Alien or Alian

Ozias had deliberately scooted a few inches further to one side of the toilet seat, away from Ezra. He had done it as slowly as he could, and Ezra seemed more occupied with the wound on his abdomen, so maybe he didn’t notice the movement.

Ozias didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but at the same time he also wasn’t completely sure he could trust...an alien. Maybe Ethen and Ezra weren’t entirely sane. Maybe they only thought they were aliens. Maybe that’s how Ezra became injured, pretending to be an alien.

And what was with that dark blue liquid all over him? Paint? Food colouring?

“Stare a little harder, why don’t you?” Ezra teased, startling Ozias.

“S-sorry,” Ozias said. “It’s just...what is that?”

Puzzled, Ezra glanced down at his wounded stomach, then right away started to laugh. “Oh yeah, that. Forgot me and Ethen just came out to you like five minutes ago. It’s blood.”

“W-what?”

“Blood, it’s my blood. Every alian in this town has this dark blue blood. Don’t worry, it’s basically the same as human blood.”

Ozias’ shoulders drooped with skepticism. “Yours has red and white blood cells?”

“More like, blue blood cells and grey blood cells.” Ezra reached an arm out towards Ozias. “Give me your hand.”

“What? W-why?”

“The look on your face is saying you don’t believe me,” Ezra chuckled. “Seeing isn’t usually enough to believe anyway. You gotta experience things for yourself.” He feebly shook his open palm at him in waiting.

Ozias stared at the wet body part for nearly a minute before finally moving his own hand slowly towards Ezra’s. But Ezra suddenly filled the distance, gently grabbing a hold of Ozias hand, causing an inaudible yelp to escape him. With a finger from his other hand, Ezra scooped a small strip of his blood and plopped it onto one of Ozias’ fingers. This time Ozias needed no direction. He joined his thumb with his index finger, and rubbed the substance between them.

“Ugh,” Ozias grimaced. “It feels...like blood.” He pulled his hand away and dunked it into the water.

“I told you,” Ezra chuckled. “No doubt you believe me now.”

Ozias scoffed as he retracted his hand from the tub. “Let me guess, you also have two hearts but they function as one?”

“No no, we have one of each organ just like humans. But, ours are a little bit smaller…”

“I believe you,” Ozias scoffed, encouraging another laugh from Ezra. “Does it hurt though, your injury?”

“Nah, it’s not that deep. Can barely feel it.” As Ezra said it, he blenched trying to adjust himself in the tub. Ozias watched him, wincing as if he could feel the pain himself. “Just ask,” Ezra told him as he saw the look on his face. “I know you’re dying to.”

“What? Oh, no, Ethen said not to tell me anything.”

“So? The guy’s my brother but even I don’t listen to everything he says, not that I should since I’m older than him.”

Ozias’ eyes went full blown. “You mean, Ethen is your younger brother? You’re seriously the older one? Seriously?”

Ezra narrowed his eyes. “Why’d you say it like that? What’re you trying to say, huh? That Ethen’s more mature than me, is that it?”

“W-what? No, no I… Sorry I-”

“Ah relax,” Ezra snickered. “I’m just kidding. I’ve been hearing the whole ’Ethen is so mature!” thing, for like most of my childhood. Totally used to it by now. But the point is, you don’t have to take orders from him.”

“Uhm, I think you missed the actual point that you meant to explain.”

Ezra scoffed. “Wow, you really are a ‘wise guy’ aren’t you?”

Ozias felt his cheeks begin to warm as he scooted several inches even further from Ezra, and by now he was only barely sitting on the seat.

“I’m kidding again!” Ezra chuckled. “I actually like your little ‘smart aleck’ schtick. It’s subtle, nothing like Ethen who’s gotta show off every freaking day.”

Ozias wasn’t sure of what to make of any part of that sentence, but there was something that he thought he must’ve absolutely heard wrong. “You...you like that I’m smart?” There was an ample amount of bewilderment as he whispered out the question, but Ezra still heard him.

“Well, yeah. Come on, Oz. I can’t be the only one that likes a ‘subtle smarty-pants’. Oh...sorry. Could I call you ‘Oz’?”

But Ozias just stared at him like he was...an alien. The conversation just kept taking bizarre and unexpected turns. Except for when his mother called him ‘sweetie’ and his father called him ‘bud’, Ozias had never really been called a nickname by anyone else, nevermind one that was so obvious.

“Uh yeah, cool. Oz is fine,” Ozias finally said, more nonchalant than he thought he could ever pull off. It managed to put a smile on Ezra’s face though, an ability Ozias was sure he was bereft of when it came to people who weren’t his parents. “S-so what are you waiting for? Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” Ezra asked.

“About what happened to you, how you got hurt. You said I could just ask, right?”

“Right right. Ok, where to begi-aoogh.” It was like a round of gunfire had gone off as Ezra started to viciously cough.

“Hey, are you ok?” Ozias slid back across the toilet seat closer to Ezra, and leaned towards him to try and give a few pats at his back the same way he had seen Ethen do before.

Ezra had barely noticed his adjacent presence. His throat and chest tightened as the coughing rasped on, an incessant chill that seemed to be engulfing his entire body was becoming even more bitter, and his vision started to blur all over again. And then, he was out. His eyes suddenly shut and his head lolled back against the tiled wall.

“Oh God!” Ozias panicked. He was off the toilet seat in a nanosecond and reached out to clasp each side of Ezra’s head, frantically trying to shake him awake. His skin was ice cold, so it was difficult for Ozias to keep a grip on him.

After almost a minute of no response, he moved his hands to Ezra’s shoulders and again tried squeezing and shaking for as long as his freezing skin would allow. After another minute, still no response. Somewhat more panicked, Ozias moved to sit at the edge of the tub and leaned in close until his face was inches from Ezra’s. He turned his head and kept as quiet as possible while he listened for any sounds of breathing. Still nothing.

Now, Ozias was undoubtedly panicking.

He couldn’t clearly recall how to perform CPR — it had been years since he was taught it back in the tenth grade of high school — but luckily he remembered something on how to check a person’s pulse. He just hoped it applied to aliens.

With shaking hands he reached into the water and grabbed Ezra’s left hand. He got off the edge of the tub to kneel on the floor next to it, and then moved Ezra’s arm so that it was turned palm-side up and his wrist placed flat on the tub’s edge. It wasn’t necessary, but it was seemingly Ozias’ first life or death situation. He wasn’t taking any chances.

He put two fingers along the rim of Ezra’s wrist, right where it folded, and waited. It was faint, but Ozias felt it, the pulsating beat of a heart.

Ozias could physically feel his panic levels begin to cool down, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough to keep him calm for the rest of the night. Ezra couldn’t go to the hospital for whatever reason, but Ozias wasn’t going to let him stay passed out in the bathtub either. There was one other vacant bedroom right across from his own room, and those were both at the other end of the hall.

It was going to be a long, wet, and messy haul, and an even longer night.