Chapter Twenty-Six

Evelyn was adjusting to being an alien teenager. She found she required very little if any sleep. She needed to restore brain power on occasion by sitting quietly. It was a great time to meditate and decide what she was going to do with all her extra time since she didn't have to sleep.

She took up a new hobby, golf. She was a natural and her skill increased rapidly. Early one morning while she was practicing her swing she began to ponder her existence. Why was she different? She wanted to know who the aliens were that caused her existence.

She wanted to ask her parents but didn't want to bring up memories they would rather forget. She heard the rumors, how her Dad had been abducted by aliens. How he had come back pregnant with her and becoming a medical curiosity. Was she the only half alien half human alive? Were there others like her somewhere? Would she ever meet her progenitors? What would she do? What questions would she ask?

Evelyn knew that despite her burning curiosity, the question she most needed answered centered around her parents. Did they resent her? Did her Dad look at her and relive his ordeal with the aliens? She didn't know why she felt the answers to these questions were so important, she had only ever felt love from her parents. There was no reason to doubt but the older she got the more questions she had about her existence. Would she have been able to do the same in their place? She just didn't know and worry nagged at her.

William's anxiety was not easing, if anything it was building. Most days he felt overwhelmed with the need to protect everyone, keep them safe. He didn't know from what but he couldn't shake it. He had a vivid recollection of his feelings before Robert's accident and the feeling now seemed to be building towards something worse. He tried to ignore it, to dull it by following the Doctor's advice, taking the pills as prescribed. The doctor even suggested they get this hypnotizer thing to lesson stress.

William was a little dubious, not seeing how a spinning disc could be of any use. But he let himself be talked into buying it. He had to admit it was hilarious watching someone stare intently at the disc until their minds and faces went blank. When they were in that state, they were highly susceptible to suggestion and would do whatever you told them. The entire family thought it was a great party trick and took turns trying it out on each other. But it didn't seem to do anything for William's anxiety.

"Honey, how did your appointment go?" Jessica asked.

"Ok I guess."

"Only ok," Jessica said going over to William and putting her arms around him. "It's not getting any better is it?"

Sighing heavily William shook his head.

"Maybe it's time you try that new drug the doctor suggested."

Refusing to look at her, William shook his head.

"But why?" Jessica asked "If it'd make you feel better, why not? Why are you being so stubborn and refusing this? I don't understand."

"I'm not being stubborn. The drugs I take now leave me feeling sluggish and dull. Why would I want to take something stronger? So I couldn't feel anything? Jess I already feel like a robot, I go through my day on auto pilot. I just want to feel something other than this god-awful anxiety." He was breathing fast as he finished speaking and tears were blurring his vision as he looked towards his wife.

With tears of own, Jessica simply drew her husband close and held him. "We will get through this. I know we will." She felt William nod his head and he laughed a little as he hugged her close.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," William said giving her a kiss.

In an attempt to distract his mind William took up playing he guitar. At first all he managed to produce was so much noise. Eventually the lessons started to make sense and the noise became music. He found he could relax while he played and he determined to keep up the guitar lessons despite the almost debilitating anxiety he was suffering. He continued to work and cooking proved to almost as soothing as playing the guitar. William felt he was coping as well as could be expected. He refused to take any stronger drugs, he wanted to feel a part of his kids lives instead of being in a drug induced haze. Despite her concerns, Jessica supported his decision.

Jessica had other concerns on her mind. She hadn't told William about her encounter with the alien. She had hoped his anxiety would lesson since there had been no sign of the aliens since that night. But it only seemed to have increased. She didn't want to add to it by telling him the aliens planned on coming back and this time it wasn't just him in danger of being abducted.

Despite her concerns she was determined to keep a positive attitude for fear she would slide into a deep depression of her own.  Somehow she knew, her and William would survive whatever the future had in store for them. With all this going on she almost forgot about the award ceremony for Casey that was scheduled for that night. They were running late but they all made it in time to hear the opening speech.

Casey kept balancing from foot to foot in anticipation of receiving his award. He accomplished the all night camping trip. He had enjoyed collecting rocks and insects on that trip, he loved being outside, being one with nature. Although he didn't care too much for fishing, he could do it no problem. However all you did was wait and wait for a fish to come along and take the bait, it was so boring! No thank you, he had other things he could do with his time. Casey smiled when his name was called and he rushed up to shake the principles hand and take his award.

A few days after the award ceremony, his parents threw him a surprise birthday party. He hadn't been expecting one as his parents seemed to be preoccupied with other things. So when he came home to a houseful of people he knew he was having a party. Casey just loved parties; especially if they were for him and he could be the center of attention.

Casey was finding it difficult to come up with only one wish, there were too many things to choose from. It was taking so long for him to decide the candles were about to melt into the cake and Gene was ready to shove his head into the cake instead

He finally decided upon  a wish and blew the candles out. He refused to share what he wished for but everyone suspected he simply wished for unlimited wishes. Everyone was excited to see him age up into a teenager.

Jessica told everyone how her little boy had grown up to look just like his Dad. Casey felt like hiding when his mother gushed all that out in front of everyone but his sense of propriety kept him from saying anything. The last thing he wanted to do was a cause a scene.