The Scar (Chapter 6)

Home at last


The early mist was still clearing when Linda woke up nearly a week later. She slipped out of bed and pulled on the new shirt Sira had given her. It was comfortable and it changed shape with her body as she needed it too. Linda slipped quietly out of the house and out to where Sira’s garden was. She stopped under the tree and placed a hand on the strong leaves of its trunk. The leaves were smooth under her hand and she wished she could pull one of the huge leaves off and take it with her. Instead she reached up with her back-upper arm and pulled down a small handful of flower-nuts and pulled them inside to the little pouch that the arm rested in.
The mist was beginning to soak right through her thick sweater onto her skin and she shivered slightly. She heard the door open and turned to see Rowel coming toward her. He was wrapped tightly in a green rubber coat and hat and was carrying a purple one in his hands “Are you cold?”
“A little.” She took the coat and slipped it on and fixed the hat on her head to keep the mist off. He came to stand next to her under the tree.
“What are the flower-nuts for?” She looked at him slightly surprised questioning him with her eyes. “I saw you take them through the window before I came out. What are they for?”
She looked down at the ground and nudged a rock with her toe. “They’re for my family. I don’t think they’re going to believe me when I tell them what happened to me and I want to be able to prove it.” Rowel sighed and leaned against the wet trunk of the tree and stared at the ground a frown playing between his eyebrows. “What is it Rowel?”
“It’s nothing.” He looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. “I knew you’d have to go back eventually I just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.”
Linda came to his side and took his hand lightly in hers. “Rowel I have to go home. That’s where I belong. I might belong here on Imaginess one day…but for now my place is on earth.”
“Will…will you come back?”
She bit her lip and closed her eyes going over the possibilities in her head. “I don’t know Rowel… I really don’t know. If there is ever anyway possible for me to come back whether its tomorrow or years from now, if it’s at all possible then I’ll come back… but I can’t make any promises.”
Rowel nodded slowly. He was quiet for a moment then he looked up and smiled at her weakly. “Then I guess I better get you back.”
Two hours later Ali and the entire Rowan family were surrounding her wishing her good-luck and saying good-bye. “We’re going to miss you Linda.” Said Mr. Rowan coming up and shaking her hand.
“We sure will.” Mrs. Rowan came and hugged her and then gave her a small bag of something. “Rowel tells me you like our flower-nuts.” Linda smiled and took the bag holding it close to her. Shanti and Teesha ran up to her then and both latched themselves onto her legs. “Will we ever see you again Leena?” Said Shanti looking up at her with pleading eyes.
Linda pried the girls off of her and bent down to their level. Linda had promised Mrs. Rowan that she wouldn’t tell the girls where she lived while she was there. They had insisted that they call her by her newly found Imaginese name and she had even begun to pick up some of their language. As far as the girls were concerned she was just another Imaginese from another part of Imaginess. She had done her best to play along when the girls were talking in Imaginese. Now as they sat here looking up at her pleading with her in her own language she couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of sadness at having to leave these two precious little girls. “I don’t know Shanti. I live a long way’s from here and it might be very hard for me to ever get back.”
“Will you try?”
Linda smiled at Teesha who had voiced the question. “Yes, Teesha I’ll try” Then she gave both of them a hug and stood up. Mr. and Mrs. Rowan ushered the girls inside then leaving just Rowel, Sira and Ali to say good-bye.
She hugged Ali then turned to Sira. Sira smiled at her and punched her lightly in the shoulder. “Don’t forget about us alright cuz?”
Linda smiled “How could I forget. Because of you guys I finally found my family. How could I forget that?”
“We’ll miss you Leena.” It was Ali and Linda turned to her.
“It’s Linda Ali. I’m not ready yet to be a Imaginese.”
“You got to accept it eventually.” Said Sira.
“One day maybe but not yet. I’m still human at heart.” Sira nodded slowly. “Well tell Adan I said good-bye.” A shadow fell over Sira’s face and she nodded hesitantly. “Are you guys still not talking?”
“I haven’t talked to him since he turned you in.”
“You guys love each other Sira don’t let me get in the way of that…besides you still haven’t told him about finding your long-lost cousin yet.”
Sira smiled but shook her head. “It was wrong what Adan did. What if you really had been a human you could have been killed. In fact as far as he knows you are dead. And he doesn’t even seem to care. He doesn’t care about me the way I thought he did.”
