Behold, Eden

Lillian Wing would forever have that day etched into her memory, as would the rest of the world no doubt. An entirely new planet had been discovered, at an even closer proximity than Mercury, most often considered the closest planet orbiting near Earth. Not only was this planet, aptly named Eden for its unmarred lushness, the now closest planet to Earth, it was also revealed to be home to an alien species. That was how it went undetected, this alien species had deliberately cloaked it from sight. It was only when they began to see how desperate Earth had become that they stepped forward, revealing their existence and the existence of their planet.

Lillian and her family sat in stunned silence that morning, forgetting their generous plates of pancakes, bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. What was important at the moment was the words of President Nguyen, his assurance that these aliens meant no harm but only wished to help their sister planet. Lillian wondered and prayed that was true, by the look of apprehension in her family's face Lillian thought she wasn't the only one to be unsure of these creatures intents. Her parents taught her to be an optimist and it had served them well. Beverly Wing was a successful book editor for the towns only publishing firm, her father owned all three car dealerships in their relatively small town. Then there was the Wing children, the oldest being Lillian's brother Daniel, who owned his own real estate firm before the age of thirty. Wendy Wing was next in age, she was working towards her nursing degree, and finally there was Lillian herself. By the time Eden and its alien race came to light she was valedictorian of her junior class, not to mention she had never let herself fall off the principals list in her three years of high school. It was safe to say the Wings were an incredibly talented family, blessed in more ways than one, so perhaps that made it easier to be able to look on the brightside of life more often than not.

That night, the night of the announcement, Lillian and her friends went to their favorite hangout spot, The Burger Platter. Of course the only thing on most lips that evening was the discovery of Eden. It made sense of course, there was an all new planet and revelation of a race of aliens, somehow trigonometry and Shakespeare didn't seem quite as important anymore.

Greg Lindell, Lillian's boyfriend, fellow drama club geek, made it clear as soon as he was able he was getting taking a voyage to this Eden.

"I don't know if I'll ever come back either". Greg said with a shrug, "And I hope its soon, this town is suffocating".

Lillian's best friend, Sybill Kershaw, looked at Lillian for a moment, Lillian knew just what she was thinking but what she didn't know was Lillian had been praying for something like this anyway. He hadn't even mentioned a word about Lillian, or seem to care he was basically thinking of leaving without her. To Lillian it was a relief despite what her friend thought. In truth she had been desperately wanting to break it off with Greg for months anyway, ever since she discovered he and Kelsey Kaleb were messing around. Of course Greg didn't have any notion Lillian even knew, she'd kept it under wraps for three months, hurt at first but grateful she found out who he was sooner rather than later. She hadn't even brought it up, but she secretly loathed him and had been waiting for an opportunity to part ways with Greg. It would be difficult getting out from under him,he was angry, possessive, and worse, his dad was the mayor. Now was the perfect opportunity, if he didn't go she was, hopefully her family would follow suit.

That night Lillian couldn't sleep but tossed and turned, consumed with Eden, the aliens that claimed they meant peace but so easily could be hiding sinister intentions. What if she closed her eyes and the aliens attacked the world while she slept? What if she never saw her family again after she drifted off to sleep? Her last sleep. Ever. Stop it, a voice inside her chided, you can't think that way, look at what's come to light as a blessing, SEE it as a blessing and it will be.

Over the next three weeks Lillian decided she intended to put aside her fear and make some major positive life changes, starting with getting rid of that no count boyfriend of hers. She had thought long and hard and decided she too would be going to this new world and after much discussion her parents and siblings agreed they would all go and seek a new life there, only her parents would have to sell their house first. They'd discussed simlly abandoning their home but the money was too inticing to simply walk away from and not get a return on their investment, their home and the thirty years of memories they had.

So Lillian and her siblings would go first, and once her parents had their affairs in order they would join their children. If Greg decided he wanted to go to Eden of his own volition that was fine with Lillian but she made it perfectly clear that he was to stay completely away from her and her family. She prayed he would take those words seriously and go his own way but time would have to tell on that one. Their had been a big fight when she tried to explain to Greg her feelings for him had changed etc. At first she wasn't going to bring the subject of Kelsey Kaleb up but once he pushed her buttons all she wanted to do was hurt him. He hadn't taken it well at all, in fact he'd slammed her car door so hard the door window had cracked. Her parents had been furious and her mom practically had to wrestle the keys out of her husband's hands to keep him from driving to the Lindell's house across town and doing something that would land him in jail.

It had been the most emotionally exhausting day of Lillian's life, until the day came for her and her siblings to leave their home behind and say goodbye to their parents until the house sold and they could all be together again. The spaceship was crowded but no one bothered them, everyone was pretty quiet actually, which was an enormous relief to Lillian. The only people who conversed with her were her siblings, but only in low, hushed voices, although their was no rule about not talking. The journey ended up lasting two days, they were the longest days of Lillians life and, judging by the generally hagard look in the majority of her fellow passengers, including her brother and sister, she wasn't the only one running on an empty tank. The ship had provided meals three times a day yes, but Lillian had never had less of an appetite in her sixteen years. All she wanted was to be off this cramped space ship and step out into Eden.

It seemed like they would never get to the new planet and they would just keep traveling deeper and deeper into space until suddenly, the captains voice came over the loudspeaker and announced they would be arriving on the planet Eden in less than thirty minutes and to please keep their safety harnesses on until the all clear was given. Lillian to the left where her siblings sat, no doubt they were as nervous as she was but perhaps because they were older could mask it better. If the ship had windows to look out Lillian would have been the first one there but the main cabin didn't have a single window only the stewardesses and cockpit had windows, otherwise it was completely devoid of light in Lillian's cabin. No matter, she thought with a rush of joy, it's all been worth it, we're here, we're safe, now we have to find a way to carve out a piece of this planet for ourselves while we wait for our parents to come join us.

Lillian and her siblings stepped out onto the arrival platform to stare out at this new world and were absolutely blown away by its majestic beauty. From the platform, straight in front of them, a clear cut path led out into miles and miles of pristine, virgin jungle. A space jungle, Lillian thought to herself with amusement. And to her wonder, mingled with other humans were the aliens, they revealed that by their strange, leathery orange skin, webbed faces, perceptive deep set eyes. They might have looked strange but none were unkind in the slightest to the new arrivals and openly welcomed them to their planet very much like Hawaiians greet their lau guests, with a wreath of unusual, fragrant flowers around their necks.

Arrangements had been set up for her and her siblings to stay with another family from the neighborhood until Lillian's mom and dad could sell their home. The Windsors were waiting eagerly with large bright orange signs outside the arrival terminal, their small children waved with pure joy at the passerby and when Hannah and her siblings arrived they ran into their arms and hugged each of them. Eden was clean and vast, Lillian felt like she had been given this chance at a fresh start and she was going to grab every moment of it on this new planet named Eden.