*WHOOSPER TREES AND WINGS*
Izzian had made it home. He stepped from Gratified Speed 1213 and looked around Comet Central Station. There were no happy stewards there to welcome him, no apriguavo vendors peddling their sweet slushies, and no sounds, other than the echoes of silence.
His ortnots weren't there to greet him either. Izzian was alone.
He kept walking, taking slow steps. In the distance, he heard a drumbeat. It was a savage sound, a beat like nothing Izzian had ever heard before.
He found himself standing in the middle of an endless grove of dark, sinister Whoosper Trees, the trees of his nightmares.
The trees sensually undulated to the pounding of the distant drums. They writhed and beckoned Izzian to come closer; their pinchers glistening and deadly. He shivered as the first branch tentatively reached for his hand, almost petting his skin.
The Whoosper Trees became frantic as the drumbeat escalated, its rhythm growing furious.
Izzian felt terribly alone and frightened. He had to find another Klesian. Suddenly, the Whoosper Trees sensed that Izzian was trying to leave. Their gentle touches became forced. The trees insisted he remain.
They pinched him painfully, pulling his clothes, ripping holes until they hit skin. The pounding of the drums hurt his ears and he felt blood dripping from the wounds. He cried and ran from the trees, breaking off several pinchers, some still attached to his body.
Then the stampede began. Massive cows, the size of elephants, plowed down the ramp of the comet, their thunderous hooves denting the strong metal.
Izzian panicked as the herd tumbled towards him. With eyes glowing and steam flying from their flaring nostrils, the psychotic cows rammed the boy, sucking him into the herd.
"Help," he screamed as the herd swallowed him, carrying him away upon their backs.
He could feel the wiry muscles of the animal beneath him, straining to explode through the sweaty fur. He realized they were no normal cows; at least they were not from earth, or any other place he knew.
"Please help," Izzian screamed again and again, but the ferocious animals wouldn't let him go and no one answered his pleas.
Desperate for help, he sought out a crowd of people in the distance. As the herd drove him closer, Izzian knew he'd find no relief. Clustered together like old garbage, they were only Klesian skeletons, dust and bones, grinning faces without animation.
Suddenly he was thrown from the raging herd. He landed painfully on the ground. He felt the wetness of a snow cone perched atop his head, and looked up to see Reddle F. Girth looming above him.
"Help, please help," she said mockingly.
Reddle's face was a distorted image with exaggerated features. Her Grotanoan-like wings bobbed up and down.
Reddle's wings had each grown a face and as Izzian looked more closely, he could make out the shape of pimple-faced Lucas on one wing and Link on the other.
"Help me, help me. I'm such a loooooser…" the evil twin faces sang in unison as Reddle cackled in wicked delight.
Suddenly Reddle and her wings flapped close to Izzian's ear and she spat out, "I'll get you, you stupid boy. I will kill you…Izzian…Izzian…" Her revolting voice echoed through his brain, causing him to sob uncontrollably.
"Izzian," yelled a voice from outside of his head, "Wake up!"
Izzian groggily opened his eyes and saw Gala and Enot sitting on the side of his bed, shaking his shoulders and looking concerned. A giant towered over his pretend parents, ready to eat them.
He flinched in fear, positive he was still living a nightmare. He longed for more simple night time visions filled with Pleverts and slime, but Whoosper Trees, Reddle F. Girth and parent eating giants were without a doubt, the worst possible things to have in a dream.
Thankfully, Izzian was wide awake and the giant was only Mrs. Able Mabel Jesset, their new Firithian roommate.
"Are you okay, kid? That must have been one heck of a nightmare," Gala said as she smoothed Izzian's hair from his sweaty forehead.
"Yea, I could hear you screaming all the way in the basement lab," added Enot.
"Can I get you some water?" Mrs. Jesset bellowed.
Everyone jumped at the booming sound of Mabel's voice and it became clear why the woman chose to be the silent type. Enot resituated his position upon the bed and accidentally brushed against Gala's leg, causing her to flinch. Gala scooted further away from Enot, and then in a flustered state, ran for the door.
