"Max? Isabel? Is that you?" Diane Evans called out as she heard the front door softly shut. "Yeah, mom!" Isabel called.
"You found him?" Diane breathed in relief.
Max stayed silent until Isabel elbowed him in the side.
"Yeah…she found me. Sorry about that, mom. I didn't mean to scare you. I went camping, and kind of forgot to call…"
Diane finally emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel, as she gave Max a firm look.
"Don't forget next time, please? You had me worried sick!"
"I'm sorry, Mom."
Diane nodded tersely. "Have you eaten? I can throw something together for you…"
"No…that's okay…I think Isabel and I need to talk." Max replied quickly. He didn’t want to get stuck talking to his mother for a long time before he had a chance to get a little more background from Isabel.
"Okay…have fun."
The moment Diane was back in the kitchen, Isabel gestured to the hallway.
"Your room is down here." She hissed softly, leading him towards the back of the house.
Max paused in the hallway. It's walls were littered with pictures…pictures of his mother and the man that he assumed was his father. Pictures of him and Isabel when they were younger…he studied each one carefully, trying to burn the images in his head, hoping that maybe they would unleash some sort of memory.
But nothing came.
Sighing in defeat, Max followed his sister into his bedroom.
He could feel her eyes following him as he studied his bedroom, taking in everything for what felt like the first time to him. The large bed sat comfortably in the middle of the room. His desk was neat, very few books and papers littering it. He had a small walk in closet, with the door wide open, a metal bar stuck in the doorway, probably for exercise. There were a few posters lining the walls, but not many.
It was a strange sensation, walking into the place that he knew must be his home, but not recognizing anything. This was probably the place that defined him, yet walking around the room, he found very few clues to tell him who he was.
"Max…are you okay?" Isabel asked softly, gently. Reality was finally starting to hit her…he didn't know anything about who he was, what he was. He had lost everything… Isabel couldn't even imagine what that was like for him.
For the first time since entering the room, Max looked up at his sister.
"Yeah…I'm…" Max sighed. "This is all just really overwhelming."
"I can imagine it is." Isabel sympathized. "I can't say I understand though, because I don't…I've never been there…but I will do whatever I can to help you, Max. You can ask me anything you want."
Max suddenly laughed loudly, bitterly. "I don't even know what kinds of questions to ask…there's just one going through my head, over and over again…and it's a question no one can truly answer. Who am I?"
"What makes you think no one can answer it?" Isabel asked curiously.
"Because…" Max explained carefully. "You probably see me differently then I see me, and our mother probably sees me even differently. Everyone has a different perspective."
Isabel nodded silently. "That makes sense."
"So how do you see me, Isabel?" Max asked, sitting down in his desk chair, and running his hands through his hair.
Isabel paused for a long moment as she sat down on the bed.
"You're…I don't know. You're my brother. You're so strong, Max…a natural leader…although sometimes you boss me around too much." She chuckled slightly on her last words before continuing. "You're such a loving person, Max. You only put your trust in a select few…but once someone is let into your circle, you'll protect them with anything in your power. A lot of people think you're quiet, but I know differently. You're stubborn as all hell. You're…secretive. Not with me, but with many other people you are. You're very trustworthy, Max."
Max nodded pensively. "How did you find me this morning?"
"I was driving around looking for you when you didn't come home last night, and I saw your car."
"Do you know why I went to the woods?"
Isabel sighed. "No, I don't. It was about the tenth place I went this morning…you have a million different places that you go when you want to get away. You didn't tell me where you were going when you left, yesterday."
"You didn't see anyone else?" Max asked carefully.
"No…should there have been someone else?" Isabel asked curiously, but she suddenly twisted her face into a funny scowl. "I guess you wouldn't know, would you?"
"No." Max grimaced. "I wouldn't…but I thought I'd ask anyway…see if maybe someone did this to me."
"You were alone." Isabel confirmed.
"Okay…" Max mumbled, his mind racing for the next question. "Why don't you want anyone knowing what happened to me? Shouldn't I see a doctor or something."
"No…you definitely shouldn't see a doctor, Max." Isabel insisted, taking a deep breath and searching his eyes a little wildly. "God…I don't even know how to get into this. You've already been through so much today…you probably don't need any more shocks…but you need to know at least this much, to keep yourself safe."
"Keep myself safe…what are you talking about?"
"Max…I don't know how to tell you this…you were always the one to tell the few people that know…I mean, God, not even our parents know…we're adopted so they never needed to know!"
"We're adopted?" Max exclaimed.
"Umm…yeah, I forgot to tell you that. Mom and Dad found us out in the desert when we were six."
"Okay." Max replied faintly. "So our parents don't know…who does know?"
"Besides the two of us, Michael knows, his girlfriend Maria knows, and Sheriff Valenti and his son Kyle." Isabel purposefully left Liz out of the equation…Max didn't need to get involved with all of those issues right now…he had enough problems as it was.
"Okay…so what's the big secret." Max asked.
"Well…" Isabel stammered. "We're a little different, you and I."
"Different?" Max asked in confusion. "Different how?"
"Well…we're not exactly human…we're aliens."
Max was silent for a long moment, before he burst out laughing. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Actually I'm totally serious." Isabel replied flatly. "You need to know so that you can protect yourself. You and I are aliens…we can do things that normal humans can't do…our blood and cells are different and our bodies work differently, so you can't see a doctor."
"Okay…I wasn't expecting this." Max exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I know it must come as a shock to you." Isabel murmured.
"Understatement." Max replied flatly. "What kind of things can we do?"
"You can heal." Isabel replied simply. "I enter people's dreams. Both of us can mess with the molecular structure of things…here, why don't you try?"
"Try?" Max asked hesitantly, as he picked up a rock that was sitting on his desk. "How?"
"Just…focus on the object, on its molecules…on changing its molecules somehow."
Max nodded, and turned his full attention on the stone in his hand…a sandy, red stone that probably originated from the local desert. Focusing on it, he envisioned it as a smooth metallic rock. His eyes widened as his hand started to glow, and the rock transformed before his very eyes.
Silence filled the room, as both Max and Isabel stared at the rock in his hand. Max tossed it in the air and caught it a few times, studying it to make sure it wasn't his imagination.
"Okay…so I'm an alien." Max agreed faintly.
