Work Text:
Being a nerd meant a lot of things, both good and bad.
The good? You’re quite interesting, creative and definitely not boring. It also meant having fun drawing, researching facts, reading books, collecting merchandise, all that sort of thing.
The bad? Everybody else makes fun of you.
Which is only one thing, I knew, but most of the time it felt so much larger than all the good things combined that I’d forget how fun being a nerd was for me.
Kids at school always shoved me off the swings simply because I dressed like an alien in kindergarten. Some purposely bumped into me in the hallways and had me drop all my books about astronomy and UFO sightings. Others teased me for being an “alien freak” and being all lewd about it.
But in reality, I just thought aliens were really cool.
I always wanted to know if they were real, and whether or not they would like me.
Would they see all the space movie posters up in my room and think I was cultured?
Would they see all my alien figures, plushies and space models and praise me for my research?
Would they look at my alien themed t-shirts and clothing and accept me as one of them?
A big part of me really hoped so, because nobody down here was making me feel secure about what I loved anymore.
I thought it was a ridiculous dream even when I kept holding onto it for many years. I hoped one day, just one day, I would have a friend who loved aliens and astronomy just as much as me, so that I could finally feel happier with myself.
Well, my hopes were answered, but not in the way anybody expected them to.
It was on one regular night. The crickets and owls were quiet on this particular night. I was sleeping peacefully in bed, dreaming about food, what I was going to do tomorrow, and my cats talking to me about politics. All the jazz that comes with dreaming.
In my dreams, I’m always aware that I’m not awake. I’m a lucid dreamer as they say, so I can control a few things in my dreams, like when to run away or fly (I can only escape by flying sometimes. I need to double tap my feet to start flying in the dream, like in Minecraft).
But sometimes, real life can bleed into my dreams too. The sound of my cat meowing at me to wake me up for breakfast might sound like my cat in my dreams, and I would realise it’s real life until I’m bothered enough to wake up.
It happens with lots of things. My phone alarm, my siblings yelling at me for borrowing their charger, the hum of the washing machine, my teddy bear falling on my face, you get the idea.
On this particular night, that one flaw bothered me, because it was one of the strangest things to have ever happened to me.
On this night, during my sleep, something had touched me while I was dreaming,and this time as usual, I didn’t wake up, assuming I was in the dream.
I was mentally transported to a dream scene where I’m exactly as I am in bed, but the room looked slightly strange. There were stars glowing around in my room and from my window. And I could hear somebody else in the room with me.
I opened my eyes and spotted something holding my hand. It looked pale green and round, with little diamonds and shapes on the bottom. They kind of looked like cat paws.
At first, in the dream, I assumed it was my cat, because who else in my house would have cat paws?
So I didn’t think much of it until I heard a soft and light voice whisper into my ear.
“I’m so proud of you. I am happy that you exist.”
The voice sounded sweet, like whoever this was was smiling when they spoke. But the voice also had a bit of distortion to it, like those robot sound effects in sci-fi movies.
Despite me not knowing who this was, their message to me made me so happy and warm on the inside. I felt grateful for their words and my heart instantly loved them.
And then, my eyes opened.
Suddenly, I was back in my room again, instead of the glowing stars that were in my dream. I frowned in confusion as I squinted in the darkness, trying to make out anything.
It was then I realised that I still felt that strange paw touching my hand. I frowned in confusion.
Assuming again that it was my cat, I sighed. “Kiwi, it’s 3AM, I can’t give you breakfast.”
I thought Kiwi would just go away. But then:
“Huh? My name is Anreep, not Kiwi.”
I looked up to see who or what was saying that to me. Because it was dark, I couldn't see very well, so I reached out my hand to at least find out by feeling.
But there was nothing there.
I was starting to fully wake up now. What the hell had just happened? Was it one of my family members that said this to me? Was it just my imagination?
I climbed out of bed and quickly turned on the light, illuminating the room once more. I hastily looked for any differences or strange things, hoping to find some evidence of the presence.
But I found nothing.
I sighed and sat down on my bed again. Perhaps it really was my imagination and I was freaking out over nothing.
