Asmyne by Amber Riel (reading tree txt) 📕

“I was just asking. So what’s her name?”

“Like I’m going to tell you?”

“ Oh come on. I was asking for her name… not her number because that would be stupid; she lives with you and I have your number.”

“Shut up, Damen.”

Asmyne stood in the middle of a tropical rainforest. The birds sang and a little black and white spider monkey jumped from the trees. She touched a huge green leaf. Very healthy, she thought then wrote down the information on a sheet of paper which was attached to a clipboard. She looked up at the dark gray sky which was most blocked by a bunch of leaves and branches from the tall brown trees. The humid air revealed that it had rain recently. Another rainstorm, she thought. Good for the trees and other plant life here. She smiled.

“As-” April began to speak when she opened the door. “Oh my gosh.” She couldn't believe the sight.

Asmyne looked over at April and instantly filled up with anger. “Get out of my room.” She made her way over to April. “You are not allowed in my room.” She noticed a cute blonde guy standing next to April. He was dressed in torn up jeans and a plain white t-shirt. She looked at him up and down. “Except for you,” she told him. “You can come in anytime you want… as a matter of fact, I would like to run some test on you if you know what I mean.”

April dropped her mouth in disgust and disbelief.

“I’m Damen, April’s brother,” he introduced himself.

“Yes, you are. Oh, I’m Asmyne by the way… April’s roommate.”

“So I’ve heard. You are beautiful.”

“Why thank you… you are-”

“Asmyne, can I talk to you for a second?” April interrupted.

“Yeah, sure. Can you excuse us for a minute?” Asmyne asked Damen.

“Yeah,” Damen replied.

April and Asmyne walked into the kitchen whilst Damen looked around the tropical forest which was in Asmyne’s room.

“Okay, Asmyne,” April began, “number one rule of roommates… we don’t date each other’s brothers… so you need to stay away from him.”

“Well, that’s a crappy rule.”

“Well, that’s the main rule of being roommates.”

“What’s going to happen to me if I break the rule?”

“Then… then… I don’t know.”

“Then it’s more like a guideline rather than a rule actually.”

“I’ll kick you out.”

“Okay… so… I’ll just ask your brother if I could move in with him. I mean I don’t think that he’ll really care actually.”

April stared at Asmyne, speechless. She couldn’t think of any way to respond to Asmyne’s reply.

“That’s what I thought.” Asmyne walked back to her room and began chatting with Damen.

Asmyne sat at a long, slim computer station in her laboratory. She sat on top of a small round stool. She wore her glasses whilst she worked on a small round ball, fixing wires. It was like old times and silence filled the air. She felt peaceful working in quietness.

Wiley sat on the floor and watched Asmyne work like he had on their home planet. “I don’t think that you should work on anything explosive, professor…. Remember what happened last time?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, Wiley. I’m not going to make that same mistake.”

Wiley looked at Asmyne. He was going to reply but decided that it was best left unsaid.

April stood at Asmyne’s door, knocking. The more she had to knock, the more impatient she grew. This is ridiculous, she thought, waiting. What is she doing? She knocked again. Oh, whatever. She opened the door and looked around the laboratory, confused. Where is that rainforest? She asked herself. She stepped into the laboratory and looked around.

There was a wide table to her left with different shaped glasses. Each glass was filled with a different color liquid. The liquids looked like different kinds of cool aid, ranging from grape to raspberry.

The wall to her right was filled with buttons, wires, and computers on counters or funny shaped computer desk.

“Asmyne!” she called, walking into another room.

Asmyne continued working. Wiley’s ears flickered as he heard someone heading their way. He moved his head to face the back.

“Asmyne!” April’s voice rang through the room.

Asmyne’s hand flinched and missed what she was working on. She set the ball down on the work station. She stood up and began growing angry. She turned and spotted April standing in one of the open door ways in the room. “What are you doing in my laboratory?”

“I was going to see….” April noticed Wiley but didn’t realize that he was a full grown wolf. “Um… we’re not allowed-”

“I’m not a-” Wiley interrupted with a hint of anger.

“Did he just-?” April began to ask, shocked.

“Wiley,” Asmyne hissed, eyeing the wolf.

“What? She was-” Wiley continued.

“He talks-” April finished, dropping to the floor.

Asmyne and Wiley looked at April. Asmyne turned her attention back to Wiley, ticked off. “That’s why you’re not supposed to talk to the earthling humans.”

“But, professor, she was going to call me a pet. I’m your assistant, not your pet. Pets don’t do anything, except eat, sleep, play, and be lazy….” Wiley took a moment to consider what he was saying. “Actually, I think I might want to reconsider the pet position.” He looked up at Asmyne and smiled. She glared at him.

April sat up and looked over at Wiley. “Hello,” the wolf spoke with a smile. She could see his sharp white fangs. The tip of his tongue hung out on the side his mouth.

“Sorry about Wiley,” Asmyne told April, walking into the living room, and carrying a cup.

April noticed steam coming out of the cup which let her know that it was hot coffee or something.

“He has a hard time being quiet.” Asmyne eyed the wolf whilst she walked past him and over to April. “Here. It’s a hot cup of ice tea.”

