Enceladus

I had one more year until I graduated OSU. I liked taking classes on Earth. I liked the professors and the subjects. Back on Enceladus, I had tutors for every basic subject. I never got to take any art classes or foreign languages besides English. I never even got to choose my classes. Enceladian children went to school until they were eighty years old and were taught English, writing, reading and mathematics.

One thing I didn’t know was what I’d do with my major. This quarter I was taking psychology 301, speech 110, Spanish three and French.

I hopped out of the shower, put my blue contacts in and got dressed.

OSU wasn’t very far from my apartment but I didn’t stay on campus because it felt like a prison, like how I had felt on Enceladus. So I got in my Prius anyway and drove the short distance.

“Amy?” I turned around and Lainie was running up to me. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a black pea coat with a blue scarf. She had dyed all of her hair a vibrant blue.

Lainie also attended OSU, as I found out last week during a coffee date. The date was cut short because she had a family emergency. After that we hadn’t had time to get together again.

“Hey,” I said. She grabbed the crook of my elbow and walked with me into the main building where we shared the same French class.

She unraveled her scarf from her neck. “Sorry we couldn’t get together again.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. We have all year, right?” I said.

“’Course.” She tightened her hand on my arm as we walked into our classroom.

After class, Lainie looked at me like she was going to be sick. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I think this class is going to be hard.”

She was going to Ohio State to be a nurse and this was her first time taking anything other than Spanish. “I can help you if you’d like,” I offered.

“I’d love that!” she squealed. She was adorable.

“Cool. Well, do you want to do something after our classes?” I grinned.

“Hell yeah! I’ll meet you in front of the cafeteria!” She took a few steps back and waved goodbye.

After Spanish, I met Lainie. “Hey, darlin’,” she said.

I smiled despite the nerves running wild in my stomach. “Where should we go?” I asked.

“We could get an early dinner,” she proposed.

We took my car to Roosters, a casual American lunch and dinner restaurant.

“So, were you serious about helping with French?” Lainie said.

“Yes, of course. I’d be honored.”

She grinned.

“You have a gorgeous smile,” I said to her which made her grin even more.

“You’re too sweet.” Her chocolate eyes shined.

We ordered our food.

“So, have you had anymore dizzy attacks?” Lainie asked.

I shook my head.

“How do you get your hair so silky? It’s perfect,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t kn-” I was stopped by her hand running through my hair, lightly brushing my cheek. A tingle spread throughout my body.

“Sorry,” she mumbled and yanked her hand back.

“No, it’s alright.” I rested my hand on hers. “I’ll be right back.” I slid out of the booth and saw a boy with ash hair.

“Shut up!” I screamed at Caelum. He was telling me that mother had an affair to conceive me. “That’s not true!”

He vigorously nodded his head; his light charcoal hair shaking with it. I was very young, about nineteen. Cal was 239. He knew better about making his little sister cry. “Think about it, Amelia. You look nothing like mother, father or any of us.” He stalked closer to me. “You don’t belong here. You should just run away. Live with the poor, you will fit right in.”

“Quit! I hate you! Why are you saying these things?”

“Because they are true.” He grabbed my wrists and threw me down. “Accept it.” He then spread his white wings and flew away.

“Amy?”

I snapped back to reality. Lainie was watching me with worried eyes. I cleared my throat. “I’m alright.” I rushed off to the bathroom. Once there, I splashed cold water in my face.

Get it together, Amelia.

These flashbacks were going to ruin my chances with Lainie. She’d think I had some sort of sickness.

I walked back out, smiling like nothing happened.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m great. Great to be here with you.”

Lainie smiled. “I like hanging out with you.” She grabbed my hand.

I like hanging out with you too. It makes me feel human.

I dropped Lainie off back at campus where she lived.

“Let’s do this again,” I said to her.

She kissed me on the cheek in answer. My heart practically stopped.

As I was driving home, I had this eerie sense that something bad had happened back on Enceladus. It was like a light finger caressing the back of my neck. But that was ridiculous, right? I didn’t have powers and if I did, that kind of thing wouldn’t be included.

I walked through my door and knew something was off, wrong. I opened my computer and I had an unread email.

It read;

Amelia,

I have some bad news. Mother and father have been murdered in a coup . . . The murderers have worked their way into our government. Our world is in chaos. Public executions, attacks, murders, everything that father kept at bay. The citizens won’t let us bury mother and father. If there even is anything of mother left to bury . . . We need you to come back. We need your help. The others don’t want to admit that we need your level-headed thinking. Caelum is being a ðüâ as usual. And the rest don’t know what to do. You’d know what to do. Please come back to us.

Ü mïð zü. I miss you.

~Lynx

Šĉôt. I swore out loud.

Orion and Vela were dead? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. They never expressed their love for me. Orion hardly ever looked at me. I barely called him father. Once he told me not to call him father. Vela was always judging my actions and my words. She never let me have a moment of peace. Lynx was the only one who actually loved me.

I couldn’t return to Enceladus.

So I wrote back to Lynx;

I can’t. Come to Earth. Live with me.

Lynx had only contacted me once since I had been on Earth. He had simply said “I miss you” in Enceladian.

I kept thinking about my flashback in the restaurant. Caelum had always said things like that to me. But he was completely right and now I did accept it. I looked nothing like any of them. Vela, Orion, Cass and Lynx all had snow-white hair. Del and Cal had ash-white hair. And here I was with black hair and grey eyes.

They all had powers and white wings. But me? No powers, no wings.

All Enceladians had special abilities. They all possessed telekinesis, invisibility, mind control and control of the elements. The normal citizens (non-royalty) were only able to use one power as per King Orion’s restricting law. The citizens could be punished if they used a power outside of their specialization. Based on the citizen’s chosen power, the king put them in divisions. Everyone who chose telekinesis lived in the T Division, and so on. Enceladians couldn’t even use a power in public. It was unbelievably controlling. Orion had to control every single aspect of Enceladus. I was glad I left.

