The Lost Duckling

Chapter 13: Boo

What was that?

Mary stood by her bed with her mouth hanging open. The claw marks were undeniably there, and Stitch undeniably was not.

"Lilo?" She whispered, feeling faint as hazy memories flickered to the front of her mind.

Lilo was handling this surprisingly well, Mary thought. The girl was of course mumbling to herself, trying to piece something together that Mary couldn't quite keep up with.

"Molecular transportation," Mary thought she heard Lilo say with her back turned towards her, looking through a large bag she had swept out from under her twin bed.

Mary repeated, with her hand clutching her comforter. "Lilo," the urgency was unmistakable in her faint voice, causing her to pause.

"Not now, Mary. I have to call someone," Lilo finally said, brushing off her roommate's concern.

"Lilo, Stitch-"

"Yeah I saw it. I'm trying to figure something out," she muttered,  pulling out what appeared to be a very outdated cell phone. Mary watched as it lit up, casting an electronic blue-green glow onto her face. 

Mary brought her knees up to her chin, trying to come up with some other explanation for what she had just seen. What she desperately hoped she hadn't.

Lilo frowned as she called someone she referred to as Jumba, and mentioned some technological jargon Mary didn't even try to piece together. She just watched from the corner of her eye as Lilo shut the device off in frustration, looking torn. 

Lilo eventually sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Look, Mary? This is going to sound really crazy, but you're . . . I just want you to know that I'm being completely honest with you, okay?"

Mary sat forward, wanting to make a confession of her own. Whatever Lilo wants to say, it couldn't sound crazier than Mary's own idea.

Lilo took a deep breath and sat down on her bed, staring into Mary's wide brown eyes. "Stitch . . . isn't a dog," she slowly started, searching for a reaction from the girl in front of her.

"Okay, so then what is he?" She responded carefully.

"An alien," Lilo hesitantly released the secret, looking terrified for what may come.

Mary, on the other hand, felt floored. "Alien?" She whispered. Did that explain what happened in her bedroom all those years ago? No, no those were monsters. They called themselves monsters, she clearly remembered that.

"You believe me?"

Mary shakily laughed. "Would you believe me if I told you that wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened to me?" Her gaze flickered up from the floor, looking at Lilo, who wore a matching expression of a mix between curiosity and worry.

"Really?" Lilo slowly responded, readjusting her position on the bed. "That's . . . sorry, I wasn't expecting you to," she exhaled. "So, yes. Long story cut very short, Stitch is an alien. And I know a lot of them. I don't know what happened to him, cause at first I thought it was one of Jumba's portal experiments backfiring, but apparently that's not what happened."

Mary had noticed the way Lilo's voice sped up with each word. Her calm demeanor slowly crumbling as she realized what little she knew in such a vast world. 

"So, what do they look like?" Mary breathed, taking in all the knew information she had been given. "The aliens?"

"Like a lot of different things, I guess," she nervously laughed. "I just. There isn't an easy answer to any of this."