hidden

friendship with strings

Clara

Meeting up with Luke had become an addiction. After the first hit, she wanted more and more. Their kind had to be wrong about how humans were because Luke seemed so kind, and his mother was the same. The more time she spent with him, she wanted to spend more time with him. She was trying really hard to reconcile between what she grew up learning and what she was learning. The day of their date in the park. She had been outside plenty of times but never like that. It was never with someone walking beside her, just to be near her. Luke the always smiling boy who, now they were in the park, the air smelled of roasted peanuts and fallen leaves, and she felt something unfamiliar at ease. He didn’t ask too many questions, looked at her with interest, she felt like she belonged. They sat on a bench beneath a tree, and he offered him a pretzel from their bakery. She loved everything from that bakery. There was something about the way he looked at her, like he really saw her. Should she be scared that he might see something more. He should never have guessed that she wanted what she seemed. She understood that the main reason her kind didn’t communicate with humans was to hide. And she was risking everything by being close to one of them, but she also wanted to learn. They started with the ice cream truck. It was fun sharing ice cream with someone else. He ordered chocolate mint and she had vanilla. She never tried anything else. When she told Luke this information, he made it his mission to buy every flavor in the truck. It was the most fun. He ordered four mini-cones, strawberries, pistachio, coffee and lemon. She licked the lemon first, and it tasted like cleaning liquid. One by one, they made it through every flavor swapping, laughing and ranking them. It was so much fun. They ended up sticky and smiling, lips stained with colors. A little girl watched them with wide eyes and laughed. She was so happy.

Humans had so much fun, the homestead had too many rules to have so much fun. Of course, she had some fun there, but this was different. She was so pleased, and it was beautiful, she never wanted it to end. They decided to go wash up in the nearest bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw happiness. Luke was really showing her a good time and she appreciated it. Humans were more complex and not what her kind said at all. She had to keep her friendship with Luke had to be maintained, he was the only one who had opened up, and maybe he could introduce her to more people. Her knowledge about humans was going to grow. She wasn’t going to mess it up. She washed her face and cleaned up and went back to Luke. He was waiting for her to already be clean. He looked so fresh and clean like they didn’t just eat dozens of ice-creams. He turned to her and smiled at her and made a sign for her to hurry up. In the park there were boats you could paddle with your feet, but you had to have a partner. She always wanted to take one out on the water, but she never had a partner to take out with.

The lake was calm like a glass under the pale glow of late afternoon. Trees stood still along the shore, their reflections so clear they looked like a second world beneath the water. Clara leaned back in the small paddle boat, stretching her feet against the paddles. They drifted toward the far side of the lake where the water darkened, and the tree line closed in. Clara dipped her fingers in the cool surface, dragging them lazily beside the boat. Clara loved it, it was so peaceful, the boat rocked gently as the breeze passed through. Before she could react, the boat tilted sharply, her hand slipped, her weight shifted, and she plunged into the water. It was shockingly cold, the lake swallowed her whole, water surged into her nose and ears and her arms flailed wildly. Panic kicked in instantly. She was not a strong swimmer, and her shoes dragged her down. The light above blurred, her lungs screamed, then through the haze something grabbed her wrist. It was not a human hand, it was her kid’s hand. She tried to look through the water to see the face, it was too hazy. The hand was bigger and stronger with long curved nails that scraped lightly against her skin. In a flash she was yanked upward. Air exploded into her chest as her head broke the surface. She coughed violently, her eyes squeezed shut, then gasped in fresh gulps of oxygen. Her mind was racing, his hands were different, they were still longer than they should be, he noticed her stare and quickly hid his hands.

Clara’s thoughts spiraled even as she forced her face to stay still, unreadable. There was no way he was one of them, he lived in the town, he had a human mother. There was another explanation: The questions rose like steam in her chest. His face had changed, it was no longer relaxed or teasing like earlier. There was a tightness to his jaw, he looked a bit scared, so Clara stayed silent. They didn’t look at each other, the water lapped softly against the boat as they drifted, the sun was lower now casting golden streaks across the lake, it looked so beautiful, but Clara's mind was racing.