Chapter Two

Jimmy woke to the flash of red, white, and blue lights blazing through his still open window. It took him a minute to wake enough to process what was going on; then, he wondered why his parents weren’t already in the room. Red, white, and blue lights meant only one thing to an eight year old: police cars and fire trucks. And Jimmy loved both.

The cold wooden floor stung his bare feet. It was colder than it normally was. Jimmy stared at the floor and saw his breath billow out in front of his face.

“James Antwan Miles.”

Jimmy turned toward the window when he heard his name. The lights were gone and the cold air burned as he breathed it in, but in the darkness near the bedroom window he could see a figure standing. Tall, thin, whoever it was had appeared in his room without making a sound.

“Who are you?”

Obviously not bothered by the sudden appearance of the stranger, he'd asked the next most important question. He was eight and something told him this stranger didn't pose any danger, so why not find out who he was and maybe even why he was here. The thought occurred to him to call out to his father, but it was fleeting. If the man was here to hurt him, it was already too late for help.

“I’m the future, James. Your future.”

Jimmy watched the man, still nothing more than a silhouette in the darkness of his room. The stranger’s voice was calm, kind. He wanted to see the stranger’s face, but the man remained hidden in the shadows.

“Why are you here?”

“To offer you the chance to save your world.”

Jimmy’s mind was quickly trying to process that enormous thought. A chance to save my world? What was that suppose to mean? He was eight years old! Eight! How in a million years was he someone even remotely possible of saving the world? Then Jimmy stopped mid-thought. He said save his world, meaning Jimmy’s world, so, then, what world did this stranger belong to? And suddenly Jimmy realized it was time to call for Dad. But before he could open his mouth to speak, the man stepped toward him, coming into the light and speaking again.

“You’re a peculiar race of humans. All you create seems to destroy who you are. We have watched you for a long time, gathered those we felt would give your people the best chance at survival and trained them.”

Jimmy heard the words. They didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him, but he heard them. It was the man’s face that held Jimmy captivated. His feet hit the floor again. He didn’t notice the frigid layer of frost now gathered on the polished wooden surface. He didn’t see how each of his quick, excited breaths condensed in the air in front of his face. Jimmy couldn’t take his eyes off the man talking to him.

The stranger was Human, but unlike any human Jimmy had ever seen. His skin was flawless, and looked soft like his mom’s Fuzzy Pants. And each of the man’s facial features was perfect, his ears, mouth, nose, they were all perfect, and his eyes were a blue Jimmy had never seen before.

“You’re beautiful.” The words slipped from Jimmy’s lips before he'd even thought them. It seemed like the only way to describe what he felt when he looked at the stranger.

The stranger smiled. “Will you come with me to my world, Jimmy, and let me teach you how to save your people and your earth?”

“Your world? Where are you from?”

With a gesture of his hand, the stranger lead Jimmy to the bedroom window where he pulled back the curtains to reveal the same night sky Jimmy was so familiar with. But Jimmy’s eyes never made it to the sky, lingering instead on the stranger’s outstretched arm. The loose white garment the man wore had short sleeves, leaving exposed the bare skin of his arm. The veins in the stranger’s arm seemed to course with a fluorescent liquid, blood Jimmy supposed, but certainly not blood like his. The web of glowing veins looked like an intricate tattoo made with ink that moved across the skin.

“There’s a cluster of stars just outside the Orion constellation where my world, Terra, has been hidden for seven thousand years. We are a people who have found peace in the Millennium of our time, but it cost us…”

Jimmy stared up at Orion. He knew the constellation so well he barely took notice of it anymore. Everyone knew Orion. Jimmy never thought there was anything special about it, until now…

“You want me to go there?”

“Yes.”

“Can I think about it?”

“No, you must choose tonight. Go, or stay.”

Jimmy thought when the time came to make this choice, there wouldn’t be any choice to make. He’d made his decision the first time he looked up at the stars. Space was his future. But he wasn't supposed to be choosing now. He looked at the stranger. He was standing so close, looking down at him with those weird blue eyes, kind eyes, but weird. How could he make this decision now? It wasn’t time, wasn’t his time…or was it?