Alien or Alian

The nippy December air had made a seven block walk seem like a seventy-mile walk, and Ozias Precht hadn’t been up to travel either distance on this cold night, but finally he had arrived.

The house of Star Football Captain, Ethen Knillimhyr, didn’t look so big and grand on the outside, but Ozias knew that it would look like some kind of futuristic world on the inside. He’d been hearing the rumors non-stop during one of his afternoon writing courses: ‘Have you seen Ethen Knillimhyr’s place? It’s an ultramodern palace!’

The house was two stories tall, and about 1800 square feet. If it really was a palace, it was a small one, Ozias thought.

He stood there on the edge of the sidewalk, two meters from the flight of wooden steps that led up to the spacious porch guarding the front door. He’d been standing there for ten minutes, gloved hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, and his head aimed at the inky sky.

It was supposed to snow tonight, a lot, and Ozias wasn’t sure why he was waiting for it to happen. He hated the snow. He hated the cold. He hated being out in the cold, especially when there was potential snow on the way, yet there he was.

His gaze lingered on the ether, and he wondered for a stray moment if there was anything up in the spatial expanse that actually enjoyed the cold, that relished in the first flakes of snow that formed in Earth’s atmosphere rather than the first drop of rain. It had been a long time since he watched any kind of science-fiction movie, but otherworldly postulation still tended to invade his thoughts whenever he gave the skies the time of day.

And he was so focused on the sky that he didn’t notice two older girls frolicking towards him from behind. They didn’t stop, and ended up bumping right into Ozias, jerking him from his trance.

“Oops!” one of the girls giggled.

“Sorry!” the other girl shouted, also while giggling.

The two continued their giggling fit as they scampered up the steps and threw open the front door, disappearing into the house. Ozias hadn’t even gotten a good look at them. His gray square-framed glasses had been knocked astray, and he stumbled to get them realigned again. Once they were back in place, he quickly scanned his surroundings in case there was someone else about to crash into him again.

He glanced down each side of the ill-lit roads — not a soul in sight. He was all alone. Turning back to face the house, he stared at the front door as if it was a black hole about to suck him in and trap him forever.

He knew he couldn’t stand outside all night long ‘waiting for it to snow’, but he also knew that he hadn’t really thought it through long enough when he decided to come here.

Before he could make a clear decision this time, he heard faint sounds of more laughter, coming from both directions of the road. All Ozias could make out were vague silhouettes in the distance getting closer and closer. Panicked, he saw no other choice than to dart up the steps. After fumbling with the door knob a few times, he finally managed a grip and thrusted it open.

Inside the house, pop music blared from an unidentifiable source. There were mid-twenty to late-thirty year old's strewn all about the place; some half-naked, some drunk, some half-naked and drunk. Ozias didn’t know where to look let alone where to go next.

A horde of people crowded near the door either talking or singing along to the music as loud as they could. A celebration for the end of a long semester was in full play. The exam period was still on-going for some, but the abundance of people that had shown up to the party made Ozias think that not many were worrying about that.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to turn around, run back home, and get back to work on his nonexistent novel, Ozias thought. The elusive loose pages of fiction were undoubtedly more alluring than intermingling with his peers, and anyhow, there was no shame in calling it quits when it came to suffocating social situations like this. It wasn’t like anyone was going to care about what he did anyway.

His mind was made up, but before he could reach back around for the door knob, he saw him. His primary reason for travelling all this way in such ungodly weather — Ethen Knillimhyr. Star athlete and Captain of Belrynn University’s Football team, and Ozias’ crush for the past two years.

He watched as Ethen’s bulky but lean, fair-skinned body practically bulldozed through the crowd. His short dark brown hair looked much darker this close in person. Ozias had only ever seen it from afar during football games or when in his afternoon writing course, as Ethen always sat in the furthest corner at the top of the lecture hall.

He wondered if the rumor was true that Ethen’s eyes were as blue as blueberries. There really was only one way to find out, and unfortunately for Ozias that way seemed to be fast approaching.

