Love From A Star: A BWWM Alien Romance (4 page)

He
looked wildly about him, as if she appeared strange to him too, and
it was in his fear that Jalicia knew she would not be harmed. “It’s
okay,” she said as she moved closer. “Let’s get you
out of this thing.”

Antash
looked at the strange creature that hovered over him. She had a
strange but beautiful face, and the light coming from behind her gave
her an even more heavenly glow. Her smooth dark skin felt soft next
to his as she touched him, bidding him to get up. He was hypnotized
by her, and the pain he was feeling a few seconds ago was replaced by
confusion. And something else. He blinked at her, and she smiled as
she tried to get him to move.

“Come
on,” Jalicia said. “You are bleeding, and I can help
you.”

Reluctantly
he moved, still unfamiliar with what was happening or where he was.
“Where am I?” he began and then the coughing started.

“It
seems you are more injured than I thought. So, let’s make a
deal; I will get you out of here, and then we can talk.”

Antash
gave into her then, and allowed her to take his hand as he tried to
lift himself off the ground. He could see she was struggling with his
weight, and Jalicia couldn’t believe how much heavier he
looked. The crackling sound had stopped, but she saw him pause to
retrieve a device, perhaps the same one the sound was coming from,
before limping outside with her. The door of the glider all but fell
off as he pushed against it, and he tumbled outside. Both of them
fell against the grassy surface, entangled in each other, before
jumping up to separate.

Jalicia
brushed off her dress and stood upright. He wasn’t bleeding as
badly as she had initially thought, and she now surveyed the creature
that stood before her. “What are you?” she asked.

“I
am Antash,” he replied.

“Is
that your name or where you are from?” she asked, her eyes
bulging with curiosity.

Antash
laughed, and the sound of his voice echoed in Jalicia’s head
and permeated her entire system. It was deep, and hollow, and sounded
like a bass drum, yet she wasn’t frightened of it. Rather, she
was intrigued and fascinated. As was he with the curly haired woman
who had come to rescue him as strange as he may appear to her. The
more he observed her, the more he realized where he was. “No,
that is my name. I am from Solaris,” he told her as he tried to
stand up, but his legs gave way and he collapsed onto the ground once
more. “I reckon this is earth.”

“It
is,” Jalicia said as she tried to help him up. “Can you
walk?” she asked him. “My house is just...” she
began, and then she remembered her father who would probably have
kittens if he saw Antash. “Maybe the barn,” she said more
to herself than to him.

“I
don’t want to be any trouble,” Antash said as he sensed
her anxiety.

“Nonsense.
Where else will you go? Furthermore, you are injured and I can help;
probably the only way I will get to doctor anyone,” she mused.

“In
that case,” he said as he slowly got up again. His face
contorted with pain as he moved, and Jalicia had to place her left
arm around his waist as he rested heavily on her shoulders. He was at
least six feet tall, and average built, but he was ridiculously
heavy. Then, to Jalicia, he seemed to weigh a ton as he threw his
weight on her, and as she looked back at the house, she wondered how
long it would take them to get there.

“I’m
sorry,” he told her. “But you insisted.”

“Sorry
for what? You needed my help,” Jalicia grunted as she shifted
under his weight.

“Sorry
for being an actual burden now. Usually I am more skillful at
walking,” he said and she looked up at him to see the smile she
heard in his voice. His face, framed with the stars above, gave him a
surreal look, and Jalicia felt as if she was in a dream she was about
to wake up from any minute. After all, there were no other beings in
the galaxy, and all the movies about E.T. and Star Wars and Star Trek
were just figments of imagination. Creative genius. Or so she thought
before now. Here she had her own E.T. and she was frightened of it.
He seemed friendly, but she knew nothing about him. But she was going
to find out. Her main problem now was keeping him a secret.

She
smiled back at him as they both limped to the fence separating her
farm from the field. The lights were off in her father’s room,
so she figured he must be asleep. Good. She glanced both ways before
moving more swiftly to deposit him in the barn; her very own secret
alien. Or was she the alien?

