Song Yet To Be Sung

There have been many instances in a person's life when something so bizarre happens, that the only way to react to it is to laugh. Now, if it weren't for the fact that the target of the bizarre humor might be dead or seriously hurt, Alicia would have been rolling on the floor laughing.

Alicia had been in her room working on a personal project when she decided to take a break. Her first destination, of course, was the bathroom. Hours of not leaving her work area and drinking Gatorade made peeing top priority. After flushing and washing her hands, Alicia stood in the middle of her room, completely restless.

Usually Alicia would take an hours rest before returning to her work, but sleep seemed to evade her. And going anywhere near the computer was out of the question; she would just sneak back into her work again. She didn't know where the idea came from or why she hadn't thought of it sooner, but Alicia had found herself going out for a walk, now heading for the park, which was less than a few blocks away.

There was always the danger of getting attacked and raped, even if somewhat it was suburban of a area. And what with this area being a vacation spot, and since Alicia wasn't even close to legal (okay, exaggerating; but being 16 was still pretty freakin' young) a situation like that was only to be expected.

So Alicia was out there in the cold night, slowly walking about in the park, slightly surprised at the lack of the people in the area. The music of her ipod blared out of her ridiculously large headphones that hung around her neck. Alicia had happily breathed in the fresh night air. God, how long had she kept herself in her room?

Suddenly, the air around her seemed to change; the winds started blowing violently before calming. The temperature around her grew warm before going colder that it originally was. Alicia frowned and looked up, as if the sky knew the reason behind the strange phenomenon.

Apparently, it had.

As if the sky had eaten some type of vile tasting candy, an object was spat from the sky, hitting the ground, creating a small crater that let out a loud thump.

Curiosity was what brought Alicia to the crater and worry was what brought Alicia to turn over the object.

The crater seemed to radiate heat and Alicia had to wonder if if it was from the impact of the object, or if the object was radiating the heat itself.

With a completely blank stare, Alicia had realized that the object was in fact a person. Upon further inspection Alicia had found that the person wasn't conscious or human.

“Go figure,” she muttered.

And now here she was, kneeling in front of some alien, not really knowing what to do. Alicia sighed, and ran her hand through her short hair. She used her other hand to inspect the alien further. Was it good? Alicia took a better look at the alien. Grayish green skin, pointed ears, a strong build and –

“Oh God,” she yelped, “he’s naked!”

The lack of good lighting was to blame, Alicia decided. But that didn't stop her from scooting back in embarrassment and raising her hands to cover her eyes. She froze when she felt blood on her face.

Alicia raised her hand she saw that there was indeed blood on her hand. The alien was hurt. Alicia moved over to the alien again, a frown her face. Where was the source of the blood? Feeling around on the Alien's upper torso, Alicia found herself getting nervous.

“My mom was always big on medicine,” Alicia said, knowing that the alien wasn't conscious, “my sister too. Ain't like I didn't want to get into the medical field, I just wasn't much of a humanitarian.”

Alicia let out a mirthless laugh.

“Mom use to always go on about it didn't matter who the person was or what they've done. That you're supposed to help the person in anyway possible.”

She found the injury and pressed down lightly. The alien let out a grunt and a shaky breath.

“I thought she was lying right of her ass, but then I saw her work.”

Alicia took off her jacket and draped it on the lower part of the alien's torso. It made it easier to work if she wasn't staring at him. She let out a giggle at the thought.

“Mom was insane. Batshit insane. But she was right... I mean that's how she met dad. These dudes jumped him at his school, for being an asshole (not that I'm surprised at that) and that's how he met mom. She found him lying on the ground, groaning and stuff, so she went and helped him.”

She took of her button down t-shirt, leaving only her tank protecting her from the cold, and started ripping the shirt so she could wrap it around the wound.

“They were inseparable ever since.”

Taking the alien home with her was probably one of the hardest things to do, physically. The guy was heavy! His feet dragged at the ground so Alicia dragged him through the lawns of other people's houses. She grinned at her luck of not getting caught, only to curse it when the alien jerked against her or hit her. But she made it, luckily without anybody noticing.

She left the alien on her bed and went into the bathroom of the apartment. In the bathroom, Alicia grabbed for her first aid kit. She hoped that the peroxide wouldn't hurt the guy. Taking a small basin of water, along with her first aid kit, Alicia headed back to her room.

Her music was still playing, she thought absently.

Alicia took a small hand towel and dipped it entirely in the water and started to wipe the blood off of the alien. She found herself talking again.

“I wonder what happened to you. Maybe you were being chased by government agents,” she murmured, wincing when she saw the alien flinch as she lightly traced the wound with the towel, it was deeper than she thought.

“Sorry.”

When the blood surrounding the wound was thoroughly cleaned off, Alicia set out to disinfect.

