“What were you thinking?” Mom shouted at me.
“You guys might have gotten caught!” Auntie Gracie said.
We didn’t express anything as we sat on the sofa being scolded. We were once again at Grandpa’s house and no longer at the T.S.I. That was because things had taken an unexpected turn.
It had all happened so quickly. James was holding the door open as I helped Kay-ani out of bed. She was weak and fragile, so she needed my help to get up. I wrapped her frail arm around my neck, and we walked out of the door. James led the way and made sure the coast was clear ahead of us.We tried to run as fast as we could, but with me having to carry most of Kay-ani’s weight, it made it difficult to run. I was quickly running out of breath.
“We have to hurry Ben!!” James yelled as he held the elevator door open. We quickly got into the elevator as James anxiously pressed the button to the first floor. I took a moment to take a deep breath as I knew that we would have to start running again.
As the elevator doors opened, we froze, standing right in front of us was Uncle Nathan. James quickly tried to press the button to close the elevator’s doors, but Uncle Nathan had put his foot in between the doors to stop them from closing.
“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?” He angrily whispered with a stunned look.
All we could tell him was that we really needed his help to get Kay-ani out of there.
“Please, Uncle Nathan, we have to help her.”
Uncle Nathan hesitated. He stood there, weighing every possibility. Then said, “Come on!”
He led us out of the facility and to his truck. He told us to hide under the tarp. He jumped in the truck, and started to drive. We heard the truck come to a stop. We stayed very quiet as he had reached the security gate. My heart raced as I believed that we were going to get caught.
“Heading home for the night Nathan?” I heard the guard say.
“Yeah, my wife is cooking me a special dinner tonight.”
I heard the gate lift and the truck started to move again. We had made it out.
When we got back to Grandpa’s house, we had settled Kay-ani down in the guest room. James and I were now in the living room with everyone else, getting scolded and yelled at by our parents.
“Answer me, James Elijah Harris!” Aunt Gracie said.
“What in the world were you guys even doing there?” Uncle Nathan said.
“We were just curious about what you all do,” James said.
“Do for what?”
“For work...”
“And what else? That can’t be the whole story, you guys brought home an alien!!” Dad hollered.
“Ok, Dad. I am going to tell you the truth. We were looking for a man,” I said.
“A man…. Who?”
“Joseph Williams.”
“For what reason were you guys searching for Joseph?”
“We’ve been helping Marley and Naomi search for him.”
“Why did you guys even think of going there to look for him?” Mom added.
“Because we suspected that the T.S.I had something to do with it.”
“Do you guys realize how much trouble you could have gotten yourself into?” Dad said. “You absolutely should not be getting yourselves involved with government matters!”
“Like torturing aliens?” I said under my breath.
“What?”
“I said, like torturing aliens.”
They exchanged guilty glances.
“And what are you guys hiding from me?” I looked at my parents. “There’s something wrong with me!”
Grandpa came walking down the stairs with his cane.
“Dad. Sorry we woke you,” Uncle Nathan said.
Grandpa asked to be left alone with my parents. He said he needed to have a serious word with them. We left the living room and went upstairs, I hid at the top of the stairs to listen. James and his parents were in Grandpa’s room talking more about everything that had happened.
Grandpa took a seat on the sofa. My parents took a seat on the couch across. His face was harsh, and he was angry.
“I heard what you guys were talking about. You two should have known this time would come,” he said to my parents. “You need to tell your son.”
“Dad, we will tell him when we are ready,” Dad said.
“You shut your mouth. Can’t you see he already knows?”
“When we do finally tell him,” Mom said. “He'll never be the same. Don’t you understand that he’ll never live a normal life again?”
“It’s been seventeen years, Evelyn! He has to know the truth someday!”
All they could do was stay quiet.
“You’re not going to tell him, are you?” Grandpa said.
They still sat there quietly without responding to Grandpa’s question.
“I want you guys out of my house by this afternoon.”
“Dad…we…” Dad attempted to say something; however, Grandpa interrupted.
“Where is the alien that was brought here?”
Dad proceeded to tell him that she was in the guest room. I immediately ran into my room and shut the door. I sat against the door and cried. My parents knew the truth; but why wouldn’t they just tell me? I was confused. I prayed and asked Jesus for help. Help to figure all of it out.
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