Page 1 of My Christmas Alien Mate

Done.AllIhadleft to do was connect the extension cords and see if my decorating job came even close to Grampa's from last year.

Grampa. As always, tears stung my eyes at the thought of the man who had been like a father to me. Not only had I lost him, but now I was about to lose my home as well, the pain of it was raw and constantly on my mind.

My fingers holding the ends of the extension cords trembled at the memory of the past few months. This year had definitely been a year from hell. It had taken everything from me. My family, my home, and any security I had ever known.

With a shuddering inhale, I pushed the ends of the cords together and was rewarded with the sight of the old cottage coming to life under the soft glow of hundreds of sparkling Christmas lights. It wasn't exactly aClark Griswoldmoment, but it was close to what Grampa had done every year.

Twinkling icicle lights ran down the eves of the slanted roof, over the pop out bay window, the entrance door, which I forgot to close, and the four visible windows emanating a low yellow glow from within.

A pine tree and several scrubs had also been decorated with holiday lights glowing warmly over a blanket of snow.

It was hard to believe that this would be my last Christmas here. I had never been away from this place, except for when I went to college, but never for Christmas, or any other major holidays. After New Years, I would have to pack up and leave.

Where to was anybody's guess.

No, I promised myself I wouldn't think about this for the next couple of weeks, not until after Christmas. This time was for me and my memories of Grampa and this place.

Snow crunched underneath my boots while I walked back to the cabin to finish setting up the last of the decorations. Before I even reached the entrance, warmth from the fire in the hearth at the end of the small family room greeted me.

This place still smelled of Grampa's old pipe, sitting untouched on a small round table next to his favorite recliner, facing the fireplace and the rather oversized TV, the only modern gadget Grampa had taken to and had allowed himself to splurge on.

All his other income was spent on me and my education.

At least he was there when you graduated, a small voice whispered when my eyes fell on my diploma that Grampa had proudly hung up on the wall.At least we had that.

The smell of the spiced tea I had prepared before I went outside tickled my nose, and I filled a cup with the concoction Grampa and I had come up with. Our secret recipe: sliced oranges, cloves, laurel leaves, clover, honey, and a small pinch of Captain Morgan, which I admittedly made more generous than he had usually allowed. But damnit, I needed something to chase the chill from my bones that had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures outside and everything to do with my sense of loneliness and abandonment.

I grabbed one of the many blankets from the couch, turned off all the lights, and moved to the enclosed back porch. The door protested on its hinges when I opened it to get back out into the cold.

It always got dark early here in the winter months, something I came to appreciate more the older I got.

Civilization hadn't spread this far into the mountains or this lake yet, so it was just me for miles on end. Probably because there were other, larger lakes all around the mountains.

Earlier today, I had felt lonely by myself in the cabin, but strangely, out here, walking onto the long pier my grampa had built, I didn't feel lonely anymore at all.

The lake lay still like a black tarmac before me and the moon had risen a few finger spans over the horizon and reflected its distorted image on the water's surface. A gazillion stars were visible against the cloudless night sky. Mesmerized, I stared at the twinkling lights. I remembered asking Grampa once, when I was a kid, if all the angels had hung their Christmas lights up in the sky and he told me,yes, every night.

Tall, dark pine trees stood to my right all around the lake and snowcapped mountains to my left. This place was the picture of perfection. Always had been. All my life this had been my constant, a place I thought I would always return to. In my minds' eye I had dreamed of spending summers and Christmases here with my children one day.

A shadow flying over me and a familiar huhu-huhu announced a large owl before I saw its black form fly through the night sky.How fucking perfect can this night get, I wondered, while taking a large sip of my spiced concoction and noticing that it was already cooling. Probably telling me it was time to go back in, call it a night, but for some reason, I stood frozen at the end of the pier, staring into the night like I had done a thousand times with Grampa, wishing he were here.

A shooting star raced across the dark sky, but I didn't make a wish, because I knew the only one that mattered to me would never be fulfilled by anybody. So instead, my eyes just followed the object as it flew in a wide arc over the lake. Instead of burning out though, it seemed to become brighter and bigger, closing in on me.

My cup fell from my hand and landed with a splash in the dark water to my right when I realized the object was still coming at me and there was nowhere for me to go. Even if I somehow managed to outrun it and make it to the cabin, I was sure it would crash right into it.A fitting end, I thought cynically, only half concerned that I would die.

Suddenly, the object dropped. One second it was coming full speed at me, the next, it just stopped dead in its tracks and dropped straight into the lake.

Ice-cold water sprayed me from head to toe as the water had suddenly been displaced by… what exactly? A meteorite?

Meteorites didn't drop on a dime. Not like that.

Besides, for how large the thing had been and how fast it had been going, there should have been a tsunami coming at me, not this… pathetic little splash. I had gotten wetter by friends jumping into the water than this.

Not that I wasn't soaked, I was, but still.

Theshipmaneuveredjustlike advertised. Never had I flown something like the XT4J before. After I left the hangar, she made hyperspeed within seconds.

For a while, I enjoyed autopilot mode but soon switched back to manual to get a feel for her flexibility. Full speed, I raced her back to the flagship, pulling her up short in front of the main viewing screen, certain the only reason they didn't shoot me down was because my father was on deck cursing me to all the gates of hell.

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