Generation Why Bother

We both had to get up bright and early in order to carry out Shira’s plan of abducting Riley and Chuck before they headed to school, especially considering the fact that everything was an hour later in their time zone. Even though Shira said we were “flying,” I wasn’t exactly certain how…and in hindsight, we probably should’ve asked…but there were already a ton of questions surfacing in my head about her.

Shira ended up at my doorstep that morning with a serious face on, a bandanna still tied around her neck. She almost even made me leave without saying goodbye to my dad, which was something I just couldn’t do. So she huffed and puffed in protest while I ran back real quick to tell my dad bye, even though he was three-fourths asleep and probably didn’t even register. Still, he kissed my forehead and told me to be safe. I took it to heart.

When we walked next door to Tegan’s house to recruit her, she didn’t even wait until we rang the doorbell – Tegan walked out looking bright and sunny, dressed up a little more than usual in flowery jeans, black combat boots and a white button-down vest shirt thing. (I’m a guy, I don’t know the technical term.)

Immediately, I noticed her aim, and because of that, I winked right at her behind Shira’s back.

Shira, however, rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Human girls, primping themselves when they don’t even have a reason.”

Tegan responded by razzing her. “Bite me.”

It took every nerve in my body not to say, “You would like that,” because I knew if I did, Tegan would slap me right across my face.

Shira didn’t say another word and instead signaled for us to follow her. She scoped out our neighborhood, trees canopying almost every inch of the already-dark streets. I’d normally be asleep at four in the morning, but we had to account for the time difference, no matter how much it hurt. As we walked down the sidewalks, neither me nor Tegan knew exactly what was in store for us, or why Shira was paying such close attention to finding the seemingly darkest area.

A few blocks away from our houses, she jerked her head towards a particularly large weeping willow that was always known to be the most depressing tree in this suburb, and she ran silently over to it. Like blind puppies, we followed, and when we got under it, Shira looked all around us to make sure nobody was watching.

“You have to hold on to my hands in order to make this work,” she explained. “Hold on tight. Neither of you look very heavy so we shouldn’t have a problem here. You humans are not used to flying without the protection of something surrounding you, but it is a short ride and I will do my best not to harm either of you.”

Before we could ask any questions, she took our hands and leaped into the sky, yanking us with her. For a second it felt like my arm was getting yanked out of its socket as we jetted into the atmosphere, high above Chicago and Illinois itself, but that dull pain gave way to numbness and we found ourselves floating.

I could feel the superhuman strength just in the way she gripped our hands – so tight I thought mine was going to fall off. I was thankful once I looked below us and saw blurs of states cascading underneath our feet; if she let us go, there was no questioning the fact that our skin would have melted off before we even hit the ground.

Tegan was looking below with her mouth wide open, and I’m sure I looked the same way. It would have been even better to be holed up in an airplane while flying miles above the ground, but it seemed to be at least somewhat safe.

Through the wind blowing out our eardrums, I heard Shira shout, “Hold on a little bit longer, we’re almost there!”

The feeling of rising stopped, and for a moment we lingered among the clouds as if we were at the very top of a rollercoaster, right before it dropped. Shira grew an intense look of concentration as we started to fall. We cut through clouds as we could clearly make out the distinct shape of Florida underneath us, and as we fell further and further towards the middle of it, we could hear her grunt and maneuver her legs to inch us in a particular direction. It was as if she’d done this so frequently that she knew just how to get to Gainesville while flying in her own Daltian way.

I closed my eyes. If we died in the landing, I sure as hell didn’t want to see it. Air whooshed over my head and I was glad I didn’t bring a hat like I normally did every time I went out of the house, and that rollercoaster feeling was coming to an end. Imagine freefalling and then having that moment where you slam back up and the g-force grips you get stretched out even longer. We landed slowly, carefully – Shira made sure of that.

When we stopped and we were sitting on what felt like grass, I gained the courage to open my eyes again. We were still in the dead of night. We were still in a secluded area, what looked like a street corner of a neighborhood in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Like our starting point, we were directly underneath a huge tree that blocked out even the street signs.

Shira stood right up and was currently brushing the dirt off of her backside where she had landed, while Tegan and I struggled to stand, our legs so weak from the lack of gravity and the shock of being airborne in such a way. I felt the blood trickle back down to my feet, and Tegan leaned on my shoulder for a few minutes, kicking the ground to wake up her legs again.

“Warm bloods,” Shira snipped. “Useless.”

Tegan and I looked at each other, and despite the color that had been flushing into her cheeks ever since Shira showed up that morning, we both had the same questioning expression. She crossed her arms over her fancy shirt and bit her lip like she knew how unpleasant Shira could be. I held back from saying anything, but at the same time, I just couldn’t help but wonder what the heck Tegan saw in that alien chick.

“At least she sticks to her guns,” she shrugged as if she read my mind.

I nodded in agreement. Shira was directly in front of us, leading the way. Well, scratch what I just said. Tegan did have a thing for someone who knew what they were doing, and Shira seemed to do exactly that.