“I’m sure it will all work out.”
“I pray to Kohath that it will.”
With that Linda and Rowel climbed into his pod and took off. Up to this point Rowel hadn’t said a word and Linda turned to him curiously. “You’re quiet.”
Rowel shrugged and turned to her. “I just wish we knew if this was a ‘good-bye’ or a ‘see ya’”
Linda nodded and grasped for a way to change the subject. “Who’s Kohath?”
Rowel spun to look at her and she suddenly wondered who this person was that she would get that kind of a reaction. “Who’s Kohath? He’s only the most amazing being in the universe. Kohath knows every alien in the universe and holds every single one in his hand. He’s the one who decides whether we live or whether we die and he knows what we will do with every moment of our lives until that day.”
“So you mean he’s like your god.”
“Not just our God Linda but every single person in the whole universes God. Just every planet has a different name for him.”
“Ok…but he’s still a god.”
“Linda you’re missing the point he’s not just a god he’s my friend.”
“How can he be your friend? Can you see him, talk with him, play games with him?”
No, but He walks beside us everyday of our lives directing us in the way to go. It is only because of Kohath that we breathe and that we are who we are. It’s because of Kohath that you found my family out of all the family’s on Imaginess. It’s only because of Kohath that I had the strength to go to the museum that day or that you found out who you were just in time to save you life from the Tuli. He’s the only reason we truly live Linda
“I don’t know it seems kind of far-fetched to me I’ve never really been into all that religious stuff.”
“It’s not a religion Linda it’s a friendship and it’s not anymore far-fetched than some of the other wacky religions you have on your planet. Like all that weird humanistic and free-thinking stuff. That’s the stuff that’s far-fetched Linda.”
They were nearing Earth now and Rowel didn’t say another word as Linda replayed the conversation over in her head. They landed in the field and Rowel turned to her. “Look I’m sorry I didn’t mean to preach at you. It’s just after all the miracles that have happened just since meeting you it’s hard to believe that anyone can go through life without believing in Kohath.”
“That’s ok Rowel you gave me something to think about.”
A grin spread across his face then. “Really?”
“Yep!”
“Great, Oh I almost forgot I got something for you.” He pressed one of the buttons in front of him and a drawer in front of Linda slipped out on it was a flat little silver box. She picked it up carefully and flipped the top up like a cell phone. As she did she gasped for it was one of the teeniest laptops she had ever seen. “It’s got universal internet on it so you can keep in contact with us. And maybe one day I can come get you for a visit. Oh and Alita put a program on there just for you. Something that will teach you our language just in case. It charges automatically when it’s turned off and it’s small enough to fit in an arm pouch.”
Linda smiled and pulled the computer into her stomach. She leaned over then and hugged him. “Thank you Rowel, for everything and make sure you thank Ali too.”
“I will. Oh and Sira wanted me to give this to you.” he handed her a paper thin control box thing
“What is it?”
“It clings to your shirt and it allows you to be able to change its color that way all you need is the one.”
“How does it work?”
“Sira already downloaded the program onto your Pocket Computer or PC. All you do is put it on your shirt then you plug it into the side of the PC and the program will pop up and you go through the steps to change the color and design. Once you save it, it downloads on to the material and you got a brand new shirt. It works on pretty much any Imaginese material but we aren’t sure how well it works on earth stuff. And of course it can’t change the style or the quality and it can’t wash it.”
“Wow that’s awesome thank Sira for me too.”
“Bye Linda.”
“Bye.” She climbed out of the pod then and he zoomed off before she could barely blink
Only after Rowel was out of sight did Linda begin to worry about what she would tell her parents. She knew her parents had to be worried sick and probably thought she was dead. What would she say when they asked her where she had been. She still had the flower-nuts in her back arm-pouch but would they actually believe when she told them that she got them from another planet? Would they believe her when she told them that she had found her family? She doubted it. She tossed around a couple more ideas as she walked slowly in the direction of the farm. What if she showed them her arms and proved to them that she really was an alien? No, that wouldn’t accomplish anything except to maybe freak her parents out and get her sent to a lab where they could experiment on her. No, as much as she loved her parents she couldn’t trust them with something that freaky it was better if they didn’t know. She worked through a couple more excuses but none of them seemed believable, her mother would see right through the lie.