As I was about to get up however, I startled, suddenly remembering again what the voice had said to me.
“My name is Anreep, not Kiwi.”
With a gasp, I call out, “Anreep! Anreep!”
My heart was racing. I waited and waited for 2 long minutes, bracing myself for something, anything, that responded to that strange name.
Finally, after the 2 minutes nearly reached 3, I heard a tap on my window. I immediately hurried over to investigate. My breath quickened with alarm but also a weird sense of excitement.
I drew my curtains and looked out the window. The sky was still the same, with the glowing full moon, few stars, city and house lights, and…
“It’s me. I’m Anreep.”
I frowned and looked down on my windowsill. There, to my shock, sat a green little creature thing, with two antennae poking out of its head, tiny legs and arms, with ends of the arms indeed resembling paw prints made of weird shapes. It had a small mouth, no nose to be seen, and big bug eyes. Around its neck was a little yellow and white beaded-looking necklace.
I just stood there in shock, blinking my eyes over and over.
This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. This still had to be a dream. Right?
A “W-What?” finally left my mouth pathetically, because I was way too stunned.
The creature tilted its head to the side. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m Anreep.”
“I stood there dumbfounded for I don’t even know how long until I finally exclaimed:
“YOU’RE AN ALIEN?!!”
“Indeed I am,” Anreep said in that slightly distorted voice. It’s face stayed the same expression, and I couldn’t tell whether or not it was happy.
“I came here on a mission to find other intelligent beings. I found you and now my mission is complete.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I shake my head rapidly and backtrack. “Wait, so aliens ARE real?!”
Anreep’s expression finally changed to look… amused? “Of course. You exist don’t you?”
I blinked in realization. It became apparent to me that to other beings out there, perhaps we were aliens to them like how we view their species.
I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. “Ha, well that is true I suppose.”
Anreep nodded. “Correct. I am really glad that I found you, fellow extraterrestrials. You gave me hope I am not alone in this universe.”
My smile widened significantly. “I-I’m really happy I finally get to meet you! I-I’ve been wanting to see if aliens were real for such a long time! A-And I have so much merchandise and books and drawings of you and other creatures and…”
I realised I was rambling and I laughed. “Sorry! I’m just so excited!”
Anreep nodded calmly with the same look of amusement on its face. “I can tell. And I noticed your things that resemble extra terrestrial creatures. They’re not the most accurate but they're clearly made by a keen imaginative eye. It makes me happy.”
I couldn’t believe I was talking to another worldly creature, but Anreep’s words made me feel so much better about myself, my personality, my interests… me.
If this strange creature told me I was doing a good job and that it was glad to have found me, perhaps I truly did make an impact on somebody.
I wasn’t useless at all.
I smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Anreep.” I placed my hand on my chest in gratitude. “This means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
Anreep copied the gesture, which I found adorable. “And thank you, fellow extra-terrestrial. I hope we shall meet again.”
I widened my eyes in shock. “Wait, you mean, you’ll come back?”
Anreep’s expression seemed to soften at that, not quite a smile, but something like it. “I’d like to visit more worlds unlike mine. But this one is my favourite. I would like to return to discover more. In the meantime, be here still.”
I laughed and nodded. “I will be. And can I show you all my things when you get back? And talk to you more? And ask you questions? And give you things?”
“Absoloutely. I look forward to it very much.” Anreep nodded with a look of… happiness?
“And thank you once more.” Anreep said. It then suddenly started levitating in the air (which I guess made sense since it’s an alien, but I was still mesmerized) and gave a small wave with its green paw before zipping off into the night with a farewell.
I waved back with tears in my eyes. The whole experience felt so unreal. Yet I couldn’t help the happiness that swelled in my heart. As absurd as this encounter was, I hoped out of all that this interaction really happened, that I really wasn’t dreaming, that I finally got to meet an alien, who wanted to meet me!
And my hopes proved to be true, because when I woke up in bed the next day after that encounter, I saw the imprint of its paw on the back of my hand, a permanent reminder that somebody, somewhere out there, who was special too, was thinking of me.