Inamorata - Electric Dream Contest #14

gaby-crb (59)in #electricdreams • 5 years ago

“Have you seen the news?”

Emma handed a tablet to her husband. The screen showed the latest headline: Illegal Aliens taking over the country.

Adam set his mug down onto the table and looked at his wife.

“It’s probably a lie”

Emma scoffed.

The news had been filled with facts about the ‘Illegal Aliens’. How they had travelled here to tear the world apart. How they had assimilated into everyday life. The thought of knowing someone who could be an Illegal Alien make Emma’s skin crawl.

“They found someone in my office, apparently her whole family are aliens. We can’t trust anyone Adam, not even our friends. We need to be careful with the girls, no more sleepovers with people we don’t know. I don’t want us to get into trouble for associating with people like that.”

Emma spoke as Adam walked around the table and wrapped his hands around her waist.

“I’m sure the girls will be fine. They have good friends at school and at scouts. We can’t stop them from doing things just because of the news. You’re worrying about nothing.”

She sighed as he untangled himself, kissed her on the cheek and left for work.

As she tidied up their breakfast she thought about all of the people she knew; friends, co-workers, even their neighbours. Any of them could be aliens, any of them could be trying to hurt her family.

With her daughters both at school and her husband on his way to work she finished getting ready and headed to the office.

She considered herself one of the fortunate ones. She had found a suitable job after having her kids. The company managed her schedule delicately so she could still be home to make dinner and help the girls with their homework.

Her office was unusually quiet today. She walked in and sat down at her desk, looking around at her colleagues, they all had their heads down. The atmosphere in the room was thick with trepidation.

She leaned over her desk towards her team-mate, Mick.

“What’s wrong?”

“Tim was taken. ‘Bout ten minutes ago.”

“Tim? Manager Tim?”

He nodded in response.

Emma sat back in her chair. The screen indicating it would take a while to load with a message that read ‘updating’. She tapped her fingers on the desk. Her eyes drawn to the group photo she had pinned to her board. They had been on a night out to celebrate Tim’s promotion. She thought bitterly about the expensive bottle of plonk she had wasted on him.

She laughed to herself. Mick frowned in her direction.

“I never would have guessed. He was such a nice guy. I mean he bought a birthday present for my daughter last year. I was so blind. How are we supposed to root them all out if they’re so well integrated?”

Another colleague from a different team joined the conversation.

“Apparently the government are bringing out a list of things to look out for. Things like what they eat, how they dress and if they have any weird language expressions.”

“I suppose if they are easy things to spot then we will get rid of them all soon enough.”

The rest of her day at work was uneventful. She filed some overdue paperwork, had a meeting that ran through lunch and then finished by cleaning off her desk. She threw away any photos with Tim in them.

Clearing her desk had helped her clear her mind. She drove home, considering the dinner she could prepare with the food she already had in.

Her girls got home the same time she did. She let them into the house and they ran in.

“Homework first!”

Charlotte and Rosa sat at the table while Emma cooked dinner. She couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself. Her daughters were well behaved most of the time, something she had never mastered as a child. Charlotte, her eldest, worked on complicated maths equations while Rosa read aloud.

Rosa stopped reading. Emma looked up from the pan.

“Mum, what’s an Illegal Alien?”

Charlotte hissed at her sister to be quiet.

“No it’s okay, she should know. Both of you should know. Rosa, an Illegal Alien is something that isn’t like you and me, they’re not from this country and they are here to try and hurt us. They have different DNA to us, different cultures, they even eat different food. They’re very bad people and you should stay away from them.”

Rosa’s forehead furrowed.

“But Mr Johnson was one and he was nice.”

Emma exhaled. Mr Johnson had been Rosa’s teacher. She had known him as a good teacher, excellent with the children.

“Mr Johnson was a nice man and a great teacher, but he was also a liar. He lied to get that job, everything about him is illegal. If he had been allowed to keep his position he would have ended up hurting everyone, including you. Do you understand Rosa?”

Rosa nodded. Emma turned to look at Charlotte, who also nodded.

“Finish your homework now, your dad will be home soon.”

Emma finished making the dinner as the girls cleared off their homework and Charlotte set the table. The thought of her daughters being so closely affected by the Aliens made her scared. The country was becoming unsafe for her children right before her eyes. She decided to talk to her husband about the possibility of homeschooling the children.

Adam returned home after a trying day at work, his boss had been taken. No one put up a fight to stop them. Not even himself. He knew that defending someone like that was a sure way to get interrogated and at worst, taken as well.

The car door slammed and Emma looked out the kitchen window to see her husband walking into the house. The sight of him made her relax.

Rosa ran up to him the minute the door opened. He picked her up and gave her a big hug.

“Hi sweetheart, how was your day?”

“My teachers an Alien”

Adam looked to his wife for confirmation. She nodded warily.

“We’ll talk about it later. Dinners ready.”

The food was simple, the girls chatted throughout the meal. Their parents too concerned with their own thoughts to make much conversation.

Rosa sorted desert and put a box of cookies on the table.

“Those are not Girl Scout cookies.”

The girls laughed at their dads jibes.

“Mum bought them from the shop.”

After they had finished Emma stood at the sink washing the pots. Adam stood next to her with a towel.

“Can you believe her teacher was one of them? Our daughter was being taught by… I think we should home-school the girls. The idea of being in the same room as an Alien makes my skin crawl.”

“Snozberries on toast, Emma how can you say that?”

Emma frowned at the expression. She remembered the first time he had said something similar, she hadn’t heard it before until she met him.

“They are human beings Emma, they have rights too you know.”

“You mean the right to kill us all?”

She backed away from the counter, wiping her hands on her trousers.

“What makes you think they want to kill us? They’re just like us!”

She shook her head.

“No, they’re not like me. I’m not like you. You’re one of them.”

She grabbed the phone and dialled the Illegal Alien hotline.

“Yes, hello. My husband’s one. He’s an Alien.”

Adam watched his wife in disbelief. His shock keeping his feet stuck to the floor. He didn’t argue with her, he couldn’t. He was in love with a woman who couldn’t understand who he was, what he was.

“How could you?”

He whispered. Tears collecting in his eyes.

“How could I? You lied to me, for 10 years! You were supposed to be my husband. Not this… thing.”

She watched as they dragged her husband away, he daughters screaming for their dad. The van sped away down the street.

At first she had felt satisfied, picking up the phone and calling in his status but now all she felt was empty.

Her daughter's screamed and kicked at her, tears streaming down their faces.

That’s when it dawned on her what it all meant. She would never see him again.

“What have I done?”