Fallen + Marli & Lalo (Fallen Invasion, #3) Read online

  Happy with my discovery, I closed the drawer and wandered back towards my door, back to Lalo. Before I actually saw where I was going, I ran into something warm.

  A scream soared from me, aiding me to jump backwards, halfway across my room, only to end up falling to the floor. He finally moved! Lalo had been standing in the doorway inspecting me when I walked into him.

  Lalo rushed to bend down and pull me back up to my feet. It wasn’t like I was light to lift, but the effort he used to lift me was as if he found a piece of paper on the ground. It made me curious.

  Was extra human strength a feature of all of his kind, or was he simply one of the stronger ones? The fact also reminded me to not get on his bad side. He wasn’t human. And I couldn’t be sure that battling females was frowned upon by his kind. With that type of strength he could be unstoppable. What if I was staring at the destructor of human kind who was simply curious to see how a female human would react to him?

  What am I doing? My mind had been constant in its part torturing me with possible fears, part racing to solve issues dealing with Lalo that giving him a bath never crossed my mind.

  The black soot from the meteorite hadn’t magically washed away. He was covered in it. And so was my bar stool. He probably destroyed my carpet too. The image of my tub being covered in black began to occupy my mind.

  Well, I couldn’t deprive him of a bath. Not offer him the peacefulness of being clean. Tomorrow, I’d get some cleaner from the store to wash all the soot away. But would man-made cleaning agents work on iron and stone particles with a touch of shinny crystals? At least his meteorite gave me the impression that it was made of simply that. But then it again, he was covered in black soot as were the rock pieces. Nevertheless, time to give him a bath.

  Wait a minute! Shouldn’t I take a shower first in case the soot causes a reaction to my skin? Hmm. I would most likely need to call into work sick anyway so I’ll wait. I could take a shower at Kallen’s, but then I would have to tell him about Lalo. And with Kallen’s theories about aliens it probably wouldn’t be safe for either one of them.

  My thoughts were interrupted by a shift in Lalo’s expression. His eyes narrowed, and he peaked back toward my bathroom. Every organ in my chest clamped down to hide.

  So his telepathic ability is real? Oh yeah. I had forgotten to protect my thinking, like I knew how to do that. Another thing I needed to learn, so I wouldn’t cause him to attack me.

  Lalo smiled. I sharply inhaled. My eyes were wide awake. Oh no! He’s happy that I’m scared!

  If my bed wasn’t behind me, I would have run when he reached out to rub my arm. Instead I flinched and found it suddenly hard to breathe.

  “No,” he said, not in a mean way but kind, caring. Was he an alien of an angelic family? Did he actually come to help?

  I didn’t get a chance to finish my brainstorm before his hand became an instant burst of frost gently stroking my cheek. What’s going on? My tortured breathing became softer and lighter. The bone breaking tension that filled my body dissipated, and I stopped worrying about Lalo seeing my thoughts.

  For a moment I wasn’t there in my room. Lalo was nowhere to be found. I was sitting in the middle of a sunny beach in California. The sun warmed my skin. The cool breeze blew as the early morning waves crashed, rolling the water back into the ocean.

  I enjoyed the peaceful waves for a while until they became threatening. They became so high that they could soak me, or worse, carry me back into the ocean. The sun blended into the sky, which turned grey. The wind became angry. And that was when the waves came in too close and too fast for me to get up and run away.

  To make matters worse, I couldn’t even move when I tried. I tried again; still it was useless. I was held by a force causing me to be patient and react later. The waves crashed a few feet short of reaching me, and its water ended up washing my feet.

  This happened again, preceding a cool breeze of wind that awakened me. Lalo stopped his fingers from running up and down my skin.

  Did I just have one of the first meaningful contacts with an alien by an ocean metaphor? Lalo was peaceful, comforting, and beautiful, yet terrifying? He had the power but didn’t want to hurt me?

  A new idea popped up in my mind. Or was that what Lalo tried to tell me all along? Use telepathy to talk to him.

