Alien X

Chapter 1

“Now class. Let’s have a review on Zudora before the test tomorrow.”

The class, including me groaned. No one liked tests. I mean, perhaps there were a few kids who did like the occasional test but in history, no one liked tests.

“Ok. First question. What was Zudora once called?” The teacher, a woman in her middle thirties, pointed to a girl who raised her hand first.

“Earth,” the girl said, her tone already indicating she was right.

“Well done.” The teacher smiled, her white teeth showing through the blackened room. I watched her turn to the white board and pressed a few buttons on the side of the wall, before an image appeared on the board. It was a picture of what we were told was a rainforest. Trees as tall as buildings covered in bright green moss towered over everything else.

“What is this?” the teacher asked the class. No one raised their hand and the teacher sighed. “We learnt about this last week. It’s the Amazon Rainforest, located in what was then known as South America.”

A few people started scribbling down notes as the teacher clicked to the next slide. This time it was an image of an adult male. Chains wrapped around its foot, which was welded to the wall behind him. He was dirty, thin and scared, his hands held in front of him as the picture was taken.

“Review now. This,” the teacher pointed to the picture, “is an adult male. Its skin is weak and loose. Able to bruise under low pressures and cut with blunt objects. Its eyes,” she zoomed in on them. They were a dark brown, but appeared black in the shadows, “cannot see in blackness like ours. Its senses aren’t as fine-tuned as ours; therefore they were slow, loud and reckless creatures.”

 More scribbling. I quickly scribbled down dot points in my book, mentally reminding myself to study later on after work. The teacher continued on with her lecture until the bell for home rang. Everyone packed up without a word, silently grabbing their bags and walking out in one line. No one said a word until they had left the school building. There, everyone burst out into chatter and laughter.

I never understood why everyone was silent when they moved from class to class. It was like an unwritten rule amongst the children. But no one complained about it during breaks. Atleast, I didn’t over hear anyone complain about it. I preferred to have no friends. Atleast until I move to one of the other cities.

I moved to the side of the crowd streaming out of the front doors, making sure to stay against the school wall. I reached up and pulled out my hair from the pony tail, shaking it loose. Silver curls spilt free and I raked my fingers through them, hoping it would do as a brush.

I heard her before I saw her. She was chatting to her friends, and then laughed at something they said back. I mentally braced myself in my head before her group walked past. I looked up just in time to catch her eyes rake over me before she rolled them and whispered something to her friends.

“Really?” her friend giggled, a little too loud. “She lives where?”