Emmaline watched two squirrels as they raced each other up the broad trunk of the maple tree standing outside Mom and Dad’s bedroom window. The enthusiastic furry little rodents bounded across to the thickest branch of the tree, which also was just below eye level with the bay window. She continued to follow their journey as they skittered over the tiny branches and knobs like they weren’t even there, and smiled. At least they weren’t embroiled in the craziness of the world. They couldn't care less that life as she knew had been changed forever, even if she was still unsure exactly how invasive that change would be.

  She had brought her mom up to the bedroom like Dad had asked, but she knew it was just an excuse to get her out of the way so that Dad could talk to Michael. She wondered what was being said and wished she were down there, a part of the conversation. Didn’t she have a right to know what was going on too?

  Emmaline had considered trying to sneak back down the stairs to see if she could eavesdrop on her dad and brother, but Mom was sitting on the edge of the bed. And while she sat there with a dazed look, Emmaline didn’t think it wise to try to sneak past her. Her focal point was the door leading out to the stairs after all. She just knew if she tried slipping through, her mom would suddenly come to and demand to know where Emmaline was going.

  So she had gone to stand by the window to look out onto the backyard, because it had been better than watching her nearly catatonic mother stare at the walls.

  One of the squirrels paused on the branch, its tiny paws gripping the bark as it looked directly at her. For a moment, Emmaline felt a connection with the small creature––both of them observers to worlds they couldn’t fully understand.

  “Emmaline, can you come here, please? I would like to talk to you.”

  Em turned around, shocked to see her mom standing in the doorway of the master bathroom. The light was on, and she heard the final flush of the toilet. How had she not heard her mom get up and use the bathroom?! An uneasy feeling went through her as Emmaline realized that maybe she had dazed out too. She was encouraged, though, that Mom looked a little better. Her face wasn’t so red and splotchy, and there was a distinct fire of determination in her eyes that had not been there before.

  Finally!

  Em walked over to the king-sized bed and sat down beside her mother, who had taken a seat on her side of the bed.

  There was a long pause as the woman tucked her long red locks behind an ear––a hair color they shared along with eyes the color of emeralds. Her mother sighed and then started to speak. “I feel ashamed that I could not be here for you today. I know you must be freaking out. I apologize for that. It’s just…” She stopped and got a faraway look on her face. A tear trickled down her face, and she quickly wiped it away.

  “This has been very hard for me. I’ve been dreading this for years, and now it’s finally here, and well, I’m just not handling this well at all.”

  “What’s finally here, Mom?” Em said in a small voice, not really sure she wanted to know the answer, but knowing too that she needed to know.

  Her mother took a deep breath, grabbed Emmaline’s hands, and then looked her in the dead in the eye in such a way that it almost shocked her. “Em, sweetheart, we aren’t from Earth. Your dad, Michael, and I, we came here to Earth on a ship. Actually, the smaller one you saw on the television downstairs. We crash-landed almost twenty years ago, and we’ve been here ever since.”

  Emmaline blinked at her mother, trying to decide if maybe she still wasn’t feeling well. This whole alien thing really was getting to her like bad, bad. Maybe she really was cracking up? Em’s health teacher had said that under extreme stress people could do and say some crazy things. But what was Emmaline to do? It wasn’t like she could call her mom crazy, could she?

  “Oh, okay, Mom.”

  A look of discouragement came across her mom’s face, and she pulled her hands away. “You don’t believe me.”

  Emmaline had to look away. “Well, it’s just you know… ummm.”

  Mom waved a hand as if to say she got it. “No, you are right. I haven’t been acting the best since this whole thing started. Of course you wouldn’t believe me.” She gave a hollow laugh. “Who would? I mean, we did so well at the lying and covering it all up. If that ship weren’t here right now, who would even believe it if we said there were other civilizations out there? This planet is so quarantined, it’s made everyone here think they really are alone.”

  Em looked back at her mom. The woman before her seemed so convinced of her truth. So sure. What if it were true? What if her parents and brother really were… Emmaline stopped; she didn’t even want to finish the thought.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Why?” Em suddenly asked. “Why did you come here, and why did you lie?”

  It was a long moment before her mother answered, as if she was searching for the right words. “Those aren’t easy questions to answer, Em, but I can honestly tell you the answer to both of them was that we feared for our lives, or more correctly your brother’s. There were those who wanted to hurt your brother, and so we fled our home.

  “We decided to go somewhere far enough away that those looking for Michael couldn’t come after us. And when we got out here, we were all alone. Our ship had suffered damage, and this was the closest planet supporting life. We hadn’t planned on staying here, but our ship was damaged beyond the repairs we could make, so we decided to stay.

