MOTHERS

◙twenty-three◙

Keeping her back pressed to the wall was the only way for Lorelai to remain somewhat upright. Tegan had given up on trying to hold her up, likely too infuriated at the alien chick's speech. The pain in Lorelai's stomach was heavy, constant, as if she'd become pregnant again just from looking at these supposed children she and the others had birthed.

The one who was supposedly her son, Cole, lingered in the background as the one with the high ponytail and the super serious face spoke to them. But she'd gotten distracted, turning away, whispering to herself. Cole and his siblings glanced at her with narrowed eyes and thin-lined mouths. They, too, questioned her behavior.

"We're alien, like they said?" said the woman, her voice so low she might not have had a clue she was speaking out loud, instead of thinking the words.

Cole's piercing crimson gaze focused on his apparent sister. He scanned her face, watched her as she ruminated, muttering to herself in a mix of English and eerie clicking sounds. Though he was the same man who'd entered Lorelai's house earlier, he didn't feel the same, didn't quite look the same. Where hours before he'd been jittery, on edge, impatient to get going, here he was strangely solemn, the only hint of his emotions coming from his confused expression. His posture was rigid, his arms glued to his sides, his legs sturdy and still as he observed his sibling in her delusions.

"Lola," said the blind one, stretching out his arm and finding the ponytail alien's hand, squeezing it. "What's happening?"

The other female one—her silhouette so slim, her legs so thin and frail Lorelai wondered how she stood up—peered from one sibling to the other, eyebrows raising and scrunching. She made gestures to Cole, pointing at her ears, her mouth, her eyes.

She's mute?

Cole patted her back, then shrugged as he flipped to the blind one and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Rivo, you've spent more time with Lola so far. What's going on? I think she's scaring Star."

The creature named Rivo removed his red-rimmed sunglasses, letting loose the blaring yellow of his eyes. He leaned in close to the one named Lola, as she continued to have some sort of internal debate with herself.

"She's... talking to them."

"Them?" Cole's fingers twitched as he repositioned his gaze on Lola. "As in, those who give us our orders? She has a connection with them?"

"I think they're our family," said Rivo, replacing the glasses over his eyes, dimming the area, leaving nothing but the flashing purple lights and Cole's glowing red pupils to illuminate the hallway. "And yes, they've been communicating with her for a while now, if I understand things correctly." Rivo switched to face Cole. "Have you spoken to them, too? Is that why you got out?"

Cole kept his concentration on Lola, lost in a bizarre fascination of her. "I guess so. I heard things. Something, someone talking into my mind... but only once, and without much explanation. A demand that I felt I shouldn't refuse. Use your powers to get out. Go find the women who gave birth to you and your siblings." He puckered his lips and cocked his head to the side. "I'd discovered I had an ability to change my exterior form by then, and figured that would be my way out. So that was what I did. No further instructions came... but now, I presume that was because they were too busy talking to her."

Lorelai suppressed a chill crawling down her spine. A sinister tension filled the space before her, swirling around Lola and Cole, enveloping them inside a special bubble reserved for them only. Lola, busy speaking to herself, and Cole scrutinizing her as if seeking to join in on the conversation. Lola didn't seem to notice Cole getting closer to her, however, and suddenly spun away from him to give her attention to Lorelai and the others, instead.