Feel Again by Fallon Sousa

anymore.
    Then, Lionel took a look at
himself in his dresser mirror. He looked a little different then he
remembered. And then he saw; his blue eyes were turning a strange
shade of dark purple, similar to the color of Samakri’s hair. Then
he took a good look at his own hair. It was still mostly black, but
the roots were growing in neon green.
    Lionel was truly afraid now.
He walked away from the mirror and stood in the light. His skin had
become pale; as white as a blanket of snow studded with pearls
where Lionel’s freckles used to be. He was panicking. He knew what
was happening to him, but he did not want to think it. His mind had
changed too.
    He could hear Carla coming
home with her kids, and, suddenly, like a flash of lightning had
entered Lionel’s mind, he could hear them. He could hear
everything. He could hear their thoughts; everything that they had
ever said, did, wanted; all rushing through his mind like a tornado
through Kansas. And, then, he just knew the truth.
    He, Lionel Davidson, was a
Zebdian.
    He was
an alien.

Chapter Ten

    No, this
can’t be, Lionel thought. This cannot be happening. I can’t be one
of them; not after she finally became human. Not when we finally
had a chance. Lionel Davidso was perplexed
beyond a shadow of a doubt, and he also knew for certain that he
was no longer human. Samakri was human. It seemed now as if nothing would allow
them to be together.
    “Lionel, is that you?” he
heard Carla, his foster mother, call out in a tone of both joy and
fear, which was, however, somewhat diluted by the cries of her
youngest child, a baby girl named Lily or Lana or something of the
sort. “Are you home? Where have you been all this time? Are you
hurt?” She was knocking on the door now. Perhaps she had cared for
Lionel all along. A lump rose in his throat. Had he worried
her?
    “Yes, it’s me,” he began,
hesitant at the thought that she might discover him in his current
state. “You can’t come in though; I’m getting dressed.” He figured
that Carla might assume that he had company and back off. It
worked.
    “Well, I don’t want to bother you if
you’re, uh, busy in there. I’m going to be heading back out with the kids, so
if you don’t mind, it would be nice if you could get dinner started
while we’re out.” So long as he could conceal his changing form, he
would be all set; eager to help after all of the trouble that he
had apparently caused.
    Once Carla and her babies
were safely driving out of the parking lot, Lionel threw together a
mix of chicken, carrots, and potatoes, dumping the concoction into
a slow cooker. Then, when he was sure that they had gone far
enough, he grabbed a black hoodie and pulled it over himself,
grabbing his car keys hastily and exiting the apartment.
    Lionel chose a
multifunctional tattoo and tanning parlor called “Sun and Sin” a
few blocks away from the apartment building where he, Carla, and
her kids resided. Nervously, he walked in through the dirty glass
door and approached a bald-headed muscle-man in his mid-thirties
who stood behind a rusty metal counter lined with displays of
gold-plated jewelery.
    “How may I help you, kid?”
the man asked grudgingly. He seemed none-too-pleased about
providing services to a kid who might be underage or looking for
trouble.
    “I need a medium tan,
non-prescription blue contact lenses, and a black dye-job,” Lionel
asked him anxiously.
    “Gee,
kid,” the man started, giving Lionel a once over for the first
time, and looking a little spooked, “You say that like you’re
making an order at McDonalds.” The guy really did not seem to have
any sense of humor whatsoever.
    “So, you can help me
then?” Lionel asked, wondering if the man was going to turn him
down. “Uh...”
    “Sure I
can,” he said, “As long as you show me an I.D.” Lionel knew that
the man wasn’t joking about this and would probably get him into
trouble with the law if he didn’t get his card out. Lionel