By Chloe Shin

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the spaceship. The area seemed deserted. There was no one to be seen. I turned back to see the spaceship gone. No going back now. I took off my space boots and left them on the ground. Surely no one would notice? I put on some sneakers and started my search. But after some time walking, there still was nothing.

For years, aliens and humans had been enemies. I wouldn't have visited if it wasn't important. I looked down at the compass in my hand. It was pointing north. I knew I was on the right track. All of a sudden I heard a metal clang. It was from the ground. It seemed as though it was a metal plate. I brushed off the dirt on it to reveal some text.

“AREA 51”

I looked ahead and saw a seemingly abandoned facility. Knowing this was it, I started to run towards it.

Commander Westings of the Area 51 Project peered into his telescope to see a 15-year-old girl running toward the building. He sighed and sipped his coffee.

A young man around the age of 20 ran up to him. "Commander, we have spotted someone attempting to break in-"

"Yes, officer, I know that! As you may know, this facility was made to prevent those tourist pests from breaking in. Now get back to work before you're fired!"

The officer gulped. "B-But sir...we think she's an alien."

The commander nearly choked on his coffee "A WHAT?!"

"An alien, sir-"

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE AND DOING NOTHING? GO AND SEND OUT THE GUARDS!"

The officer seemed more than happy to get out of the commander's office.

I heard alarms blaring as I made my way towards the entrance of the facility. The guards spotted me and tried to stop me. I was too quick for them though, and they ended up tripping. My victory didn't last for long though. Just as I stepped into the building a wall of drones prevented me from passing through. I swung my hand at them just to be lasered a bit. I started backing away when I bumped into someone. I turned around to see a tall man. He had no expression on his face, but evil gleamed in his eyes. The guards were with him.

"Bring her in for questioning."

I soon learned that the man was important since all the workers there saluted him as he walked past. When the workers saw me, they shot me looks that I could not identify as either fear or disgust. The guards led me to a very dim room and left. I sat down in the chair and waited. After a while, the tall man entered. He sat down at the other end of the table.

"My name is Commander Westings. What's your name?"

Commander Westings's voice was not assuring. I knew he was demanding answers.

"Hannah."

"Hm, okay, Hannah. What brings you here?"

I decided to go with my coverup. Aliens look exactly like humans, he couldn't possibly know I was one.

"You know, I just wanted a tour of the facility. I am such a fan-"

"Oh stop with the lies." He rolled his eyes before saying, "We know you're an alien."

I froze in fear. I was exposed.

The commander just grunted. "I will ask you one more time. What brings you here?"

When I didn't respond, the commander stood up. "Are you a spy? Are you planning to bomb Earth? Oh, wait I know! Are you here to make friends with the humans? Well, the answer is NO!"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "The reason is neither of those," I answered. "I'm here for the antidote."

The commander started laughing.

"Oh silly girl, there is no antidote! Do you know how many aliens like you come searching for it? It's just a trap!"

I was in shock. Did I come all this way for nothing?

The guards entered the room.

"Take her away," the commander told them.

The guards pushed me into another room where I saw a couple of kids, all seeming to be very bored. They seemed a bit surprised to see me though. The guards left the room.

I looked around until I asked, "Are you guys aliens too?"

One of the kids scoffed. "Um, yeah."

"How did you get here?"

A girl around my age jumped down from her bed. "The same way you did. We tried to find the antidote."

I shook my head in sadness. The one cure that we thought could help everything wasn't even real. I looked at the kids once more and realized who they were. They were the ones who had been sent out to get the antidote before me. But they had failed. And I had too.

The kids started introducing themselves. The youngest was 13 and her name was Thalia. There was a boy named Caleb who was 14. The girl around my age was named Zee. In the back, I could see a girl, around the age of 17. She barely even looked at me and was just staring at her shoes.

"That's Quila," Zee whispered to me. "She hasn't talked to any of us since we got here."

I just nodded, wondering why she seemed so moody.

Just before I could think about it, Thalia asked, "So, which planet are you from?"

"Planet 256," I answered.

"Cool, I'm from 378."

Right then the door burst open. Commander Westings entered the room.

"I hope you are all settling in nicely."

"Yeah, we were until you came in," Caleb told him.

The commander ignored him. "I'd like to know, why are you so desperate to get a so-called antidote?

It wasn't Thalia, Caleb, or Zee who answered though. It was Quila.

