I ran as fast as I could to the Taylor house and pounded on the door. It opened and Mr. Taylor looked down at me with a tired expression.

"Oh..."

"Where... is... he...?" I said in between gasps for breath from all the running.

"Did you run here?"

"I was heading over anyway. I was going to apologize to Max."

"For what?"

"Never mind that. Where's Max? What's going on?"

Mr. Taylor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and over his face. He oved the door open a little more so that I could step in.

"Where's Mrs. Taylor?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I haven't had a wink of sleep since this morning when Max started screaming bloody murder in the bathroom. After that it's been a daze."

I looked at Mr. Taylor for a moment and then gulped, stepping backwards towards the living room.

"Oh my god... Y-you're one of them. You're an alien!"

"What? Now you too?" Mr. Taylor growled, crossing his arms. "What could possibly make you think I'm an alien?"

"Because you're so calm. Mr. Taylor is known for not being calm when he's upset and/or hasn't had any sleep... and the fact that you don't know where your wife is in this critical time..."

Mr. Taylor smiled this crooked smile and then began to clap slowly.

"Bravo, young human. You're much more perceptive than Max Taylor."

"How is this happening? Did I get abducted too and didn't even know? What the heck-"

"We have the ability and technology to do as we please. As it's been so indicated by your species, human males do not carry the progeny of your species and yet Max Taylor harbors life within him. What makes you believe that we couldn't do anything else?"

"Because I haven't been in contact with you. Max is a little understandable since you took him into your ship and did stuff to him, but I've been on Earth."

"How perceptive..." He began to walk towards me and then around me, staring at me intently. "What an interesting human you are... You were surprised but now you seem perturbed... Not the reaction I thought you'd have..."

"I've been practicing this my whole life. I'm a firm believer in extraterrestrials."

Max and Kole never knew how deep my obsession went with xenology, the study of aliens. I loved science because it opened up so many mysteries about the stars and our planet and space was like my second home... in my head. As dorky as it seems, I really have acted out what would happen if I came in contact with an alien species. This wasn't exactly how I pictured it, but keeping calm was definitely a high priority in these situations and so far impressing the aliens seems like a good sign.

"How unusual... You've practiced speaking with an alien race?"

"No need to rub it in, pal. My secret nerdy personality is not the point here. I'm asking a genuine question about all this: how is this happening?"

"The how is insignificant."

"Fine, if you won't answer that then answer me this: why?"

"We did not expect Max Taylor to stop."

"Stop what?"

"Living."

"Oh my god, you killed him?!" I growled, ready to kick some ass.

"No, we have not killed him, he is merely unresponsive to his natural movement. I believe your species calls it 'comatose'?"

"Yeah. It means he checked out of life for a moment. And what do you mean 'you didn't expect him to stop'? You mean like stop functioning? Well, yeah he's going to take a trip to Bye-Bye Land after you've screwed him over so many times. You can only fuck with a dude's mind so much that it can't take anymore and just stops trying to process anything because what's the point? Everything he thinks he knows is fake and what he believes is real is not."

"His actions are unacceptable. As a vessel for the child it is imperative that he function normally."

"Wow, you guys are so full of shit... You act like he asked for this and is now not living up to the challenge. You guys forced this on him, so you guys fix it."

"That is what we are trying to do."

"By using me? What can I do? I don't even know how I got in this situation..."

"Through analysis, we have discovered that your cooperation would be better than that of Max Taylor's parents."

"O-kay... so... what am I supposed to do?"

"He has decided to hide away within his mind. He is being weak. We require that you convince him to regain consciousness."

I laughed, hard, doubling over. "And how do you expect me to do that?! I'm not a magical being that can enter people's minds!"

"We can take care of that. Do you believe we decided to ask for your assistance because we wanted a 'favor' from you? It is because we have been unsuccessful in our attempts to draw him back out. I have explained enough to you. You will retrieve Max Taylor or I will suggest to our king that you should be the next subject."

"You're threatening me?" I said, anger boiling in my blood and rumbling beneath my skin. How the hell could they have the audacity to just sit there and think I was going to be swayed by a threat when they've messed with my best friend so much they made him fucking comatose? I walked over to fake-Mr. Taylor. "I think you'd better do a better job at asking me for favors. You get yourselves in this mess because you don't know when to stop and then demand that I help you? I think you'd better get your priorities straight, you piece of alien shit. You want me to help Max after all you've done, I suggest there be a deal in there. What do I get out of it? What does Max get out of it?"

"You get your friend back and Max Taylor continues to be normal."

"Ha! You've got to be joking!"

"You think you have the upper hand here, human?" he snarled, bowing up at me.

