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xtremeroswelliaAuthor: X_tremeroswellian
Email: faithboscorelli1@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine. I have no money, don't sue.
Rating: R for language, violence, sexual content
Author's Note: This one's for you, Linda! :)
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Conclusion
In the Presence of Evil (Part Three)
Alex lay awake that night, staring at the cieling. He let out a sigh and then turned his head to look over at his two best friends, who were finally asleep in Liz's bed. He glanced at the clock. 3:26 a.m. He always used to be asleep by 10:30.
But not since Liz had told him about Isabel, Max and Michael. He'd lain awake night after night, just staring out his bedroom window at the stars, wondering what had happened to cause their three Czechoslovakian friends to end up here. He had gone over every memory he had of the three of them, turning each memory over and over, examining each from every possible angle, trying to figure out if there had ever been any clue along the way, but in the end, there never was. By all rights, Isabel and Max Evans and Michael Guerin had always been completely human.
And yet, they weren't.
They were different from him, different from Liz and Maria...and at the same time, they were still the same people they'd always been.
Alex wondered when he'd suddenly become a philosopher.
He looked back over at Liz, who was sleeping on the edge of the bed nearest him. Moonlight streamed in from her window, and he could see her face was still tear-strained and pale. He hated seeing her like that.
After Max, Isabel and Michael had left the previous ending, Liz had locked herself in her bedroom for a good hour while he and Maria had sat outside the door, listening to the quiet sounds of her crying. They hadn't spoken, hadn't even looked at one another. They were feeling the same way--like their hearts had just been ripped out and stuffed back in their chests. Alex didn't have to ask how Maria or Liz was feeling...he just knew. When you've been friends with someone as long as Alex had been friends with the two of them, you just know.
It wasn't fair. Liz was a good person, and she loved Max. That was another thing he knew instinctively. He'd seen her when she was going out with Kyle, and with a few other guys before that...but she never looked at Kyle or any of those other guys the way she looked at Max Evans.
And Alex felt for her. He'd always been closer with Liz than Maria. Not that he didn't love Maria, but of the three of them, Liz and Alex were the most alike. And Liz was the first person to ever make him feel like he truly belonged.
He'd moved to Roswell in the fourth grade, but he and Liz had been in different classes. He remembered meeting her once on the playground, and she had such a brilliant smile. She'd looked so happy, swinging with Maria. He'd wanted to stay and play for awhile, but the bell rang signalling the end of recess.
After that, he saw her from time to time, but was too shy to talk to her or Maria. So he'd sat alone at lunch and recess his fourth grade year at Roswell Elementary. All summer that year he'd dreaded the start of school. And on the first day of fifth grade, he'd sat down in the back of the room by himself, as usual.
But to his surprise, Liz had come and sat down next to him, flashing him that same happy smile. But this time, Alex had smiled back. And at lunch that day, she had taken his hand and sat down in the cafeteria with him, and since Maria had a different lunch hour that year, it had just been the two of them. And she'd asked him questions, and shared things about her own life. They'd been inseperable.
Liz introduced him to Maria a few weeks later, when Alex's family had gone to the Crashdown for dinner, and Liz and Maria were having a sleepover. And to his surprise, the two of them had invited him to join them. And after that, it was always the three of them. They went everywhere together, hung out, talked, watched movies, and of course, argued occasionally. But Liz had always been the peacemaker of the three of them. Anytime he and Maria would argue about anything, Liz always mangaged to get them back on track again.
And eventually, they didn't argue anymore. They were just there for one another, through anything.
When the popular guys at school harassed him, Liz and Maria were the first to jump to his defense. When Maria's mother was out on yet another date with some guy, Liz and Alex were always there to cheer her up with ice cream. When Liz's parents left her alone for weekends to go on business for the Crashdown, Alex and Maria stayed with her.
They'd seen each other through breakups, sickness, parent problems, teachers from hell, and countless other things.