"Our homes are being raided by a virus. Only the antidote can cure it. If we don't find it, our planets will be destroyed."

The commander showed no sympathy. Instead, he smiled and exited the room.

Thalia shrugged. "I wonder what that was about."

It was nearly nighttime when I peered out the window. There was no one. I sighed and was about to go to bed when noticed there was a crack. Immediately, I woke up the others.

"Over there! There's a crack. If we get something hard enough we can break through!"

Eagerly, everyone started searching. Thalia started unscrewing the metal leg piece of her bed. Caleb picked up a relatively sharp pair of scissors. And Zee started throwing nails at the window. Even Quila helped by denting the window with some rocks she had taken out of a plant pot.

We started throwing whatever we could find at the window. Eventually, the crack split into two and we managed to make a hole to escape.

One by one, the kids hopped out of the window. But as I was lifting myself up to the window, I saw a figure in the distance. I couldn't tell who it was though.

"Guys, there's someone out there."

Caleb shook his head. "We've got to go!"

I ran as fast as possible, hoping whoever was out there wouldn't find us. Suddenly I heard Zee screaming. Turning back I saw the same figure face to face with Zee. But the person seemed meek and small.

"P-Please don't hurt me," the person said.

The person was a boy and had brownish hair. His eyes were full of fear. That wasn't what caught our attention though. He was wearing a space suit.

"Why are you wearing a space suit?"

"I-It's none of your business!"

The boy turned around to leave when Zee blurted out, "Are you an alien?"

He turned around, his eyes fierce. "Why should I tell you that?"

"Cause we're aliens," Thalia replied.

The boy's face softened. "Oh."

Looking around, the boy whispered, "My name is Trevor."

"It's nice to meet you, Trevor," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to find the antidote."

All of a sudden time seemed to stop.

"Trevor...there is no antidote," Caleb said with a sad look.

Trevor flashed a look at them. "Oh, I see. You don't want me to get the antidote, do you?"

Thalia stared at him. "W-What? We're telling the truth there is no antidote, it's a trap-"

"I know what you want. You want to steal the fame for yourself!"

"What? Of course not!"

"Yeah right!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Quila yelled.

Everyone was shocked to hear Quila's outburst.

"The antidote is real."

There was silence.

"W-What?" I asked.

"T-The antidote is real," Quila repeated.

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier?" Thalia asked, holding the temptation not to scream.

"I-I never thought we'd escape..."

"Forget it. There's no way we're going back there."

I turned around to tell Trevor but he was gone.

"Where's Trevor?"

Caleb looked back at the facility. "Oh boy."

"It's too dangerous! We can't go back!"

"Yeah, but what about Trevor?" I asked.

Quila sighed. "We'll have to leave him behind."

"No way. If he went for the antidote we should too. It is real, right?"

We all looked at Quila.

"Well, alright. But we cannot get caught!" Quila said.

As we approached Area 51, we saw Trevor being pulled over by the guards.

"He's already been caught," Caleb whispered.

Zee nudged him with her elbow. "This is our chance! Let's go in and find the antidote while they're busy with Trevor."

As we approached the building, we noticed something wrong. The security cameras were off, and there were no guards. "That's weird," Quila whispered.

"Bring in the boy." The guards pushed Trevor into the chair.

Commander Westings smiled. "Let me guess, came for the antidote eh?"

Trevor didn't move. He could not take his eyes off the glowing bottle of liquid on the commander's desk.

"Oh, so you're looking at this?" The commander picked up the bottle and said, "Yes, it is the antidote." He turned to Trevor. "Yes yes yes, but we will dispose of it soon."

"What will you use it for?" Trevor asked.

The commander didn't answer, but he grinned. "Oh, you'll find out very, very soon."

The hallways were empty. There wasn't even a guard.

"What if this is a trap?" Thalia asked.

"We'll have to find out," Zee replied.

With every step, the whole hallway seemed to echo. My eyes were wide open, expecting a guard to jump out and catch us.

"Look." Zee pointed to a window.

We peered in to see a room. Inside was Trevor, sitting down and listening to Commander Westings give orders. All the guards were in the room. In Commander Westings's hand was a bottle containing some glowing liquid.

Trevor watched as the commander poured the glowing liquid into a syringe.

"Now as you know, your planets are under a virus, and this is the cure, correct?"

Trevor nodded.

"Not only is it a cure, but if injected properly into an alien, the outcome would be a mutant form of yourself."