Suddenly a thought hit her like ton of bricks: What about the time difference? For all she knew she could have been gone for a year or more everyone that she used to know could be dead.
When she finally reached the farm she at once noticed that Mary’s silver Hybrid sat in the driveway. Good I obviously haven’t been gone that long. She thought.
Just than Little Jenny stepped outside to shake out a rug she looked up and saw Linda standing there. “Linda!” She yelled and ran to her nearly knocking her over as she hugged her waist. “Where have you been? Mommy and Daddy and Mary have been all secretive ever since you left and they won’t tell me and the twins anything. So where did you go for so long?”
Linda kneeled down in front of her sister and looked into her eyes. “Jenny what’s the date today?”
Jenny looked at her funny but answered her question anyway. “It’s June 3rd” Linda was surprised but she tried not to show it. Her birthday was on June 1st meaning it had about a day and a half since she had disappeared. So that meant it was 6 hours to every 1 day that she was on Imaginess. “I’m sorry” she said “I uh got a little side tracked.” Just then her mother came out after hearing voices “Linda,” she ran out to them and hugged her, “It’s about time you show up again I was beginning to think you’d left us for good.”
Linda was slightly taken by surprise by her mother’s gentle welcome she had expected her mother to take her by the shoulders and demand to know where she had disappeared too. Linda looked down at her feet “I’m so sorry I, I, I just went for a walk and then well I…” She didn’t know what to say. But her mother interrupted her.
“It doesn’t matter Linda you’re here now.”
“But…” Linda couldn’t have been more surprised if her mother had sprouted arms and told that she was an alien as well. She decided not to push the issue and followed her mother inside the house.
Dinner that night couldn’t have been more awkward. Her family was completely acting as if she hadn’t just fallen off the face of the planet just to show up again two days later with absolutely no explanation. And that was making her more nervous then if they had drilled her for details. Jenny was the only one who asked her any questions but her parents always shushed her before she could answer and even the twins seemed to be distracted in their own sports talk and didn’t seem to notice that their big sister had just mysteriously reappeared after being gone for 2 days with no explanation.
Finally as her mother stood to start clearing the dishes away Linda couldn’t take it anymore. “Doesn’t anybody in this family care that I just left for two days without telling anyone and don’t even have a reason why?”
Her mother looked up slightly surprised. “Of course we care Linda we just figured you’d tell us when you were ready. So if you’re ready we’ll be glad to listen.”
Her mothers response still didn’t satisfy Linda and she wished with everything she had she knew more about other alien races so she could tell what was wrong with her family. She took a deep breath and began hopping that her family wasn’t really some alien spies trying to get information from her. Jenny and her brothers were the only ones acting normal and if there was one thing she had learned on Imaginess it was to be careful of whom you trust. “Forget it! You guys are only pretending to care.” With that she stood and left the table.
Later that night Jenny slipped into her room. “Linda?”
“Yeah what is it Jenny?”
“Why did you get so mad at Mommy and Daddy?”
Linda sighed and pulled Jenny up onto the bed next to her. “I wasn’t really mad at them Jenny just confused.”
“About what?”
Linda thought for a moment. How could she explain what had happened to her with out scaring her little sister? “You know that lamp that mom has in the living room that she got from great-grandma when she died.”
“Yeah”
“Well say you broke it”
Jenny gasped “Oh I would never do that.”
“But just say you did. Wouldn’t you be afraid of what mom would say?”
“Mommy would be really, really mad.”
“Exactly, you would be afraid because you know that she would be mad and probably punish you. Now say that when mom found out instead of getting mad she ran and gave you a big hug and thanked you because she couldn’t stand that lamp anyway and now she didn’t have to feel bad about getting rid of it?”
“That would be confusing.”
“It was kind of the same way after I left. I knew when I came back mom would be mad at me. But then she didn’t get mad at me at all so now I’m kind of confused.”
“Because you thought Mommy would yell at you?”
“Right.”
“So where were you anyway Linda?”
Linda hesitated. What would it hurt to tell her little sister the truth it wasn’t like her sister could turn her in and if she ended up telling anyone and they asked she could tell them that she had told Jenny a bed time story and she had had a dream that it was real. “Come here Jenny.” Jenny hopped closer to Linda and snuggled up next to her. Linda leaned back against the pillows and told her the whole story every single little detail and when Jenny finally left the room a half hour later she had a pocket full of flower-nuts.

