Chapter 2

"Welcome to your new home Aleli," Gina said. She stood aside to let me in before shutting the door behind us. "This is your twin sister's apartment. When Jorge, Tahti, and I came to Earth, this became our home too. And now it's yours. Well at least until Alena returns and sort things out." I glanced around as Gina explained what each room was for. "By the way, this is the living room. Now what did we teach you on our way here?"

"The wiving woom is where you accept guests," I answered.

She clapped her hands. "Yes, that's right. You're a very fast learner Aleli."

Jorge stood next to us with a satisfied smirk on her face. "Makes it so much easier to teach her the better things in life," she said.

"Just make sure that what you're going to teach her is worthwhile," Tahti said behind us. "Something she can use when we all go back to our planet." Tahti's gaze shifted in my direction. It touched my face for seconds before she withdrew her stare and walked away. "I'll go to my room," she said. "Teach her the basics first." She disappeared behind a door.

Meanwhile Jorge pushed Gina in front of me. "I'll leave the boring stuff to you," Jorge said. "I'll take a beauty rest first. Not that I need it. Being an alien like us is perfect." She sauntered to another room, leaving me and Gina alone.

"I guess it's up to me then," Gina murmured. "Let's sit on the sofa Aleli."

Once we were seated on the cream colored couch, Gina began to ask questions. She has been doing this for the past two days since we left the island where I woke up. They said that my vocabulary was good, but since my tongue wasn't used to speaking words yet, I would continue to sound like a child.

Aside from that, they told me that though I knew the meaning of the words, I needed to experience it myself. They taught me the concept of colors, time, numbers, and so many other things while we traveled. Little by little, I was beginning to understand the world around me, though I couldn't grasp some things, like why Tahti conveniently avoided the subject of my twin sister, and why her eyes had a faraway look when Alena was mentioned.

"Anything you want to ask me in return?" Gina said.

"What is walien?"

"Oh. . . You heard that from Jorge huh?" I nodded. She tapped her chin before answering. "Well, an alien is what the humans call us." I frowned at her. Huh? Gina stood up before I could ask further. "Wait right there," she instructed.

Gina returned in a few, bringing with her several white things which she called paper, and a black cylindrical object which she described as a marker. She slid beside me and placed the stack of papers on her lap. She drew a small circle in the middle. "This is Earth," she said. "The sofa we're sitting on is located in an apartment. The apartment is in a city. The city in a State. The State in a country. The earth," she said, pointing to the circle. "Is made up of countries with rules."

"Wules," I repeated. "Principles or set of wegulations that needs to be followed."

"Correct. And all of these countries with rules and such is located on Earth. The species who occupy the earth are called humans."

"A bunch of homophobic fools you mean," Jorge said loudly from her room.

"Hey, don't teach her that," Gina complained. She turned back to me with a smile. From my observation, Jorge always teased Gina, if teasing was what you called pinching someone's buttocks region or biting her arm. Tahti said it was teasing, and Jorge liked to do it with Gina, though the latter enjoyed it very much as Tahti would say.

"Anyway," Gina said, interrupting my thoughts. "The humans believed that they were the only ones in the universe, but in reality." She drew several more circles near the earth, and a bigger circle at the edge of the paper. "There are a lot more species. The humans call the other species aliens. You, me, Tahti, Jorge, our other friend Chloe, and finally, your twin sister are all aliens. But to the humans we're not real."

"Why?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Because it's easier to believe that you're alone in the universe than accept the concept that some species are just better than you."

At that point, Jorge came out of her room bringing a rectangular shaped object. She went ahead and sat on the floor with a grin. "Look at this Aleli. This shiny thing is called a tablet." She pushed a button in the middle. "It has a screen and everything. Now this screen is where all the magic happens. You can search for any information you want. You can watch movies, and even read girl to girl books."

"What is girl to girl?" My mind was a blank.

"That's what I came here to explain," she said excitedly.

