LIS: My Other Half (Nathan Prescott)

2.5

With Nathan just barely keeping up, Hazel and I scurry around as we prepare the set. I grab a long ribbon, pushing nathan down to his knees and tying his hands behind his back. We set up the toy aliens around him and push him in the corner of the room. Hazel and I both grab our blasters and cowboy hats and begin the scene.

"The coordinates lead to here, Lieutenant Hazel." I say, gun pointed to the air as we slowly walk around, scouting out the area.

"Maybe it's a dead end, Major Maeve."

"Wait, there!" I point to Nathan who looks at us with uncertainty. "There's the president, and the Star Stealer is with him!"

"Don't shoot!" Hazel commands, pointing her gun to SS. "Let the president go, Star Stealer."

"Or else!" I add.

"Ah-Ha! You'll never get him back alive! I have a bomb tied to him, y'see?" I say in a silly voice.

"Uh... Oh no... save me." Nathan says unenthusiastically.

"We'll save you, Mr. President!" I yell. "So here's the plan..." I whisper loudly to Hazel. "You distract SS, and I'll go remove the bomb and free the president, and we both take SS out. Got it?"

"Got it." Hazel replies, looking to SS with a serious look. "So, mister Star Thief."

"It's Star Stealer!" I speak for him as I run to Nathan.

"Yeah, yeah..." as she continues, I quickly untie Nathan and take the watch, aka 'bomb' that was placed next to him and throw it across the room. I give the 'ok' signal to Hazel and we both point our guns to SS.

"It's over, Star Loser. We've got you." I say, pushing Nathan behind me.

"You'll be spending the rest of your life in... uh, space prison!" Hazel says with a snicker.

I had to force myself to stop giggling. "Heh.. Oh no! I'll rot in there!" SS says.

"That's the plan." I reply. "Putting gun in 'knockout' mode..." I say before firing the weapon. After taking him out, Hazel and I turn to face Nathan with confident smiles.

"Uh... thanks, space cowgirls. You totally saved my life, and stuff..."

"It's no problem!" Hazel says.

"Just our jobs five days a week." I add, looking to Hazel, then bursting out in laughter. Nathan sighs and shakes his head.

"Aren't you guys like, 13? And you still play imagination?"

"At least we have fun, loser." I say.

"You're both complete dorks." he scoffs. "Hit me up when you wanna have real fun."

"Nathan! Time to go!" Mr. Prescott calls from downstairs. We watch as Nathan leaves.

"I don't like him." Hazel speaks up once he's gone.

"I think he's pretty cool." I say, taking the hat off and tossing it to my bed.

"Eugh!" Hazel groans. I laugh at her disgust.

"Whatever. He's pretty cute. He probably hates his dad as much as we do—did you see the way he looked at him at dinner?"

"Pft, yeah. Better be careful though, he might be our new stepbrother soon."

"Ew! Don't even joke about that." I say, shivering in disgust. We both fall silent as the same thought comes to mind: our mom marrying Mr. Prescott. Gross. We simultaneously begin for the door, creeping down the steps and watching as the family leaves, Mr. Prescott leaving last, flashing a wink to momma before leaving out the door. She closes the door, wiping the sweat from her brow and calling us down. We look to one another before heading down the steps.
She lets out an exhausted sigh. "You two did better than I expected. Good job. Now go clean their dishes and get ready for bed." she begins walking away but suddenly stops. "You can stay up late and watch TV, just keep the volume down. I'm heading off to bed. Goodnight." She waves with her back to us and drags herself up the stairs.
We begin washing the dishes and take off these god-awful dresses and plop onto the soft reclining couch and switch on the TV, watching Woody Woodpecker until we inevitably fall asleep with Hazel's head on my shoulder.

As I drifted off, a dream began. I was on a floating platform in a black-and-white galaxy in space. I look around and see ahead of me someone sitting on the edge of the platform. I walk to them to find it was my father, his shiny bald spot giving him away. I sit next to him, letting my feet dangle off the edge, looking down to my bare toes. I wriggle them around, thinking 'this feels so real'.
"Where are you?" I ask daddy.

"Your mother doesn't want me around anymore."

"She's having an affair with the neighbor Mr. Prescott."

He sighs, nodding his head slowly as he stares out to the universe. "I know."

I smack my lips. "I hate it. I wish you were still here. It really sucks without you, mom is a lot more strict when you're gone."

He laughs. "I know, I wish I was still there with you and Hazel. But your mom's the one bringing in all the bank and the house is in her name, so I had to go... Sorry about that, cowgirl." he pats my head.
I notice the ground we sat on begin to crumble.
"Daddy?" I say, looking up from the growing cracks and to him. He smiles to me one last time before the portion he sat on broke off and he fell. "DADDY!" I cry out, then freezing as I felt the ground beneath me begin to crack and shake. I take one last deep breath as it finally breaks and I begin endlessly falling. I don't scream, I don't flail, but I can feel my heart beating through my chest, pounding like it's about to jump through.