  I imagined a glorious bath full of roses and bubbles with a bottle of champagne on the side. Lalo didn’t get it. He continued to study my face. Right, champagne, roses that’s human stuff.

  I dreamed of a great waterfall that was safe enough to stand close to. I saw myself running through the water. His eyes didn’t move.

  How did I previously get him to read my mind? Ah that was the trick! I had to be direct. Or was he playing with me, pretending not to hear me?

  I took in some air then delicately danced around his side to escort him to the bathroom. I didn’t know if by touching my cheek, he connected us, but he followed and I had a greater sense of his presence a few steps behind me.

  The light illuminated my bathroom with a flick. My bathroom was far from luxurious but at least it wasn’t crammed. The shower head hung over a standard, white tub. My purple, polka dot curtains, halfway pulled forward, covered part of the side.

  I reached to my right to open one of my fake wooden, white cabinets that hung over the toilet. I surveyed my towels.

  Now, which one means the least to me? That grime will never come out. The yellow one. Perfect! That was one I knew took pleasure in trying to tear my skin. It was the one I bought back when I denied myself at least a couple of luxury, soft towels. And there was no way I would use those.

  Are you sure? His skin felt soft to me, exactly like humans. What if it was highly sensitive? From all of the alien movies I watched, with the slimy appearing aliens, they sure did look sensitive.

  Fine. I decided to sacrifice an orange one. That way if the soot—Oh no! The soot was on me—on my face!

  Horrified, I pivoted and rushed to the mirror. I saw something jolt upwards out of the corner of my eye, which made my stomach clench. Hopefully it was Lalo.

  Quickly turning around, I looked up to the ceiling. It was him; he was up in the corner. His feet comfortably held him to the wall along with his hands, which were positioned behind him, making him appear as if he was going to attack.

  Using my peripheral vision, I peeked at the reflection of my cheek in the mirror. At least there wasn’t a rash. I faced Lalo again. I opened my arms to give the gesture of a hug because there was nothing else to do. This means peace. I won’t hurt you.

  My arms begged me to let them rest after a while. Lalo was fixed in his position. Since no ideas popped up, directing me on how I could get him down, I placed Lalo’s towel set along the sink and began to run water into the tub, making sure it was lukewarm.

  No, I didn’t know what temperature Lalo liked. I decided lukewarm was a good middle ground. As I put the stopper in, I heard Lalo retreat to the floor. He put his hand on my back then analyzed the running water himself, running his fingers and hands through it.

  He wasn’t repulsed by the water. Good. He could take that temperature.

  After I stood up, it took a few seconds for me to realize that the water didn’t continue to fill the tub. I squatted back down. No way! It was hard to trust what I was seeing. No, the water didn’t fill the tub. It filled Lalo instead. I wanted to run and grab my camera to get a picture, but I felt the pressure of Lalo’s hand on my back.

  How did he know what a camera was? He couldn’t even talk.

  Not wanting to upset him again, I decided to stay put and inspect the phenomenon with my hands instead. I held mine under his. It wasn’t a visual illusion. Nothing fell through. Slowly, I brought my hand up to his. I watched to see if he had any change in expression as I embraced his hand. None. I inhaled. Directly below the running water, I felt a spherical water pressure. At the same time, currents traveled towards his arm.

  They must have some system designed to tra
nsport water. Or their blood stream, if they have one, gets the water directly through osmosis.

  I removed my hand, stood up, and stepped back. How long had beings like him existed? What else was special about him?

  I probably would find that out once he was comfortable. And if I was him that would first mean clean. I thought about removing the jacket that I draped over Lalo, and he stood to face me. I put my palms up and thought about how I wouldn’t harm him. I took his unwavering expression as permission to remove the jacket. After it was off, I spun around and dropped it into my laundry hamper.

  My thoughts switched to how I would get him to take a bath. I knew there had to be a point where the saturation of water in his body was equal to the water in the tub, so he could use the water to take a bath. I imagined Lalo using a towel, water, and soap to clean himself, hoping he would understand, get in the tub, and follow my directions.

