Assistant for the Alien Prince by Tammy Walsh

Jessica

I mussedup my hair and pulled it down over my face, not wanting anyone to see the tears streaming down my cheeks.

A small part of me still expected him to say my name, despite me telling him I didn’t want to be with him.

I was such a fool.

And when he said Tus’s name, it was both expected and yet surprising at the same time.

Now more than ever, I wanted to hurry home, to Aunt Mary’s house, curl up with a cup of hot chocolate, and hide from the world—and the rest of the galaxy.

There, I could ignore this whole thing ever happened.

I spotted my sister curling up close to an Ev’vat, running the tip of her finger along his horns while he hugged her close in his muscular arms.

She’d always found it so easy to get what she wanted.

Me on the other hand, I never got anything I desired.

I considered speaking to her, to tell her everything that’d happened, but I wasn’t ready for it.

I tore the tiara from my hair and tossed it to one side, where it skidded along the floor and struck the wall.

I hurried outside and ordered the security officers on watch duty to bring one of the royal ships around to take me home immediately.

They barked their orders and I followed them, jumping into the first ship that fired up its engines.

“Take me home!” I screeched at the computer terminal. “Please take me home!”

“Please specify coordinates,” the computerized voice said.

“Earth! Take me to Earth!”

The computer acknowledged my order and prepped for takeoff.

I wept into my hands as the ship rose into the atmosphere.

“Get me out of here,” I murmured. “Get me out of here. Get me out of here. Please.”

The ship zipped into hyperspace and as space and time tore apart and stitched themselves back together again, I welcomed the dizzying sensation and let it carry me down its endless dark stream of nothingness.

At least there I found peace.