Izzy & Eliza...an alien tale
*PEACE OUT, EARTH*
The group of aliens, humans and Fester Tails stood on the bluff near Leon's boarding ramp. Tear-filled goodbyes were given, complete with hugging, arm punching and a few meaningful name mispronunciations.
Yarn explained that Leon would travel much faster with fewer beings on board and that. Mrs. Jesset weighed so much already, they would have to leave a few passengers behind. Paksha, Eliza and Laddie were the logical choices.
Paksha's mom would ground her son for twenty years if he sailed away into space and Laddie had a business to run; an earth business. Eliza belonged on earth too, since she happened to have the misfortune of being a human.
Leon and would deliver the remaining travelers most of the way to Klesia Moon Prime. They would hover far enough away from Klesia and its moon in case the grand plan failed. Leon's smaller shuttle, referred to as Lil' Leon, would deliver Mrs. Jesset the remaining distance to the planet's surface.
As soon as Able Mabel shifted the Klesians back to regular size, and if nothing major exploded, big Leon would land at Comet Central Station. Izzian, Gala, Enot and Thil would then be able to go home. Finally, they could reunite with their friends and family, who with any luck would be normal sized by that point.
Hopefully, Klesia and Klesia Moon Prime would not be too damaged by the shrinking of the entire population. Some rebuilding and cleanup would no doubt be needed; and some lengthy explanations.
Paksha was a little upset he was doomed to remain on earth; he was dying to set foot on an alien planet. But Eliza had remained mysteriously quiet about being left behind.
"It is okay," Paksha said as he shook Izzian's hand. "My mother would totally freak if I disappeared. I know I am already grounded. I don't have to be Preytell like Eliza to know that. I did text mom and tell her I was okay and that a friend needed my help.
"I also told her that I was growing up and she needed to lighten up a little. Not such a great idea to text that kind of thing to your mother, by the way. Can you imagine how a phone call would have gone? I wouldn't have been able to utter a single word."
The two boys laughed, but Izzian felt bad knowing that Paksha had it coming to him the minute he got home.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that Paksha," Izzian said.
"Oh please! It was all so worth it! Plus, when my mom grounds me, it's usually from old TV shows and friends. Eliza is the only friend I have right now, and she'll find a way to sneak into my house, I am sure. I always get to keep my laptop, and that's all I really need," Paksha said as he patted the laptop stashed in his backpack.
Izzian understood he'd finally gotten the thing he'd fought for that day in Mrs. Kleevox's office. He had an earth brother. Although Paksha was his trusted, best male friend, Izzian did not particularly like the idea of Eliza sneaking into his earth brother's room.
"I am only kidding Izzian. You know my mother would have a heart attack if a girl snuck into my room. I just wanted to see your reaction. You turn green when you get jealous," Paksha said, relieving Izzian of his worries and slapping him on the back.
"Remember," Izzian said, referring to Paksha's laptop, "thanks to the modifications we made on your computer, you will usually be able to post messages for Yarn and Leon, and as soon as we save Klesia, you should be able to send Freemails to me and Thil. And Laddie is staying behind, so you'll have another friend on earth."
"I almost forgot," said Paksha with a wide grin. "We solved our Lucas and Link problem. I'll be crawling with friends."
It was almost unbelievable that Eliza had terrified the evil twins into behaving by rolling off the side of the bluff. Her abilities as a Preytell had come in handy, but some would say it had been a miracle.
It was even more unreal that some rogue Slunt Notte had swished the twins away and deposited them in the town square, totally embarrassed. Lucas and Link would never act up again, knowing that a strange creature resided in the woods, ready to pounce if they did. The Slunt Notte's true identity remained a mystery, but Izzian was happy just knowing Paksha and Eliza would be safe.
"One more thing," said Paksha. "I apologize for threatening to call the cops on you. I just had to make certain you weren't trying to invade earth, implant us with alien larvae, and turn us into mindless zombies. You understand. Forgive me?"
Izzian laughed. He hardly blamed Paksha for freaking out like he did.
"Considering the circumstances," Izzian said, "you handled things really well. Oh, and I know many earthlings that are already mindless zombies, so…wouldn't be much of a change," joked Izzian.
"I almost forgot," added Izzian. He reached into his ratty old backpack and handed over Paksha's favorite video game, Alien Abduction. "And just so you'll know, there are only a few known species of aliens that actually procreate with larvae. And they despise you humans and your filthy body cavities, so you're safe for the time being."
He shook Paksha's hand, but his earth brother pulled Izzian in for a hug. He'd miss his friendship with Paksha. No one else laughed at Izzian's jokes or made him laugh as much as the curly-headed earth boy with glasses.