She
found a spot next to the last stable in the back where some hay was
stacked. The animal, sensing the presence of something unfamiliar,
began kicking against the wooden partition. Antash jumped back, his
pain temporarily forgotten, as Jalicia pressed him back and went to
open the door. “Nellie, he is a friend,” she said as she
smoothed the animal’s velvety exterior. She signaled to Antash
to come forward so she could introduce them.

“What
is that?” he asked as his brows pulled together.

“This
is a horse, and her name is Nellie,” she told him. “If
she doesn’t get used to you she will keep doing that. Here,”
she told him. She held his trembling hand and used it to touch the
animal. Nellie whinnied and startled him, but Jalicia held his hand
firmly as Nellie calmed down and snorted. And then she was quiet.

“That
really worked?” he asked in surprise as he moved back to his
cot.

“Yeah,
they like to be smothered,” she smiled. “Now, let’s
look at that wound,” she told him as she knelt beside him.
“What happened to you, and how did you get here?”

“I
was being chased, and I crashed,” he said and winced as
Jalicia’s hand found its mark. “Right there,” he
told her. Jalicia looked and saw that there was a puncture, and the
spot was swollen and inflamed. He had a small cut over his brow as
well, but the blood had already coagulated.

“I
need to go to the house for some supplies,” she told him. “I
will be right back.” She had only gone ten paces when she
halted. “Are you hungry?” she asked him.

“A
little. I’ve been in the glider for an awfully long time,”
he told her as he gripped the spot where the pain was localized. She
could see the pain etched on his features, and she now noticed he
wore no clothes at all. His skin was of a nature where he didn’t
seem to need it. Still, he might be cold, she told herself, as she
left to procure all she needed for her guest in the barn.

Her
hands were trembling with nervousness and excitement as she rummaged
in the bathroom cupboard for alcohol, needles, clean cloths, gauze,
surgical tape, and everything else she would need as she performed
her mini-operation. She was excited at the prospect, never having
doctored anyone before. She was to go on internship in her last year,
but never did get to have the practice that would complete her
program.

She
found a bag and tucked the medical supplies inside before going to
the kitchen to heat up some more of the meatloaf and vegetables she
had had for dinner earlier.

“What’s
going on in here?” Samuel asked from behind.

Jalicia
jumped in shock as her hand flew across her bosom. “Dad, you
startled me,” she said as she could hear the enormous drum
pounding within her.

“Still
hungry, I see,” he said.

“Yes,”
she lied. “What I had before seemed to disappear the minute I
went into my room, so I came back for more,” she told him as
she tried to conceal the bag in the corner.

“Well
I am only here for water,” he said as he took up a glass and
moved to the refrigerator. “Are you sure you are alright? You
are acting weird,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

“I
am fine Dad,” she said. “Just go back to bed. I will be
up shortly,” she said.

He
looked at her suspiciously and then walked off with his glass of
water. Jalicia followed him and waited until she heard his door click
before darting back into the kitchen to retrieve her stash. She was
passing the wash room when she spotted overalls her father hardly
used anymore. “Perhaps this will work,” she whispered as
she tossed it over her shoulder and headed for the barn once more.

When she
got to him, she froze. No longer was he the green and scaly man she
had left before. Now he had dark skin, like hers, and looked
completely normal. And he was either sleeping or passed out.
“Antash,” she said as she knelt before him, constantly
amazed by this creature that had crashed into her world and
rearranged everything she had previously believed. “Antash,”
she said again when there was no response. “An..” she
began again and fell to her feet when he pounced on her, his eyes
wild and his grip deadly.

“I’m
sorry,” he said as the pain hit him once more and he fell
against the hay. “I thought you were them.”

Jalicia
thought she would wait until later to find out who ‘them’
referred to. Right now, he needed to eat and she needed to stitch him
up. “It’s okay,” she said. “Here, have this,”
she told him. “It may be a bit different from what you are
accustomed to, but it will have to do for now.”

Antash
nodded and took the container she offered him. “What is it?”
he asked as he brought the meal to his nose. He sniffed it.

Jalicia
laughed when she saw him do this. “I don’t blame you.
It’s meatloaf.”