April took the cup but the words took a minute to register in her head. “Wait… what?”

“It’s a hot cup of ice tea. It will help you relax.”

“That doesn’t make any since.”

“It would if you were from where we are.”

“What’s that mean?”

“We are from another galaxy… another planet.”

“So you’re aliens?”

“Yes. You can say that but we do have a better term to use than alien. We are Sylestnytes.”

“Sylest-what?”

“Sylestnytes. We are from the planet Sylestny.”

“Okay?”

“We would not be having this conversation if Wiley hadn’t opened his big mouth.”

“But, professor,” Wiley finally jumped into the conversation. “She was going to call me a pet.” He turned his attention toward April. “By the way,” he began to tell the earthling, “I am the professor’s assistant.”

April stared at Wiley, overwhelmed by the news. It did make sense in an odd way but she couldn’t help but wonder if she was just having some strange dream. “My roommate's an alien,” she replied a second later.

“Yes. We already mentioned that, ” Asmyne answered.

“Okay. Can I ask you two something?” April asked.

“Go ahead,” Asmyne replied.

“Why haven’t the people from area fifty-one picked either of you up yet?”

Asmyne and Wiley both looked at April then to each other. They burst out into laughter.

“Why is that funny?” April asked, trying to understand the joke.

“Because area fifty-one is a myth,” Asmyne replied. “Believe me, you earthlings like to spread rumors and area fifty-one is just a joke. I mean it could be a real place but it’s not filled with aliens.”

“Okay. Then can I ask you two something else?”

“What?” Asmyne replied.

“Aren’t you two supposed to say, ‘Greetings, earthling. We come in peace?’”

“Greetings, earthling? We come in peace?” Asmyne asked, confused.

April nodded.

“No self-respecting alien from any other planet is going to say that. If an alien wants war, then they’ll come and cause a war between your planet and theirs. If an alien wants peace, then they’ll come and go into hiding. Those are only two reasons why an alien would come to this planet.”

“Okay. Then why are you two here?”

Asmyne glanced at Wiley then to April. April’s question wasn’t something she wanted to answer but she had to tell the earthling something. “Because we were… exiled to this planet.”

“What? Exiled?” April asked, eyeing Asmyne. Not only was her new roommate an alien but she was a criminal too. “Exile’s not a good thing. What did you do that was so bad? Why were you exiled to my planet?”

“Well, I-” Asmyne began but was interrupted by Wiley’s big mouth.

“She blew up our planet,” Wiley answered.

“Wiley,” Asmyne hissed, glancing at him.

“You blew up your own planet?” April asked. “Then you better get off of this one-”

“There you go judging me,” Asmyne blurted. “Don’t judge me. You barely know me. Before an hour ago, you thought that I was a crazy earthling. And now you think that I blew up my own planet because I wanted to. Well, I didn’t. It was my job to build weapons for the military on our planet. I was working on an explosive that would destroy other planets… our enemies’ planets. I didn’t know that it was going to explode while I was working on it. It wasn’t supposed to happen but it did. Then the commander of the military, my boss, had me exiled for treason. My people wanted me to suffer for what I did. It was an accident. I tried to plead innocent but they didn’t believe me. I did plead guilty at first but it wasn’t my fault. It was an accident that wasn’t supposed to happen. I had to listen to people who wanted me to suffer. It’s not fun, earthling.”

April noticed the anger and hurt in Asmyne’s eyes.

“That’s not even half of it,” Asmyne continued. “I was trapped in an ice prison and sent to earth… this planet. And now, I can’t return home. Believe me, it’s not fun.” She walked to her room.

“There’s more to the professor than that,” Wiley told April but he watched Asmyne leave the room.

April looked at Wiley.

“She had a rough life. You think you got it tough.”

“Is that why she’s crazy?”

“Not crazy… insane… Maybe.”

Five hours had flown by, Asmyne stood close to a mountain for shade. It was over eighty degrees in a desert land. A baby tyrannosaurus rex ran up Asmyne and began sniffing her. “Hello, Rex. Sorry no food today, you’ll have to hunt. Or maybe have your mommy or daddy hunt for you. After all, they like to meet their food before they eat it,” Asmyne told the baby dinosaur.

The baby tyrannosaurus rex ran away. The pterodactyls flew high up in the light blue sky.

April walked into the heat. Oh my gosh, she thought, feeling a major difference from the cool air conditioned apartment to the heat of the new and unusual place she now was in. She looked around; noticing dinosaurs were in every direction. The ground was covered with dirt. The sun was high up in the sky which meant that it was midday in the unfamiliar place. April walked away keeping away from the giant dangerous creatures which could step on her or eat her if they chose to.

Asmyne sat on the ground, deep in thought.

“Asmyne?” April asked.

“What do you want, earthling?” Asmyne asked, glancing at April.

“I’m sorry for judging you. What is this?”

Asmyne stood up. “The fifth dimension.”

“What?”

“The fifth dimension.”

“I heard you but there’s no such thing.”

“Actually, you earthlings only know of four dimensions. There’s really six. The line which is the first dimension… the