Kayla followed Linda into the woods the next day. The sun had only been up for a couple of hours and no one else on the farm stirred. She watched as her daughter picked flowers as she walked. Soon she had a good sized bouquet and she took the ribbon out of her hair to tie it off. Her hair fell in front of her face and she pushed it back behind her ears. Her daughter had changed a lot in the time she had spent on Imaginess and Kayla couldn’t be happier. She still didn’t follow Kohath but Kayla didn’t have any doubt in her mind that given some time her daughter would accept Kohath as her friend. Linda entered the clearing and walked to the middle, left over flowers from the mourning ceremony two days ago blew across the clearing otherwise all was still. She knelt down and laid the dogtooth violets and spring beauty’s she had collected at her knees and then looking at them as if she was looking at a tombstone she began to speak “Well Mom, Dad, it’s me your daughter Lin…Leena I went to Imaginess last week. It was the most at home I’ve ever felt. I finally found out who I really am, and you’ll be glad to know that I’ve accepted my destiny. I will be a light in this dark time. Imaginess is doing great though it doesn’t need me so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if I made a difference here in this world on this planet.” She paused for a moment as if expecting some kind of answer. Kayla kneeled down beside her but didn’t respond. It was the first time her daughter had ever spoken to her and she couldn’t find it in her heart to deny her daughters only request. Besides that was Kohath’s job. Linda would learn soon enough that it was only through Kohath that she could communicate with her parents and the sooner she learned that the better. It wouldn’t be long before Kohath would make a visit of his own and until then it wasn’t Kayla’s place to tell her daughter of the dark times that were hovering over her daughter and the land of Imaginess. Things would difficult for her daughter and there was only one possible way for her daughter to survive it and that was to put her faith in Kohath and trust him to lead her through.

Linda wiped a couple stray tears from her face then stood. She turned around and was surprised to see Mary standing there with tears streaming down her cheeks as well.
“Mary” Linda gasped in surprise, “how long have you been standing there?”
Mary smiled and wiped the tears from her own face “Long enough, but don’t worry you don’t have to explain anything to me we all know what happened to you. Why do you think no one questioned you? It’s because we all knew you were telling the truth.”
Linda narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“We knew you were an alien when mother adopted you, I was there 15 years ago when your parents were killed. I was 10 then; mother and I had gone to gather eggs and there was a bang in the woods and we ran to see what it was. When we got to the clearing, this same clearing, there was a man and woman. Another space ship landed and an alien stepped out.” She paused and took a deep breath before continuing “he killed them.” She stopped again and ran her hand on the tree trunk “mom found you by this exact tree you were wrapped in a very strange material it was as soft as silk but looked as if it was made out of a type of leaf.”
Linda smiled. “Oh that’s Wiper bark well actually it’s the leaves but the leaves grow on the trunk and the wood grows on the top. My necklace is shaped like a Wiper flower, Wiper flowers grow from the roots of the wiper tree.”
Mary smiled and shook her head at her sisters sudden knowledge of alien things “I found the necklace here after we found you; I saw the necklace and gave it to mom but she said I could keep it. She saw the name on the back and decided that Leena was too alien and so decided to call you Linda. We figured when you were a little older I’d give you the necklace and tell you everything but as the day got closer mom started getting afraid that we would lose you once you found out and couldn’t do it, we loved you too much. I painted over the back and figured if you found it you found it and then when you left that morning I had to find out what you were going to do. Finding those aliens was the last thing I expected.” she stopped and didn’t seem to want to go any farther.
“Why didn’t mom at least tell me that my parents had died when I was looking all over for them a couple years ago?”
“She tried a couple times but you didn’t really want to hear it and never let her finish.” Linda suddenly remembered the times when her mother would come into her room and ask her if she’d ever considered that they were no longer alive. She hadn’t wanted to believe it and now it turned out that her mother had been implying the truth along. Her mother had been the only one who could have helped her learn the truth and every time her mother had offered to help Linda had turned her down and told her she would find them herself. In the end she had given up and stumbled upon her long lost family completely by accident.
“Listen Mary you can’t tell any one about this. I’m the one whose in danger here if anyone found out that I was an alien then I might end up in a science lab or something and I don’t want that.”
Mary smiled “I don’t want that either. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”