Fallen

I remembered meeting him. I'd been driving home late at night when my car broke down very suddenly. In the middle of nowhere with no street lights to give me some clarity of what was around me, I felt damned. I turned the ignition off and on a few times but there was no spark from the engine. Now what?

I was at a loss back then too. My ex, Darren, had decided to leave me and now I was on my own trying to do the things we had always done together. On that particular day, I faltered with what I would do next until I had met him; that special person who was now in my life forever.

I remembered feeling lost and scared until a vision of explicable brightness exploded in the field in front of me. There wasn't a fire but just a bright light and then without warning, I heard a tap on the window. I turned and saw a man standing there wearing a weird all-in-one black shiny suit. I wasn't sure what to do.

I remembered seeing him and thinking how good-looking he was but in a strange auspicious way because of what he was wearing. He had a black jumpsuit on that I hadn't seen a man wear before. At the time, he'd been staring at me. His eyes were bright blue and glazed as he stared directly at me. I couldn't stop myself from staring back at them. His floppy blonde hair swayed in the wind and he just seemed pleasantly serene with a wide smile on his face. For some reason, I wasn't scared of him nor did I feel he was out to get me. So, I wind down my window slightly.

"Um… are you lost?" I asked stupidly.

"Yes… my name is Jack… my ride broke down… it's over there," he pointed towards a wide field. "I need a lift," he said looking closely at me.

"I can't because my car won't start," I explained noticing how tall he was.

"I can fix it," he said as he walked to the engine bonnet and lifted it.

"Okay start the engine," he yelled.

My car started immediately and it had only taken him seconds to fix it. I wondered what he had done. It baffled me.

"Thank you," I said.

"Now… can you give me a lift?" He asked.

"To where?"

"Take me to a big city… please," he said.

I remembered driving him to the city I lived in. He had been excited. He curiously looked at the lit-up shops like he'd never seen anything quite like it before.

"Where do you want to go when we get there?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I have never been here before," he stated.

"You have never been to London before?" I asked.

"I have never been to your planet."

"Planet?" I asked feeling queasy.

"I have never traveled to earth before," he said as if it was a normal thing to say.

"I see."

I parked the car and Jack got out. I got out too. He looked over at me and said, "Can you show me your city? Come with me."

I was shocked and felt weird about it but I was also excited that he had asked me. He now stood next to me on the pavement. I stared at him in that strange and weird black jumpsuit. He was dressed inappropriately. How could he walk around like that? People would stare at him.

I decided to take him back to my place so he could change his clothes. He was a bit taller than my ex but I knew his clothes were still in bags at home. It was silly to not use them.

I took him home and gave him a pair of jeans and a baggy blue sweatshirt along with a woolly black jacket. He looked good in them except the jeans were a bit short and the baggy sweatshirt was tighter on him because of his muscular build. He was handsome and graciously empowering as he stood there staring back at me.

"Do I look the part now?" He asked with a smile.

"You do," I answered.

"Good… if my people could see me now they would laugh," he said smiling at me.

"Where are you from?"

"Far away from here… up there somewhere above the moon. It's a planet called Vargus," he said.

"You're an Alien?" I asked in disbelief but somehow I had already known.

"Yes… I suppose I am alien to you," he answered.

"So, how will you get back to your planet?"

"I will have to find a way to fix my ship… the one that crashed earlier or I will have to contact someone from my planet. I have to work out what to do," he said looking at me with those deep blue eyes.

It was weird but he didn't look alien from where I was standing. He seemed normal and I wondered what he looked like underneath all those clothes.

"I know what you are thinking," he said abruptly.

I felt awkward. Could he read my mind?

"What? How… are you… um… reading my mind?"

"Yes… sorry… it's a very bad habit I have… I look the same as you… earthlings do underneath all these clothes… like a man of the earth," he said with the widest smile I had ever seen and I just started to laugh.

In fact, we both laughed.

We have been laughing ever since that first day we met because Jack decided to stay with me. He was my alien now; clever and astonishing in everything he did. We lived our lives together in a happy coexistence for many years.

The only problem was, I aged quickly and he didn't. He could live for over 500 years without illness but we earthlings couldn't.

So, Jack took me to Vargus because he said I would live longer than my expectant years. If I stayed on earth I would die but if I went to his planet, I would live for 500 years or more. He said I would stay young and healthy. Now I am pregnant with his alien child on the planet Vargus where we live in a little house inside a colony. It's not earth but to me, it's home.

Copyright © 2021 Denise Larkin. All Rights Reserved.

Also published on Medium.com