A doctor took the syringe and positioned it onto Trevor's arm.

"You're not going to-"

"Oh yes I am!" The commander rubbed his hands in glee. "Imagine what kind of discovery this would make! Now, on the count of three..."

I could hear the commander talking to Trevor.

"Quick, unlock the door."

Thalia removed a hairpin and started pickpocketing the lock. There was a click and the door swung open.

The commander turned to see the five aliens standing in the doorway.

"Ah, you're just in time!"

"For what?"

The commander laughed. "Three...two..."

Just in time Quila pushed the doctor out of the way. Trevor grabbed the syringe.

"Come on, let's go!" Thalia yelled.

"Yeah, go without me! I'll catch up," Trevor said.

It took Trevor quite a while to come out, but when he did, he was clasping the syringe.

Then we ran for our lives.

We stopped as soon as we were far away from the facility.

"So, where do we go now?" Trevor asked.

Zee scratched her head. "Back to our planet, right?"

"Yeah, but how?"

At that moment, a spaceship landed on the ground and a girl stepped out. She looked around and spotted us.

"Who are you guys?"

Caleb sighed. "Aliens!"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah okay. I'm here to find the antidote-"

"Already here," I said, handing her the syringe.

The girl seemed shocked. "Wait, but how?"

"Long story. Could you take us home now?"

I spent the whole trip home looking out the window. I could see the city lights brightly dotted on the terrain. Perhaps we would visit Earth once more one day.

Zee asked, "What do you think will happen once we get home?"

"Well, the antidote will cure everything and everything will be back to normal," I replied.

Zee didn't reply.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the spaceship. The field that we had landed on was full of people crowding around us. A bunch of interviewers came rushing to us.

"Did you find the antidote?"

"How did you escape?"

"Was it nice on Earth?"

Some security guards held the crowd back as a elderly man came in.

"Hello."

Immediantly the crowd went silent.

"I've heard that the antidote has arrived. Where is it?"

I handed the antidote to him. "Yes, this is it."

The man carefully inspected the syringe. He paused for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry to say this, but you have been tricked. This is not the real antidote."

The crowd gasped in despair.

"B-But how?" Quila asked.

The man shrugged. "Could have been a swap. I don't know. You are already booked rooms in the hotel across the street. Rest."

As the crowd dispersed, I realized something. Commander Westings did not have a copy of the antidote. No, he didn't have enough time to replace it. So who swapped it out?

I whispered to Zee, "Isn't it a bit odd that Trevor took so long to get the syringe?"

Zee stared at me. "You're not saying-?"

I nodded. "Only one way to find out."

I entered Trevor's room in the hotel. Zee tossed stuff around looking for the antidote. It took us a while, but we found a syringe underneath his bed.

"What are you doing?"

Trevor was staring at us furious.

"Explain this," Zee said, showing the syringe.

Trevor smiled. "Took you long enough. Go on, take it! Not like it matters anyways now."

I froze. "What do you mean?"

"I've already injected a bit into me. The plan is complete. I will become the ruler of these planets!"

Trevor started turning blue. His skin started bubbling. His hair turned bright red.

Zee and I dashed for the door screaming for help. The police arrived soon. And so did Caleb, Thalia, and Quila.

"What in the name of planets is THAT?!"

"It's Trevor! He was the one who swapped out the antidote and he turned himself into a mutant!"

I immediately took one of the blasters and started shooting. The shots had no effect on Trevor though. He just laughed and said, "You fools! I'm immune!"

All of a sudden he stopped laughing. His skin started turning back to normal, and his hair turned back to brown.

"What no! How is that possible!"

Quila held up a syringe. "Eticulas Reverso. Reverses anything once it is injected. Learned that in chemestry class 6 years ago."

As Trevor was being detained by the police, Zee brought up the antidote to the elderly man.

"Ah yes, the antidote. It'll take a few days to be duplicated before it could be put into good use though. For now, rest. You have done the world good."

At the hotel, Zee asked me something.

"Do you think our lives will return to normal after everything that's happened?"

I shrugged. "It definitely won't be the same though."

"Is that in a good way?"

"Yeah."

Thalia burst into the room. "In all that time we've been stuck on Earth, Space Monsters 3 came out! Wanna watch it?"

I laughed. "Sure."

Caleb came running in. "Did I hear Space Monsters 3?"

"Count me in!" Quila said.

And so, we spent the next 5 hours watching Space Monsters 3.

