adjusted, I’ve always loved the sky. The blue of the early morning. The orange of the setting sun. And the way the stars twinkled in the sky every evening. All of it was bewitching, calling out to me somehow. Like I was a moth drawn to the flames.

When evening came, Niko found me in one of my favorite spots. Under the tree, sitting crossed-legged while looking at the heavenly bodies. “Hey you.” He took a seat beside me.

“How did you know?”

“That you’d be here?” he smirked. “You’re always here Alena. Come on, we’ve been together for 2 years now. Back home, when you’re not inside the library of the school, you’re always at the rooftop, gazing at the sky. The same goes for this place.”

“You know me well,” I admitted, raising my hands in defeat.

He gave me a longing look. “I also know you’re beautiful. And that I like you a lot.” He cleared his throat. “Can I kiss you?”

“Uhm. . .” My cheeks heated up. What should a girl say at a situation like this? How about, Niko I love you, but not in that way. You’re more like the guy best friend I never had. Dang! There was definitely something wrong with me, aside from the obvious glowing of the eyes. How could someone not like this hunk? “Sure,” was my lame reply. I couldn’t hurt him. This was Niko we were talking about.

He surprised me by kissing me gently on the cheek, whispering in my ear. “I’ll always be the perfect gentleman for you Alena.”

I discreetly let out the air I’ve been holding. “Thank you.” There was something wrong with him too if he didn’t crave sex as much as other guys our age.

He leaned back on the tree, staring directly at the sky. “Anytime,” he murmured. “Now tell me about the constellations. I’d like to hear it coming from that sexy lips.”

I giggled, slapping him on the arm. He pretended to look hurt. “You’re such a dork Niko.”

“Yeah well, what can I do?” he teased. “Sometimes handsome men could be dorks too.”

My eyebrows rose mockingly. “Handsome men?”

“Just trying to tell the truth here,” he shrugged. “Tell me about the constellations please.” He clasped his hands together, begging. “Which one was your favorite again?”

I rolled my eyes, but told him the story anyway. “My favorite is the Corona Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Crown.” I took a deep breath, looking at the stars. “A princess named Ariadne was expecting to get married to Theseus the hero. The problem was he betrayed her, leaving her alone. Another man saw her, crying. Taken by her beauty, he fell in love with her, and they got married in the end. Now legend says that the crown that Ariadne wore became the constellations as she threw it in the sky. Isn’t that magical?”

“And why do you like that story?” Niko asked, his brows furrowing.

“Because there’s always someone for us Niko,” I replied, looking back at the stars. “Ariadne belonged with that man she married from the start. Theseus was just a distraction. A decoy. It was good that he left her, because then, she found the right one.”

“And what if that happens in real life?” he said. “Would you rather that I leave you?” My mouth dried at his question. “Do you believe in destiny Alena?”

“Mayb-“

Just then, something fell from the sky.