Chapter 2: Separation Anxiety

Jamie raced around the oval track that ringed the college sports field, his sneakers kicking up dust as they pounded against the ground. The weather was becoming cooler as winter approached, but he was dressed in his shorts and mesh vest regardless. If he got too cold, he would just run faster.

As he rounded a bend, he saw a solitary figure sitting in the empty bleachers, cradling a book bag in their arms. It took him a moment to recognize her due to the pink beanie that she was wearing, but it was Liz.

Curious. He hadn’t seen her around school that day. They hadn’t spoken since he had walked her home the previous afternoon, in fact.

He turned towards her, crossing the grass and quickly mounting the steps, flopping down onto the bench beside her. He was drenched in sweat, wiping his brow with the back of his forearm as he caught his breath.

“Hey, Liz,” he panted. “Not seen you around today, what’s up?”

She gave no reply, clutching her bag with her mittens, her face buried in it. This wasn’t like her at all. He put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a nudge.

“Liz, are you okay? Did something happen?”

She turned her head to look up at him, her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks stained with tears. She looked just like she had on the day that they had met, frightened, upset. Liz let her bag fall from her arms, the flap flying open, her beloved textbooks spilling free. Sheets of paper fluttered away on the cold breeze as she lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him as she pushed her face into his chest, his shirt muffling her miserable wail. He put one arm around her back, cradling her head in his hand, holding her as she cried it out. Her chest heaved as she sobbed, Jamie giving her a minute, waiting for her to tire herself out before he asked her any more questions.

“What on Earth is wrong, Liz?” he finally asked. “Has someone been giving you a hard time?”

“N-no,” she replied, her voice choked off between sniffles. “Oh Jamie, we’re going back to Borealis...”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked, perplexed. “You kept telling me how excited you were to visit.”

“We’re not visiting,” she wailed, fat tears brimming in her green eyes again as she glanced up at him. “My parents are moving back, and I have to go with them.”

Jamie felt like someone had plunged a knife into his heart, stopping it dead, his blood running cold as he held his distraught friend in his arms.

“You’re not ... coming back?” he asked, scarcely believing what he was hearing.

“Dad is done here,” she continued, wiping her eyes with her pink mittens. It was a futile gesture, fresh tears soon replacing them. “My parents don’t have a reason to stay now that his employment period with the UN has ended. They want to take me home,” she said, spitting that last word as though it were a curse. Jamie understood how she felt. Earth was her home, not some alien planet that she had never even set foot on. “They said that I was too young to stay here on my own,” she continued, a blend of exhaustion and anger making her tremble. “Mom said that I need to learn to be ‘a proper Borealan’, like there’s something wrong with how I act right now.”

Jamie felt tears welling in his own eyes, but he did his best to fight them back. It wouldn’t make Liz feel any better if he started crying too. He patted her on the back through the padding of her heavy winter coat, trying to calm her down.

“Don’t they understand that you’re happy here?” he asked. “You have friends, you’re doing so well in school, don’t they care about any of that? What about your studies?”

She shook her head, her long, sandy hair falling over her shoulders.

“They only care about their stupid culture. I don’t care about packs and status, I just ... I just want to stay here, with you.”

“Did they tell you when you’re supposed to be leaving?” he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Three days,” she replied, her lower lip starting to tremble. Damn, they really had sprung this on her suddenly. Perhaps they had anticipated her reaction. Jamie wasn’t the kind of person who judged foreign cultures at face value, but it seemed harsh by any metric, to tear her away from everything that she had ever known with so little warning.

“Maybe I can talk some sense into them?” he suggested, grasping at whatever straws he could. “I could try to change their minds, make them see things from a more human perspective?”

“No,” she insisted, placing a gloved hand on his chest. “My reaction made my parents angry enough, they won’t listen to reason. Dad likes you, I don’t want you two falling out.”

