He Comes in Peace

When Skye had tried to sneak into the house from the back door, she found it was locked. Groaning in frustration, she circled through to the front. She'd have to face her mom sometime…

Skye had forgotten to bring her key; well, actually, she remembered, but did not think she was going to be gone for long. Besides, her mother always opened the door for her. But this time, Skye had a story to tell; why she had not come home with anything. She really doubted that her mom would believe that a boy with out of the ordinary qualities had rescued her.

She knocked a few times, and a moment later, her mom opened the door, trying to hold back a leaping Cosmo with her slipper-clad foot.

"Hi, Honey…thanks for running out to get…nothing? Where's the aspirin? And the kibble?" Skye's mother almost looked behind her, as if Skye was hiding it.

"Um…To tell you the truth Mom, there were police cars, chasing this guy, and they ran right past me; I got scared, so…I came home."

"You were gone an awful long time," Mrs. Cedona murmured, stepping aside for Skye to come in. A wave of warmth washed over Skye, and she felt her whole body tingling from the fireplace.

She sat down on the low coffee table right across from the fire, and warmed her hands. She squirmed under her mother's watchful gaze, uncomfortably aware of her every single movement.

"Skye; I think there's more that you're not telling me," her mother said softly. Her eyes roved over Skye's awkwardly stiff position, and how her daughter constantly avoided gazing at her.

"Mom…Really. You do not want to know what happened," Skye warned, getting off the table and taking a seat in one of the two armchairs by the fire.

"Yes, I think I do. Honey, what happened?"

This was exactly what Skye hoped. Now, if her mother ever found out about the truth and got angry at her, Skye could point out that she had told the truth.

"The police were actually chasing an alien, and he knocked me to the ground when he got shot by a bullet. He saw that he had caused me an injury, so he flung me over his back and ran away into the forest, carrying me. There, he climbed into a tree, put his saliva all over my arm, healed my elbow, and set me down on the forest floor. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I was almost reduced to jell-o, but he saved me in the nick of time?"

Mrs. Cedona stared at Skye for a few ticking seconds before laughing.

"All right Skye. I'll let you off the hook, because that was the most creative you've been for quite a while. That was some story." She chortled as she spoke.

Skye smiled tiredly, suddenly weary.

"Thanks Mom; if your headache's really bad, I'll go back outside," she offered, while glancing out the window facing their front yard. It was lightly sprinkling now.

"No, it's all right. Thank you for asking, though. My head's feeling much better now; Cosmo is taking a long snooze right now, and we can feed him some dinner leftovers after. You're free to do whatever you please!" Skye's mom smiled.

"Oh, okay. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Nope; nothing. I was cleaning a bit while you were out. Dinner's going to be microwave pizza today. I'll call you when it's ready."

"M'kay. See ya later Mom!" Skye almost scrambled out the living room; she was just glad that she was able to put this all behind her now.