“Do you have a name? Is it really foreign sounding? Like mostly continents and one vowel?” She wasn't surprised at the lack of response.

She looked around her first aid kit for her mini stitch kit. Hopefully, all those alien movies she watched were right about alien physiology and that they healed easily. She found herself shaking slightly. Why couldn't the alien have found her sister instead? She knew this medical stuff better than Alicia did.

She took a deep breath. And there she was, talking again. She wondered if he could hear her.

“You know,” she said as she started her stitching, “I was hoping for something to drop out of the sky and keep me distracted.”

She let out a laugh to cover up her flinch when the alien grit his teeth. She had to admire the guy though, if it were her, she'd be screaming and crying like a baby. Her brother held all the strength in the family.

Alicia frowned, “I mean it was a week ago when I wished for this but still. What with my boyfriend, er, ex-boyfriend, cheating on me (with my brother of all people), and my dog dying (though that was kind of expected, he chased semis)... I needed something to distract me.”

She was halfway through the stitching now and the alien was still gritting his teeth.

“I thought my distraction way my project,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of her computer as if the alien could hear and see her. She was almost finished.

“I'll tell you one thing, alien dude,” she said as she finished up, “you're one hell of a distraction.”

Alicia had set everything up for the alien. He had rice, beef, and something sweet for when he woke up and since her dad was going to be gone for the majority of her break, Alicia had nothing to worry about. Her siblings left the apartment to stay with friends and Alicia's friends were out of town. She had the entire break to take care of the extraterrestrial.

After taking a shower and feeding herself, Alicia settled back into her room. She laid the food on the counter by the bed and tucked the alien in. Alicia decided to ignore the clothes dilemma until he woke up. With out having anything else to do, Alicia went back to working on her project.

She didn't hear him when he woke up, due to having her headphones on and the music blasting. A hand to her shoulder made Alicia jerk forward and bash her head against the computer screen. She yelped from the pain and jumped to her feet, only to trip over her own feet and land on her butt with a thump. She bit back a groan when she met the alien's bemused gaze. How embarrassing was that?

“Uh, hi,” she greeted him with a wave. Alicia found herself grinning when the alien waved back.

“You understand English?”

A nod.

“You speak English?”

Another nod.

“You have a name?”

Another nod.

And they stared at each other like that. Alicia sat on the floor, looking up at the alien and the alien looking down at Alicia. The teen blinked. She never realized how tall the alien was until now.

“Mind tellin' me your name?”

“Roz Deiv-Zaay Saagol,” came the soft-spoken reply. Alicia gave the alien a blank stare.

“They mostly called me test number 61.”

'They?' Alicia frowned. So he was from some government agency? Alicia took in a deep breath.

“What other names did they give you?”

“Alien, Kal, man hunter...”

“Are you okay with me calling you Roz for now?”

Roz nodded.

“Good,” she said, standing up. 'Kal? Seriously? Dude's not superman.' The girl looked over at the counter where she left the food. She looked back at Roz with a grin.

“I see you've eaten.”

Roz's reply was a nod.

Alicia found herself staring again. He had expressive eyes. Alicia supposed she should have been afraid that his eyes were entirely black, but the girl simply couldn't get herself to fear his eyes or him. But there was his short black hair and the humanoid form... If he could find a way to hide his green skin, eyes and claws, Roz could actually be mistaken for human.

Roz simply stared back. Not believing anything, Alicia now found herself blushing.

“Uhh...”

Roz blinked.

“You're naked.”

Roz tilted his head to the side and Alicia did a mental squeal at the cuteness of that look.

“It's making me uncomfortable,” she explained.

“Uh, I'll be right back.”

Roz nodded.

Alicia went to her father's room and grabbed some of his old clothes. Alicia figured that her dad was taller than Roz. Her father's clothes should fit Roz just fine.

When Alicia entered her room, she started to panic.

“Roz?” She called out, “where are you?”

The soft “here” made Alicia look up.

“How'd...?”

Roz was on the ceiling, eyes lidded, looking down at her. Alicia could have sworn she saw the alien grin. She held the clothes up for the alien.

“Try 'em on?”

With a graceful landing, Roz silently took the clothes and Alicia led the alien to the bathroom.

“Change in here,” she instructed, shutting the door as she left.

As soon as Roz returned, Alicia told him, “Tell me your real name again.”

“Roz Deiv-Zaay Saagol.”

“You're obviously not from around here,” she said. The green man nodded.

“You don't mind me asking you a few questions, do you?”

“Yes,” Roz replied, “But I do have a right not to answer a question I cannot answer for any reason.”

“I understand.”

“What would you like to know?”

“You fell from the sky,” Alicia told him, “with wounds that could possibly come from landing on the ground like that... What happened to you?”

