answer to your own question there," said Katie. "Let's go to my place."
This is a desert planet, but there is also clearly a society here. There are buildings, what look to be houses, areas of commerce, all the things that you'd expect to find on Earth. It looks similar to what we have back there. Yet, everything is simultaneously so different. The creepy yellow sky that looms above us doesn't help to get rid of that feeling.
Katie's home is situated in a large building with lots of other residencies. I'm glad that we don't bump into anyone on our way to her front door. I can see people walking around the streets from a distance. They don't seem any different from me, but I recoil at the thought of getting up close to any of them. If this is all real, if this is truly another planet, then those people are aliens. "Do you think we can just hang out here for a while?" I ask Katie once she's let us into her apartment.
"Sure thing. I don't want to put too much on you all at once. You can think of this as your home away from home, okay cousin? I know you've been getting tired of living with your mother. This can be like a little stay-cation for you, okay? Only you'll be staying here at my home instead of your own." She's smiling as she says this.
I know Katie only has my best interests in her heart, and her place is pretty nice, albeit it's just a tiny two bedroom apartment, not a house or anything. "Thank you. Those people out there," I start to say, then I'm not sure about how to word this without seeming rude or maybe even racist. Is that what it would be considered if I said something bad against aliens from another planet? "They didn't seem any different from you or me," I say, hoping that I'm hinting at my meaning enough so she will get my drift.
"You want to know if there's anything weird or creepy you should know about, don't you?" Katie says. It's like she's reading my mind. "Look at me," she continued, gesturing to herself.
It's then that I come to appreciate what an attractive young woman she really is. Since her time away, evidently on an alien planet, she seems to have grown up a lot. There's a glow to her, which can't be just physical. Is that what happens when you feel truly happy? Maybe she's found more than just personal adventure on this planet.
"Do I look like I've been going through hardship? I'm not hurt, am I? There's nothing on this planet that's going to harm you, as long as you don't go around looking for trouble. But that's just like back on Earth, right?"
"I guess so," I respond, not completely sold on this unsettling new world. "Maybe I can just hang out inside for a while, like you said."
"That's my girl. When you're ready, we can head out and look around the planet together. I won't make you do anything on your own," she says.
Something about that doesn't sit well for me. Katie came alone to this planet by herself, didn't she? Maybe that's where her sister, Eva, went. If they were able to come here by themselves, I shouldn't have to be taken care of like a child. It was my mother's doing that I'm even here. It's like I'm a little girl again, being set up with an older cousin to take care of me, to play with me.
I used to be so much more capable than this. That was before the car crash though, before I started to blame myself for Dad's death.
So, that night, fully aware that it was probably the stupidest idea I've ever had—I sneak out of Katie's apartment by myself. Out into an alien world with no one to hold my hand. No one to make sure I'm okay. If this place is really so harmless, then why shouldn't I be alright alone? I close the door slowly behind me so as not to wake my cousin. I doubt she is worried about me trying to leave. Not after the way I acted like a frightened child upon arriving here.
Before I left, I figured I could head out and go to a late night diner. Or at least something equivalent to that. I know there has to be places to eat around here. Katie wasn't surviving off air