“Anya, what was that all about? I mean, the real reason you were over at Kevin’s house.”

An awkward pause filled the tent, and Anya tried to think of an excuse that would suffice. She failed. “ I told you the real reason, Chris. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because I know how well you lie. I’m the only one that knows how well you lie.”

Now Anya was just mad. The fact that she could lie like a rug and was good at it had gotten her out of so many binds, she forgot her best friend could see through her. Damn. Just pull it off a little longer. “Chris, they know Cassy from college,” Anya turned to face Chris, looking straight into her eyes. “They wanted to know how she was holding out.” Each word stung harshly, like a knife slowly going deeper and deeper into her heart. So this is what lying to your best friend is like.

Chris ignored Anya’s last comment and continued. “And I’m the only one that knows when you are lying, which you are. I am really hurt, Anya, really hurt. But until you decide to tell me the truth, I guess, there is nothing I can do.”

A long pause ensued, and Anya realized she had been holding her breath since the minute they stepped into the tent and were alone, metaphorically. “Thank you.. Chris.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anya didn’t bother to knock, she just flung the door open and stalked into the Evans’s living room, plopping herself onto the sofa. Everyone was already sitting there, waiting for her so she threw herself into her argument without worrying about “hello’s” or “how are you’s”. “So remind me again why I had to wake up at an ungodly hour when you could have chosen and semi-normal daylight hour?”

“We don’t know if we are still tracked, or watched,” Max shot back calmly but in his final, leader voice.

“This gets better and better. Can I venture to ask why all of this is so dangerous? I mean, what, exactly, was my mother involved in?”

Liz met her eyes up with Max’s and he nodded. “Go ahead.”

Liz dove into the story using all the willpower she had not to fling herself into Max’s arms. “The year after we graduated from high school, we decided-”

“Wait who’s we?”

“Michael, Maria, they were your parents, Max, Isabel, Alex, Tess, and I. We decided to go away. Well, not really decided, we had no choice. We had something we had to take care of, and our parents couldn’t know. So we set up an alibi, applying to colleges, making sure we all were admitted to the same one. Turned out it was University of San Francisco, so the summer after we graduated, everything was packed and we flew up to San Francisco. What we didn’t tell our parents was that we, Max and I and Maria and Michael, were getting married when we got up there.” A tear traveled its way down the lines of Liz’s face and Kevin was overwhelmed with how strong his mother was, while so hurt at the same time. “We didn’t know how much longer we’d be together, or even alive. We couldn’t just wait, it was too risky.”

“Why was it so risky?”

Max spoke for Liz this time. “We were being hunted by a certain group of people that wanted us dead.” Better to be straight with her, he thought.

Anya put her head in her hands and tried to wake herself out of this heinous nightmare. It had to be a nightmare... but it wasn’t. She knew it, they knew it, we all wish it were, though. “And you didn’t want us to live a life of being hunted, so you gave us to Alex until it was all over.”

“Yeah, but as you know, that never really happened.”

“Okaaaay, I’m still a little confused. Why were you being hunted? I mean, why did they, whoever those people hunters are, want my mother and father?”

Yet another pause consumed the air. Pauses meant secrets, Anya had come to realize that much.

Kevin was the one to shatter the silence. “Your dad wasn’t like everyone else. You remember. ”

“I’m not understanding. I don’t remember.”

Max walked over to her and, placing his hand on her shoulder, pleaded, “Yes, Anya, you do remember. Please, remeber us.” Anya focused on them, the three of them, liz, Kevin and Max, and tried to conjour up some memory, but nothing came. She felt their familiarity, but the memories just weren’t there. Like a big black blanket covering a certain part of her brain, refusing to be lifted.

Liz felt pity overcome her as Anya concentrated so hard to find something that would help her to understand everything going around her, but coming upon a gaping hole of truths untold and unexplainable incidents that called for blind faith and undying trust. It’s a hard thing to do, she knew from experience.

Liz disappeared into a back room and emerged a few moments later with a baby blanket with little yellow ducks and purple bunnies on it. “Here,” she handed it to Anya, “take this. It was yours. It might help you remember.” Her voice was soft and reminded Anya of a creek, bubbling and jumping in a smooth, flowing sort of way. Comforting.

Anya focused, channeled all her energy towards the blanket, trying desperately to pull the memories from he mind. She knew they were there, she could feel them trying to emerge, break out free, but they couldn’t. No way. The physical exertion it took to try and uncover memories left her out of breath and Kevin placed his hand on her back, coaching her in taking deep breaths. What was happening?

