Alienation

Jexx knew his parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew he was here, but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to care. As a child, Jexx had been know as Infant 1708845, but when his parents had been allowed permission to give him a name, they’d chosen Jexx. He was different from the other Infants, not quite what he was supposed to be. When he started to go to lessons, he tried hard to make acquaintances, but no one wanted to be around him. Whispers started to follow him everywhere, a range of ideas to explain his abnormality. He’d felt like a puzzle piece from a different puzzle that somehow got in the wrong box. In other words, he didn’t fit in.

Though he knew his parents loved him, and when they took him to specialists, he knew they meant well. But everything they did to make him feel normal, pushed him farther away from everyone.

So now he was here, on this other planet, he’d learned about in lessons. Every few years a group of solders and specialists deploy on a ship to this planet, to check on its inhabitants. Lucky for Jexx one had been leaving as he was deciding what to do with his life. He’d easily snuck on board, then he’d wondered; how has no one broken into the treasury with these soldiers on guard? The ride was shorter than he’d expected, and soon they had touched down in a large patch of what he assumed where trees. While the specialists had been making notes and the soldiers guarding them, Jexx had slipped into the shadows of the trees and waited until they had packed up and left.

Now he was peeking through the branches, getting glimpses and peeks of the planets inhabitants. The creatures veried in height, color, shape, eye color, hair color, clothing. No two where alike. There was so much to see and do, everything different. Maybe this was where he was supposed to be. Without thinking, Jexx stepped out of the forest and into the light. People didn’t look at first, but as he made his way down the hard black ground, heads turned in his direction. A small child with red hair points her tiny finger at him and says something he doesn’t understand, but as soon as the sound leaves her mouth everyone starts screaming. They all run in different directions, trying frantically to get away. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Jexx’s stomach as he realized that he was just back where he started. Alone, different. No one would understand him ever, and he was bound to just stay in the woods for the rest of his life.

Consumed in his own thoughts, he almost didn’t notice when someone touched his arm. He turned to stare at a brown hand on his green arm, then he saw the hand belonged to another girl, this one taller than the last. She opened her mouth to reveal pearly white teeth, its a strange expression, but it isn’t menacing. She looked at him with nothing but curiosity in her dark brown eyes. ‘we don’t have eyes like that back home’ Jexx thought, and then; ‘i like them.’ He tugged his mouth upwards in what he hoped is similar to her expression. Her mouth moved like she was talking, but it all just sounded like empty noise to Jexx. The ends of his mouth dropped down as he wished he could understand what she was saying. Eventually she seemed to see he couldn’t understand her so instead she points to her chest. ‘you,’ Jexx thought. Then she pointed to the blue space above us. He tried to remember what it was called. He’d areas it in books hundreds of times. Sty? Spy? ‘Sky.’ he thought putting the words together. Just like his name was Jexx, this girls name was Sky. He tried his best to remember how to say the words, and with a shaky voice he said quietly,

“You, Sky.” The girls teeth appeared again and she pointed to him questioningly. ‘my name, she wants to know what to call me.’ He thought. Easy enough, he knew how to pronounce his own name, he just hoped it was the same in both languages.

“Jexx.” She looked positively radiant with happiness. ‘no one at home ever looks like that, especially not when talking to me.’ He thought with a pang of sadness.

“Jexx.” The girl repeated in a rich voice full of laughter. Jexx had never felt at home before, not on his home ship, not in his compartment with his parents, not in the forest. But standing here, next to Sky, hearing her say his name, that’s where he wanted to stay. He grabbed her arm with a bit too much force and said with something he’d never felt before.

“Stay.” ‘I want to stay here, with you.’ he wanted to say, but he didn’t know how to pronounce it. But sky nodded, like she understood what he meant.

“Belong.” She answered, and then Jexx understood. ‘She understands me. I’ve always been pretending, for my parents, my teachers, my classmates, even myself, but with Sky I wont need to pretend. She already knows, because shes like me.’ He though. Suddenly he didn’t care what anyone else thought of him, no matter what anyone else thought, he was going to stay here, for the rest of his life. He’d lost half his life pretending to be someone else, now he could be who he was inside. Human. Jexx. And Sky would help him, because with him Sky could be herself. They’d only exchanged a few words, but in them was all the meaning in the world. In the galaxy, because Jexx knew there was more than one planet.

Sky pressed a hand to his chest, not caring about the slight stickiness of his skin. She looked into his light purple eyes. Then she said the one word that meant she really was going to help, that she really did understand.

“Come.” She she led Jexx away to her home to prepare him for the human world.