They Do Exist

"Run, Tommy, run!" I whispered, urging Tommy to keep going. He was a ballsy little kid, 10 years old and smart. We had just escaped from a homeless shelter run by crazy religious fanatics.

"Come on little dude, you can make it, the park is just ahead. We can hide there."

Gasping for breath, he lowered his head and kept running. We made it to the park, and slowed to a walk. Everything looks different in the dark. I hadn't been out at night in over a year, thanks to those lunatics keeping me locked in a closet. I was allowed out to do chores during the day. One such chore was to serve the Thursday supper in the park for those who needed a meal.

"Jonathan, will they catch us?" Tommy asked me as we headed for a picnic shelter. We sat on a table. Tommy took off his backpack. He'd planned ahead and brought supplies. I only had the clothes on my back.

"I don't want to go back, Jonathan. That man hurt me. Did he hurt you, too?" Tommy look up at me with big brown eyes.

"I won't let him hurt you again, Tommy. What made you come get me before you left? Thanks, by the way."

Tommy smiled and shrugged. "You remind me of my big brother. He's not here, he's up there," pointing at the sky,

"Sorry, little man, that's rough."

"I know I will see him again one day," Tommy said.

"Yeah," I replied.

We laid down on the table and closed our eyes. It wasn't long before I heard Tommy snoring softly. Poor kid was exhausted. I wasn't sure how he came to be at the shelter, but I was thankful. He had stolen the key to my hovel, as I called it, and let me out. Then we just took off.

I laid there, reflecting on how I got here. Not here, the park, but here in these circumstances. I'm 16 years old, 5'6'' slender with long dark hair and brown eyes. I am Native American, and grew up on a reservation here in Oregon. Last year, I was working on the landscaping crew, when the religious freaks took me. They figured my parents were rich, since the tribe has a casino, so they were counting on getting a lot of money for my return. Little did they know, my parents were gone. They just disappeared one day. One morning they went to work at their lab, and they never came home. Shortly after they vanished, I was taken. So, I've been a slave for the freaks. Mr Freak loves to give out beatings, to "purify the soul." Personally, I think he gets off on it. Mrs Freak is the pastor, self proclaimed, I'm sure. She is just plain crazy, if you ask me.

As I was starting to doze off, I heard a sound coming from down by the river. I noticed a dull green glow, that slowly grew brighter.

"Kid, wake up," I said nudging Tommy. I had to give the kid credit, he woke up right away. He was scared, but he wasn't whining about it. He grabbed his bag and we crept to the river, staying hidden in the shadows cast by the bushes.

"What is that?" he asked me.

The green glow had come narrowed, almost like a beam. The green light touched the ground right at the edge of the river. I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"I'm not sure, " I replied. Curiosity compelled us to get closer for a better look. (Yes, I know what curiosity did to the damn cat.) As we got closer, the sound that woke me up, a buzzing hum, got louder.

"It's them!" Tommy shouted with excitement.

"Them who?" Before I could stop him, Tommy was running for the light. "Come on, Jonathan!" he called over his shoulder. I ran after him.

"Kid, stop!" I yelled as two figures wearing green hooded robes materialized from the green light. Ignoring me, Tommy ran up to the figures. "I knew you would come back for me!' He said.

"Wait, what?" I said, puzzled. The figures were speaking gibberish. I ducked, but not fast enough, as the taller figure reached out and touched my ear. Now I could understand what they were saying.

"Come with us, we will not harm you," I heard in a very pleasant voice.

"That's what they all say. Didn't you forget to call us earthlings?" I asked with bravado to hide my nervousness.

The tall figure turned and looked at me with burning red eyes. I felt the power of that look down to my soul.

"Clearly, you don't need me to tell you where you are. Come, all will be revealed."

"Yes, come with me please, Jonathan," Tommy said. I couldn't let the kid go alone. He did help me escape from the Freaks. I just hoped that I wasn't exchanging one set of freaks for another.

The figures nodded and held out a hand to each of us. Tommy grabbed the hand of the shorter figure along with my hand. I ignored the taller figure, who I could swear rolled their eyes. The figure placed a hand on my shoulder, and we shot off the ground, going up into the light. We were riding the light, like it was an elevator. In no time at all, we were at a large space station. When we first entered, I was too dizzy to notice much. The figure grabbed my hand, and immediately the dizziness went away.