  Okay... Maybe he didn’t possess the ability to read my mind. Just like the other times when I tried to telepathically communicate with him he didn’t move.

  Physically showing him might be the only way.

  No. I felt uneasy; I was already vulnerable enough by having him in my home. I didn’t want to have to get naked in front of him too. He was smart. I was sure.

  I’ll get in the tub with my clothes on and show him.

  Sounds good to me.

  As I reached to roll up my pant legs, Lalo stepped into the tub and sat down.

  Good.

  I grabbed the face towel from my counter and held it under the tub faucet water. I noticed that Lalo either had to have seen what I was thinking or was done drinking the water because the tub began to fill. I lathered the towel with soap and Lalo stretched out his arm. When I began to wash him, he laid back and closed his eyes.

  His skin was no different from a regular human, but when I got to the hair I noticed it was alive with its own mind.

  I bit my lip when my shampoo first met his hair. I didn’t know if the things, hair, would bite me, so I tentatively touched the tips. Nothing happened. I put my fingers into his hair and massaged. His hair actually didn’t mind the wash. It liked surrounding my hands and wrapping and unraveling itself around my fingers.

  Another few rinses and I was done. But my problems were not. I thought getting him into the tub was hard but getting him to move after he was clean was impossible. Once again, I imagined Lalo moving himself. When that didn’t work, I physically moved him or tried to. After the fifth struggle, his eyes shot open and glared at me.

  I tensed up and he smiled.

  “Water,” Lalo said and pointed at the tub that I already drained. His eyelids shut back down.

  If he wanted the water, why didn’t he turn it on himself? I thought he was an alien. Weren’t they supposed to be smarter than us?

  “Please Marli,” Lalo said.

  I knew it. He was acting. He has to know more English than what he pretends to know.

  “If you want something from now on, you have to use your words,” I said. I sounded like I was talking to a child.

  Lalo sat up and turned the water on. After allowing his skin to soak up more water, he gathered a cup of it in his hands. I leaned over, positioning myself to see what miraculous thing he was going to do next. Then the water landed in my face.

  I gasped. What happened? I got splashed again. “Lalo! Stop!”

  I spent two hours yesterday dealing with my hair!

  I was sure he understood but kept on splashing me and laughing.

  Did I actually have a child alien who appeared to be a man? Could the adults be taller, stronger?

  I was drenched by the time he stopped. He was pretty accurate when it came to hitting me. There was only a little water on the floor.

  The orange bath towel was within reach, so I picked it up and immediately dried my face. Lalo ripped the towel away a few seconds later, smirking.

  His eyes caught mine and didn’t move as he dried off.

  So the alien is trying to seduce me?

  I sighed. I had enough for the day. I wished I hadn’t met him. That wasn’t true. I just wanted to forget I had an alien in my house for a little while as I slept, although he was extremely handsome.

  Lalo’s smug expression turned sour as he dried off, and he folded the towel prior to placing it on the counter. Stomping past me, he left the room. I followed him, wondering what he was doing. We ended back up in my room. He jerked the clothes I reserved for him off of the bed and put them on.

  Without my direction, he strode into the family room and lie down on the couch. I rushed to grab a pillow from my bed and some blankets in my closet then returned to lay them under and over him.

  He closed his eyes the instant I finished putting the last blanket on.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Lalo, I’m sorry.”

  I didn’t mean it. I’m glad I met you.

  Out of a half opened eye, Lalo peered at me. His hand was frigid as he grabbed my wrist to place my hand on his cheek. His expression softened. A few moments later, my hand was back at my side, and he was relaxed and asleep.

  After triple checking to make sure the front door was locked, I tip toed to my room and closed the door.

  Chapter 2

  The ringing of my alarm hadn’t occurred yet when I woke up, lying on my side. The room was pitch dark with the exception of the numbers on my alarm clock. A few minutes remained until it would sound, but I didn’t want to roll over to silence the impending alarms. The image of Lalo hopping to the ceiling, ready to attack me flashed across my mind, which gave me the strength to push myself up and over to grab my phone.

