Chapter Text
Jim sat on his bed with his hands covered over his ears. His mommy and her new boyfriend, Frank, were fighting about something and Jim didn’t like it. He wanted to run to his brother’s room but Sam banned him from doing that after Jim had accidentally wet Sam’s bed.
So Jim sat on his bed and bared through the yelling, staring at the poster on his wall across from him. His mother had gotten it for him for his last birthday. It showed a cartoon rocket ship flying in space.
Jim heard through his hands the sound of the front door slamming shut then some stomping up the stairs. Jim removed his hands from his ears and laid down, burrowing under his covers to make it look like he was asleep.
The stomping stopped and turned into light footsteps that came to his bedroom door. Jim closed his eyes as the door creaked open.
“Jimmy?” his mother’s voice whispered. “You sleeping, sweetheart?”
Jim laid still, not wanting his mom to think he was awake or else she’d try and read him a story about his dad which always made her cry. He couldn’t handle that right now.
“Night night then. Mommy loves you,” she said before shutting the door and walking away.
Jim laid still for a while, waiting he heard his mom’s door shut and the old farmhouse grow eerily quiet. When he was sure his mom was asleep, Jim sat up on his bed. He waited for a little while to make sure the coast was clear before getting out of bed and walking slowly to his door.
He opened and peeked out into the hallway before creeping out of the room and towards the bathroom. He’d had to go for a while but had to hold it.
When he finally finished his business he decided to get a snack so he crept downstairs and went to the kitchen. He saw the time on the oven read 2:07 as he grabbed a juice box from the fridge. He put the straw, pierced the top and sipped at it as he walked over to the back door and opened it.
Jim stepped outside in his pajamas and walked off the porch to stand on the grass so he could look up at the stars.
“Pretty,” he said before taking another sip of his juice box. He was about to turn back to the house when his body started to tingle and the farm around him slowly disappeared.
The next thing Jim knew was that he was standing in a metal room on a round light.
Jim blinked and saw two funny looking people standing behind a partition staring at him. Jim saw they had pointy ears and funny eyebrows. They also looked a little mean as they stared at him.
“Hello,” Jim said hesitantly. “Are you aliens?”
The aliens cocked their heads to the side before speaking to each other in a weird language. Jim lifted a hand and waved at them.
One hesitantly waved back before the other pressed a button and Jim started to feel tingly again. The metal room disappeared and he found himself in another room but this time it was empty.
Jim shrugged, drank his juice, and then walked towards the open door and down a hallway. Wherever he was had lights that were blinking red and a siren sound could be heard blaring in the distance.
Jim turned a corner and found himself in front of a young alien who looked a little older than himself with short black hair, slanted brows, and pointy ears. He looked friendlier than the previous aliens.
The alien child blinked and took a step back from Jim, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Jim looked the alien over and saw they were wearing what looked like a dress with a high collar.
“Are you a girl?” Jim asked.
“I am male,” the alien replied. “How did you come to be here?”
“I dunno,” Jim replied, shrugging. “I was on my farm then felt tingly and then I was in a metal room with,” Jim then paused and leaned closer to the boy as if to tell him a secret. “I think they were aliens.”
“Aliens,” the boy repeated.
“Uh-huh! They looked like meanies with your eyebrows and pointy elf ears like yours.”
The boy reached up to his own pointed ear.
“Are we on a space ship?” Jim asked the alien boy.
“Yes,” he replied hesitantly.
“That’s cool. Why can’t I see any stars?”
“Would you…would you care to see them?”
Jim nodded in response.
“Follow me then,” the alien boy said before turning and walking down another hallway.
Jim quickly followed, looking at his surroundings but not seeing anything of note.
After a few moments they came to a door that slid open on its own. They entered and the alien boy led Jim over to a large clear wall in the room.
Jim’s jaw dropped at seeing the moon right in front of them and the Earth not too far behind the moon.
“Wow,” Jim gasped, walking closer to the window and staring out. It was beautiful. Jim then jumped back slightly, dropping his juice box, when he saw a space ship appear on the other side of the moon. It looked sinister.
“They cannot hurt you,” the alien boy said before pressing a button and causing the window to darken so Jim couldn’t see out anymore. Jim looked to the boy and smiled.
“How old are you?” the alien boy asked.
“This many,” Jim said, holding up four fingers.
“Fascinating,” the alien boy said. “What is your name?”
“Jim. What is yours?”
“My name is…” the boy tried saying before the floor rocked under them and the room shifted to the side slightly as if it was hit.
Jim fell forward onto the boy who fell back to the ground.
“Ow,” Jim yelped as he sat up on the alien boy’s chest. He looked at his wrist and pouted at it.
“Are you hurt?” the boy asked, reaching out and grabbing Jim’s hand.
Jim’s hand tingled very strongly where they touched, causing both to pull their hands away.
“That felt funny,” Jim said, shaking his hand.
“Indeed. Please remove yourself from my person. There is something wet under me.”
