Rae had me hide behind a filing cabinet while she sat down in the center of the room at the empty table. Everything was silent and I suspected we were safe, but then there was a knock at the door. Without permission a man about Rae’s height entered. Like Rae despite her height, the hair choices were bold and colorful. This place was pretty eccentric. They spoke to each other in words I didn’t understand. Their native tongue I guess. After he left Rae was visibly relieved. “Is everything okay?” Andy asked.
She turned, “Yes. Everything is fine. That was my friend, he’s monitoring the ship right now. He heard voices and came to make sure everything was alright.” Andy nodded.
“Rae I need to get out of here before I get one of us in trouble…”
“Andy,” she grabbed my wrist, “we need you. I need you.” She looked me in the eyes. Andy sighed.
“Alright.” Rae smiled. “But first, show me a little bit about this place.”
“Follow me. It’s almost curfew but we’ll be fine.” Her hair swished and bounced as she walked. “First stop is the cafeteria.” Andy looked through the double doors and saw hundreds of people lined up two by two. As the final person exited the lights flicked off automatically. We walked to the back of the café and Rae revealed a large platter. “This is our traditional dinner course.”
In one bowl sat a collection of small black bubbly things about the size of peas. The main dish looked like some sort of meat on a bread bun. Just like on Earth the drink was served in a glass cup. It was a deep red. It reminded Andy of a liquefied red velvet cupcake. Hesitantly he took a sip. It had the consistency of a milkshake, but was extremely foamy on top. When Andy looked around he came to the conclusion this place was pretty similar to Earth. Like a college built for the sky.
Andy finished eating, he hadn’t realized how hungry he’d actually been. He turned down all the food offered to him at his party due to the nervous knots in his stomach. Wait, the party! How long had he been gone? “Rae, thank you so much for this but I really have to go…”
“No! You can’t leave yet!” She lunged forward and pushed him back down into his seat.
“Rae you don’t understand! I need to,” he was cut off.
“You need to try our most popular dessert is what you need to do!” She was moving frantically as if she couldn’t control her limbs. She placed a hand on Andy’s shoulder and the other on his head. “Stay right here. I’ll be back before you could even recite the alphabet! Ours anyway… I think it has more letters!” And with that she ran back into the kitchen. It was now or never Andy thought. He sprinted to the door, the handle was just within reach when he heard plates clattering and shouting behind him. Rae threw herself in front of the door. With her arms spread out open she easily blocked the length of the doors with her wingspan. Andy crossed his arms. Between heavy breaths Rae pleaded, “Please…please don’t do this.” A single tear fell from her face and for a moment Andy didn’t believe her. It was all too…cinematic. Andy felt like he was the co-star of a movie.

Andy couldn't stand the secrets anymore. He knew Rae wasn't telling him the full truth. Things were weird here and it was time for her to lay all her cards out on the table. “What do you want from me? Really?” Andy muttered.

“Sit down and let me explain.” He didn’t want to. This girl, this dumb manipulative girl just wanted to keep him around. It’s not like Andy could actually help her. Regardless he followed her back to the table. He wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Alright Andy…when I found you everything just seemed slow motion you know? I’ve never experienced life on another planet and as soon as the ship touched down here I just wanted to know everything. And when I saw you had stumbled into the ship I knew you could be the one to show me. But I just didn’t know how to go about it. We’re not supposed to leave, but that’s all I wanted to do. I’m sick of my planet, sick of our way of life and I wanted to experience something new. I’m… I’m sorry.”
“I kind of get what you mean,” Andy said, “but you would drop everything for a place you know nothing about?”
“I’d rather not talk about it. Let’s talk about you. Why did you want to leave so badly?” Andy fell silent. It’s not that he had even wanted to leave. Andy felt uncomfortable, he didn’t want to tell this complete stranger about his family.
“It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it.” Rae reassured. And then, Andy collapsed inside.
“I didn’t want to leave, I just needed some space. My family t-they just threw this huge party for me and I ditched because I wasn’t into it and everything was so overwhelming. I-I guess I just feel guilty because they were just trying to be nice.”
“Well, you have a right to leave if it doesn’t make you happy.” Andy stayed silent. There was nothing she could say that would ever make him feel better about what he did. Andy knew it was time to go home. But then, like an echo of ghosts from the past they heard footsteps. Coming closer and threatening to expose them. The cafeteria doors burst open. Andy’s first instinct was to run, but his brain always did the opposite. Within seconds Rae took off in the opposite direction.
“Andy! Andy, aren’t you coming?” His brain finally sent a signal down to his legs and he took off after her. The whole scene was a blur. There was someone after them, the only question was, who? Rae motioned for him to follow her into a space between two corridors. They were so tightly packed together that he could hear her breath rise and fall with every intake of air.
“Rae I’m sorry. Coming here was a bad idea…”
“Andy, Andy, shhhh.”
“Why?” Andy whispered.
“Because I don’t care. Meeting you was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced. You’ve showed me so many things I never knew were real until I saw them.” Andy didn’t know what to say. So he kept his lips sealed and listened for the footsteps of the person pursuing them.
“Andy?”
“Yes?”
“Kiss me.” Rae demanded. And when he made no move she grabbed him and pulled him close.

Andy's breath was caught in his throat, along with all the words he was thinking but couldn't speak. Had Rae just kissed him? Did she have feelings for him? “I’m sorry Andy. I’ve just always wanted to try that!” She wore a large smile on her face. As soon as the footsteps were gone Rae spoke again. “Take me to Earth. Now, we can go, I don’t care if I ever come back.” Andy knew this was his only chance of getting home. The security in this place was getting tighter by the minute. He was sure Rae knew what she was up against. She checked the halls to ensure they were clear and then she bolted. Andy was blindly following her, always about ten steps behind.

With the door in sight Andy felt like he could finally breath again despite the fact he’d ran more tonight than he had in the past four years of gym class. Rae pushed the door open and jumped out of the ship. Andy was about to follow when his arm was yanked from behind. When he turned his head to look he was face to face with his shadow. The man who had been following them all night. They’d finally been caught. Andy called helplessly for Rae but it only caused the man to pull him away from the door. Andy called out one last time and Rae finally heard him. A look of horror was plastered across her face. It was a look that didn’t belong on a girl so beautiful.
Rae sprinted back toward the ship, “Andy, I swear I’ll get you out of this!” Andy fought to break the grip of the man dragging him, but then everything went black. When Andy woke up he was in a dark room with one window. Slowly he regained memory of what happened last. The last memory he could recall was of Rae running back for him. When he looked out the window for the first time he was relieved to see the ship was still sitting stationary on Earth.
“Andy? Andy?!” He could hear Rae, but he couldn’t see her. He shouted back and looked for a way out. But there were no doors, just the one lone window.
Rae never came. He could hear her shouts but nothing ever resulted from them. For days on end he waited. Through the window he watched the sun rise and fall. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months probably. Andy couldn’t keep track. He’d been without food and water for too long.
Andy woke up in his sleep one day. An uneasy feeling almost seeping out of him. He crawled to his window. Night had fallen and there were millions of stars out tonight. Just like the night he’d left his party. From this isolated window he could see his house, in fact the twinkling lights from the party were still strung up. Their glow now just barely strong enough to be visible.
He soon realized it wasn’t because the strength of the lights were dying out, it was because he was getting farther away. The ship was ascending up and away. There were so many unanswered questions. None of them mattered to him though. Andy slowly came to the crippling realization that he would never have another birthday. It would be as if he ceased to exist, trapped in space. He would never see the bright stars or the dark canyons on Earth in his hometown, and he would surely never have another birthday.