"Goodbye, Izzian," said Paksha. "I'll think about you every time I play Alien Abduction."
"I'll be back," the alien boy said with an optimism he barely felt.
Izzian's Goodwill Project had been drastically cut short. Whether or not he returned to earth for the school year would be a decision left up to the elders of Klesia. With everything that needed to be sorted out back home, Izzian doubted he'd have the chance to suffer through English class with Mrs. Maddlington on earth.
He felt vaguely disappointed, realizing he was actually looking forward to comparing the devious Mr. Muckleback of Klesia to the evilly renowned teacher of earth. On the other hand, he felt relieved to have escaped the clutches of Aloris J. Maddlington.
Izzian shook the hand of Laddie who vowed to create snow cones in honor of his new friends. The first would be called Alien Apple Tart. Another would be called Eliza's Egg Salad.
Immediately, Laddie questioned naming a snow cone after an egg salad. He confessed he needed more time to work out a better sounding name and flavor than egg salad. Laddie also promised to keep in contact with Izzian. The green boy agreed to stop by for a visit the minute he landed on earth again, if ever.
"Are you ready, Izzian?" Yarn asked, quickly boarding her ship. She hated saying goodbye and considered each farewell to be bad luck.
Yarn stood upon Leon's ramp, waving her hand. With a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, the older woman made a somewhat perplexing statement. "I'm sure I'll be seeing all of you. You may not see me, but I'll be watching…" After her self-assured comment, Yarn abruptly turned and leapt through the door of her ship with the agility of a woman half her age, however old that might be.
Izzian remained in the forest, knowing that he still had one more goodbye to give- the most important goodbye yet. He looked over the aliens and humans gathered on the edge of the bluff. He couldn’t find her.
His heart pounded in his chest. He panicked, afraid he had missed her, afraid of leaving without saying goodbye. Suddenly, Izzian felt a painful thump on the back of his head, and there stood Eliza Allready.
"Later loser," Eliza said jokingly, knowing how many times those words had been thrown at them both over the summer.
"Yea, later E-looser Allready, you old Glotfish," said Izzian, returning the playful banter that they had both come to enjoy.
"What's a Glotfish anyways?" Eliza asked.
Izzian waited for the old familiar unwelcome insults and unbidden answers to appear in front of his eyes. He realized his plascreen had become curiously silent since he'd been onboard Leon.
"Well, it's a fairly descriptive name. A Klesian Glotfish forms legs in order to hunt on land. It makes this stupid sound like glut, glut, glut."
Eliza rolled her eyes, and said, "You Klesians are real original, man."
"Izzy, we need to get going. It will take a while to get to our neck of the uni
verse. Let's get a move on," Gala said as she pushed him towards the door of the ship.
"In a second," he turned, responding to his pretend mother, sounding very much like a non-pretend, petulant child.
Izzian turned back to Eliza, prepared to be on the receiving end of a sticky handshake. He discovered he was alone. Eliza had already left. His heart sunk, his stomach ached, knowing those were the last word he might ever utter to the most important earthling he knew.
His last conversation with his best friend of all time and he had rattled off some useless information about the hunting rituals of the stupid Glotfish.
Dejectedly, he headed for Leon's door, realizing he had probably ruined the best relationship of his life. Yarn noticed the miserable look on Izzian's face and reached for a hug.
Yarn was not a very social person. Hugs were not on her agenda. Izzian knew it took a lot for the woman to physically reach out to him.
He reciprocated, even though he was not much of a hugger himself. It felt good to be comforted. Izzian realized how much he missed his mother and vowed to never again turn away from a mom offering a hug.
"You will see the girl again, that I can promise," Yarn said, as she discreetly wiped away her own rare tears. "Do you know how much I hated leaving that man on earth?" Yarn asked, referring to Vladimir/Laddie, her long lost love.
"For years I thought I had ruined our relationship. For years I thought I had lost the best friend I ever had. All that lost time blaming myself for not saying the right thing or saying too many wrong things, was lost time.
"Now, old Yarn may not be the most sentimental being in the universe, but I can tell you that none of that matters. The only thing that matters is that you did the best you could. You may not think you were the best friend to Eliza that you could have been, but none of us is perfect. We are all only human, after all; sort of. You get my gist," she laughed.
Yarn cackled at her terminology, but Izzian understood what she was saying; no matter the species, we all had our faults, and Eliza was still his friend despite them all.
He strapped himself into Leon's newly formed furniture and reached back to touch the last memory he had of Eliza- the sore spot on the back of his head.
He pulled his hand away, curiously studying his fingers. Izzian allowed himself a hearty laugh, realizing Eliza had smeared syrupy goo on the back of his head. It was her way of saying goodbye. Good one, Eliza Allready.
***