Kepler-22b

Chapter 3- Hidden

I slash my thick blade through every unsuspecting leaf, branch, and vine in my path. I had already finished my studying for the day and thought I would go find something to eat. I find a nice thick tree and start climbing up the side at a quick and steady pace.

With my seven years secluded on this planet, I had very little to do but master various survival skills such as this. I reach the top of this overgrown tree and peer through the thick layer of leaves that acts as an umbrella, concealing my pleading skin from the scorching sun. Although the majority of the sun is covered up by the trees, they still don't entirely help my skin from burning to a strange purplish color.

I scan the long branches until I find a bundle of fruit that I already know, from experience, isn't poisonous. I slither down the tree like a snake after its prey. Once on the ground, I rest for only a split second before I adjourn up the fruiting tree. Fruit bundle now in hand, I head down to the bottom to a nice, empty resting place.

The first thing that I notice about my surroundings as I eat is how the weather is somewhat cooler on the ground. The temperature difference is enough where my already hot skin can relax. As I sit on the lumpy ground, I eat my meal in silence. I enjoy the peaceful afternoon with no sound other than the calls of nature. I listen to the squawk of birds communicating with one another and the rush of the wind against the leaves.

Then, when almost all is quiet, I notice a small sign of movement in my peripheral vision up in the treetops. I lift my head to search the tree tops, leaving not a single spot overlooked. Then, just as I almost give up my search and pass it off as another various animal that I haven't cared enough to name, I hear a sound. A sound so quiet it barely registers in my ears. I must be mistaken. It had sounded just the way the rough patches of my skin does when I brush against bark. I was at least a meter away from the nearest tree.

My mind races through all the things that could have made that sound, but I find no other explanation. Just as I go to investigate, I hear the familiar voice of Alma coming my way.

I hide any trace of my confusion as she steps into the clearing. As close as I am with her, I still sometimes let my early years of loneliness exclude her from my thoughts and secrets.

"STELLA!" I hear her shout.

"Over here!" I respond instantly before she has time to scare anymore animals in the near vicinity.

"Hey, what's up?" Alma said appearing in the clearing. "I hadn't seen you in a while, so I decided to come looking." She said in her motherly way which both annoyed and comforted me. Sometimes she doesn't know when to let me have my space. After living alone since the age of three, it was really hard to open up and be near her sometimes. The five years I had spent with Alma felt like a century compared to those seven years alone.

"I was just looking for food. And you know that you don't have to keep checking up on me. If you forgot, I did survive ten years on this planet alone. And I'm already fifteen years." That was one of my secrets. Alma knew nothing of my memories. She knew nothing of my previous planet and of my three years on it. They were too sacred to me for her to know.

Besides it's harder than you think to tell someone of a memory you had as a toddler. I was afraid she would tell me I was only dreaming or that she would have her people look for it. That was a mission I had to complete on my own.

"I know, I know. But if I'm not worrying about you, what else do I have to do?"

"You could always spend your time reading more of the books you have locked away in your ship." I commented with a little sass. She wouldn't let me read any of the books that the other earthens left for her on the ship. I guess she has her secrets and I have mine.