Kyle groaned as he woke up to the persistent knocking at his bedroom door. He squinted at the sunlight peeking through his curtains, trying to ignore it and go back to sleep, but the knocking only grew louder, sharper.
Finally, he snapped. He threw off the covers and stormed to the door, yanking it open. "What is it?" he barked at the head maid.
The head maid did not flinch at his attitude. She had seen it countless times before. "You will be late for school, young master," she said calmly, her voice steady and firm.
"I wasn't planning on going anyway!" Kyle shouted, slamming the door in her face.
On the other side, the maid shook her head in exasperation and left, muttering something under her breath. Kyle returned to his bed, diving under the covers, and let out a satisfied sigh.
"That was rude," came a soft, unfamiliar voice.
"I don't care," Kyle muttered without opening his eyes.
A few seconds passed in tense silence before Kyle sat up abruptly, horror spreading across his face. He turned toward the source of the voice and froze. There, by his open bedroom window, stood the alien girl he had captured. She was dressed in his clothes, fanning herself with a delicate metallic antique hand fan he had received for his last birthday.
Kyle's eyes darted to the sofa where he had left her tied up. The ropes lay loose on the floor, but the sofa was empty.
"Good morning," the alien girl said casually, fanning herself as if nothing unusual had happened.
For the first time in a long while, Kyle was afraid. He hadn't thought through what it would mean to bring a captured alien into his room. His entire plan had been simple: tie her up, keep her unconscious, tell his mother, and bask in their admiration for being clever and resourceful. He had never imagined that she could wake up, untie herself, and casually appear in his room.
"How-how did you free yourself?" Kyle stammered, his eyes wide.
Leah let go of the fan, but instead of falling, it floated gently in the air, fanning her automatically. Kyle's jaw dropped. His luck had just taken a serious turn for the worse. The alien he had captured had powers.
"I'm Leah, by the way. And you are?" she asked, her voice calm and curious as she continued fanning herself.
"Kyle," he said, still staring at the hovering fan.
"Well, Kyle, could you do something about the heat? It's bothering me and I can't think," Leah said, her tone casual as if she were asking him to hand her a cup of water.
"The heat?" Kyle repeated, struggling to process what he had just seen and heard.
"Yes, the heat. Your planet is so hot. I can't bear it," Leah said, her eyes scanning the room, clearly uncomfortable.
"My planet… what?" Kyle finally said, snapping out of his shock.
Leah frowned and stepped closer to him, bending slightly to meet his eyes. Kyle froze under her gaze.
"Are you partially deaf or something?" she asked sharply.
"What? No, I'm not!" Kyle replied, stepping back instinctively.
"Good. Then do something about the heat," Leah said.
Kyle hesitated, then decided he needed some control in this situation. "If I do, you have to promise not to kill me," he said, trying to sound braver than he felt.
"I wasn't planning to," Leah said, rolling her eyes as she sat down on the sofa.
Kyle rose from the bed and moved toward the thermostat, never taking his eyes off her. She kept her eyes on him as well, her expression calm and collected. He lowered the temperature on the thermostat, then spoke. "Shut the window, will you?"
Leah didn't move a muscle but simply used her telekinesis to close it. The blinds followed, and the window clicked shut without her touching it. She sighed in relief as the cooler air brushed over her skin and leaned back into the sofa, fanning herself manually again with the hand fan.
Kyle watched her carefully. Apart from the bluish tint of her skin, she looked entirely human. Her hair, pale and smooth, framed a face that could have been any teenager's, except for the eyes, which were sharper, brighter, and oddly intense. And she spoke perfect English. That alone made Kyle's stomach twist in nervous excitement.
"Have you guys been studying us?" Kyle asked, his voice cautious, as he slowly reached for his cellphone on the study table.
Before his fingers could touch it, the phone lifted off the table and floated into Leah's hands. Kyle froze.
"Nice try," Leah said, placing the phone down beside her with a small smirk. Kyle stepped back, suddenly feeling completely unguarded.
"Relax," she added, noticing the look on his face. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just don't want to be reported to your local authorities and end up hunted and dissected like you do with rodents."
Kyle blinked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait, how do you know our language? Have you been… studying us? Are you planning to invade Earth?"
Leah shook her head, her expression calm but distant. "I grew up with this language. How we learned it… I can't reveal that. But it certainly wasn't by studying you. And no, we weren't planning on invading Earth. We weren't even supposed to pass by this planet."
Kyle moved cautiously toward his bed and sat down, trying to wrap his mind around her words. "Then why are you here?"
Leah's gaze fell to the floor, and she spoke softly, almost to herself. "I was abandoned."
Kyle's eyebrows shot up. "Oh… so nobody's coming to pick you up?"
She shook her head slowly. "Yeah. …So anyways, don't turn me in, and I won't kill you," she added, her tone returning to her usual light, carefree rhythm.
Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you already promise not to hurt me if I reduced the temperature in the room?"
Leah's lips curved into a small smile. "I didn't, but now I am, roomie."
"Roomie?" Kyle repeated, confusion written all over his face.
Leah shrugged, still fanning herself with the hand fan. "Yeah, roomie. You're keeping me comfortable, I'm keeping you alive. Fair deal, right?"
---
"This is amazing," Leah said after swallowing. "What did you say this is called again?"
"A banana," Kyle answered, leaning against his desk with his arms crossed. He was trying not to stare, but it was hard not to. Watching an alien casually eat fruit from his kitchen felt unreal.
"It tastes great," Leah said, clearly pleased. She examined the peel for a moment before confidently unpeeling another one. "Your planet has strange food, but I like it."
Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you really sure nobody is coming to get you? I mean… maybe it was just a misunderstanding. People fight. Crews argue. Maybe they will come back."
He did not like the way his chest tightened as he spoke. The thought of living with a dangerous alien who could probably kill him without effort made his skin crawl. Hiding her from his parents made it worse. Feeding her, finding her clothes, explaining her presence if she ever got caught, it all felt like a disaster waiting to happen. And where would she even sleep long term? The sofa was barely big enough for a human, let alone someone who might not even need sleep the same way he did.
In his mind, there was only one reasonable outcome. Leah needed to leave Earth as soon as possible.
Leah stopped eating. The banana hung loosely in her hand as her expression hardened, then softened into something tired.
"Misunderstandings don't end with abandoning the captain on a hostile planet and leaving," she said quietly. "They made their choice."
Kyle groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Great. Just great. Do you have any idea how screwed I am if my parents find out about this?"
Leah tilted her head, studying him. "You worry too much."
"That is easy for you to say," Kyle muttered, lowering his hands. "You are not the one who has to explain why there is an alien living in his bedroom."
She shrugged. "Stop acting like I asked you to defuse a bomb. I can take care of myself. I just need food, water, and clothes." She tapped the arm of the sofa with her free hand. "And I can sleep here."
Kyle stared at the sofa, then at her, then back at the sofa. The room suddenly felt much smaller.
"This is insane," he said under his breath.
Still, he stood up and walked toward the bathroom. He changed his clothes slowly, trying to calm his thoughts, then slipped on his shoes. When he came back out and headed for the door, Leah looked up from where she sat.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
Kyle paused with his hand on the doorknob. "To get you some stuff."