“Alice! Its time to get up!” I heard my mother call.

“I’ll be down in a little bit,” I sat up and hung my legs off of my bed. I got up, and stomped down to my mom in the kitchen.

When she saw me she asked, “Are you okay? You look awful.”

Gee, thanks mom. I thought. “I don’t feel great either, ugh.”

“What doesn’t feel good?”

“Everything, when I sat up I almost puked, and my head is pounding,” I explained how I felt.

“What were you going to do today?”

Why was my mom asking this? She usually doesn’t bother being nosey, she trusted me to not get into trouble. “Micah and I were going to go on a space walk. Why?”

“Could you cancel?”

What the heck? Why would I cancel? I’d been dating Micah for over four years. I didn’t want to cancel our plans. Mom must have seen the confused look on my face, because she said, “I mean, do you think it’s a good idea to go floating around in space when you feel like you do?”


“I don’t feel bad enough to cancel on Micah,” I snapped.

“Dear, your green as green, I really don’t think it’s a good idea,”

“I care why? Look mom I’m going on that space walk, thanks for your concern, but it’s unnecessary.” I glanced up at the clock. Micah was picking me up at ten, and it was nine o’ clock now. That only gave me an hour to get ready. I dashed back to my room and got ready just in time to open the door and see Micah standing in the hall.

“Ready to go?” he asked me.

I just nodded, running around made me feel like if I opened my mouth I’d barf all over him.

When we were to the part of the shuttle where we get suited up to go on space walks, I looked out the window and saw earth. It looked so tiny, the place were my grandparents were born was just a little speck in the black sea around it. I felt dizzy.
Next thing I knew Micah was saying, “Alice? Alice are you okay?” his voice was far off.

“What just happened?” I opened my eyes to his concerned face.

“I’m not sure. I think you just passed out. Do you feel okay?”

It was a hard question. I felt awful, but I didn’t want to ruin the date for Micah. “I’m fine,” I lied. “Time to get suited up?”

He beamed, “Yeah. You’re sure you’re all right?”

“Sure as sure,” I smiled, too, seeing him happy made me feel a little bit better.

The guy in charge of the space walks came over then. “Are you folks ready?”

“Yes,” Micah replied.

The guy gave us both bulky space suits that weighed a ton. Micah seemed to know what he was doing, because he got it on just fine. Me on the other hand, not doing too hot. “Need help?” the guy gave me a weird look.

“Yes, please,” I felt awkward having a guy I didn’t know the least bit about put the suit on me. Micah must have guessed my feelings, because he chortled. I glared at him, but he just laughed harder.

“All set,” The guy told me. “If you stay out much longer than an hour, you’ll die. Have fun!”
Wow, now I really want to go outside. It’s amazing how much more fun something can sound once you know you could die. “Oh, goodie,” I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t worry; we’ll be back in plenty of time. You’ll have fun,” Micah seemed sure enough, so I shrugged.

The space walk wasn’t too bad. I actually had fun. We could do flips by just leaning backwards or forwards. Jupiter was huge you could see how extreme the storm that was the Great Red Spot really was. When we got back inside, Micah looked nervous.

“What’s your problem?” I asked.

“Nothing, I… I just have a question.”

“Ask away, I’m all ears. I might even have an answer,”

“You better,” he gave me the stop-joking-I’m-dead-serious look. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and got down on one knee. “Will you merry me?”

I burst into tears and trough my arms around him. “Yes, yes of course I will!” I breathed into his shoulder. He tilted my head up and kissed me. Despite the sick felling in my stomach, this was the best day of my life.
I suddenly pulled away from him ran to the sink, and puked my guts out. I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was the same shade of green as my emerald colored eyes. It looked odd with the black frame of my long, wavy hair.

“I think we should get you home now,” Micah suggested.

“I don’t want to go yet,” I complained. “I feel a lot better now,” and I did. He just proposed to me, he can’t send me off yet.