"I'm not done teaching her the basics about the planet yet," Gina interrupted.

Jorge dismissed her with a roll of her eyes. "We'll get to that part later." Jorge pressed on the screen and showed me a picture of two figures, standing side by side. "Look Aleli," she said. "This beautiful, marvelous creature is a woman." She pointed to a figure with longer hair. "See those curves? That boobies? Perfection at its finest."

"What is the other one?" I asked.

"Oh that? That's a man. You don't have to concern yourself with them. We're lesbians."

"Teach her properly," Gina warned.

Jorge wanted to protest but received a disapproving stare from Gina. "Fine," she grumbled. "In this planet, two species are born, men and women. To differentiate the species, men smells like eggs and raw onions, while women smell like flowers and cupcakes and whatnot. Men have calloused hands, while women are soft and beautiful."

"Don't believe her Aleli," Gina said as she crossed her legs. "Not all men are like that. Niko sometimes smells like flowers too. And he looks like he applies lotion."

"Because Niko is a freak among their kind," Jorge said with a roll of her eyes. "Deal with it. Anyway, in this planet men and women need to play snakes and ladders to procreate."

"Tahti told me that it's a type of board game," I said. "They need to play it to multiply?"

"Why of course," Jorge answered seriously. "That's why they call it bored games. Because what they're doing is boring."

"Do not believe that," Gina said quickly. "It's a matter of preference."

"To continue with my lessons," Jorge said, disregarding her partner. She made the woman on the screen larger. "When two women want to play another game which is called touch the pussycat or taste the vulva, and prefers women over men, the humans call them lesbians. There is also a male counterpart, and they are called gays. In this planet it is considered an abnormality by most, but in the planet where you and I came from, it is the only way to go." She pumped her arm in the air.

Gina supplied information while Jorge stared at the screen of her tablet. "Our planet is one of many in the universe. Only women lives there and we can procreate without men. You can say that we're all lesbians in that manner."

"Which brings me back to my earlier statement which is girl to girl," Jorge finished.

"And here I am thinking that you're teaching her something worthwhile," Tahti said behind us. We turned to her collectively. "Come Aleli, I'll show you to your room." She spoke to Gina while I got up from the sofa. "Please prepare for supper. I'm sure Aleli would want to taste your superb cooking."

I followed Tahti inside the room she went to earlier. She closed the door quietly. "Why do you move with wess noise than we do?" I asked.

"I'm used to it. I was raised that way by my mothers." Tahti gestured around the room. "But we're not here to discuss about my past. I showed you this room because this will be yours from now on. Alena and I shared this room when she was still here, but since you need a place to sleep, I'm giving it to you." Her footsteps were lighter than the wind as she went to the bed. "I'll be sleeping in the living room, on the couch."

"We're not shawing the woom?"

"No. . ." She stared at the floor. "We're not allowed to do that. In my planet. . ." Her forehead creased. "My apologies. I always forget that you're not her." Tahti still refused to glance at me. "In our planet, each of us are destined to be with someone. My soulmate is your twin sister. I am not allowed to lay in bed with anyone other than her. I'm sure you have your soulmate too. You will make her really sad when you share a room with me. That is how it works in our planet."

"Okay, but what is sad?" She looked at me quickly and didn't answer. I sat beside her on the bed. "What?"

"Nothing. I am deeply surprised that you asked the question. I said the same words to Alena when I first arrived in this planet. Are you sure that you're not her?" She breathed deeply. "No, do not answer that. I'm positive that you're different. The big mystery is how you got separated from her, and why you were in that capsule. Maybe answering that will lead us to find her too."

"I undewstand what sad is now," I murmured. Tahti's eyebrows rose in a questioning manner. "Sad is when Tahti talks about Alena."

"It is?"

"Yes. Tahti has a diffewent look on her eyes." I pursed my lips. It was a habit I saw from Gina when she was displeased with Jorge. "I want to help Tahti find Alena, so no more sad sad."

