No. 358

 At the end of a narrow, dirt lane, far into the woods, lived a man few people had met. Whispers in the surrounding villages were that he had powers, that he was not like normal men.

Makua did nothing to silence these rumors.  They kept the curious at a respectful distance. And they were true, for the most part. Although he had no powers, Makua wasn’t like regular men. Indeed, it would be more fitting to call him a creature.

His ship had crashed on earth in 1947 in a dusty, distasteful place the humans called Roswell. He’d escaped the wreckage before the army had a chance to descend on his ship. They took it away, stranding Makua without the means to leave the planet, or communicate with his people.

And so he waited. Perhaps they would return for him. He waited for many years, and they did not come.

 

But, one day, somebody else did. A boy, too young to understand the warnings about the strange settlement, knocked on the door of Makua’s home. “I’m lost,” the boy called through the door. “Can you help me?”

Makua considered ignoring the child.

“Please,” said the boy. “I’m all by myself.”

Makua fought his instincts and opened the door. “So am I,” he told the boy.

The boy saw Makua. His eyes widened, but he stood his ground. “Are you a monster?” he asked.

Makua turned his mouth into what he knew the humans considered to be a friendly gesture. “No,” he said. “I’m just different from you.” He knelt down beside his scared visitor. “What village do you live in? I know the way to most of them.”

“I live in Sea View,” said the boy.

“That’s very far away,” said Makua. “Beyond the forest. How did you get here?”

“I’m not sure,” the boy shrugged.

Makua was quiet to collect his thoughts. The child clearly needed help, but helping would place Makua in considerable danger of being discovered. He looked at the walls of the place he’d spent the last half century, then at the small boy on his doorstep.

Perhaps it was time to take a chance.

“Give me a moment to collect my things,” he told the boy. “And then I’ll take you home.”

 

The alien and the boy left down the trail a while later, their mismatched shadows stretching out in front of them.