“There is a procedure, the Grays are familiar with it, our understanding of it is rudimentary at best, in its infancy for Lepyrs. They had no way of knowing you would be one of the rare few who couldn’t go through with the procedure. They’d never tried it with a being of Creeson Nine before. Needless to say, it didn’t work, and that’s exactly why we decided not to try it for the boys. It could mean all of Creeson Nine are sensitive to it and would have a similar outcome.”
“I think you should leave,” I muttered softly.
She wasn’t drunk or high, she was certifiable, is what she was.
“Oh, but, honey-”
“I said leave!” I shouted. My hand was shaking as it shot up and pointed to the door.
She looked as teary eyed as I was but she nodded her understanding and quickly made herself scarce.
Dumping my dish into the sink, I grabbed a soda and trudged my way into the living room. Slumping down into the couch, I shoved my face into my hands and groaned. Letting out a deep breath, my hands dropped limply to my sides and my gaze strayed about the room. Staring down into the fire in disbelief, I listened as Sunny walked down the back steps, then listened for the sound of her SUV starting up and leaving.
This was nuts. Absolutely cuckoo.
My gaze darted back towards the office.
Fuck me. The seed was planted.
With a growl, I hopped up and marched off to Dad’s office. Snatching up the keys she’s written, I grabbed the first stack of papers and got to work.
Driven by anger, I did my best work, apparently. It was dark by the time I’d deciphered the last letter, but I’d done it.
I had to read through them all twice just to be sure.
Turned out, if those papers in Dad’s handwriting were to be believed, Sunny and Forest were not the ones who kept me and the Tree boys apart, separating me from my best friend and his kin. It was my parents.
The revelation stunned me and pained me in equal measure. It was an awful betrayal.
Mom thought I needed a chance at a normal life, possibly with a human after all that had happened to me. Sunny’s letters, from the similar style to her human writings as her and Forest’s handwriting was determined, was her begging them not to separate us, that it could be disastrous, that there were signs my mates might be amongst her three boys.
My parents thought I might be better off with a single life mate, and that they didn’t want me ostracized even more for being even more different in this world than I already was. Wow. Just… ow and wow, thanks a lot Mom and Dad.
This was nuts. None of this is real! My dad wasn’t a- a Yeti person! Mom was anything but alien-bunny-like! She didn’t even run— she had bad knees!
It became my obsession then, completely emptying out Dad’s office, searching for more letters. I wasn’t disappointed.
Once more I fell asleep at Dad’s desk, working through the very last stack of alien to alien correspondence. These letters were from before I was born, so old some of the writing had faded.
Sunny had triplets? The boys weren’t triplets, they were a yearish apart each. So where were these triplets, or am I tobelieve Elm, Cy, and Birch were all born from the same bunch and pretended to be different ages?
Weird dreams followed me over, of alien Easter bunny people, charging Yetis, and Gray aliens making people’s hair fall out. My dreams were even stranger than the day I’d had. I was too dead tired to realize they were dreams, slipping from one nightmare scenario to another.
Chapter 8
Aloud creaking sound tore me from the weird dream I was stuck in. Alien Grays were doing procedures on me, each one causing side effects that were worse than the previous. Grabbing at my person, assuring myself it really was all just a dream, I shuddered as I sighed and leaned back into Dad’s office chair. The chair creaked loudly and my jumpy nerves settled. The chair creaking must’ve been what woke me up. I probably shifted in my sleep.
Grays are not coming to get me, I assured myself, though it did little to ease my racing heart.
Too many of those weird fake alien documentaries, abduction stories on cable as a teen have ruined me for anything even remotely like that. Just thinking about actually being a victim of Gray alien tampering, at my parents’ request no less so that I could have a Lepyr form, a human form, and a Lo denaii form, sort of like shifts or whatever, was eye opening.
Did they not like me as I was as a child? Was being born to them not enough? I didn’t look funny in any of my baby pictures, though I was starting to wonder about those buck teeth I sported after my baby teeth fell out… Was that common with Haslepyr children?
Jesus, why am I even entertaining any of this? My parents hid it well but they were obviously as far down the rabbit hole with their crazy, total pun intended, as Sunny was.
Scanning Dad’s desk, I nabbed up the note from Cy. Maybe it had his number in it? My finger tapped along the side of the sealed envelope. It was a bit worse for wear but still intact. With a shrug, I tore it open. Peering inside, I frowned at the contents. No number. No note. There was, however, a small, sealed baggie full of pictures. Pulling them out, I studied them each.
Our fake wedding day. More specifically, my fake wedding to Cy when we were little kids. Cy stood just behind me, staring at me with that same soft, sweet smile I’d learned very well. Everyone but Elm was looking at the camera beaming, even me clutching a raggedy looking bunch of flowers we’d found in the forest bordering their house. The lacy tablecloth I was wearing as a veil, held on by a sweatband was a nice touch. Elm’s little face was adorable scrunched into his trademark scowl.
