Homecoming

Homecoming


I stared blankly into the face of a stranger, a man I didn’t even know. “What the hell do you want?” I asked. The cold reception hit him hard.

Of course he was in photos, pictures in an old shoe box my mom had tucked away in the back of her closet. He abandoned us a decade ago, leaving us broke…just my mom and me. I was fifteen. She worked herself to the bone to make sure I had everything I needed to succeed, only she was too proud to take any sort of help from anyone. Sure, we did okay but the twelve hour days, sometimes seven days a weak…it killed her. She was at work when she had her heart attack. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

I did my best after she was gone, wanting to make her proud. Luckily, we had our old farmhouse out in Kavanaugh County that had been passed down for generations. Working the night shift in the packing plant helped me make enough money to pay for school.

“Why are you here?” I asked the man at the door.

“Zack?”

“You didn’t answer me. Why?” I repeated coldly.

“Zack, you need to listen,” he seemed agitated.

“No I don’t.” I tried to shut the door and he stopped it mid-swing. So, I opened it wide. “Damn you.”

“How’s your mother?” he asked in a way that almost seemed broken. “Is she here?”

“She’s dead,” I answered plainly. “No thanks to you.”

“I’m…I’m sorry.” His eyes turned downward and a tear fell away.

“No you’re not. If you were any sort of man, any sort of husband or father, you wouldn’t have left. We needed you.” I felt like my heart would leap from my chest. I had so much anger, so much rage, so much despair. He let us down and now that same sonofabitch was standing at my door.

“You don’t understand…”

“I don’t need to,” I interrupted. “You abandoned your family and didn’t even leave a letter. She loved you, you know. It destroyed her.”

He didn’t respond and I could tell he was holding back a flood of emotions he wanted more than anything to release. It didn’t matter though, because I couldn’t forgive him and he didn’t deserve it. “It wasn’t my fault. I…I didn’t want to…”

“You missed it all. You missed her struggling to make ends meet, missed my graduations, my birthdays, her funeral. You have no idea what we went through. I mean, where the hell have you been for the last ten years?”

“You didn’t think I wanted more than anything to be there? You don’t think I have a hole in me right now? I didn’t run away and it wasn’t my choice.”

“Bullshit!”

“Zack, I was taken!”

“By what, friggen spacemen?”

“Yes!” he replied without even hesitating. The answer was so absurd, so outlandish, I didn’t even know how to respond. Ten years away and he shows up at our door, claiming to be abducted by goddam aliens. “You have to listen. I’ve come back for you and you need to come with me, now.”

“I’m not going anywhere. You need to leave.”

“Not without you. They’ll be here soon.”

“Who? Your aliens?”

“Yeah, the whole fleet. They’ve been studying us, me and a few others. The Earth is scheduled for destruction.”

“That’s it. I’m done.” I started to close the door on him and he stopped it again.

“Listen, they offered me a deal. If I agreed to their tests, stayed with them for a while, they told me they’d save you. Now, whether you come with me or not, this planet is about to be destroyed, wiped clean! The human species is just too dangerous. They’ll only allow a handful to survive, a small population. Please!”

“Piss off!” I slammed the door successfully this time.

He paced the porch for a few hours, desperately pounding on the doors and even trying to force his way in before I muscled him out. He begged and pleaded but I wasn’t having any of it. Finally, he gave up and left...again. Silence.

The first of their ships descended on New York and the television signals lasted just long enough to show their beams scouring the earth. Every single thing in their path, skyscrapers, ships, even people, vanished in a fiery flash. That was yesterday. It’s only a matter of time now. I’m sorry I doubted you dad.


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