  My shirt tightened as I leaned over. It felt as though it had twisted around me multiple times due to some major tossing and turning that night. It was uncomfortable, but I ignored it until the alarms on both my phone and clock were history.

  Wanting nothing more than to close my eyes and get rid of the discomfort, I rolled onto my back to untwist my T-shirt. Surprise! I flinched when I saw Lalo lying on the pillow next to me. He had a strong grip on my shirt.

  I suspected he did it to keep me from leaving while he was asleep. He either wanted to control my actions, or he was scared. I envisioned myself in his situation. If I had fallen down from my home, I would be frightened and do the same. But this was an alien. They were, in some theories, superior. I needed to find out his intentions. Was there a specific reason to come to our planet? Was it an accident? Were there others?

  Time definitely wasn’t on my side. People would find out, not too long from then, that something crashed into my yard. The people working with me most likely already knew something. I was sure a meteor sighting was on the news. Oh no. The rock!

  Despite the fact that the meteor blew up into pieces, I had to get out there and collect it; hide it. I had to beat daylight. I attempted to loosen Lalo’s grip, but his hand would not budge.

  “Lalo,” I said, softly. “Wake up.”

  He didn’t move.

  I rocked his shoulder. Nothing.

  I gauged the temperature of his forehead with the back of my hand. He was like ice. The hair started moving. His eyes opened up. I pulled at my shirt, and he let it go.

  Not wasting any time, I slid out of bed, put on some pants, and tied up my tennis shoes. I opened the closet and gave Lalo some sandals.

  After trying to leave a couple of times, I convinced Lalo to stay inside. Although the early morning darkness covered the sky, I didn’t want to take the chance of him being seen.

  With Lalo inside, and a black trash bag in my hand, I ran to the site of the meteor landing. Bending down, I whipped the bag then proceeded to pick up the few pieces of glimmering rock that I could see.

  Unexpectedly, most of it was gone. This should have been cause for celebration, but it invoked fear. We could have been watched. I was sure the type of meteorite Lalo arrived in would be valuable. A pallasite? Yeah, very rare usually equals valuable. Whoever stalked us could have taken most of the rock with them
for investigation too. Then I would be in trouble, most likely would get locked away, and wouldn’t be able to protect Lalo.

  My eyes were unfocused on the grass when I saw another piece of the meteor. It glistened then sunk into the dirt in an instant. I dug to find the missing piece, but it was gone. What the...? Regardless, I took some of the dirt and threw it into my bag.

  One more time, I surveyed the area. Then I studied Kallen’s house. No lights were on, but an eerie sensation that someone, or something, could see me remained.

  Please, just be Kallen.

  But if Lalo could exist then others could too. I was too far away to see clearly. Maybe I was scaring myself. It wouldn’t be the first time. My thrill for self-torture got horrible at times. This was most likely another moment to add to the list. I secured the trash bag and ran back inside.

  Lalo was sitting patiently on the couch. I put my hands to his cheeks to show him what I saw. I tried to block out Kallen’s house. He squinted at me but said nothing. I became determined to find a new way for us to talk. It would be beneficial for him anyway. I could only physically hide him for so long. Since he had human features, I could teach him more words and how to act more like a human.

  Taking the trash bag to my kitchen, I opened the lower cupboard under the sink, and hid the bag under some others. Lalo joined me as I stared at the wall, thinking about what to do. My stomach growled. Crap. I forgot to feed him. How did he eat? How could I feed him?

  I lathered my hands with liquid soap and Lalo pointed to my hands.

  “Soap,” I said.

  “Soap?” he repeated.

  That was it! I could teach him like a child or like someone learning a new language. There were programs for that. He could use one of my computers every day while I was at work. I had to bet on the belief that he was far more advanced and technologically savvy. But if he was merely a child, would it still be true?