Weird
adjective – 1. suggesting something supernatural; uncanny. 2. very strange; bizarre.

The dictionary officially has no idea...

He's an alien...

You don't know that!

But how else do you explain it? The gold blood? The sparkly organs?

There could be any number of reasons for those.

And then there's the way he talks, the way he acts. Why else would those others act the same way he does?

How exactly is that?

Like freaks?

Say something nice or nothing at all.

"Is something troubling you, my love?" Xandrell's voice murmured through the fight going on in my mind.

Welcome to Amy Wren's guide to 'What exactly is troubling you?'
If the following apply to the guy you live with, you should be scared... very scared...

1. He is incredibly hot and follows you around giving you terms of endearment i.e. 'My Love'.

2. When cut open, he has gold blood-ish stuff and organs made of diamond-ish stuff.

3. When he mucks around with his wristwatch, he manages to heal a potentially fatal wound inflicted by a gun.

4. He survived a gun shot that exploded his side. Are you not the slightest bit suspicious?

If the answer to any or all of these is yes, you are in pretty deep trouble. I advise you not to step outside your house and keep those near and dear to you distant... actually, just keep your distance from everyone. You could be potentially dangerous.

The antisocial thing's kicking in again.

"No..." I frowned, taking another wet wipe from the little purple packet beside us and wiping away the golden blood that had soaked into his clothes and managed to get everywhere, as I had been for the past half an hour. We had been attempting to clean up any evidence before my mother could get home. Many of the cuts we could pass off as everyday things, however, the gaping hole, not so much. "Well actually, yeah. Are you planning to explain anything to me? Or would my questions be better to go unanswered?"

He chuckled as I pulled his arm forward and began wiping away the golden blood there. "My sweet, why should these things be of any worry to you?"

I looked up at him. "Tonight, I saw one of the few people I care about almost killed. I want some answers now!"

He blinked and cocked his head on one side, a silly smile creeping over his features. "You care about me?"

"In much the same way I care about James or Charlie..." I said with a shrug before hesitating. "...maybe not as much as them, we've only known each other a week, I've known them for what feels like a lifetime."

His face fell again. "You don't love me."

"I didn't say that." I said sternly, looking back down at his arm as I wiped away the golden blood. "We don't have to be lovers, but just because I don't love you the way you love me, we don't have to be enemies."

He frowned. "I just wish Kaelen would think the same way as that." He sighed and relaxed his arm so it fell to his side and looked down at me. "I can't understand the way she thinks, you know."

"Who's Kaelen anyway?" I asked pulling forward his other arm and beginning to clean away the blood. He made a sound like 'tch' and went to pull his arm away, but I clung onto it. "Xandrell... please, I want to understand."

I looked up at him, hoping my eyes were wide and pleading. He looked down at me for a long moment before sighing.

"I'm not from your world." he said finally.

"I think I worked that one out." I said gently, though I still felt a tiny pang of shock as he said it out loud.

"I'm from a planet called in my native tongue, Maleof-Stagri, which translates literally into human tongue as 'the Green Mother'. The world is separated into many... I suppose they'd be called countries here. My people, the 'Lokah' people were, I suppose the equivalent of America or possibly China here in your world. One of the most powerful 'countries' on the planet. My father was ruler of the people. The Dahlan. Throughout history, my family, my ancestors, had made allegiances to the smaller countries through them giving their 'kiss' to the other rulers. Thus, our empire grew. The people were happy with life being this way. They couldn't imagine it any other way. Then I was introduced to the princess of the 'Emani' people, Kaelen... she instantly fell in love with me, but me with her, not so much."

"Wait a second..." I said, frowning, trying to work everything out. "Do you wanna explain how this love and 'giving your kiss' thing works please?"

Xandrell grinned at me and laughed delightedly. "Oh yes, I forgot you were just a human."

