| Chapter 05

The dust finally settled. The girl coughed against the curve of my neck, warm breath spreading moisture on my skin. Her fingers gripped my sweater hard, out of fear.

I wanted to check on her, make sure she was okay, but my head hurt like a bitch. It throbbed. A painful thump, thump echoed in the back of my skull. With a groan, I pressed my fist against the side of my head and struggled to look up.

"Are you o-okay?" she asked me.

I didn't look at her. I looked ahead.

The fallen pieces of metal destroyed so much of the fair; it was unreal. Flames broke out around some areas, burning through the neighboring stalls untouched in the fall. The smoke wafted in our direction, covering us. I coughed before turning my head to look down at the Pylon who stayed beneath me, clutching me still.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, balancing my weight on my forearm. When she nodded, I smiled weakly. "Good... I'm okay, too."

"Are you really?" she asked me, her hands sliding down my arms before resting them at her sides. "This... all of this hurt. And the metal... that..." She nodded her head, looking behind me.

I hadn't noticed the metal had landed so close, its edges sliced through my jeans and cut into my legs. The adrenaline had given me speed. There wasn't any pain. Not only had I not felt the impact, but I couldn't feel the after-effects.

It was bleeding. I should've felt something.

"Um." I took a trembling breath, laughed, and lifted my brows. "No, I'm good, I think. Just a scratch."

"Just a scratch?" she asked. "That's a lot more than a scratch."

"Yeah, well," I balanced myself on both of my arms, still not moving off of her, "comes with the territory, right?"

Oh, God, what am I saying?

"What?" Her face scrunched up. The shimmer in her eyes faded.

"I mean," my chuckle was so nervous it hurt, "we're alive, right? Being alive is a good thing. I mean, the parts of your mother ship—"

"Mother ship?" She glared at me.

"They could've killed us, you know. I pulled us out of the way. I saved us. So—"

Both of her hands pressed up on my shoulders. The pain that shot through my arms, I felt that. I hissed. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Get off me," she hissed.

The stall to our right crumbled. Pieces from its broken chairs rolled across the ground, the sound echoing around us. But it wasn't louder than the sound of my own heart. It hammered in my chest out of pure nervousness. Anxiety rode up my back like horses on a plain.

"I..." I stammered. I mumbled. I...

"Get off me!" The Pylon girl pushed me with all her strength. Rather than fight, I rolled away from her. The shards in my hands dug deeper. I felt like the villain standing in front of her, dirty and covered in my own blood.

I saved her. Us, I saved us.

Right?

"Look, I'm sorry, I—"

"GUS!" I picked up on David's voice. It was close, but far. Yet, with the ringing in my ears, I wasn't too sure. Was it even him?

The Pylon girl scurried to her feet, rubbing the blood off her legs from her torn jeans. The second she heard David's voice, she stood up straight, fear on her face once again. This time, it was a different fear.

It wasn't an oh snap, the sky is falling, it was more of an oh shit, I've been caught.

I wasn't good at speaking, but I was great at reading body language. And hers made me curious. "Are you..." I stretched an arm towards her. "Are you okay?"

"GUS!" David's voice came again, louder than the last time. I turned and saw him. With his hand over his mouth, he coughed as he pushed through the clouds of smoke. When he saw me, he hurried to my side and grabbed my shoulders. "GUS!"

Why is he yelling?

I grabbed him back. "You're back," I said to him. "Where'd you go? I—"

"Doesn't fuckin' matter, man! We gotta go!" Grabbing the sleeve of my sweater, he pulled at me, moving me away from the Pylon girl. When I looked at her, he did, too. He huffed in frustration. "Shit, a Pylon's here, too?"

She didn't say anything. She merely looked at us as we stumbled through the smoke.

David didn't ask her any questions. Only me. Grabbing my face, he looked over the cuts on my forehead and neck. "We gotta go, all right?" The tone in his voice gave me no options. "We're leaving your friend behind."

"My f-friend..." I stammered.

"I'm not his friend!" she complained.

David didn't listen. He pulled at my arm and moved me through the smoke. Away from the girl, even farther away from the damage caused by the Pylon's ship. I wanted to ask him what had happened, but by the time we reached the back exit, I knew there wasn't a second to waste.

Police were everywhere and we were sitting ducks, whether we were moving or not.

|||

Everything hurt. My face. My body. My pride. I wasn't sure which part of me was more broken, but my dreams didn't help at all.

David had pulled me out of the fair to keep us from getting arrested and I thanked him. I also yelled at him, since it was his fault we had been there to begin with. But her, the Pylon girl, stared at me the entire time David moved us away. Her yellow eyes were glued to my soul, stuck like a ghost in need of a home. The way she looked at me stayed with me as I went to sleep.

I tossed and turned, hearing her voice over and over. "I'm not his friend!" It was the way she had said it. It wasn't angry or annoyed like she had been even though she complained, she was afraid.

I didn't want to leave her there.

And as I sat at the kitchen table the following morning, a bowl of cereal in front of me, I regretted not going back.