The corner of her lips pulled up. Gina told me that it was a smile. A sign of happiness which was a good feeling. "You're a good girl Aleli. I'm sure you'll be a lot of help in finding Alena, but for now, what you need to do is listen to our lessons so when we finally go and search, you'll be able to adapt. Is that clear?"

"Yes Tahti." Something caught my eyes on the bedside table. "What is that?"

Tahti shifted her gaze to where I was pointing. The strange look in her eyes, which I now associated with sad, returned when she saw it. She took the object from the table and stared at it for a long time before answering. "These are called eyeglasses. Some humans have bad eyesight from reading too much or watching what they call porn."

"Porn?"

She nodded. "Jorge told me it's a show for children and many people watch it here." Tahti handed the eyeglasses to me. "Humans use those glasses to see better. The one you're holding belongs to Alena. Though her eyes didn't need it because she's alien, she still wore it every day. She dropped it months ago."

I toyed with the glasses. Jorge, Gina, and Tahti kept mentioning about Alena's disappearance. Of how she went missing with her best friend without leaving a trace. It was making all of them sad. I wonder what happened.

"Tahti?"

"Yes?"

"Do I weally wook like Alena?"

She seemed to have trouble breathing. "You." Tahti moved her hand to touch my face. I fixed my gaze on her and waited. Her touch never came. She dropped her hand and took a deep breath. "Yes you do. But you're not her. You're Aleli." She stood up. "Anyway, let us go to the dining area. I can smell Gina's cooking from here. You are going to love it."

"Wait," I said just as she was about to reach the door. "What is love?"

"You have to discover that for yourself," she said. "I had to learn it the hard way." She was out of the door before I could make sense of her answer.

In the dining area, a place where everyone gathered to eat, from what I discovered, Jorge and Gina were already seated around the table. I was familiar with the tableware's and utensils since we used that on our travel too, but it was the first time that I would taste Gina's cooking.

"I want you to inhale, Aleli," Jorge instructed as Tahti helped me to a seat. "You smell that?" I nodded to her. "Remember this and remember it good. In the whole universe, only three scents matter. The scent of the one you love, nature, and good food like what Gina served. Got it?"

"Yes Jorge."

"Oh puh-lease." She waved her hand. "Call me momma. I decided to take you under my wing from now on."

"That may not be a sensible idea," Tahti remarked.

"Momma," Jorge mouthed across the table when Tahti wasn't looking.

Gina had every right to be happy about her cooking. The food left a pleasant taste in my mouth. It was better than the ones people served during our travels. In the middle of our meal, Jorge grabbed the tablet from the table and swiped it open. She frowned when she looked at the screen and silently glanced at Tahti.

"Play it," Tahti said. Jorge pushed on the screen and placed the tablet in the middle of the table. A woman spoke on the screen.

"Eilmeldung," the woman said. It was in a different language, yet my mind automatically translated it. "Breaking news. The Ghost Girl, as the world knows her, was seen last night at 11:00 pm. It was followed soon after by destruction of the nearby buildings and bomb explosion around the area. Ten people were hurt and was taken to the hospital, but the cost of damages is even larger."

The view focused on the woman on the screen. "Who is this mysterious girl that appears to be wreaking havoc all over the world? Is she a part of a larger terrorist group? When will she be caught? But the real question is, what does she want from us? This is Tina from TVP, reporting."

Jorge took the tablet and placed it on her lap. "They even called her Ghost Girl. She's really making a bad reputation for herself."

"Maybe it's not really her," Gina suggested.

Jorge snorted. "We've both seen the CCTV footage. The public has no idea who she is, but you and I know the truth." She turned to Tahti. "What should we do Leader? She's full on crazy now. I knew this would happen when you didn't do the joining. A girl can turn insane if she's not laid for a long time. I know I will."

Tahti intertwined her fingers. "We stick with the plan. We make Aleli adapt as soon as possible, then we continue our search for Alena."