“Fine, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t care, whatever you want,”
“Want to go to the mall?”
I grinned, Micah hated the mall, but he knew I liked it. “You hate shopping, though.”
“You’re right, but you love shopping, and I love you,” he interpreted.
“I love you, too. I guess the mall sounds like fun. Race?”
“You sound like such a little kid, ‘Lets race to the mall!’” he was mocking me!
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
“That is my point.”
“So is that a yes or a no?” I pressed.
He smiled at me. I’d never noticed how perfect his teeth were. “It’s a yes. Okay, ready? One. Two. Three!” we went running as fast as we could through the space shuttle and to the mall. I don’t think I’d ever run faster in my life. I left him in the dust! I skidded to a stop once I got to the mall and waited. He caught up a minute later, totally out of breath.
“Tired?” I inquired, because I wasn’t the least bit tired.
“You aren’t?” Micah panted.
“Nope, and I’ve been waiting for a minute. Slow poke,” I teased him.
“What is wrong with me? I can usually beat you…”
“I don’t know, I’ve felt weird lately,” I had just realized that I didn’t fell the same as I usually do.
“Strange,” he agreed. “Were to?”
*
*
*
We wandered around the mall for awhile, not looking too closely at anything. We wound up at the food court.

“What do you want?” Micah questioned me.

“I don’t care. I’ll have what ever you have I guess. I’m gonna go sit down.” I glided over to the table that we always sit. Micah came with the food a few minutes later. “What’s for lunch?” I looked at the tray he carried.

“Pasta. Is that good?”

“Duh, I love pasta,” I reached for the platter and he let go. “Agg!” the food fell and almost hit the floor. I held out my hand and it stopped falling.

“What just happened?” Micah demanded.

“I… I don’t know…” I stammered. I lifted my hand and the food floated along with it. I guided it onto the table and set it down gently.

“You have telekinesis?”

“No! I’m not a mind mover! I’m not a… a freak!” I retorted sharply.

“Okay, not a freak, but what? How do explain that you just made a plate of food hover above the ground then make it float back onto the table?” Micah invited.

I sighed, defeated. “Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe I am a freakish mind mover. But it doesn’t make sense to be so sudden. I’ve never been able to do this before…”

Micah stared off into space, thoughtful. “Hmm…” he purred. “Could it have anything to do with the fact that you’ve been feeling weird?”

That was an interesting point. “I guess it could, couldn’t it?” I absent-mindedly held out my hand, lifted water out of the bottle he’d gotten for me and whirled it around in the air.

Micah snorted. “Yeah, you really are a freak!”

I glowered at him. “Take this,” I thrashed the water around and it to his face.

“Thanks…” he spewed water out of his mouth, like a fountain. I rose my eyebrow at him “I guess ‘thanks’ isn’t the best word. I’m sorry.”

“Much better,” I lifted the water off of him. “Do you think that this freak thing has something to do with how fast I was before? I mean, really, I left you in the dust and wasn’t even tired.”

He pondered this awhile. “It very easily could be connected. You’re just suddenly turning into a freak, no offence. Please don’t hit me with more water.”

I wanted to hit him with more water, but I didn’t. I didn’t want him to see me as a freak, it’s not who I am. “I guess that could be, but why?”

“For that, I have no answer,” Micah shook his head.

When we were done eating, he walked me back home. “How was your date?” Mom asked when she saw me.

I shrugged. “Okay.”

“What’s wrong? You look sad.”

“I’m a freak!” I screeched and plopped down on a chair.

“You’re not a freak. What makes you think that?” Mom gave me a weird look.

“This,” I held out my hand and lifted the water out of the fish tank, fish and all.

“Telekinesis doesn’t make you a freak,” Mom insisted.

“Yes it does. Plus earlier Micah and I raced and I waited a minute for him to catch up and I wasn’t even out of breath. He was totally winded!” Why couldn’t she see how much of an issue this was?

“Do you think that how you felt this morning has any connection to this?” she questioned.

“Micah thought that, too. I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’m going to bed. I feel awful.”

“Hmm… ‘Kay. Hope you feel better. Goodnight,” I heard mom say but I was already up the stairs and in my room.


That night I had the most bazaar dream. I was looking up at faces. Faces of my friends, family, neighbors, and many strangers. They were laughing and pointing. I turned to see what they saw. What I saw was a large fence, with a sign that said “Alice the Freak.” I realized that they were looking at was me. They saw me the same way they saw a monkey in the zoo.

“Through things at it,” The announcer bellowed. “It’ll make them hover in mid air!”


It? I’m not an it! I’m just as human as you idiots! I tried to scream, but what came out wasn’t words, it more of an annoying chattering noise a baby orangutan would make.

The people laughed harder and thru empty soda cans and popcorn cups at me. I held up both hands to put up my mental shield.