"Thanks," I said as I jerked my hand away. "Why did you bring us here? I hope you plan to take us back."

"Do you really want to go back there, Jonathan?" The tall figure asked. It had a point.

"Where are we? Who are you?" I demanded. Before the figures could respond, I heard my name called. Turning, I saw my parents running toward me. They hugged me. I hugged them back, but then pulled away asking skeptically,"What is going on? Are you really my parents, or are you one of those things pretending to be my parents?"

"It's really us, son. We have so much to tell you," said my dad.

"Jonathan, you have to meet my brother, Taylor," Tommy said. He was tugging the hand of a kid that could have been my twin.

"What's up? I'm Taylor," he said. "I'm glad Tommy found you."

"What's up? I'm Jonathan," I said as we clasped hands. I felt an odd sense of recognition, like we knew each other and were connected in some way. "So, what is going on here?"

"So impatient," my mom said.

"We noticed," replied the figures in unison.

Mom led us to a sitting area. We all sat while mom and the figures brought us food. Tommy, Taylor and I were starving. As we ate, mom explained what was happening.

"When your father and I disappeared, we had just discovered a way to make contact with intergalactic beings. We were so excited! We really wanted to communicate and find out what or who was out there. We didn't realize that we had actually sent a distress signal," Mom gestured toward the figures. "They responded and came to "rescue us" which is how we disappeared."

"What are they?" I asked gesturing to the figures that brought us here.

"We are Lunarites," one of the figures replied. "We are non-binary beings that live on the moon. Over the years, space exploration from humans threw off the magnetic fields of the moon. This disturbance is partially responsible for climate change on many planets, including earth. There are several of us on this ship. Our ship is called the Luanautica. We are a community committed to intergalactic peace keeping.

"So, you're like little green men, only not men?" I asked.

"You are confusing us with Martians. They are a different species, as they are from Mars," the tall figure responded with a long suffering sigh. (I was starting to think this being didn't like me.)

"Besides, we are not green. We wear green. There is a difference," replied the shorter figure. At the same time, they removed their hoods, revealing ebony skin, with sculpted features and bald, perfectly round heads. Their eyes glowed red. "You can call me Sami," said the short figure. "They are called Norahs," pointing to the taller figure.

"We have abilities that humans haven't tapped into yet. By combining our abilities with your parent's talents, we were able to save the moon. Our hope is to save the whole galaxy," the figures both said at exactly the same time, in the same tone of voice.

"What about him?," I said pointing to Taylor. "How does he fit into it?"

"I am from the future," said Taylor. "Time works differently up here. Long story short, I am you in a but in a different reality. We are the same, but different. I'm a hacker, and I found a signal parallel to what your parents discovered. The Lunarites came and picked us up, thinking we were you. That's how we figured out that they can travel through space, time and realities."

"Wow, how did Tommy find me?" My head was spinning with all of this information. Tommy riffled around in his backpack, and pulled out what looked like a hand held video game.

"Taylor has almost perfected aura tracking. We were able to lock on to you with this," he held up the device, proud of the role he played in my rescue.

"Thanks, bud," I said, I couldn't help but like the kid.

Mom had pushed a button on a remote. A panel slid away, revealing a display. On the display was the homeless shelter and the home where the Freaks lived. Tommy and I were the only people staying in the shelter that night. Since we escaped, it was now empty, except for the Freaks.

"I am so sorry it took us so long to get to you," she said. "It has been a year for you. For us, it has been a week. Changing realities and saving the moon, all happened so fast, yet so slow. Would you like to do the honors?" She handed me the remote and pointed to the appropriate buttons.

"Oh yeah," I said. I turned to Tommy. "Want to help me, bud? Let's erase those creeps."

"Yes!" Tommy yelled.

Together, we pushed the arming button. Then we pushed the fire button. A barely visible green light shot out from the bottom of the space ship. The shelter and the house blinked out of existence. No explosion, sadly, just gone. We shared a high five and a fist bump. Taylor put his arm around Tommy. We all stood together, watching Earth fade away as the space ship zipped off to the next mission.