3 Days Later...

"It's time," the elderly man said.

I took the syringe and struck it into the ground. I pushed down on it and the liquid was injected. The dull grass turned into bright green sprouts. The dead trees came alive once more. Everyone hugged and cheered.

"Next stop, Planet 378!" Thalia said.

The trip took less than 30 minutes. When we arrived, the people cheered once more.

"Hooray, we're saved!"

The crushed buildings became rebuilt and refurnished. The electric billboards were on once more. We hugged Thalia before saying goodbye. I saw her waving as we left for the next planet.

One by one, the alien kids were dropped off. At last I returned to Planet 256. I hugged my parents who were waiting for me.

2 years later...

I was watching Space Monsters 4 when an alert came onto the TV screen.

POSSIBLE DANGER APPROACHING FROM EARTH.

I watched the news broadcast. The leaders of Earth had sent a video recording.

In the video recording was the following words:

"We. Are. Coming. For. You. Be. Prepared."

I gulped and nervously punched some numbers into the phone.

"Hello? Yeah, there's been a problem. Uh-huh. A message. From Earth. Ok, see you later."

Soon, Zee arrived. Then Quila. Then Caleb. Then Thalia.

"Did you guys hear about the message?" I asked.

"Yeah," Caleb replied.

"I wonder what he wants now," Quila said.

"Maybe some type of revenge?" Thalia said, clearly scared.

"LOOK OUT!" Quila shoved all of us to the right.

"What did you do that for-"

BOOM!

A meteroid had landed right next to us.

"Yikes," Thalia said.

"Well, thanks for saving our lives," I told Quila.

"Do you think that was the danger?" She asked.

"I don't know, we should inspect it."

I knocked on it, and the outcome was a very hollow sound.

"It's hollow. We need to find something to crack it open."

Caleb left and return with a pair of pliers. Together, we managed to crack it open. Inside of the meteroid was a message written on a piece of paper:

DEAR ALIENS,

WE OFFER A PEACE TREATY BETWEEN THE ALIENS AND HUMANS. WE ARE DEEPLY APOLOGETIC ABOUT THE INCIDENT AT AREA 51. COMMANDER WESTINGS HAS BEEN ARRESTED WITH CHARGES OF UNVERIFIED EXPERIMENTS, ILLEGAL IMPRISONMENTS, AND AN ATTEMPTED INJECTION.

WE INVITE THE FIVE ALIEN KIDS AND OTHER ALIEN GUESTS TO AN OFFICIAL CEREMONY TO HONOR THIS TREATY ON THE 14TH OF OCTOBER.

FROM,

THE UNITED NATIONS

We were all shocked at this sudden declaration of peace.

"So, should we go?" Zee asked.

I nodded and said, "Sure, why not?"

1 month later...

"I now gather us here to celebrate the truce between alienkind and mankind. For many years, aliens have been considered as, 'unatural' and 'weird'. But todayeh is different. From now on the aliens will be considered one of us. Our world is theirs to share. May there be peace between our species. Cheers to a new harmony and nation." The President lifted his cup then stepped down from the podium.

The stadium echoed with "cheers". The five of us shook hands with the President as a sign of thanks.

"Psst," Zee said.

"What?" I asked trying not to be loud.

"You were right. Our lives definitely won't be the same anymore. But, in a good way."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."

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I sighed and looked at the clock, sitting in my chair, knitting.

The door opened, and a pair of twins came in.

"Grandma! Grandma!" A little boy and a little girl the around the age of six ran excitedly over to me as soon as they had spotted me.

I opened my arms for a hug and squeezed my grandchildren.

"Oh it's so good to see you kids!"

A woman around the age of 38 carrying a cake came in.

"Happy 75th birthday, Mom!"

I smiled sniffed the air and said. "Oh Georgia, vanilla cheesecake, my favorite. You never forget."

The woman chuckled. "Of course not! You are my mom."

"Grandma! Tell us the story about the cool antidote and how you saved the world!" The boy said.

"And how Trevor tried to become a monster with the antidote!" The girl finished.

I pulled my hair up and tied it into a bun. "Oh I feel as I've told it far too many times..."

The woman laughed. "It used to be my favorite story when I was little."

I smiled and put on my glasses. "Alright then, gather around everyone. You too, Georgia."

The woman scooted in between her daughter and son.

"Alright," I began. "It all started when I stepped out of a spaceship onto Earth..."