Once Anya had regained her breath, she let her defiant face take over and threw herself to her feet. “OK, obviously your methods aren’t working so we’re gonna use mine. I want ot know everything now. Who my father and mother were, why they were being hunted, and why I am able to get these flashes from Kevin.”

Pause. I swear this family loves silence, Anya thought. And silence happened to be the one thing Anya couldn’t stand. “Now.”

“It was your father, and Max, and his sister isabel... They weren’t from around here.”

“Where were they from?”

Kevin pause, then decided procrastinating had never accomplished anything, she’d know sooner than later. “We don’t know. But it wasn’t here. It was... somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else?” Anya whispered, barely able to form the words. “As in... X-files somwhere else?”

“Yeah, sorta. But your mom, she was from here.”

Anya looked at each of their faces looking for some sign that this was all a joke. “Right, I’m half-alien!” Sarcasm seeped through her words. “No really, stop joking.” Glances passed between all four of them, three solemn, one of disbelief. “You're kidding, tell me you're kidding...”

Anya didn’t know why she believed them or should even trust them, but the littel voice in the back of her head kept telling her it was ok. Great, I’m listening to the voices in my head now. Then reality set in. “Oh god.” She sat down, collapsing onto the couch. “I... I always knew there was something, different about me, I could feel it. I just never imagined... no. This is insanity, this can’t happen, I don’t believe it.

“Neither did I, at first.” Liz leaned forward focusing the intensity of her eyes on Anya. “But then you realize... some things you can’t understand. Except that they just... are.”

“The truth is inside you Anya. Somewhere within you, is that part of your soul, that knows who you are. But just because you are different doesn’t mean you’re not human. It took... Liz for me to realize that and once you do the same.. your life begins. So believe... and trust. Trust me, Anya.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anya fairly flew out of the Evan’s house, taking the blanket with her. It reminded her of a place, a place she needed to be. A place just as comforting as the blanket, where she could think and put things together. Because the ideas speeding through her head were outrageous, crazy, and brilliant at the same time. “Anya, where are you going!?” She heard Kevin’s voice behind her but didn’t bother to stop.

“I have to go figure some stuff out! I’ll be back tommorrow!” Kevin sighed and realized how much she was still the same impulsive, bubbly, and irrisistable little six year old she’d always been when he’d known her. It felt like coming home to be around her again. Some of that impulsivness must have rubbed off, Kevin thought as he grabbed a soda out of the refridgerator and then raced off in the direction of Anya.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Aaaahhh,” Anya slid down till she was resting against the huge oak tree, facing the beautiful lake Chris had described vividly many times over. Sure it wasn’t any Malibu, but the soft lapping of water against the shore was close enough. Back home, she lived close enough to the beach that when she just needed to get away, the beach was the perfect place to do it. And Anya needed to do some major thinking.

It was still a bit hard to process everything Max, Liz, and Kevin had told her, but she was a good people reader and they were just as serious about it as a judge delivering a verdict. So Anya believed them.

Conniving plots swirled in her mind, muttling any other thoughts. It would take a lot of lies, deceiving, and acting to make this idea work, but drama happened to be Anya’s specialty.

“You’ve got an idea, I can tell.” Kevin stood nonchalantly, hands in his pockets, looking slightly amused. “So you believe us.”

“You scared the hell outta me! Yes, I believe you.” She picked up a stick and began making random symbols in the sandy soil. “I don’t really have a choice.”

Kevin plopped down indian style next to her, and joined in the symbol drawing, subconsiously guiding her to form certain signs. “Tell me about this project of yours.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Anya, you were my best friend for six years, you can’t lie to me. I can tell from the look on your face this is big.”

“Looks like I can’t keep anything from anyone anymore, can I?”

“Dunno about everyone else, but it’s not gonna happen with me.”

“Do you always wear that cowboy hat?” Anya liked this, it felt like she had known him for years but there was still this aura of mystery to him. And anyway, she was good at flirting.

“Stick to the topic.”

“ Fine... now don’t freak out, ok? Promise?” She offered her pinky and he took it, holding on a few seconds longer than she expected. She didn’t expect to get a flash either. It didn’t scare her anymore though. Now the images were usually comforting, like him and her playng as babies, or her being wrapped in someone’s arms, her father’s she guessed.

“Promise.”