With every assertive stride Ethen made through the crowd, the closer he got towards Ozias, which was absolutely illogical because Ethen didn’t even know who Ozias was. Yet there he was, getting closer and closer. Ozias could almost reach out and knot his fingers in that short dark brown hair….

“Ethen! Ethen wait for me!” yelled a shrill voice.

Ozias released a huffy sigh. He recognized that high-pitched tone anywhere.

Usually anywhere Ethen was, she was never too far behind. Rebeca Madden, the stunningly beautiful Music and Writing double major. The sensuous fusion of her tan complexion and plump lips and bottom hourglass figure bestowed her countless admirers from an eclectic range of majors, but she too, only had eyes for Ethen Knillimhyr.

Ozias had heard back and forth rumors about the two being together, but by the way Ethen always acted around her, aloof and lackadaisical, he could tell that at least most of those rumours weren’t true.

“Ethen, babe? Come on, wait up!” Rebeca called again.

Ethen wasn’t slowing down, he wasn’t even paying attention to Rebeca. His bullish pace hadn’t deterred either, and Ozias’ heart began to race because of it.

But then, Ethen pivoted. One sharp turn left and now he was headed for a staircase Ozias had only just noticed. Ozias’ biggest hope and dream, deflated in a second. He watched in despair as Ethen ascended the stairs, Rebeca trailing behind. In mere nanoseconds Ethen had reached the top, and that was when Ozias’ legs started drifting towards the staircase as well. His mind was telling him ‘no’, but the rest of him screamed ‘YES’.

This newly found confidence, though Ozias wouldn’t necessarily call it that, was unprecedented, but his heart was thankful for the intervention regardless.

And so he hiked up the stairs, not as fast as Ethen did, but speedier than he usually walked. When he finally made it to the second floor, he at last registered the appearance of the house.

It wasn’t really futuristic-looking, in fact it just looked like a normal everyday dwelling: homely brown and beige walls, an ordinary gray carpet that clothed the floor, and several simple portraits of family members, Ozias presumed, that hung on the walls.

Some rumours really were just rumours, Ozias thought.

“Ethen wait a second!” Rebeca shouted once more. She had cornered Ethen at the end of the hall.

Ozias rushed over to a short line of people that were waiting to use the bathroom. He made sure to face the front so as not to make it too obvious that he was eavesdropping, but he also kept an ear aimed in the direction of the two, to make certain he heard every word.

“What do you want, Rebeca?” Ethen groaned. Even through his gruff voice Ozias could tell, he was drunk.

Rebeca twirled a few strands of her cinnamon brown hair as she gazed up at him. “Well, I was thinking that maybe we could spend a little alone time together-”

“No,” Ethen interrupted.

“Oh but maybe we could go somewhere quiet and-”

“No.”

“You know Ethen, it’s been three months. You don’t have to beat around the bush any-”

“No.”

By now Ozias was awkwardly tilting his head closer in the direction of the two trying to get better reception on the conversation, even though he could already hear them perfectly. He didn’t think anyone drunk could be that unwavering, but then again he had heard rumors in the past of Ethen being an unrelenting force, both on and off the football field.

“Yo, Knillimhyr!”

Ozias flinched as he nearly toppled over onto the floor. If only he had remembered to cover his ears for the inevitable arrival of the obnoxiously loud voice.

An olive skinned boy with spindly legs and an equally long neck along with an auburn pompadour, sauntered his way down the hallway past a drunken throng of undergrads. “There you are, man! I’ve literally searched every freaking square inch of this place for you!” he shouted.

Sidriel, who went by Sid, Squid, or ‘Sid the Squid’ most of the time, was always shouting. Ozias wasn’t sure he had ever even heard Sid use his indoor voice before.

“Can you tone it down a notch or two, Sid?” Rebeca snapped.

“Maybe I’d consider it if I hadn’t wasted a half-hour of my party-time searching all over the place for this guy.” Sid nudged his way between Ethen and Rebeca, then loosely gripped the back of Ethen’s neck with his hand.

Rebeca scoffed. “Do you mind? We’re having a private moment here.”

