A soft ringing wakes Aerglo from xyr deep slumber. Xe blinks blearily around the room, brows furrowed as xe tries to locate the sound. Xe finds it on the bedside table beside something called a clock brightly lit with numbers reading 6:33.

Reluctantly, xe shifts and shakes the human awake gently.

"Huh? Wha?" Caelum mumbles sleepily, completely out of it.

"A device is screeching," Aerglo whispers grumpily.

Caelum stretches over the alien and reaches for his phone. He squints against the bright screen and answers the call, effectively cutting off the annoying sound.

"Hello? What?... Oh... oh... No it's okay, I know... yeah, it's fine mom. Okay, bye."

He hangs up within a minute and places it back before slumping against Aerglo.

Aerglo looks at the human a bit lost.

"That was mom," Caelum explains tiredly.

"Mom?"

"Yeah, mine... it's the uh.. person that gave birth to me?"

Recognition lights the alien's eyes, "your bearer."

"Yeah... that?" The younger snorts, "on earth we call them mothers."

"Where is xe?" Aerglo asks, "does xe not know about the cruel human?"

Caelum winces, "She's working... actually she's always working."

"And... she is aware of--"

"No," he shakes his head solemnly, "she doesn't, and she won't."

"I do not understand, a bearer must love xyr offspring and protect xem from any harm."

Caelum smiles sadly, sitting up in bed and hugging his knees close to his chest despite the pain, "she does love me, I know she does. And so did my dad."

"Dad... your sire?"

"Yeah, he uh.. he died when I was little."

"Little?"

"Littler," Caelum sighs rolling his eyes at the playful attempt of cheering him up.

He sobers quickly though, "she remarried a few years later and she loves my step-dad. I don't know if he loves her, but I know she is happy."

"But you are not," Aerglo grits, hands clenching into fists.

"I'm happy she's happy," Caelum says.

"Then is that true happiness?"

The young boy shrugs, "I don't know. Probably not, but I love her. I know she doesn't mean to hurt me or neglect me. I understand what she's been through after dad's passing, I loved him. He was my dad and he was suddenly gone. It was hard on her, on the both of us. But she has a bit of happiness back and I can't be as cruel as to take it away. I've managed to survive on my own and escape from that man's wrath alive. Even when I wanted nothing more than to have him be proud of me, to be called his son, I knew it would never be the same. He is not my father and he never loved me, never even remotely liked me. I can't force someone to change their mind. Trust me, I've tried. So, I'm done trying to be the perfect son. I obey out of fear, not respect. That is one thing that man will never have from me."

Aerglo stares amazed at the small human, so fragile yet so strong. It astounds xem.

"You are quite remarkable, eno elttil," xe says, "very admirable. We do not deal with as many hardships such as you humans. We try to understand instead of berate and belittle. But I must admit we are not as resilient and tolerable as you are, you are amazing. The fact that you survive your sire's passing is just as incredible as well, and to stay strong after all this time is really something."

Caelum blushes under the praise, but he notices that last part and it leaves him confused, "What do you mean survived?"

"Aliens are more fragile, emotionally speaking. We seem cold and indifferent, to you perhaps even robotic because we want to protect ourselves. It is hard to show affection, but you have no trouble showing affection to a stranger such as myself. You become attach to one another and when one of you dies, you become stronger if it is even possible. In the rare cases we become attached to someone we truly love and care about (such as family or mates), once they pass we mourn for them. Unlike your kind, as we mourn we become weaker. Our mind becomes too fragile to the point we simply wish to forget the feeling of ever even meeting them just to stop the agonizing pain of loss. And in a sense, we are reborn. We simply cannot cope any other way and forget what we ever felt for that person. The memories are erased, everything is filled with a distant sense of surrealness. We are reborn, remade into someone else."

Caelum frowns, "Why? If you love that person, why would you want to forget that feeling? If they're gone, it's the only thing you have left, why get rid of it?"

"Because the void in our hearts cannot be replaced so easily, it is pure agony to keep remembering that they are gone and you are not. It is torture. Some may say, a fate worse than death."

The boy grimaces, "yeah it does suck, but I don't think I'd ever want to forget the person I love or forget my own feelings. The time I spent with that person, however long, should be treasured and precious and it shouldn't be forgotten. I know it'll hurt to think about them, because it always does... But, I want to hang on to them and not let pain cloud what I once felt because they were the person I loved and I don't want to continue living knowing that a piece of my heart is literally missing because I chose to forget about my feelings. I dont want to be that weak. That'd be to cruel, for their memory and for myself."

Aerglo smiles, "some of us are not as strong as to think that way, but others can choose to be reborn when it gets too much to bear. If such a case were to happen, that I'd lose the one I loved most, I thought I'd be too weak to prevent ever forgetting, but your passionate words have really changed my mind."

"I think it's worth it," Caelum whispers, "and I think they'd be proud to know you were strong enough."

"Indeed," Aerglo agrees, "humans are truly enlightening."