“I was attacked,” Roz said, “I tried to fly in order to get away... but I was too weak. I give you my thanks for taking care of me.”

Alicia stared a Roz for a second, before a grin broke out.

“You can fly.”

Roz nodded.

“Cool.”

“Indeed.”

“Why were you attacked?”

“I... I was trying to escape my home,” Roz told Alicia, “the people I lived with would not allow that to happen.”

Alicia took note of his hunched shoulders, and pained expression, but Alicia decided that she would continue to ask questions for as long as the green man would allow him.

“So... your home, was it some type of agency?”

“I don't really want to talk about that...”

“Okay, cool. We won't. So... aside from flying and chillin' on my ceiling, what else can you do?”

Roz looked at Alicia for a second before grinning at her.

“I can do many things.”

One week was spent was spent getting to know each other. Alicia found that Roz had a thing for chocolate chip cookies and Roz found that Alicia cried every time she watched Old Yeller. Roz helped her with her project and Alicia taught Roz how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch.

Roz sometimes asked about Alicia's family. Alicia gave out basic information. Roz didn't need to know that the girl had a bit of an inferiority complex because they were all megalomaniacs.

Roz found that Alicia was a really great cook and Alicia found that Roz didn’t really need to eat as much as a normal person did.

Alicia asked all sorts of questions about Roz. The ones she knew she could ask, anyway.

But there was one question she really wanted to ask.

“Roz, what did you do at the agency?”

The first time she asked the green man, Roz went completely silent. He had simply stared at Alicia when a pensive look on his face. Now that Alicia thought about it, it was almost the same look that he gave her when she had first started asking him questions about his life. Like he was wondering if he should tell Alicia, or if he should just keep silent.

Today, however, was a different day and Roz was more responsive today. He still gave Alicia a weary look, but at least he wasn’t distancing himself from her.

“Do you really wish to know?”

Alicia nodded at Roz, “I really do.”

Roz wasn’t talking though. He still remained silent with a strange look on his face. Alicia wanted to ease the tension. She took Roz’s hand with a near silent “come on” and led him to her room. There was a gentle smile on her face when she sat on the bed. She tugged on the alien’s hand with another “come on” and got him to sit on the bed with her. With a few more movements, Alicia managed to get the alien to rest his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Roz and gave him an encouraging squeeze.

“Talk to me, Roz.”

Roz stared to relax as he started telling Alicia about his life with the agency.

“Basic training was more physical than anything. They taught us how to deal with pain, how to fight, and how to respond to torture. They wanted to see what my species could handle and what we could do.

“They gave us numerous tests, to test our endurance to test our strength, and to test our intelligence.

“I don’t know what our species are exactly… As far as I know I am the only of my kind that the agency has left.”

Roz’s head was in the crook of her neck, his voice was reduced to a low murmur. Alicia held onto him, not wanting to talk in fear of ruining his resolve.

“I had a trainer,” Roz continued, “Saundra was her name. I suppose she was nice. She never punished me,” he said.

“But,” he added, “She did tell her trainers of my errors, and punished both her and myself.”

Alicia could feel Roz’s frown on her skin. She continued to run her hand through his soft hair, hoping she’ll be able to soothe the poor alien.

“She’s dead,” he informed her, “they told me she was being ‘uncorporative,” Alicia couldn’t help flinching at his they way he spoke of her; there was no emotion to his tone. Nothing sour and bitter, nothing sweet and nostalgic, nothing not even a sign of happiness. Alicia Found that in some way the alien had cared for the girl; Roz was holding on to waste a little tighter than before. Curiosity made Alicia speak.

“Do you miss her?”

“No.”

I took a while before he spoke again.

“I am apparently an official American citizen. The agency men told me that my father was human, another agency worker, and that my mother was the extraterrestrial,” Roz laughed, “I never met either of them.”

Alicia realized that Roz was waiting for Alicia to respond when he didn't say anything else. The problem was that Alicia didn't know how to reply to Roz's story.

“I... don't know what to say,” she told the alien, hugging him tighter so that hopefully, any warmth from the teen would transfer onto to Roz. When Roz hugged her back, she knew that those feelings were received.

“The fact that you are still here, trying to comfort me, tells me more than whatever you could have said.”

Alicia knew that Roz would have to leave. But when Roz told her that he had to leave, it just made everything more realistic. She had grown attached to the strange half-human...

And that scared her.

Roz had found Alicia sitting on top of the roof, staring at her neighborhood. Alicia tried to act like she didn't know Roz was up there with her, but she knew she couldn't ignore him when he sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“How did you get on the roof without getting caught,” Roz asked her.

“How did you,” Alicia shot back.

Roz chuckled at the question and the vibrations from his laugh made Alicia shiver.

“You're leaving,” Alicia said.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

“Soon?”

“Yes.”

“I'm gonna be lonely.”