“I didn’t do it,” Jim told him, standing up. “I haven’t wet my bed in…”
“It is your liquid drink,” the boy interrupted, standing up and looking at the squished juice box he had fallen on. The other boy then stared down at Jim with his big brown eyes.
“What you looking at?” Jim asked a little petulantly.
“Your eyes.”
Jim scrunched up his face in confusion before hearing footsteps quickly approach.
“Sa-fu!” a voice yelled from around a corner just before a tall adult alien who looked like the alien boy appeared. The adult alien stopped in his tracks and stared as the alien boy turned away from Jim and spoke to the adult in a different, but still weird, language.
“Are you an alien too?” Jim asked, looking up at the tall alien with pointy ears and slanted eyebrows.
“Where did you come from?” the alien asked, slowly walking towards the alien boy and Jim.
“Riverside, Iowa,” Jim replied proudly. “I know my whole address too. I learned it in my preschool.”
“Fascinating,” the alien boy said.
The ship shook again but no one fell that time.
“May I keep him?” the alien boy asked the adult.
“Rai,” the adult alien said tersely before speaking more in the weird language to the boy. The boy looked away and nodded. Jim saw the alien boy’s cheeks look a little green.
Jim shook his head then walked to the adult and pulled on his dress-like outfit. The adult looked down at him and raised a brow.
“Mister Alien, have I been abjucted?” Jim asked. “Like when aliens take humans to their ships for esperments?” Jim was so proud of the big words he used, just like his older brother did when he told Jim stories about the big black space and the pretty stars.
“The words are abducted and experiments. And no, you have not been abducted,” the alien told him before leaning down and picking Jim up, settling him on his hip. “You will be taken home now.”
“We’re on a space ship,” Jim said. “Why are your ears pointy? Are you an elf alien?”
“No,” the adult alien said before turning and walking down another hallway with Jim. The alien boy tried to follow, but the adult turned to him and said, “Go to your mother.”
The alien nodded then held his hand up in a ‘V’ shape to Jim. “Live long and prosper, Jim.”
“Seeya later alligator!” Jim called back as the alien adult continued to walk away.
Jim and the tall alien entered the room Jim had first appeared in. This time there was a human man in the room sitting in front of a computer-like desk. Jim waved at him and got a wide-eyed look back.
The adult carrying him spoke to the human. “The Romulans must have taken him accidentally.”
“I see that,” the human said.
“Whats a Rawmulin?” Jim asked. “Can I stay and fly the ship?”
“No,” they both replied.
Jim pouted.
The alien holding him looked to him and asked, “What is the precise location of your home in Riverside, Iowa?”
“Um…a farm.”
The alien raised a brow as the human chuckled. “You said you knew your address.”
“Oh! Yeah, I do. It’s 1202 Pine Street.”
The alien nodded.
“I know where that is,” the human male said, smiling at Jim before tapping at the computer in front of him.
The alien nodded before walking over to a platform and standing on it with Jim.
“Can we go to the moon?” Jim asked. “Or Mars. Are you a Martian, mister?”
“No,” was the reply.
“I’ll see you soon, Jim,” the human behind the computer said before pressing a button.
Jim waved at him before started feeling tingly again.
Before Jim knew it he was back in his backyard. It was still night time and it looked like everyone was still asleep in the house.
The alien walked Jim to the back porch and sat him on his feet. Jim let go over the man and found he’d pulled a pin from the alien’s dress-like outfit. Jim looked at the pin which was a circle with a triangle and another small circle above the triangle.
“Here,” Jim said, holding the pin out to the alien. “I’m sorry.”
“It is of no consequence and you may keep it.”
“Thank you!” Jim said, closing his fist around the pin. “Can we go to the moon now?”
“No, you will go inside and go to bed,” the alien said, kneeling down in front of Jim. The alien then held out a hand towards Jim’s face.
“Was that boy your son?” Jim asked.
The alien paused with his hand just an inch from Jim’s face. “Yes.”
“Can he come over and play?”
“No, you will not remember him nor me in the morning.”
“Why?” Jim asked, looking at the alien with his big blue eyes.
The alien sighed then pulled his hand away and stood up. “You are dreaming.”
“Nuh-uh I’m not!”
“Yes, you are. Now, go inside and go to bed.”
“If I’m dreaming, I’d already be in bed, mister. Can I give you a juice box for your son? I’m sorry he fell on mine and got wet.”
“I do not…”
“Wait here!” Jim said before turning and rushing into his house, his bare feet making soft slapping noises on the floor. He grabbed a juice box from the fridge then ran back outside, but there was no alien any more.
“Hey, Mister!” Jim called out, stepping off the porch and looking up at the stars, the juice box raised high towards the sky. He pouted then turned back around and went inside. Jim put the juice box back in the fridge, then looked to the pin in his hand.
Jim smiled at it before rushing up the stairs and running in to his brother’s room.
“Sammy!” Jim whispered, climbing onto his brother’s bed and shaking him as hard as he could.
Sam groaned and woke up, glaring at his brother. “What do you want you turd?”
Jim stopped shaking him and looked at his brother with a serious expression. “I was abducted by aliens.”