"Pieces of the Pylon ship broke away and crushed parts of the world fair last night. Injuries were reported by paramedics at the scene. Officers are searching for the reason the event had occurred." The news played on the TV hanging on the kitchen wall. I listened but couldn't look at the visuals that played.

I had been there. I knew the damage.

"Adrian Brinks was able to find ship's captain Roderick, as well as general Brylon, and asked them for their thoughts of the night's occurrence."

For a second, I glanced up at the news. Curiosity told me to pay attention because what happened to the ship didn't make sense. For hundreds of years, the Pylons hovered Earth. Never, ever, had parts of their ships fallen.

"We're looking into the incident." A tall, slender Pylon spoke into the reporter's mic. Next to him, a larger Pylon crossed his arms over his chest. While the slender alien looked at the human curious of his concerns, his larger companion focused on the scene. Irritation was etched over every inch of his face.

As I looked at the screen, I realized I knew the smaller alien. Captain Roderick of Pylon ship forty-nine. His friend was a mystery to me.

"Machinery is bound to malfunction from time to time. A Pylon ship is no different," Captain Roderick said.

I lifted the spoon from my bowl without looking. When I put it in my mouth, I thought I'd have cereal to chew. There was just milk.

On the screen, the reporter moved closer to the captain. The larger alien reacted, stretching out his arm to keep the space between them. "You are saying a Pylon ship is no different, yet your kind has always reminded us how that isn't the case. With your superior knowledge and technology, this type of event shouldn't have happened," the reporter said.

I dropped my spoon as the larger alien moved, putting himself between the captain and news reporter. "You called us here for information on last night's accident. Questioning the event is counterproductive."

The captain dropped his head. "Brylon..."

The reporter, seemingly unbothered by the larger alien, refused to move. "I think we have a right to question what happened last night and the lies your species continues to feed us," he said.

My jaw dropped. The larger alien stepped towards the smaller human, towering over him, but before the video continued, the station returned to the anchorwoman at the studio. "This type of behavior leads to more questions. And after the terrible Sapphire incident, many are wondering, are the Pylons to blame for this, too? Was it all an accident? Find out more in our report during our ten o'clock news."

I glanced down at my bowl and sighed. When did the tension between Pylons and humans get so bad? I knew there hadn't always been harmony, but I grew up believing in a different mindset. Pylons were good for us. Right?

"Morning, country boy." David walked into the kitchen and slapped his hand against my back. I bit my lip, holding back my cry. Spit pushed between my teeth and sat on my lip.

When David grabbed a mug off the counter, he turned to look at me. He laughed. "You look like shit."

I dropped my spoon and rubbed the sore spot on my back. "I had parts of the spaceship fall on me, so yeah, I feel like shit." I shot him a hard stare. "Tell me again why we didn't just go to the cops that were there last night?"

"Cops?" Coffee had already been prepared by my aunt. David grabbed the pot and poured himself a hefty cup, no cream. "You really think talkin' to cops would've helped?"

David, the longtime rebellious troublemaker, hated the police. He had more notches on his record before the age of eighteen than I had spots on my belt. And as he drank from his mug, the look in his eyes was his silent way of reminding me of that.

"People could've been hurt," I hissed, pressing my hands beside my cereal bowl.

"People?" David nodded and sipped his coffee. "You mean your Pylon friend?"

"No, yes, well—" I clenched my jaw and searched for the words.

Yes, I was worried about her. Didn't have to know her name to care about her well-being. She had been hit by metal, too. Thrown around just like I was. And while I had painkillers and Sapphire numbing creams for my aches, I wasn't sure if she had what she needed.

She looked so lost when we left...

I slapped my hand against the table and my spoon clinked against the side of the bowl. "The Pylon girl needed help and we left her there."

"She's a Pylon." David sipped from his mug again. "She good."

"Then there were guards there, too, right? What if they got crushed? We could've helped them!"

An array of emotions passed over David's face before he slid over into the chair across from me. He dropped his voice to a hissing whisper, "What were we going to do, Gus? Huh? You wanted to go in there and play hero to everyone, like you did with that girl? Pull them out from the rubble and get some fuckin' badge of honor from the city?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line.

"That's not how it works here." David leaned back and pushed his cup away from him. "This is a big city, country boy. Here, if you're caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, well you doin' time and they don't care if you're innocent or not."

I tapped my fingers against the table. He was right. Where I was from, the Sheriff would have time to listen to everything you said. He'd let you plead your case, smile at you. He'd probably have his deputy serve you coffee and a slice of apple crumble cake.

A big city like Chicago? No questions would be asked. Right?

I have questions.

"But are you innocent, David?" I narrowed my gaze. "We snuck into the fair. You had planned to do that beforehand, right? I was just baggage."

David didn't say anything. He tapped his fingers.

I leaned closer, chest pressed against the table. I pushed the bowl to the side. "Why did we go to the fair, David?"

