Hope

EIGHT: There's an Alien in my Bed

"Daddy," a voice whispers by my ear.

I scrunch up my eyes, a smile making its way onto my face as little hands smack against my cheeks.

"Daddy, wake up!" the voice whispers again in a not so quiet voice.

Taking a quick peak, I can't help but grin as I spot the toddler with his head on the pillow besides mine, fingers shoved in his mouth.

"Five more minutes!" I lunge for him, peals of laughter filling the quiet morning as I tickle him and pepper kisses all over his face.

"Daddy, stop!" he giggles.

~~~

My eyes open only to be assaulted by the sunlight. It's only been a few hours since Lavere woke up, but the curtains in this room don't block out the light as well as I hoped.

Rolling over, my eyes open once again, but my body tenses as I'm met with a different kind of view.

Caster. Caster, who is in my bed. Caster, who has his face tucked into a pillow with his mouth parted. Caster, who is still sound asleep.

Holding my breath for a few moments, I listen as the alien releases the tiniest of snores. The sound more of a purr than anything else.

I've never seen an alien so close before. They truly are not from this world. Well, Caster seems a little different to the other two aliens that live here. He seems a little more human. A little more human and a little more real.

Now that I'm so close to his face, I can see how his skin darkens across his cheeks in a deep orange. Gold flecks spill across his face like freckles, but the fascinating thing about them is that they shine like glitter in the morning sunlight.

It's very strange to be so close to someone who looks so human but isn't. Studying his face, it's easy to see how his eyes and face shape is different to a human's. How his ears poke through his hair in tapered points. How even his breathing sounds different as it hums through his lungs.

Caster is an alien, that's a fact, but there's something different about him than the others in the Mirker household. His skin isn't near blue, for starters. His hair doesn't cascade like silk, but instead curls up around his face in a fluffy, honey-coloured mane. He's nowhere near as graceful as Aliston, and he lacks Avørek's poise. What is it that makes him so different from the aliens of the same species?

"Caster?" I whisper.

He purrs in his throat, nose twitching.

"Caster, it's time to get up," I whisper again in a sing-song voice, poking his cheek.

He ignores me, rubbing his face deeper into my pillow as he releases a rather loud purr.

I can't help the small grin that makes its way onto my face, but I know I can't let him sleep in any longer. Gently, I grab his shoulder and shake him.

"Cas, you have to get up." I chuckle.

"No," he whines, turning so his face is completely hidden by the plushness of the pillow.

My pillow.

"The sun's up," I say, a little louder this time. "Aliston will want his breakfast, and you never did water your plants."

"Flowers?" His muffled question makes me laugh.

He turns so he can face me, blinking open his big blue eyes still glazed over with sleep.

"Yeah," I laugh, poking him once again. "The flowers need to be watered."

He nods, slowly sitting up with a large, sharply toothed yawn.