Jamie wracked his brain, there must be something that he could do to stop this. Could they run away together? No, that was a ridiculous proposition. They didn’t have any money, and hiding a Borealan girl would be downright impossible. If the ambassador’s daughter went missing, the entire UN would come looking for her, there would be Marines crawling all over the city.

“It’s already been decided,” Liz continued, “they didn’t even ask my opinion.”

She seemed as angry as she was upset now, her green eyes blazing. Her expression softened as she leaned against him again, Jamie hugging her tightly, the cool air starting to chill the sheen of sweat that coated his skin.

“We’ll fix this,” he whispered, “it’ll be okay.”

Liz wiped her runny nose on her sleeve, clinging to him as though he might somehow disappear. He didn’t really believe what he was saying, they were empty words, but he was trying to comfort himself as much as Liz.

Jamie dialed in the code for Liz’s vidphone on his tablet’s touchpad as he sat on the edge of his bed, waiting impatiently for someone to pick up. His room was sparsely decorated, a few posters and pennants bearing the colors of college sports teams hanging on the walls. To his right, a large window looked out over the city, the small apartment that he shared with his family situated on the three hundred and sixty-third floor.

There had been no word from Liz since she had returned home. Had her parents confiscated her phone? Was she confined to her bedroom? Would they not even let her make the most of what few days she had left? He couldn’t just sit around and wait, even if she had advised him not to confront her parents. He had to do something.

After a short delay, he saw the shaggy mane of her father appear on the semi-transparent display, his flat, feline brow furrowed.

“James,” he said, his deep voice somewhat distorted by the quality of the mic on his end.

“Hi, I wanted to know if Liz-”

“You must stop calling,” her father said sternly, interrupting him before he could finish. “Lizka is upset enough as it is, and seeing you will do her no good.”

Jamie had always gotten on well with Liz’s family, and he had a great deal of respect for her father, but his patience was starting to wear thin.

“Please,” he began, “you can’t just-”

“Neither one of you understands what it means to be Borealan,” her father replied tersely. “You see only what you want to see, that we are cruel and unfeeling, stealing her away against her will. We reared Lizka on Earth, this is true, but she has Borealan blood coursing through her veins. She must return to her people, learn our ways, find her place in the hierarchy.”

“Damn right, I don’t understand,” Jamie shot back. “She was so excited about visiting Borealis, she wouldn’t stop talking about it, but now ... now you’ve ruined her life.”

Her father shook his massive head, visibly tiring of the conversation. He had probably been arguing with Liz all evening, too. She could be feisty when she was angry.

“Would you have her live out her life without ever truly knowing herself? Being disconnected from her heritage, from her people? You have known her only as a child, you have no idea of what she will one day become. She cannot be tempered on Earth, she must be with her own kind, she must learn from her kin.”

Jamie began to reply, but Liz’s father preempted him.

“Imagine if a child of yours was reared on Borealis. Would you not want them to return to their ancestral home, to learn what it means to be human? Lizka has no idea what awaits her, her tears are born of ignorance, as are your protests.”

He could see that the man was far too stubborn to be persuaded, Jamie abandoning his attempt.

“I know that you care for my daughter,” he continued as Jamie glared at him through the video feed, “but you must respect my wishes. Your interference will only make this harder for her than it already is. Goodbye.”

He closed the connection, Jamie tossing his tablet onto his bed, cursing to himself.

It was futile. Jamie had tried to contact Liz’s parents over vidphone a dozen more times, and they had eventually blocked his number, refusing to take his calls. The only option left now was to jog over to their house.

It was pouring with rain by the time he arrived, the asphalt reflecting the glow from the streetlights, so wet that he could almost see his own reflection in it. He raised his phone as he approached their residence, fat droplets of water rolling down the flexible screen, seeing that he had received no new messages. The curtains on the bay windows were drawn, but the lights were on inside, they were definitely home.

He made his way up the driveway and started to pound on the door, but they wouldn’t see him. No matter how much of a racket he made, no matter how many times he pressed the buzzer, nobody came to answer. He took a few steps back, glancing up at the domed house, not knowing what else to do.