"You should put more Sapphire cream on your face. Heal up." David pointed at me. "My dad's goin' to see you like this and think I beat the shit out of you."

I pushed his finger away. "Do you know why the ship was falling apart? Did you do it?"

David's mouth opened for a second. He turned his head and rubbed his nose, sniffing away any response he could've said. But when he looked back at me, he quickly looked past me. Behind me. And pointed again. "Your friend's outside."

My eyes widened. Friend? "What?"

"Friend." David pointed again and shrugged. "Outside."

I spun around in my chair. With my fingers gripping the back of my seat, I looked out the back windows to see her, the Pylon girl. She was still dressed in the cloak she wore the night before. Dirt and dried blood were stuck to her face. Her curls, pressed down by her hood, covered the glow in her eyes. I didn't need to see that yellow to know it was her.

Slowly, I moved from my seat and walked towards the window.

Behind me, David moved too. In seconds, he was beside me, coffee back in his hand.

"You're here?" The Pylon girl stepped away from the window as I opened it. With my hands gripping the bottom of it to keep steady, I pushed just my head outside. "Why are you here?" I asked.

She blinked at me, and I saw a small shimmer of light.

My weight made the window budge an inch closer to my head. But I didn't let go. I asked her again, "Why are you here?" My question wasn't interrogative. More worried. I softened my expression to prove it. "Are you okay?"

Next to me, David snorted before taking a sip of his coffee.

"I, um." The Pylon girl looked down at her hands and played with the dirt on her nails. "I can't get home," she said.

My brows shot up. "Home? So—"

"So, I followed you." She lifted her eyes to look at me.

I was hit with their light. My heart hammered in my chest.

"You followed us?" David leaned against the wall beside the window as he snorted. "Stalker."

I shot David an annoyed stare. Silently, my expression said, "do you fuckin' mind," but when I looked back at her, I changed it and said, "I don't know what you want us to do."

Still playing with her nails, the girl shrugged and bit her lip. "I don't know, either. That's why I followed you."

"You thought we'd know what to do?" David scoffed. "What do you think we look like, fuckin' heroes?"

The girl looked up and showed us her entire face. Her eyes were beautiful, yes, but the rest of her took my breath away. Her brown skin complemented the hue of her eyes. Her lips were a shade of pink. I leaned more against the window. It screeched, nearly coming down on top of my head.

The girl laughed. "No, I didn't think you guys were heroes."

"Right," David snorted.

"Do you mind?" I shot David another hard look.

With his cup pressed to his lips, he gave me the same. I lifted my brows as he lifted his. When I turned my head in irritation, he did, too. Clenching my jaw, I added, "I think this is my problem, so, if you don't mind—"

"No can do, country boy." David finished his coffee and tapped his fingers against the side of the mug as he glanced back at her. "She's in my backyard, at my house, so she's my problem, too."

He had a point. None of this was mine. And her being here, the way she was, would affect my aunt and uncle, not me or my mom, regardless of what I'd done.

Biting my lip, I stepped away from the window. What good would I be? I wasn't some cool hero; I didn't have the answers. Hell, I followed her last night because I was a lost puppy. This morning made no difference.

Before I could even tell her that, attached with an apology from the depths of my insecure heart, the doorbell rang. Both David and I turned towards the sound.

"Did someone follow you here?" David hissed to the girl under his breath.

When I looked at her, she shook her head. "No," she said quickly. "I swear. I'm good at sneaking around, I—"

The doorbell rang again. I bit the insides of my cheek as I looked back towards the living room. From the kitchen, I could see the front door. There were two shadows at the windows, faces trying to peek inside. I thought if we stayed still and quiet enough, they'd leave us alone and assume no one was home.

But footsteps hurried down the stairs. My uncle Hector, hands on the railing, glanced into the kitchen so fast David and I barely had the time to react and stand in front of the window to hide the girl from view. My uncle couldn't have noticed because he didn't address it.

Instead, he grumbled and said, "Y'all don't hear that?" He pointed at the front door. "Just going to let people ring the doorbell without answering it?"

David and I didn't say a word. I clenched my jaw so tight, it hurt.

"Fuckin' kids." My uncle cursed under his breath as he made his way down the rest of the stairs. "Just rude, no manners, leaving people outside like animals."

"Dad, wait!" David stretched out a hand and tried to hurry forward to stop my uncle from opening the door. But he couldn't.

The moment it swung open, revealing two officers waiting on the front porch, David ducked back into the kitchen and pressed his back against a wall. His eyes widened as he looked at me. I gave him the same look.

Behind me, I heard the Pylon girl scurry and hide. Leaves rustled, but I knew it couldn't be the wind. When I glanced back and saw she wasn't there, I closed the window. And gulped.

From the open door, I heard, "Morning. Sorry to disturb you, but we need to ask questions concerning two wristbands registered to—'' I looked back just in time to see an officer looking at my uncle. In his hands was a tablet. He glanced at the screen before making the attempt to look inside the house. "—a David Mendez and a Gustavo Ramirez. Are they here?"