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“Some kind of alien invasion, right?” I ask.
He stutters, shocked by my lack of a response. “Emma, no one knows what happened. It looks like they up and disappeared.”
“Well, I’ll try to stay more informed,” I say.
He sighs. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you. I’ll chalk it up to stress, okay?”
“Okay, sure,” I respond.
“I’m going to need you to come into the office today,” he says.
My mother takes a giant scoop of chocolate ice-cream. She gobbles it down too fast, and moans. Brain-freeze. It’s an absolute killer.
I’ve missed Earth.
I laugh. “You need me to come in? Today?” I ask.
“You can’t avoid work forever,” he says.
Is that so?
“Are you going to fire me, Ryan? Is that what you want?” I ask.
“Well, no, but...” His voice trails, and I suddenly feel bad for him.
He was a rebound, a guy who took my heart and used it for his own sexual gain. There’s millions of men like him, but I suddenly understand why he acts like such an asshole.
He is looking for love in all of the wrong places. Whether it’s with the job at the Daily Star, or with the many women he has slept with in the office, he has not found the one person that can truly satisfy him.
He needs to find it within himself.
“I’ve been on a journey, Ryan,” I say. “I’ve taken a long and deep look inward.”
There is a moment of silence as he digests what I’m telling him. “Are you quitting?”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But I can’t stay at a job that doesn’t align with who I am.”
I have all of the gold in the world. I have the security and comfort from my alpha aliens. If we want to go on a vacation, we can travel across the universe in less than a few hours.
I have everything I could have asked for. Fire away.
“We can’t lose you. You were our best journalist,” he says.
I feel drained, but I’m finally satisfied. “I hope you find what you’re looking for. I know I have,” I say. “Goodbye, Ryan.”
I lower the phone, hit the off-button and cut off his cries for me to stay at my nightmare job.
“Who was that?” my mom asks.
“My boss,” I say. “I just quit.”
My mom dips her spoon back into the ice-cream and smirks. “Well, good for you. I always knew you could do better than that place.”
I pocket the phone and sit by her side. “I’m sorry, mom,” I say.
She squints, trying to get a good read on me, as if I’m trying to con her out of something. “What is this about? The water bill again?”
My blood pressure spikes. “Mom, for the hundredth time, I paid the damn water bill.”