And even though that was true, Alex had never seen Liz break down like she had that night, when she'd told Max that she would stay away from him. He knew how much it hurt her and he hated it.
He heard a soft sound and turned his head towards it. She was crying again. His heart ached for her. He moved quietly, trying not to wake Maria, who was faced towards the window. He touched Liz's arm. She didn't jump, didn't look at him, just slid over slightly towards Maria and Alex laid down next to her, holding her hand. He shifted and kissed her forehead lightly. "I'm sorry, Liz," he whispered.
She just nodded as she buried her face in her pillow.
Maria turned over and faced them, meeting Alex's eyes momentarily. Then she took Liz's other hand and squeezed it. "We'll always have each other," she whispered fiercely.
"Always," Alex repeated, gazing at Liz.
Liz sat up and threw her arms around them both and engulfed them in an embrace. "I don't know what I'd do without you guys," she whispered.
"You don't have to worry about that," he assured her, leaning his head against both of theirs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max was awake, staring at the wall when he heard the soft knock at his door. "Come in," he said quietly.
Michael sat up on the sleeping bed next to Max's bed, pulling his knees to his chest. Isabel stepped into the room, wearing her red silk pajamas. She closed the door behind her and dropped onto the edge of Max's bed. "I can't sleep."
Max sighed and sat up. "That makes three of us."
"Probably more than three," she said softly, staring at the floor.
Michael looked up at her. "What?"
"I just have a feeling we're not the only ones unable to sleep tonight."
Max stared out his bedroom window. "Do you think they meant it? That they're going to stay away from us from now on?"
"Doubt it," Michael commented. Max and Isabel both turned to look at him. "I mean, think about it. You saved her life, Max. So regardless of what got said, I don't think they'll try to stay away from us."
"She said she wished I hadn't saved her," Max whispered, shaking his head.
The three of them fell silent for a long moment. Then Isabel spoke up, her voice thick with emotion, "I think I really hurt Alex. I told him he was suffocating me. I didn't mean it."
Max put a hand on her shoulder. "You were afraid."
She pulled away. "Maria was right, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"She called us cowards. She was right. That's what we are. All three of us," she said, her voice becoming angry as she stood up and began pacing the floor.
"Hey, what does she know?" Michael demanded, standing up.
Isabel spun around to face him. "She was dead on when she said she made you feel too human, Michael. You know it, I know it, Max knows it. And if you deny it, you're a liar," she challenged.
Michael stared at her. "I am not human. None of us are."
She stepped up close to him, rage in her eyes, a rage he had never seen before. "Stop using me as an excuse, Michael. If you want to hide behind lies, do it alone. You might not want to feel human, but the truth is, we're just as human as they are. We feel things, we hurt, we cry, we get angry. We think, we talk, we hear and we see the way they do. The way we've done every day since we broke out of our pods. Nothing you can say or do can change that!"
"And nothing that you can say or do can change the fact that this is still not our home!" he exploded.
Max was glad his parents were out of town for the weekend.
"It is home, Michael! This is the only home any of us has ever known! I'm tired of sitting back and watching my life pass before my eyes! I want to live. I don't want to spend every day waiting for someone to come back for us! We crashed fifty years ago! What the hell makes you think anyone's ever going to come back for us?"
"Because Nasedo is here."
"So what? He's been here for fifty years, too! Just because he's here doesn't mean we're ever going back to wherever we come from! Don't you get it, Michael? Don't you see? We are here for good. I'm sorry that you got stuck with a raw deal. I'm sorry that you didn't take Max's hand that night! I wish you had! I love you like a brother, Michael, but Jesus, sometimes you can be so thick-headed!"
Michael looked away. "So what are you saying, Iz?"
"I'm saying...I'm saying I'm tired," she said finally, her voice flat as she dropped back onto Max's bed. "And I'm saying I want to be normal. And that we have three people who know who we are, who accept it, and who still care about us. And I for one, am tired of pretending it's not true."
"Isabel?" Max's voice rose from the darkness of his room, and she turned to face him.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm saying that I think I'm in love with Alex."