“I told you!” roared the announcer. “Isn’t it freakish?”

I woke up with tears soaking my pillow. I sat up and puked on the floor.

Ugh.

I was too tired to bother cleaning it up properly so I just used my new freakism to move it into the trash can. I wanted desperately to go back to sleep, but the fear that the dream, no, nightmare would return kept me wide awake.

I puked again a while later. I tried to lift it with my mind, but I was way too tired. I turned and muttered, “Beat as beat,” into my pillow.

“Get off me! You all ready got me all wet!”

Now I’m really a freak, when your pillow is telling you to get lost, you know something is wrong. Really wrong.

“Fine,” I scoffed. I got up and sauntered down to the kitchen.

“Alice? What are you doing,” my mom was shaking me, sounding anxious.

“Break dancing in ice cream on Mars,” I replied, stating the obvious.

“What?” her tone made it sound like it wasn’t perfectly clear what I was doing. “Get up. We’re going to the hospital.”

Why would we go to a hospital? Were there any hospitals on Mars? Was something wrong with Mom?

She dragged me from my bowl of ice cream and to the door, but gave up a few feet away.

“Hello?” I heard her say. “Yes, my daughter passed out on the floor…” there was a short pause. “Yes, she has a huge gash on her head, blood everywhere… Well, she thinks she’s break dancing on Mars or something. I thing she’s delirious… Okay thanks,”

Delirious? I’m not delirious, I’m completely sane. Who was she talking to any way?

A little latter bright lights were being shone on me.

“What’s going on?” I questioned them. They didn’t answer me. I thought that was rude, so I turned them off with my telekinesis. “Ha-ha! Take that lights!” but they tuned back on. “Hmph.”

People were looking at me. Faces I didn’t know. Faces with white masks over them. One of them demanded, “Are you feeling okay, Alice?”

How did they know my name? I decided not to answer, Mom said to never talk to strangers. These people seemed strange.

He asked again, “Alice?”

I twisted away from him. When I turned, I saw Mom. Her face was full of worry as she looked into my eyes. “Answer,” she mouthed silently. I guess if Mom thought it was okay, it must be. She’s a mom, she knows everything.

“Are you okay?” the guy requested.

“Duh, why wouldn’t I?” why do people keep asking me stupid questions?

“Well,” he pondered. “You just got eight stitches, I figured you might be in pain,” the one masked man said.

“Nope!” I smiled at him.

“Alice! Oh my gosh! Are you all right?” Micah came dashing in.

“Back already?” he was supposed to go to the sun for a month on vacation. “Is the bubble to keep sunburn away? You don’t need that here. Pop!” I poked at the bubble that was around him.

“What are you talking about?” He gave me a weird look. Why were people acting like they don’t know what’s going on. Unless he forgot that he was supposed to go to the sun… but how would you manage to forget that?

Then Mom told him that I was “delirious.” People are crazy. They’re the delirious ones. If I were delirious I’d be saying things that didn’t make sense. I told them that.

“Alice, you don’t make sense,” Micah sounded convincing, but what he said obviously wasn’t true. “Back from where?”

“Oh common Micah, how could you forget your trip to the sun?” why was he being so stubborn?

“I didn’t forget, I just didn’t go,” he explained.

“Oh,” I was a bit surprised. “Why not?”

“What is wrong with her?” he turned to the masked man.

“She’s delirious.”

“No kidding? I meant why,” Micah snapped at him.

“She has a disease that has started to kill her brain cells,” The masked man told him.

“Does that have anything to do with the speed, and telekinesis?” asked Micah.

“Yes.”

“What can you do for her?”

“Nothing, she can’t possibly live through this.”

Suddenly, I felt the pain in my head. I realized that I was the reason that we had to go to the hospital, the masked men were doctors, and what I had been saying hadn’t made sense. I was on my deathbed. “Micah,” I called feebly.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry,” I was sobbing.

“Why? For what?”

“I’m dying!” I would have shrieked but I was too weak. “I’m sorry. So sorry, Micah.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault at all,” his tears were running with mine over my face.

“I’m sorry I can’t merry you. Just know that I love you and I’d merry you if I could.”


“I know. I love you, too, Alice.”

“Goodbye,” I breathed. The last thing I felt were his warm perfect lips, wet with tears, on mine.