Two Suns

Addison had taken the basket inside with her father, trailing behind her. Calling to her mom, Addison began to pull out the food. It was cooked fish, bread, and a small variety of fruit found in this area. It all looked good, and seeing how everyone was hungry, they began to eat.

Addison had never had whatever kind of fish this was. It tasted amazing, and she almost moaned at the way it melted in her mouth. The bread was still warm and had a flake-y feel to it. Addison didn’t know if the food was wonderful just because she was hungry or if it really was that good. The fruit she tasted like a peach, but it didn’t have the fuzz that peaches seemed to have.

“Who brought these?” her mom asked after they ate.

“The chief of the Alpha Tribe,” Earl replied, standing to get the basket. “They even brought jewelry. Come look at it. They are beautiful, and they hand-made them.”

Evelyn listened to her husband and went to pull out the necklaces and bracelets. She held one in her hands and inspected the design. It was simple, and she almost glad that they weren’t there to see her reaction. She thought that they were bland and not all that beautiful which she said aloud.

“I think they are wonderful,” Addison spoke up, taking the necklace out of her mother’s hand. “I can’t believe that you don’t see the beauty in them.”

“Well, since you like it, then you should have all of them,” she offered, trying to be nice.

“I guess,” Addison said, knowing that the Alpha Tribe will be offended if her mom didn’t have at least one of the necklaces. The reminder of the manners that Addison and her family needed was heavily imprinted in her mind. The natives made necklaces as peace offerings and a way to say ‘thank you’. If someone was to refuse the gift, it would be rude, and there wouldn’t be peace between her family and the tribe.

“What do you mean by that?” Evelyn asked, worried.

“Well, it was a peace offering,” Addison mumbled, not wanting to say the rest for some odd reason.

Evelyn slapped her hand against her head, realizing what her daughter was saying. She quickly turned back to the basket and looked through the jewelry, trying to pick one of them out that she liked the best. “Ah, here,” she said, pulling out a necklace with a red stone hanging of the thread. The stone looked like it had a leaf in the middle of it.

Addison had to admit that she wanted that one, but there were plenty of others that looked just as good. She took the basket with the remaining accessories to her room when there was a knock on the door. She could only wonder who it was.

Earl answered the door to three new people. They all had pale skin with blond hair, and the youngest was about the same age as Addison. The two older couple were about the age of Earl and had a bit of graying to their hair.

“We’re your neighbors. We just wanted to make you feel welcome to your new home and planet,” the man said with a bright smile. He seemed to be a little to business like especially with the sound of his voice. It was almost like he was asking for a job. “I’m Edward Flame, and this is my wife, Maria. This is Amberjade, our youngest child.”

Amberjade gave Earl a warm friendly smile. “Don’t mind him. He just thinks that everything has to be business related. My brother is just like him,” she assured him.

“Oh, well, come on in. We just had lunch, but I’m sure we can get some more food ready,” Earl offered even though that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“That won’t be necessary. We just ate ourselves,” Maria replied, stepping into the house.

Amber looked around at the house. It didn’t appear to have the personalized touches that her home had, but she didn’t expect it to. They just came from Earth, and there wasn’t much there anyways when it came to carrying around family pictures and other things in that nature. The house was much like hers when she first moved in. Her house was much bigger because of the remodeling that Edward did.

Amber looked around for the girl she met yesterday, but she couldn’t find the new girl. She could only assume that she was upstairs in her own room. Amber was actually happy that there was another girl in town that she could talk to. She wasn’t exactly good friends with the tribe as much as she wanted to be. The tribe always treated her as if she was an annoyance, and she couldn’t find out why.

The sound of footsteps coming down the staircase caused Amber to look up to see Addison standing there. Addison was surprised to see Amber here, but then again she was surprised they weren’t here sooner.

“Hello,” Addison greeted cautiously when she stepped down off the last step of the stairs.

“We have neighbors here,” Earl said, and he gave a short introduction to Addison and his wife who just came into the room.

After giving her name, Addison stepped outside. She had to admit that she like the way Two Suns looked. Well, she liked the plains region of it. She could only assume what the volcanic region looks like which was eight hundred miles north of this area. The land seemed to roll, and the plants danced over the surface with the wind.

“It’s peaceful, isn’t it?” Amber said, joining her on the front porch.

“Yeah, it is. It’s so different than Earth,” she replies. “It’s so green. It’s so alive unlike the death on Earth.”

Amber was confused by Addison’s words. Amber doesn’t remember Earth. She was born there, but her parents had the money to get off and come here. Amber was left with stories of how Earth was like, but they were from when Earth wasn’t the hell that it was at that moment. People were actually healthy; in fact most were fat. The urge to say that Earth was still beautiful overcame Amber, and she pointed out, “Earth is still our home planet, and it’s still as beautiful as ever. You shouldn’t say that.”

Addison glared at her neighbor, confused. “When did you come to Two Suns?” she asked.

“When I was two,” Amber answered, not realizing that she was getting herself in trouble.

“Then you wouldn’t know shit. You must have left with the rich. Earth is a rotting hell. People get killed on the streets for food because the rich didn’t want to live on their own home planet. They wanted to come over here and intrude on the natives without realizing the destruction that they have caused. So don’t you tell me that Earth is beautiful when I was there four days ago. Don’t tell me that I shouldn’t be honest when I watched people be get murdered,” Addison argued.

She didn’t know what came over her, but she knew that she couldn’t have held back those words. It seemed like it needed to be said, and the truth shattered Amber’s imaginations of how Earth was. Addison didn’t seem to care that she had just barked at her neighbor who might have been her only friend on this planet. In all honesty, she didn’t really want a friend because she didn’t know who she could have trusted.

Amber was shocked by this. She didn’t realize that Earth had gone downhill like her brother, Emmett, had said. She was blind to this, and she still wanted to hold the fogged up sunglasses in front of her eyes. She didn’t want to think about the people starving and dying for the smallest things. She didn’t know that things were that bad on her home planet, and she wanted to know more about it. It was clear on Addison face that she wasn’t going to talk about it anymore.

“Listen, Addison. I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Amber said immediately.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Addison said with a monotone voice.