  “Because of this planet’s phobia of strangers and even aliens, we decided to keep our identities a secret. We had help from Eric’s dad. Roger was instrumental in getting us settled here. If not for him, I think things would have gone a different way. It’s just a shame he died so early on, and of course, there was no hesitation from your father and me to take on Eric as our own when he passed. I love Eric as if he were my own.” Her voice trailed away as if lost in thought.

  Emmaline felt a numbness. It had started in her chest and quickly spread over her body. Was this really real? Was this the truth? How could she know?

  “Mom, I—”

  Her mother held up a hand, and then stood up and went into her closet. She wasn’t gone long before she came out with something wrapped in a white cloth. Mom settled back down on the bed and unwrapped the cloth. On it was a thin silver bracelet. Mom reached down and pressed a button on the side.

  A blue light projected from the bracelet, and within that light was a transparent image. There hovering in the air in front of Emmaline was a picture of a much younger version of her mom and dad. Between the two of them, they held a boy of about five years-old. He had a sadness in his eyes that one at his age shouldn’t have. But the identity of the boy was clear from that familiar look on his face––Michael.

  Emmaline reached out to the image, but her fingers went right through it. She stared in wonder and went to pick up the silver bracelet. Mom pushed something and the image disappeared. She then quickly took the bracelet from Em and wrapped it back up. She then opened the drawer on her nightstand, stuffed it in , and closed it with a slam.

  “I’m sorry. That’s all I could show you. Your dad was very clear that activating any of our devices could draw the battle cruiser’s attention. I just wanted to prove that what I’m saying is true. I need you to believe me. I thought it worthwhile taking the risk.”

  Em stared at her mom as if seeing her for the first time. “Where did that come from? What was it?”

  Mom shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing at all. “It’s just a standard unity ring used for communication and such. Everyone in Ethia has one.”

  “Ethia?” Em asked, trying out the new word.

  Mom gave a sad little smile. “That’s the name of the galaxy we come from. That’s where you come from too. You may have been born here on Earth, Emmaline, but Ethia is where we all began.”

  Emmaline felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath her. Her throat went dry as she tried to process what her mother was saying. She wasn’t just from Earth—well; she was from Earth, but they were all from somewhere else. Some place called Ethia. Some place alien and unknown to her. That was hard for her to wrap her mind around.

  “But I was born here?” She asked, her voice small.

  Mom nodded, reaching out to touch Emmaline’s cheek. “Yes, sweetheart. You were born right here in New York City. Your birth certificate isn’t fake, unlike ours.”

  Emmaline pulled back slightly, wrapping her arms around herself. “So I’m… not human? I’m…”

  “You’re an Ethian. Like me, and your father, and Michael. We are very much like those here on Earth. There are a lot of similarities between our species, and we even look like these humans. It’s the biggest reason we decided to stay here. It was easy to blend in. So when our ship crash-landed here, we didn’t try very hard to fix it. Being here worked in our favor, especially since we met Eric’s dad soon after we came here. He was invaluable in helping us get settled here.”

  “Is that why Eric stayed with us when his dad died?” Emmaline didn’t know Eric’s dad. He had been in a bad car accident long before Emmaline had been born. Eric had always been an older brother to her, just like Michael, and a part of the family as long as she could remember. It was weird thinking that he wasn’t related to any of them, and now to realize that he wasn’t even the same species as the rest of them.

  “We adopted Eric because we cared for him and he had no other family left when his father passed away. Yes, part of it was because your dad and I felt like we owed Roger for helping us, but more than that, we had grown to love Eric. His becoming part of the family was a natural thing, and I don’t regret a moment of it.”

  “Does he know… you know…” Emmaline couldn’t quite get herself to say it. She wasn’t comfortable saying the words. She wasn’t sure she ever would be.

  Mom shook her head, knowing what Emmaline was trying to say. “No, he knows nothing. He was young when we first came here. I doubt he fully understood that we weren’t from this planet.”

  Emmaline’s mind was racing. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, teetering between the world she’d always known and this new reality her mother was telling her about. Her hands trembled slightly.

  “But I’m still... me, right?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Mom pulled her into a tight hug. “Of course you are. You’re still my Emmaline. Nothing about you has changed. It’s just... now you know where you come from.”

  Emmaline allowed herself to be held, feeling the familiar warmth of her mother’s embrace. Yet something felt different now—like there was an invisible barrier between them made of all the years of secrets.