Page 21 of Secret Twins for the Alien Dad

“Is she running from you?” he asks.

“No!” But looking down at the screen, I’m not certain. She’s not running from me.

Is she?

11

MYRA

It’s been six hours since I dropped everything and ran. Hopped on a train and got as far from Glimner City and the Nova Casino as I could. It was the only choice.

Sticking around to wait and see what Brev had planned for me was never an option. Honestly, I wish he threatened me sooner. It’s what gave me the kick to finally get out of that hellhole.

“Best food in all of Mairg!” An Odex man stands outside of a diner. He yells at everyone departing from the train. “Nothing like a long day of travel to work up an appetite!”

Ignore him and keep walking. I don’t exactly have a lot of money to my name right now. I’ll worry about food when I figure out where I’ll be sleeping.

“You two!” The Odex man singles out a young couple walking hand in hand. “We have a love bird special that I think will –”

My mind immediately flashes to Zair and the date with him I was forced to miss. It’s maybe my one regret when it comes to how everything went down. I wish I could’ve warned him. Not that it would help now.

To take my mind off him, I take in the town of Mairg. If it wasn’t for all the buildings with large metal sheets plastered over the windows, you’d never guess that it’s just a breath away from being a ghost town. I watch a human woman sweep the dirt off the front steps of a long closed-down bank. Another shuttered building, an old saloon by the looks of it, is in the process of getting a fresh coat of paint. Never in my life have I ever seen boarded-up buildings look so clean.

This town was abandoned by the rich ruling class when the nearby uranium mine stopped being profitable. But clearly, those left behind are proud people. They aren’t letting Mairg just fade away or turn to dust.

There is still a strong hustle and bustle in the streets. People move between still-open buildings. Children play in the street. Maybe this won’t be the worst place to hide for a while.

“Are you lost?” I’m brought back to reality and find that woman from the train who first told me about Mairg approaching me.

She walks with a certain confident sternness. Back straight, shoulders square, and eyes burning a hole in me. Something about her reminds me of a librarian or a school teacher, though I can’t quite put my finger on why.

“Huh?”

“Are you lost? I was surprised to see you get off at this stop, considering you didn’t seem to know anything about the town on the train. Mairg doesn’t get a lot of traffic just passing through, you know. And now you’re walking around, gawking at everything.”

I laugh nervously. I guess when I decided to get off in Mairg, I wasn’t expecting to be interrogated for my reasons. Maybe staying in a small town was a mistake after all. I stick out like a laser without a plasma conduit.

A moment ago on the train, she was quite nice. I guess I was right about the citizens of Mairg being a proud people. They also probably don’t take very kindly to outsiders coming in and making trouble.

“Sorry,” I say, still laughing out of nervousness. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“You better not. The people of Mairg don’t have the time to deal with any foolishness from city folk like you. I suggest you hop back on the train before it departs and go home.” She turns around and starts to walk away.

“I can’t go home,” I blurt out. I don’t know why I said that. None of this will help her think I belong here. I could’ve just silently gotten back on the train and gone to the next town. But I just couldn’t hold it in.

“Oh?” The woman stops in her tracks. Her head slowly turns to look back at me. “Is that so?”

“Yeah. I can’t…” She fully turns to face me. An intense urge comes over me to avoid eye contact with her. “But I’ll just get out of here. Go somewhere else. I didn’t mean to be a bother.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Why can’t you go home?” The woman approaches me now. “You can’t just say something like that and then offer to leave. What’s the rest of the story?”

“Oh, I…” It all starts to spill out of me. I lose control of my lips and tongue. “I’m from Glimner City. Well, I’m actually from Armstrong. But my parents died, and I made my way to Glimner. I just… I had some bad luck lately, and I had to start over. I’m not dangerous or anything like that. I mean no harm. But… I understand you don’t want me. I’ll…”

My voice trails off as I look at the woman. The entire time I rambled my story, she was quietly nodding along, never losing the stern look. But once I finish talking, her whole demeanor changes.

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