"Go back to sleep, Izzy. I'll check on you again in a few hours," Gala said as she quickly exited Izzian's room.
Enot looked annoyed. "What was that all about? I'm not mad about Mrs. Jesset living here, so why is Gala still behaving so strangely?"
"I have no idea," said Izzian, knowing the real truth behind Gala's actions.
Gala had recently shared a secret with Izzian, much to his disgust. At that point, she hadn't mentioned anything about hiding a Firithian in the basement, but she had confessed to being in love with Enot Lewga, as gross as that seemed to the boy.
So far, Enot had accepted the Firithian woman, Able Mabel Jesset, into their home. Enot had questioned Gala's long term plan for hiding a giant Firithian in the basement, right next to his lab. Gala confessed that she hadn't thought that far ahead.
Eventually, realizing the value of Mrs. Jesset's opinions and advice regarding the Klesia problem, Enot agreed with Gala that the old alien woman could not stay locked up in a hospital for the mentally unstable. The help of another alien was priceless to Enot and worth the risk.
So they had all accepted Mrs. Jesset, but Enot had no clue about Gala's second secret. Gala was in love with him. Izzian felt uncomfortable about sharing that part of Gala's secret with Enot; uncomfortable and nauseous.
Izzian sighed, disliking the dramatic adult situation. He was also quite shaken up, thanks to his revolting nightmare featuring Whoosper Trees and the horrible girl known as Reddle F. Girth.
Izzian knew the nightmare was a result of pure stress and worry. He was serious when he said, "Enot, if you think Gala is still acting strange then I suggest you discuss that with Gala. I don't know what to say about her. I do know we have to get in touch with someone on Klesia. They couldn't have just disappeared, Enot. Imagine it, an entire giant planet and its moon simply vanishing? It can't be."
"I know. Mrs. Jesset and I have been working nonstop. Gala's helping, now that she's been truthful with me about the Mrs. Jesset situation. I feel bad for not telling her about the inability to contact Klesia, but I'm in charge of galactic communications and something was going on in Gala's head. She's still weird, though. Gala's still keeping something from me," Enot said. To Izzian's relief, Enot dropped the subject and pulled his thoughts back to the topic at hand.
Enot continued, "I've tried every imaginable way to reach Klesia, without success. I simply do not have the equipment for long-range signals. We have strict rules regarding communications from planets that are ignorant of us, like earth. All messages are first sent from earth to Klesia, so without the ability to contact Klesia…there's nothing I can do," Enot said, as he rubbed his face and mussed his hair in frustration.
"My latest report said a transportation crater was orbiting space just outside of earth. Also, a smaller craft was circling earth's galaxy not too long ago. The only way we can communicate is if one of those orbiting crafts were to send out a signal to us.
"I could lock onto that signal and probably answer them back, but what are the odds? Those ships have no idea we need them to contact us. It seems our only hope is to find any other aliens on earth and ask them for help," said Enot.
"I'm actually thankful to have Mrs. Jesset's help," He added. Mrs. Jesset blushed like a school girl at Enot's compliments, like a very large, oddly shaped, eight and a half foot school girl.
Izzian thought back to his first day on earth when Gala had mentioned the mysterious aliens secretly living on earth. She had said that the Council for Interplanetary Consortiums had
aliens stationed everywhere, especially on those planets that were ignorant of the existence of aliens.
She also said that it was nearly impossible to identify and uncover the secret aliens, since they were very good at remaining hidden. But she'd uncovered Able Mabel easily enough, hadn't she?
"Well, try to get some sleep, Izzian. I think I'll go to bed too and get a fresh start in the morning," Enot said, uncomfortably patting Izzian on the head like a dog, not a kid.
He'll get the hang of it, thought Izzian. He snuggled into his covers, fluffed his pillow and closed his eyes.
***
CHAPTER 23