"Yes, I do." I said calmly, not backing down. "You want me to get Max out of this coma you've thrown him in, then I suggest you come up with a good bargain."

The alien made a face that didn't fit Mr. Taylor's face but breathed in, crossing his arms.

"What do you want?"

"Honestly, just one simple thing: stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Messing with Max's mind. You guys are the reason this happened. He gets it, you did all this stuff to him and you can still mess with his mind and blahdy-blah; he gets it. I guarantee you that if you stop messing with his head every five seconds, he will do ten times better than he has been."

The alien snarled and pushed the glasses his 'skin' was wearing as he drummed his fingers on his arm.

"I will have to consult with-"

"You'll make the decision now."

"I do not have the authority to grant such a request. We are gathering information on the human mind as well as the ability to harbor life. Max Taylor is not only a carrier, but a research project. We are studying the effects of what we've done on him to perfect future vessels and progeny."

"If you need to study someone then study me." The alien lifted an eyebrow. "I'm in a much better frame of mind than Max."

"The mentality of all that has happened to him is what we are studying. Your normal body will not provide any information."

I thought for a moment, trying to figure out a way to help Max in anyway I could. The Taylors have gone through so much and Max just by himself has gone through the impossible. Every time I try to imagine how it would be, I just break... if I could ease just one thing from him, I would do anything I could.

"Is there no way to get the information you need from me?"

"You are quite peculiar. Why do you want this?"

"If it hadn't been for my suggestion to just walk to the store instead of arguing with his dad, he would have never gone out and you would have never found him. I'm slightly responsible for getting Max in this situation. After everything that you've already put him through he needs this. He needs peace... He has to have a healthy mentality in order to nurture the baby correctly."

The alien closed his eyes. "The gesture is worthy but we need information from Max Taylor's brain because of all that we've done to him. Without the past issues, we have nothing to gain from you." I clenched my fists, angry that I couldn't do one simple thing. "But... I may have a solution to the problem. If you are as willing as you say you are to help, I might be able to ask my superiors about this proposition... In the mean time, you will get Max Taylor out of his coma."

"I will get him out when I hear the final answer, ET. I suggest you deliberate quick. Time's ticking for you..."

**********************************

I gasped, suddenly waking up and looked around, finding my class staring at me. The teacher looked really pissed off.

"Mr. Holt, I think you should make your way to the principal's office."

I blinked in confusion, not remembering at all going to school, but I got up and left to head to the office. As I walked, I pulled out my phone and dialed Mr. Taylor's number.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Taylor, it's Mars."

"Yes, I know. What's up?"

"Is... is Max in a comatose state?"

There was silence for a moment. "How do you know that?"

"So I haven't called you already?"

"What do you mean?"

"I could have sworn I've already been to school and was heading to your house, so I called to ask about Max and you told me that he wasn't responding."

"I haven't heard from you since you left yesterday and we haven't told anyone about Max's condition save Dr. Bluewater. How do you know what's going on?"

"If I told you, you'd never believe me." I said, leaning on the wall.

"My son was abducted by aliens and impregnated with alien progeny."

"Right... um... well... I thought I had already gone to school and was heading your way and called you, which is when you told me about Max. I went to your house but instead of you it was one of those creatures. He told me that he wanted to use me to get Max out of his comatose state. I tried to bargain with him but he said he had to talk about it with his superiors or something like that."

"The aliens spoke to you?"

"They did that weird mind thing like they do with Max. It's a wonder he hasn't gone literally insane, Mr. Taylor. No wonder he was having such a hard time with everything. It was so real and lifelike. I honestly thought we have already talked..."

"No offense, Mars, but why you and not me or Geneva? We've been battling this for so long now and then all of a sudden the aliens want you to help?"

"I don't know why they said it had to be me. The stupid alien wasn't the least bit helpful. I just know that I want to be of some use to you guys. Ever since Max came back, I just wanted to help..."

There was silence on the phone and I knew for sure he was going to tell me to leave his family alone and stop meddling in everything. When Max went missing, I would check up on them all the time because I felt bad. I always felt that I had been imposing...

"We are at a storage unit on the west side of town. It's called Store-It or something. It's on the corner of Devon and Square. The code to enter is 5228 and the unit is B17. That's where Dr. Bluewater had to set up his makeshift clinic so that he could help us."

"Okay, I'll see you there."

I hung up the phone. I know it all seemed so skeptical but I didn't just battle an alien for nothing. I looked down at my pants and then felt myself blush. I guess I was more scared than I thought I was... I pissed myself and didn't even notice. Even my classmates didn't see it; or they were just being cruel and talking behind my back. I left the school and headed home to change clothes and get the car.