Antash
tasted a little bit and swished it around in his mouth. “Not
bad,” he said as he began to eat more quickly this time. In no
time he was done, and Jalicia handed him the bottled water which he
downed in a blink.

“Wow,
you were hungrier than I thought,” she said.

“Is
there any more?” he asked, his eyes wide and expectant like a
child.

“Not
tonight,” she told him. “Right now I need to get you
cleaned and dressed.” She took out her supplies and got ready
to clean his wound. “This might sting a bit,” she said.
He winced as she spoke.

“Yeah,
a bit,” he grimaced.

“I
think I need to stitch you up. This wound is gaping and you could get
an infection if I don’t. God knows how long you will be here
before you are found,” she said.

“What’s
stitch?” he asked curiously.

“This,”
she said as she showed him the needle. She threaded it and used her
thumb and forefinger to lift his skin as she pierced it with the
needle three times. Antash gritted his teeth and dug his hands into
the hay as more pain rocked him to the core. But in a flash it was
over, and when he looked down he saw that his wound was closed.

“So
that’s stitch,” he said as he groaned.

“Yes,”
she told him as she cleaned the remainder of the wound and bandaged
it. “There, all done. You will be fine in no time.”

He held
her hand and looked deep into her eyes when he had her attention.
“Thank you for helping me,” he told her. “But I
need to go.” He tried to get up, but he fell back against the
hay bed.

“No
you aren’t,” she said authoritatively. “You are
still wounded, the ship is broken and you have no way of contacting
your people. For now, this is where you stay.”

“If
I could only get this fixed,” he said as he toyed with the
device in his hand, and for a second Jalicia forgot he was naked,
until he stood.

“Oh,
put this on,” she told him as she blushed. He had been
attractive as an alien, even though his appearance was different. As
a human, he was even more so. He let her slip the overalls on, and he
looked down on himself when she was done. “This is strange
cloth.”

Jalicia
laughed almost every time something so simple for her, fascinated
him. He seemed to come from a more technical or advanced world, for
there was nothing simple about him. “You need to get some rest.
We can talk about that in the morning. If you don’t rest you
will take longer to heal.”

And as
if on cue, Antash collapsed onto the hay, and in less time than it
took Jalicia to walk back over to him, he was sound asleep. “Hmm,”
she mused. “I wish I could fall asleep that easily.” She
stood there watching him for sometime before acknowledging she needed
to sleep too. She was about to walk away when she glanced back at
him. This world was strange for him, and she didn’t want him
wandering off into the night where he could be found. She thought she
would go get some blankets and stay the night with him in the barn.

When she
returned, Antash was still fast asleep. He must have incredible
tolerance to pain, for she hadn’t even remembered to give him
any medication to ease it. Some doctor she would have been. She
sighed and spread the blanket across him and lay down. She looked at
him as he slept, and slowly she began to see parts of him turn green
again. Her eyes bulged as his colors flitted from green to black, and
she lay there amazed at the show he was putting on without knowledge
of it. He perhaps felt more comfortable in his natural state, but she
didn’t know how long he would be there before he was rescued.
Maybe it would be better if he stayed ‘human’ for a
while. She was aware of how unfriendly her people could be to other
beings. She had watched enough television to know that he would not
be welcome and would be a forever specimen in some secret underground
government facility.

Jalicia
wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but when she opened her eyes
again, Antash was standing over her. And it was morning. She sprung
from her hay bed, still feeling disoriented, and staggered as she
tried to maintain her balance. Antash reached out and grabbed her to
keep her steady, and she blushed when she felt his cool touch on her
inflamed skin. He was black again, and smiling at her as if he
belonged to the barn, and earth.

“Are
you alright?” he asked her.

“We
need to get you out of here,” she told him. “My father
will be here any second now,” she told him as she grabbed his
hand and led him to the back of the barn just as her father emerged
at the entrance of the barn. She pulled Antash down as he went to the
stables to change the water for the horses and fill their cots with
hay. She saw when he looked over at the blanket she had forgotten to
hide, scratch his head and then walk over to it. He surveyed the barn
as he took it up, and Jalicia held her breath as he looked in her
direction. Then he went out.