The Alien Within

Chapter 2: Memories

The moon hung low in the sky as Tessa sat by her window, staring out at the quiet night. The events of the day still lingered in her mind, replaying over and over—how she had lost control, how Mr. Rudbick had watched her with those cold, calculating eyes. The danger was creeping closer, and she knew her time at this school, in this town, was running out.

But tonight, her thoughts wandered beyond the present.

Thanks to Ms. Caldwell, she had a private room in the humongous hostel block. This was a luxury that was usually reserved for the wards of dignitaries and powerful people, but somehow, Ms. Caldwell, fought tooth and nail till she secured one for Tessa. One could see clearly her undisguised devotion to Tessa.

Some even wondered if Tessa was the fruit of Ms. Caldwell's secret love affair, but Everytime the thought came up, and they saw how different Tessa looked from Ms. Caldwell, they buried that thought immediately.

While Ms. Caldwell was busty with a big frame, beautiful brown eyes and plump cheeks, Tessa was slender with blue eyes, a dainty look which makes her appear petite and bright like a beautiful shrub.

Her thoughts kept drifting, They drifted back to a time before the constant fear, before Ms. Caldwell's careful warnings and the ever-growing list of things she couldn't do.

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to slip into the memory.

There was a lake back in the countryside, where she lived 50 years ago before moving to Riverdale county, it was a place far from any town, nestled between the rolling hills where the air was crisp and clean.

Tessa used to go there every summer, diving into the cool water and swimming for hours.

The lake was secluded, her personal sanctuary, a place where she could finally be herself. No one ever came there, no one to witness how she could stay underwater indefinitely, how her body moved like it belonged to the depths.

She remembered the freedom of it—the water wrapping around her like an old friend, the way she could glide beneath the surface, her mind clear and at peace. No one to notice, no one to question. She could swim from dawn to dusk, exploring every corner of the lake, her alien instincts allowed to roam free for just a while.

Those were simpler times.

But those days had been lost, swallowed by the growing need for secrecy. She had been forced to leave that lake behind, along with every part of her life that felt natural. Now, every step she took was calculated, every breath a reminder of what she wasn't allowed to be.

A knock on her door pulled her out of the memory.

"Tessa, it's me," Ms. Caldwell's voice called softly from the other side.

"Come in," Tessa replied, opening her eyes and shaking the thoughts away.

Ms. Caldwell didn't go home, she was worried, so worried that she stayed in her classroom till late at night and decided to visit Tessa.

Ms. Caldwell stepped inside, her usual sharp gaze softened with concern. She closed the door behind her and sat on the edge of Tessa's bed, looking at her for a long moment before speaking.

"You've been quiet tonight," Ms. Caldwell said gently.

Tessa shrugged, trying to hide the weight of her thoughts. "Just thinking about… before."

Ms. Caldwell nodded. She knew what "before" meant. "I imagine it must be hard, looking back."

"It was easier then. I didn't have to worry about anyone noticing. I could just be," Tessa said, her voice quieter now. "I miss that."

Ms. Caldwell sighed, leaning back against the wall. "I understand. But things are different now. You know how dangerous it is."

Tessa didn't respond, her mind drifting again to the conversations they used to have—conversations about her origins, her people.

"You once told me that your race could live freely," Ms Caldwell began, her voice a whisper. "That there were places where you didn't have to hide."

"There were," Tessa said, her tone taking on a hint of sadness. "Before the government started hunting your kind."

Ms Caldwell a felt a pang of anger mixed with sorrow. "It wasn't always like this, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Tessa replied.

"My people, the Kaelrians, were once able to live openly. They walked among humans, blending in but never needing to hide. It wasn't until people grew suspicious—until they realized how powerful my race was—that everything changed." Tessa added

Tessa's eyes flickered with a distant memory. Her mind shifted to her old friends—Kaelrians like her. They had been powerful, yes, but they had never wanted to harm anyone. And now… most of them were gone.