Alicia refused to look at Roz up until this point. She knew that Roz would say something like “you're being selfish” or something to that sort, but she really didn't want to lose Roz.

“I will be too, but I fear that I have stayed here too long; the agency will be coming for me.”

A surge of guilt hit Alicia and she had to look away. She was being selfish. She had a family, she had friends... Roz didn't have any of that. She was safe, she could go out in sunlight with someone trying to shoot her down because of her appearance. Roz would be shot down and dissected if he went out in public.

“I'm sorry,” she said, looking down.

“For what?” He sounded genuinely confused.

“I'm sorry,” she repeated.

Roz tilted her head up with his free hand, being careful not to nick her with his claws. He had a smile on his and for Alicia, it was the single most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. Alicia found herself smiling back.

“Everyone is lonely,” Roz told Alicia, “Everyone is alone. With the exception of a choice few, we all came onto this earth by ourselves. We will all leave this world by ourselves as well.

“But this,” he pointed to him and then to Alicia, “this is a temporary loneliness. We will see each other again.”

Alicia frowned, “How do you know?”

“We have a bond, Alicia. One that cannot be broken. Bonds like that prevent us from separating for long periods of time,” he told her, “so believe me when I say we will see each other again.”

Alicia didn't argue, “Yeah, okay.”

Roz brought Alicia closer to him and Alicia couldn't stop her breath from hitching.

“We should go inside,” he told her and she nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Roz held Alicia close to her and started to fly up. Alicia let out a squeak, so he wasn't lying when he said he could fly!

The pair quickly slipped back into the apartment, settled in for the night.

Tonight was the night... Roz had to leave and Alicia had to be left alone. She had never been good at goodbyes. From her mom, to her ex boyfriend, and even those small acquaintances whose names she forgot... it was just something she didn't like doing.

But the strange thing about saying bye to Roz is that there was this bittersweet feeling to it, like when she was saying bye to her mother. She didn't expect Roz to come back. He might forget about her as soon as they're separated, or he might be found by the agency. Millions of things could happen.

But as she watched Roz staring up at the sky, she found herself at ease. She didn't have any regrets at the moment. And by looking at the peaceful look on his face, Alicia knew that he didn't have any regrets either.

“You know,” Roz said, breaking the silence, “I've never seen a blue sky...”

Alicia met Roz's gaze, a soft grin was on her face.

“I've never seen one either.”

They both found themselves looking up at the sky. There were no stars, no clouds, no hints of sunlight. Alicia saw it as a blank slate, an empty canvas that just was waiting for her paint across.

The wind blew softly around them and the air was surprisingly fresh. The air was cool because of the autumn season but Alicia never felt warmer. She looked at Roz again and found him staring back at her.

“When you come back,” she told him, “I'm sure the sky will be all shades of blue.”

Roz smiled as he walked closer to her, “I look forward to that.”

She found herself hugging the strange alien. She wouldn't, or couldn't, cry. But she did trap the alien in a vice grip and buried her face in his chest.

“Try to come back,” her words were buried but she heard Roz agree. She tilted her head up and stood on her toes to lay a soft, chaste kiss on Roz's lips. She grinned into the kiss when Roz started responding. She slipped her hands into the pockets of Roz's coat (originally her father's old one... Alicia was sure he wasn't going to miss it) and dropped something in it.

She couldn't help but swoon a bit when they drew apart. Maybe that would bring Roz back to her. Alicia looked up at Roz and smiled at his expression. His eyes were closed and he had a soft smile on his face. The wind was interfering with her hearing but Alicia was sure that Roz was purring.

She pulled out of the hug, a sad smile painted on her face. Roz's expression mirrored hers when he opened his eyes. The wind blew harder now, and that was Roz's cue to go.

Roz started to float up and when he far above Alicia, he shot off into the night, leaving Alicia looking up at the night sky. The wind started hiss through the leaves, creating something of a symphony for her and beckoning the girl to sing with it.

But as Alicia stared up at the sky, she knew that she wasn't quite ready to sing yet. The wind grew calmer and the air started to feel warmer, and Alicia started walk home, feeling more fresh as she got home.

Author's Notes: Honestly, I thought this was going to be longer. I kinda wanted it to be longer. Oh well... Next time, right. This was actually an assignment for my English class.

I haven't written anything in like, forever. So this story is most likely not that... good (good compared to what I usually write).

I really wanted to right about an alien and I with the whole English class assignment thing, I had an excuse. :D This was going to be like those stories that have the alien talking to the human about how horrible the human race is but the more I thought about it, the more clichéd it seemed. So I tried making it a self exploration type thing. The romance at the end just kinda... happened.

There's symbolism in here but I don't think I really had it work in this story. If you get what I'm saying. Maybe I think too much.

I think I might continue with this, I don't know. What do you guys think?