Email: faithboscorelli1@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine. I have no money, don't sue.
Rating: R for language, violence, sexual content
Author's Note: This one's for you, Linda! :)
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Conclusion
In the Presence of Evil (Part Three)
Alex lay awake that night, staring at the cieling. He let out a sigh and then turned his head to look over at his two best friends, who were finally asleep in Liz's bed. He glanced at the clock. 3:26 a.m. He always used to be asleep by 10:30.
But not since Liz had told him about Isabel, Max and Michael. He'd lain awake night after night, just staring out his bedroom window at the stars, wondering what had happened to cause their three Czechoslovakian friends to end up here. He had gone over every memory he had of the three of them, turning each memory over and over, examining each from every possible angle, trying to figure out if there had ever been any clue along the way, but in the end, there never was. By all rights, Isabel and Max Evans and Michael Guerin had always been completely human.
And yet, they weren't.
They were different from him, different from Liz and Maria...and at the same time, they were still the same people they'd always been.
Alex wondered when he'd suddenly become a philosopher.
He looked back over at Liz, who was sleeping on the edge of the bed nearest him. Moonlight streamed in from her window, and he could see her face was still tear-strained and pale. He hated seeing her like that.
After Max, Isabel and Michael had left the previous ending, Liz had locked herself in her bedroom for a good hour while he and Maria had sat outside the door, listening to the quiet sounds of her crying. They hadn't spoken, hadn't even looked at one another. They were feeling the same way--like their hearts had just been ripped out and stuffed back in their chests. Alex didn't have to ask how Maria or Liz was feeling...he just knew. When you've been friends with someone as long as Alex had been friends with the two of them, you just know.
It wasn't fair. Liz was a good person, and she loved Max. That was another thing he knew instinctively. He'd seen her when she was going out with Kyle, and with a few other guys before that...but she never looked at Kyle or any of those other guys the way she looked at Max Evans.
And Alex felt for her. He'd always been closer with Liz than Maria. Not that he didn't love Maria, but of the three of them, Liz and Alex were the most alike. And Liz was the first person to ever make him feel like he truly belonged.
He'd moved to Roswell in the fourth grade, but he and Liz had been in different classes. He remembered meeting her once on the playground, and she had such a brilliant smile. She'd looked so happy, swinging with Maria. He'd wanted to stay and play for awhile, but the bell rang signalling the end of recess.
After that, he saw her from time to time, but was too shy to talk to her or Maria. So he'd sat alone at lunch and recess his fourth grade year at Roswell Elementary. All summer that year he'd dreaded the start of school. And on the first day of fifth grade, he'd sat down in the back of the room by himself, as usual.
But to his surprise, Liz had come and sat down next to him, flashing him that same happy smile. But this time, Alex had smiled back. And at lunch that day, she had taken his hand and sat down in the cafeteria with him, and since Maria had a different lunch hour that year, it had just been the two of them. And she'd asked him questions, and shared things about her own life. They'd been inseperable.
Liz introduced him to Maria a few weeks later, when Alex's family had gone to the Crashdown for dinner, and Liz and Maria were having a sleepover. And to his surprise, the two of them had invited him to join them. And after that, it was always the three of them. They went everywhere together, hung out, talked, watched movies, and of course, argued occasionally. But Liz had always been the peacemaker of the three of them. Anytime he and Maria would argue about anything, Liz always mangaged to get them back on track again.
And eventually, they didn't argue anymore. They were just there for one another, through anything.
When the popular guys at school harassed him, Liz and Maria were the first to jump to his defense. When Maria's mother was out on yet another date with some guy, Liz and Alex were always there to cheer her up with ice cream. When Liz's parents left her alone for weekends to go on business for the Crashdown, Alex and Maria stayed with her.
They'd seen each other through breakups, sickness, parent problems, teachers from hell, and countless other things.
And even though that was true, Alex had never seen Liz break down like she had that night, when she'd told Max that she would stay away from him. He knew how much it hurt her and he hated it.