"Thanks, you're pretty great too, alien boy." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"My species suffers what we call 'Stregron-Colil', which translates roughly as 'single heartstring'." continued Xandrell as if I'd said nothing. "We can fall in love once... only once. When we fall in love, we enter a kind of obsession.... we can only think of them, our every thought is of them. We feel an over-powering need to protect them, and to help them with everything that they do, as well as a constant need to be near them. Our kisses are far more special than anything mere humans could have between them. They can have... some sort of... I suppose healing powers, it's more like one transferring their health into the other, and for those more sadistic in my species, mind control powers. More often than not, we can fall in love just by looking at a person. If we are soul-mates, it is all well and good. My problem is that Kaelen had everything needed to be my soul-mate; it's often calculated so it will work out perfectly. Hence, she fell in love with me straight away. However, what no-one had counted on was me not falling in love with her... I'd been obedient and a good prince all my life. The people loved me... however, many of them also loved Kaelen... and when I rejected her, the 'Emani's' invaded, and many of the 'Lokah' people rebelled. Fearful of my fate, my parents had me flee the world... our technology is far better than your human technology here on Earth."

"You don't have to keep referring to everything as human stuff." I told him, slightly annoyed, but at the same time, still curious about him, still desperate to hear the end of his story. "Carry on."

"They sent me away with only random co-ordinates to follow, making me that much more difficult to follow." continued Xandrell, looking somewhat saddened by his story. "The problem was, the co-ordinates left me stranded in the middle of no-where, somewhere near to Earth, close enough to be sucked in by its gravity field. I crashed in the park where we were earlier... and then using my Vederic's cloaking device..."

"Your what?" I interrupted, seriously confused now.

He grinned and held out his wristwatch. "It's my survival kit for being on other worlds. When it's on my wrist, it has an inbuilt encyclopaedia and dictionary which sends messages and information straight to my mind. It also has an inbuilt cloaking device so I can assume the form or whatever creatures inhabit the planet, and a healing device, which explains what you saw earlier. It also features an impenetrable force-field and a navigational system, as well as like a normal wristwatch, being able to tell you the date and time."

"What do you do, advertise these things?" I asked frowning down at the perfectly normal looking wristwatch on his right wrist.

He smiled, before continuing with his tale. "Anyway, using that I began to assume the form of, from what I could tell from pictures my Vederic gave me, was an average human male. Halfway through the ...transformation... I can't think how else to describe it... you arrived, on your metallic monster. When I looked up and saw you, I suddenly felt something in me that wanted, nay needed you, more than anything. It scared me, terrified me, but I needed to be near you. You were the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen, and something told me you were good and kind and sweet. I heard you scream in pain, and I knew I had to help you. After finding you, I sat down at the bottom of that valley with you, trying to find where you were injured the worst. Your head was actually a lot worse damaged than when you came to. I tried to fix you with my Vederic. It took me quite a while to fix that. I'm sure you would've died if I hadn't done what I did. You occasionally groaned after I'd healed that, but didn't come to. That gave me a chance to go over you and take care of some of the internal damage. By that time, you came to properly, and gave me a chance to talk to you... and then, the kiss... I gave you my heart, and in that one moment, I believed you'd accepted it..."

I blinked at him. I felt a particularly powerful pang of guilt rocket through me. I had been so horrible to him, trying to constantly push him away, when he'd saved my life. If it hadn't been for him, I'd have died within a few minutes at the bottom of that valley... and I'd been holding that against him, something I didn't understand about his race. I was a horrible person...

"And then, after that, I believe you know the rest."

I frowned down as I finished wiping his arm of the golden blood, trying to puzzle it all out. "Right..." I could think of nothing of any real significance to say. I was still trying to take it in.

"Right then, I didn't just give you some of my health to help you. I promised myself to you forever. But, you know, the moment I knew it didn't matter how I really felt about you came today, before Remo went for us. When we were having that fight, when you said about me showing you up in front of your friends. If it was worth it, if it mattered, you wouldn't have cared whether I was showing you up or not. That was when I realised, if I died protecting you, it would've been a good thing. I die doing the respectable thing, while you get me out of your hair."