“As a matter of fact I do mind, Madden.” Sid scrunched his face into a dire expression. “A Captain’s job is never done, and this captain is needed right now to settle a score. Kramer and Johns are at each other’s throats over who should get the last Italian sausage roll. If Ethen doesn’t intervene soon, things’ll get nasty.”

“Literally anyone else on the team could handle that,” Rebeca replied.

“Listen here, Madden. If you knew jack squat about any other guy on the team, you’d know that not everyone has the ability to tame those two when they go at it. And since neither of their parents are here, Ethen’s gotta be the referee.”

Ethen didn’t say anything, but he provided a sober look to confirm Sid’s cry for intervention.

“Whatever,” Rebeca groused. “Ethen, call me later, kay?” She sent one last irritated eye-roll Sid’s way before sharply spinning around and strutting away.

Ethen swatted Sid’s arm off of him shortly after. “Took you long enough.”

“That’s a weird way to say ‘thanks for saving my ass’.”

“Thanks.”

Sid grinned. “And aren’t you gonna ask if Kramer and Johns are really at it again?”

“Are they?”

“They’re not, fortunately. Nice of you to ask.”

Ethan outstretched his left hand, and Sid immediately knew how to respond to it. He reached out his right hand, and together the two linked fingers as if about to play a round of thumb-wrestling. Their thumbs pressed against each other, while they knocked their free hands mid-air, front palm then back. Then they joined those hands as well, and pulled each other in for a quick heart-to-heart hug.

The sudden spectacle was almost enough to make Ozias forgive Sid for all the times he had assaulted his ears. Almost.

Ethen and Sid had been best friends for years, just how many no one aside from them was sure. Ozias had heard a range of guesses over the past two years, none were solid answers. But by the accuracy and emotion he witnessed in their signature handshake, he knew it had to have been a long and devoted friendship.

Ethen was the first to pull away from the hug. “Alright, see you in a while, man.”

“What? Dude, you’re so wasted right now. Where’re you going?” Sid questioned.

“Relax, I’ll just be in the backyard. Need to be alone for a while. I won’t go anywhere.”

Sid huffed a sigh. “What kind of host ditches their own party?”

“The kind that needs to be alone. I’m making you co-host for the night, try not to do a shitty job.” Ethen grinned, and Ozias thought he was having a heart attack. It was the first time in his two years of knowing Ethen Knillimhyr, that he had witnessed a semblance of a smile from him.

“I’ll do you one better, by the end of the night I’ll have been a more superior host.”

Ethen’s grin grew just a smitch more. “Sounds good, buddy.”

Sid fought the urge to roll his own eyes. “Just go before I strike you sober.”

Ethen staggered his way back down the hall, and despite the clamoring celebrations in the background, Ozias could’ve sworn he heard Ethen chuckling. His brawny frame had vanished among the crowd in seconds, meanwhile Sid was sticking around upstairs to tend to other intoxicated guests.

Ozias’s abrupt surge of confidence had finally died down, thankfully. He knew he had an opportunity for some one-on-one time with Ethen, but he didn’t want Ethen’s first impression of him to be ‘the guy that disturbed his alone time’.

Another chance would come again, Ozias thought, maybe. And if it did he would surely seize it, maybe.

He snuck away from the line and scurried back downstairs. The area by the front door had become increasingly congested as countless more undergrads continued to pile into the house. Forced to duck and squeeze his way through an obstacle course of body parts, Ozias had eventually made it through the front door and off of the porch.

He gazed up at the jet black sky once again. A myriad of pure white snowflakes descended to Earth at a snail’s pace. What were previously patches of arid green grass around the neighbourhood, gradually became white blankets of drab frosted greenery. The temperature had noticeably dropped, and small puddles on the sidewalk that had already frozen over were threatening a slippery walk home.

But Ozias didn’t care. Tonight he got to see Ethen Knillimhyr smile and laugh for the first time ever. Well, it was really a grin and chuckle, but that was all the same to Ozias.

Nothing, not even the dreadful weather, or the hypothetical unearthly lurking in the stratosphere who probably savoured it, were going to bring him down.