He heard a soft sound and turned his head towards it. She was crying again. His heart ached for her. He moved quietly, trying not to wake Maria, who was faced towards the window. He touched Liz's arm. She didn't jump, didn't look at him, just slid over slightly towards Maria and Alex laid down next to her, holding her hand. He shifted and kissed her forehead lightly. "I'm sorry, Liz," he whispered.
She just nodded as she buried her face in her pillow.
Maria turned over and faced them, meeting Alex's eyes momentarily. Then she took Liz's other hand and squeezed it. "We'll always have each other," she whispered fiercely.
"Always," Alex repeated, gazing at Liz.
Liz sat up and threw her arms around them both and engulfed them in an embrace. "I don't know what I'd do without you guys," she whispered.
"You don't have to worry about that," he assured her, leaning his head against both of theirs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max was awake, staring at the wall when he heard the soft knock at his door. "Come in," he said quietly.
Michael sat up on the sleeping bed next to Max's bed, pulling his knees to his chest. Isabel stepped into the room, wearing her red silk pajamas. She closed the door behind her and dropped onto the edge of Max's bed. "I can't sleep."
Max sighed and sat up. "That makes three of us."
"Probably more than three," she said softly, staring at the floor.
Michael looked up at her. "What?"
"I just have a feeling we're not the only ones unable to sleep tonight."
Max stared out his bedroom window. "Do you think they meant it? That they're going to stay away from us from now on?"
"Doubt it," Michael commented. Max and Isabel both turned to look at him. "I mean, think about it. You saved her life, Max. So regardless of what got said, I don't think they'll try to stay away from us."
"She said she wished I hadn't saved her," Max whispered, shaking his head.
The three of them fell silent for a long moment. Then Isabel spoke up, her voice thick with emotion, "I think I really hurt Alex. I told him he was suffocating me. I didn't mean it."
Max put a hand on her shoulder. "You were afraid."
She pulled away. "Maria was right, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"She called us cowards. She was right. That's what we are. All three of us," she said, her voice becoming angry as she stood up and began pacing the floor.
"Hey, what does she know?" Michael demanded, standing up.
Isabel spun around to face him. "She was dead on when she said she made you feel too human, Michael. You know it, I know it, Max knows it. And if you deny it, you're a liar," she challenged.
Michael stared at her. "I am not human. None of us are."
She stepped up close to him, rage in her eyes, a rage he had never seen before. "Stop using me as an excuse, Michael. If you want to hide behind lies, do it alone. You might not want to feel human, but the truth is, we're just as human as they are. We feel things, we hurt, we cry, we get angry. We think, we talk, we hear and we see the way they do. The way we've done every day since we broke out of our pods. Nothing you can say or do can change that!"
"And nothing that you can say or do can change the fact that this is still not our home!" he exploded.
Max was glad his parents were out of town for the weekend.
"It is home, Michael! This is the only home any of us has ever known! I'm tired of sitting back and watching my life pass before my eyes! I want to live. I don't want to spend every day waiting for someone to come back for us! We crashed fifty years ago! What the hell makes you think anyone's ever going to come back for us?"
"Because Nasedo is here."
"So what? He's been here for fifty years, too! Just because he's here doesn't mean we're ever going back to wherever we come from! Don't you get it, Michael? Don't you see? We are here for good. I'm sorry that you got stuck with a raw deal. I'm sorry that you didn't take Max's hand that night! I wish you had! I love you like a brother, Michael, but Jesus, sometimes you can be so thick-headed!"
Michael looked away. "So what are you saying, Iz?"
"I'm saying...I'm saying I'm tired," she said finally, her voice flat as she dropped back onto Max's bed. "And I'm saying I want to be normal. And that we have three people who know who we are, who accept it, and who still care about us. And I for one, am tired of pretending it's not true."
"Isabel?" Max's voice rose from the darkness of his room, and she turned to face him.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm saying that I think I'm in love with Alex."
