Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Embarrassed

I felt someone touching my wet back wincing at the sensation of fingers touching me and turned in horror to find Elijah in front of my naked wet body. I quickly turned my back away from him, covered myself with the towel and turned back to face him not sure how I should react. My confused expression made his lips curve up into a grin.

Not being able to speak with shock I observed him for a moment, my eyes moving from the top to the bottom of his enormous self noticing he changed his clothes since I last saw him and got into a white shirt that he left open and was tucked into a tight fit military green trousers which were of an unusual material. It must be some sort of leathery fabric that they have only around this planet. As my eyes met him I noticed that his eyes were no longer blue but I saw them shift to an unusual silver colour which made me raise both eyebrows in surprise. He stared at me and chuckled at my reaction.

“Sorry to interrupt but I wanted to let you know that I brought some lunch for us if you like to eat. Don't belong or you won't manage to make it on time before I finish it all by myself."

I said nothing and stood there still. My heart was racing and finally managed to find my voice to ask, “how long have you been here watching me shower?”

He laughed and took off without an answer.

"Hey," I shouted trying to have his attention, even though I was relieved that he left.

I quickly dried myself up, wrapping a towel around my wet hair whilst I put on Belle's fresh clothes. Noticing that she also left me some other stuff on Elijah's bed, I opened the lid of each item, realising it was some sort of makeup so with a chuckle I tried to apply it on my eyelids mimicking the look of an eyeliner. Removing the towel off my hair, I quickly fixed it with my hands the best I could and walked to the kitchen feeling all clean.

“Ah, there you are, finally," he said turning around to face me, "Please, take a seat.”

It was just me and him in the large kitchen which looked old, yet beautiful. I looked at all the food on the table and that is when I realised I was really hungry. I moved the furthest chair away from him almost sitting down on it as I felt embarrassed about earlier.

“Oh, please, come closer. I don’t bite if that is your concern. I am just curious about you, that is all. I was told a lot about you humans and how similar you are to our kind. How did you end up here?” he asked, trying to ease my tension.

Still eyeing him, I moved to a closer chair, observing him quietly as I grabbed a bite off what he said was baranou bread. It looked flat and brownish and tasted like bread back home but more on the sweet side.

“I was pulled in by some force just outside my home. I touched a particular tree that somehow glows. That is all I can remember," I said, trying to release myself off the tension as I exhaled.

As his expression turned into a surprised one, he stopped munching for a moment, freezing in thought.

"What?" I asked hoping he would explain his reaction.

Instead, he curved his right eyebrow and swallowed his piece of bread. He leaned over the table to grab another piece and remained quiet for a while. I could see his eyes have turned back to blue which I didn't take any notice of before. He wore a thoughtful look on his face, trying to think of the next question.

“How old are you?” he asked finally after some quiet time trying to change the subject as he wanted to be the one asking.

“Well, on my earth it is very rude to ask a woman her age," I said whilst grinning and raising an eyebrow to tease a little, “but," I continued, “since the rules on this planet seem to be different, I have just turned 22."

He chuckled, leaning in for more food.

"Noted," he said back, waving his index finger in the air to reassure me that he got it.

I waited to see what more questions were coming my way but he kept looking at the table to choose his next bite. My curiosity took the best of me so I tried out something else. Eyes on the table I decided to try what looked like pre-cooked meat which was way too salty for my taste but I swallowed it whole.

“How about you? How old are you?” I asked breaking the silence.

He looked straight into my eyes first and then examined my whole face for a while, his eyes twitching from my eyes, down to my lips. He then looked at the table again, grabbed an apple (yes they had the same food as earth) and took a bite.

“28,” he announced with a muffled voice, "and yes, this is an apple from your earth but don't ask how we got it too."

Elijah decided to take me out to explore a bit of Rignau. It was the greenest planet I have ever seen. Trees everywhere, flowers, plants. It was beautiful! We kept talking about each other and I grew more confident here as time went by. He seemed like a good guy and was slowly growing fond of him. He was so handsome, charming, intelligent but mostly a great flirter. We joked and chuckled all the way not noticing how the time went by.

After a long time strolling around the scent of the fresh trees, it was getting too dark for us to walk any further so we decided to lay down next to the streaming river, waiting for the stars to emerge. I smiled sheepishly as I couldn’t contain my excitement! I was happy here and it felt right to feel that I wanted to stay.

Then I remembered how the last time I was on another planet, back when I was eight, I ended up waking up back in my old room as soon as I decided to go back to sleep. My smile faded and I wore a concerned face.

“Is everything ok?” He asked as he was laying down on one hand facing me.

His muscled hand was mesmerising and that jawline was that perfect touch.

“I want to stay here," I told him as I turned to face him.

“I know I have been here just for a few hours but it feels like home already. My only concern is that I don't know how not to return to earth," I admitted as I watched his expression turn into a confused look.

"What do you mean?" He asked, now in full attention.

"Well, You see, I had another experience once on another planet named Moonsun and I ended up waking up in my bed back home on my earth as soon as I fell asleep.”

“Moonsun? That must have been years ago!” his eyes opened wide and had a surprised look on his face.

“Why do you say that?” I asked feeling confused.

“Moonsun is no longer,” he stopped and started mumbling something I couldn’t understand.

“No longer? Is it gone you mean?” I asked in shock.

I sat down and kept staring at him to get an answer. He nodded his head once and made a sad expression.

“I had friends from there. Most of them were my friends. It just disappeared from the space map. There was no explanation of what has happened. We couldn’t save them and now everyone there is gone along with their planet,” he explained.

I looked away as tears started to form in my eyes. I too had a friend from there and I had hopes that one day we will meet again. Whatever happened must have been very close to my time there. It could be that whilst I was asleep my alien friend managed to take me back to earth on time before everything was wiped out.

"I need you to explain what exactly happened when you were there. It might help me figure out the truth behind the unfortunate event," he said, looking at me intently.