I pulled out my homework and sat at my desk.

I was somewhat troubled by my powerless body. When I got to Earth, I mostly forgot about my abilities, or lack thereof. There wasn’t a pressure to be something more. I remembered one day when I was thirty-one;

“Quit it!” Cassiopeia yelled. Delphinus was using her invisibility to yank Cass’ hair.

“Only if you can catch me,” chuckled a disembodied Del.

Cass used her control of the elements (wind) to throw some sand into the air so it would land on Del and outline her body.

We were outside of the kingdom but still inside the gates. Enceladus was a dark, wet, icy planet. There were small rivers nearly everywhere. Since Enceladus was one of Saturn’s moons, it was dark. We had no sun.

“Amy, why don’t you use your powers? Or your wings? Or anything?” Del teased. She wasn’t invisible anymore.

I tried and tried to summon some power, any power. But nothing came out. Not even my wings. I felt they never would.

When I opened my eyes, I was laying on my desk, with a piece of paper stuck to my face. My stomach growled.

Earth food didn’t satisfy my Enceladian hunger as much as Enceladus food. So, I basically had to eat like an animal. Enceladians were stronger, taller and had amazing memory compared to humans.

Humans greatly outnumbered Enceladians by billions. Our population was 503,007. We had population control too, so there was nowhere near seven billion people. Plus, there was no room. Everyone on my planet could live comfortably in New Jersey (which is the smallest state in the U.S.). Almost too comfortably. Enceladus was 545 kilometers (313 miles) in diameter and Earth was 12,743 km (7,918 mi). We used kilometers on Enceladus.

My stomach brought me back to Earth.

I had perfected the making of ramen noodles. I had never had to cook for myself until eight years ago when I moved to Earth. So, when I did come, I was ashamed to say it was a culture shock.

After dinner, I fell asleep reading my psychology textbook.

That night, I had the worst dream I’d ever had.

Mother was screaming. Screaming her head off. “Orion!” she yelled. “Please, stop. He’s your King! Do not disrespect him.”

I was standing outside their enormous room. I couldn’t see what was going on but I heard it all. I heard screams and yells and grunts.

I realized Orion was getting beaten. I heard his groans and cries of pain. Why wasn’t he using his powers? And why wasn’t I helping?

Vela kept yelling “stop”.

“Shut up!” yelled a man. I heard a slapping sound.

“Don’t touch her,” growled Orion.

I heard a sharp gasp followed by the cries of my estranged father.

Suddenly I found my courage and stumbled through the door.

My eyes were instantly wet with tears.

Mother’s arm was laying over by Orion. But that wasn’t what made bile come up my throat. My mother’s body was all the way across the room.

I had to swallow several times so I didn’t lose my lunch.

There were six men with swords and one with a bloody machete.

“Well hello. You must be the môn. I don’t care what people say, you’re pretty,” the man with the machete said.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any powers or wings. I still didn’t understand why Orion or Vela weren’t using their powers.

Orion was holding mothers one-armed, limp body, sobbing. “Take Amelia, leave us alone,” he was saying. Trying to barter me off to the terrorists. I didn’t think he could sink that low.

Just then one of the men came up to me and slit my throat.

I sat upright in bed, sweat dripping off my forehead. What a dream. Just a dream. But in his email, Lynx had said there was nothing left of mother’s body to bury. Maybe a part of the dream was real. I shuddered.

I laid back down and was jolted by a knock at my door.

I rolled out of bed and opened it. It was Lainie. And she was crying.

“Lainie? Are you alright? Tell me, what’s wrong?” I ushered her inside and brought her some tissues.

“It’s-it’s my mom . . . she’d dead.”

I gasped and gathered her in my arms, leading her to my couch. She rested her head on my shoulder and kept crying. In the back of my mind, I thought, she lost her mother the same day as I lost mine. Though I wasn’t crying about it.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know where to go. She was the only one I had left.”

The clock read four a.m.

I just hugged her tightly. She looked up into my eyes. She inhaled sharply. “Wait. Your eyes . . . they’re grey.”

Šĉôt. “They’re contacts,” I lied.

She nodded absentmindedly. “I’m sorry. We’ve only just met and now I’m crying on your shoulder,” Lainie said, grabbing a tissue.

“No, it’s okay. I’m here for you. That’s what friends are for. Even new friends.” I grabbed her hand.

“Friends?”

“Well of course.”

“I was hoping we could be more . . .” Lainie leaned forward and kissed me.

Her lips felt just like I’d imagined they would. I could taste her tears. She kissed me deeper and I pulled her close. She broke away and her cheeks were rosy.

She grinned at me with now dry eyes. “Do you have class tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Just psych at 5:30, an evening class.”

“Um . . . do you mind if I stay here until morning?” Lainie asked timidly.

“Of course. It’s no problem at all. You can sleep in my bed. I’ll take the couch.”

I got some blankets for the couch and we laid in our respective places. “Goodnight Lainie,” I called from the living room.

“Goodnight Amy. Thank you for letting me stay.”

I nodded then remembered she couldn’t see me. “You’re welcome.”

It was silent for a while. “Amy?” Pause. “Will you, um-will you sleep in here with me?”

My heart skipped a beat. I got up with an embarrassingly big smile on my face and made my way to the bedroom. I started to set out a blanket on the floor.

“No, right here.” She patted the bed.

My smile grew even bigger. It was a good thing it was dark. I was sure my cheeks were abnormally red. I settled in next to her and she snuggled up to me. I put my arm around her and pulled her closer. She soon fell asleep.