I sighed and shook my head at him. "And what about after that fight? After the shot? Do you know the only thing going through my head, when I thought all I would find of your stomach was a few bloody tattered pieces of shredded corpse?"

"Eww."

"Yeah I just grossed myself out too."

"You probably thought how much better off you were."

"Do you really think I'm that horrible?" I said sullenly putting my hands on my hips and glaring at him. "I know I am, but still... when I heard that shot, the only thing I could think of was you. I was wondering whether I'd be able to just brush myself off after this. Don't take this the wrong way, but in that moment, my only thought was this kind of terror that I might never see you again."

He cocked his head on one side. "Why would you act like that if you didn't love me?"

"What did I just say?" I snapped. "You're allowed to love your friends."

But what if he's right? hissed a little voice in my mind. Deep down, you have a little soft spot for him.

That's stupid.

Is it? Why are you sitting here looking after him?

He's my friend!

And why, when you thought he was dead did you almost cry.

... wouldn't you?

You love him!

I do not!

You do, and you know it!

"Amy, Xandrell." my mother greeted us as she walked through the door, being followed by Jenny who was holding most of the shopping. "Did you manage to find most of the... good god, what happened to you two?"

I supposed we must've looked a state, me wiping a load of blood off of him while I had a sticky plaster over my left cheek to cover a massive scratch.

"Xandrell fell over down the valley, and got all scratched up, and I got my face scratched trying to pull him back up." I lied quickly. Xandrell smiled and gave me a secret wink.

My mother gave a relieved sigh and placed a hand over her heart. "God, when I come in and you two were in here mucking around with plasters, I thought you'd been in that gang violence that was over the park."

My eyebrows shot up under my fringe. I hadn't been expecting that. "Uh..." I croaked, trying to think how to cover this one up.

Xandrell looked up at my mother looking shocked. "Oh my God, I thought we heard something."

My mother frowned at him. "You heard about it? Apparently people heard guns."

"We were on the other side of the park." he said quietly. "We heard it and I said to Amy 'that was a gun, that was' and she was insisting it wasn't. You owe me a fiver, Amy."

"I do not!" I sniggered giving him a light punch on the arm. He laughed delightedly before ruffling my hair. I giggled and batted his hands away.

My mother and Jenny stared between us, my mother's look suspicious while Jenny looked crafty. I could tell she had something up her sleeve. "Well, uh..." My mother finally stammered. "School tomorrow, I think you two ought to go and get some sleep."

"They've probably already gotten that Mum." said Jenny raising her eyebrows significantly.

"Don't talk like that Jenny!" snapped my mother. "Take the shopping into the kitchen or something!" Jenny quickly scurried away clutching the bags of shopping while my mother turned back to us. "Come on then, off to your room now Amy... Xandrell, I want a word..."

"Can't I stay if you need to talk to him?" I asked. I was anxious for him not to say the wrong thing.

"Absolutely not!" snapped my mother. "Amy, bed, now!"

I sighed and moved across the room to the staircase. I was about three steps up when Xandrell called after me. "Amy!"

I turned and looked at him as he stood at the bottom of the staircase. "Yes?"

He carefully took hold of my hand and leaned up to reach my face. Very softly, and very sweetly, he kissed me on the cheek. I felt heat rising in my cheeks, my heart pounding. It wasn't forward as usual... in fact it was almost shy...

"I just wanted to say, sleep well." smiled Xandrell, before he let go of my hand and moved back to my mother. She was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before, and I ran up the stairs, eager all of a sudden not to hear what they were talking about. I turned right, into my bedroom and closed the door. However just before putting the lock on the door, I paused, my hand hovering uncertainly. Tonight, we'd really connected... I almost felt like I trusted him now. I let my hand drop and I got ready for bed, before finally going to sleep, the door unlocked.

For the first time in a long time, I slept without nightmares... and when my alarm clock rudely awoke me the next morning, he wasn't waiting there at the end of my bed.