"I remember them," Tessa whispered, her voice filled with grief. "Cale, Mari, Kion… they were my friends. But now, they're dead. Captured and killed, just for existing."

Ms. Caldwell's face tightened. "The government saw them as a threat. They saw all of you as threats."

"We weren't," Tessa insisted, her fists clenching. "We didn't want to fight. We just wanted to live."

"I know," Ms. Caldwell said quietly. "But fear is a powerful weapon. And they found your race's weakness."

Tessa winced, the bitter truth hanging in the air. Salt. A simple element, harmless to humans, but deadly to her kind. It burned their skin, ate away at their strength. The government had discovered that secret long ago and had used it to devastating effect.

"They used salt against us," Tessa said bitterly. "Cale… I watched them pour it over him. He screamed until… until he couldn't anymore."

Ms. Caldwell closed her eyes for a moment, the pain in her face mirroring Tessa's own. "I'm sorry, Tessa. I'm sorry you had to witness that."

The memories of that day still haunted Tessa. She had been hiding, helpless, as her closest friend was dragged away by men in suits, Mr. Rudbick's men, their hands stained with salt. She could still hear his cries, his pleas for mercy. But there had been none.

"Why did they come after us?" Tessa asked, her voice cracking. "Why couldn't they just leave us alone?"

Ms. Caldwell sighed deeply, her gaze fixed on the floor. "They saw your kind as a threat because of your abilities. Your strength, your agility, the way you can survive in environments humans can't. They feared that if your race grew too large, you would overpower them. So they acted before you had the chance to defend yourselves."

Tessa swallowed hard, her throat tight with emotion. "But we had weaknesses. We weren't invincible."

Ms. Caldwell's eyes softened. "Humans don't see weaknesses when they're afraid, Tessa. They see power. And they'll do anything to eliminate what they fear."

The room fell into a heavy silence, the weight of Tessa's memories pressing down on her like a tidal wave. She missed her friends, missed the world they had once dreamed of. But that world was gone, shattered by fear and violence.

"They're coming for me, aren't they?" Tessa asked after a long pause, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ms. Caldwell didn't answer immediately, her silence confirming Tessa's worst fears.

"They might be," Ms. Caldwell said finally. "Mr. Rudbick has been watching you, and today you gave him more reason to be suspicious. We need to be careful."

Tessa nodded, her mind swirling with the realization that her time was running out. The world was closing in on her, just as it had for Cale and the others.

But unlike them, Tessa wasn't ready to surrender.

"They won't catch me," she said, her voice steady with newfound determination. "I'll be smarter. I won't make the same mistakes."

Ms. Caldwell gave her a long, measured look before nodding. "I believe you, Tessa. But we'll need a plan."

Tessa's heart pounded with resolve. She wasn't just running for herself anymore. She was running for Cale, for Mari, for every Kaelrians who had been hunted down and killed. She wouldn't let their memories fade away. And she wouldn't let Mr. Rudbick take her without a fight.

Not this time.

"If you think about it, you guys are pretty decent. I mean you are living encyclopedia, being able to perfectly recall every single thing you experience, including words in a book, incredibly flexible, inhumanly so, you can change your body mass at will, you can run at speed faster than sound, you can explore the depth of the sea without a care in the world. You are more or less immune to fire, knives and swords are useless against you as your body can just close up and repair itself almost immediately, yet the only thing that makes you go from a god like status to a hunted species is sodium chloride. Damn!" Ms Caldwell joked, trying to comfort Tessa.

"Now that you put it that way Ms Caldwell, I am stronger than supergirl right?" Tessa finally smiled.

"Hold your horses, supergirl can fly and she can destroy a building with a single punch." Ms Caldwell sounded serious, but there was a playfull tinge to her words and her eye movement.

"Well we can defy gravity in some ways which gives us the capability of limited floating, and what we lack in brute strength me make up for in lbrains." Tessa countered with a 'you cannot beat me' attitude.

Both parties joked into the night as the sound of crickets oozed out from the fields.