• I stopped in front of the door, wondering what to do next. This was Solaris, a small beach town by the shore, and the cold nighttime breeze made the baby blue house with a white roof intimidating. Plastered in gold next to a small glowing doorbell was the address; 31 Main Street. Wondering who I was guarding, I was tempted to ring the doorbell that flickered, taunting me. Alas, I couldn’t socialize with anyone I watched over, for fear that they would tell someone of my origin, or be afraid of purple eyes and luminescent, pale skin. No, I was too different, and that was the reason I had no friends, and I hated myself for that. In fact, my name, Erikson, is vaguely the only normal trait I possess…

    As I only require an hour of sleep, I woke up a while after the crack of dawn, and took my college uniform, which served as a disguise, out of my rucksack. As my duty as a watcher, I had to observe Sandra Durer, a young college student who was quite attractive and exceedingly intelligent. I ran behind houses to the nearby town college, ducking under branches and swiftly jumping over hedges. In a moment’s time, I arrived at the college, some students staring or whispering. I lowered my eyes, glad that my long hair hid them behind a veil of black. Using my instinct, which I jokingly call radar, I found the class where Sandra sat doodling in her notepad. I walked over to an empty seat next to her, and dropped my books onto the desk. She looked up at me with a warm smile, which I have to admit, stirred something inside of me. I shook off the feeling and went to the teacher’s desk.

    “Attention class! I would like to welcome our new exchange student, Erikson, who will be staying until the end of the year. I expect that his stay here will be enjoyed.” Mr. Levitz emphasized. I kept my gaze to the floor as I stood in the front of the class like a specimen being observed. I walked down the aisle back to my seat, and sat a bit far from Sandra. If I made friends with her, I might betray information, although a friend would be nice…

    “Um, I’m Sandra. Welcome to our little town of Solaris, I guess… I’m not awesome with conversations…” she attempted at catching my attention. I nodded my head, pretending to listen to the snobby teacher. (I had taken this class during my training, so I could efficiently use my disguise, instead of worrying about getting expelled.)

    “So, where did you live before coming to Solaris?”
    I turned to Sandra, my hair still in my eyes, and answered, “I guess you can call me a rolling stone, because I haven’t had a home before here. In fact, I have a small apartment here instead of a house, so I can leave easily.” She looked at me as if I had admitted to a robbery, which, I have to admit, wasn’t all that untrue…

    “Then you must be lonely here… so would you want to study with me after school?” I thought that this would be a great chance to guard her more carefully, so I agreed.

    ~~~~~

    I hesitated to ring the doorbell, wondering if Sandra would eventually figure out my identity. As soon as my finger made contact with the buzzer, the white polished door swung open to reveal to me a much too eager Sandra, with curled brown locks and a very wide smile. To be truthful, that smile sent shivers down my spine, just like the first one she shot at me. She managed to look like a super star in her jeans and baggy tee, but I didn’t feel like pointing out the obvious. I stood in the doorway, not sure how else to react.

    “Don’t just stand there, come in! I made you cookies and I have the stuff to go over all spread out,” Sandra tugged me in by my hand, unaware of how ghastly it looked. Like a frantic cat, I pulled back as if her touch was poisonous.

    “I don’t know where that came from, to be honest…” I smiled weakly as if that could make my reaction any less sudden. At the moment, Sandra seemed keen on seeing through my bangs, and I wondered if she noticed their color was purple. I looked down and walked towards the couch, mostly because the smell of the cookies was appetizing and hard to resist. The entire time, I felt awkward to be with Sandra, because I had so few friends due to my “job.” I wanted to believe that being there was helping, but I knew all the same that I was really on the verge of betraying the other watchers. It didn’t matter, though, because if Sandra found out, I would be isolated once more… The rest of the evening was spent with me and Sandra hunched over a science book that we were apparently supposed to memorize (although I already had.)

    “Hey, Erikson…. How come you know all of this stuff already? You just got here, but you know everything that we already learned.” Sandra questioned. I lost my cool for a moment and had a terrible suspicion that she had caught on that something was wrong. I quickly thought of a not-so-bizarre answer,

    “Oh, well I already did this in my old college. We were learning at the same pace as this college, coincidentally… but, beside the point, what made you so eager to invite me over? You barely knew who I was…” I tried to change the topic. I didn’t want her to realize what I was and run away, because I needed a friend after so long in hiding.

    “For the first part, you seemed lonely enough. I could see it in your expression and attitude. For example, you barely told me anything when I started a conversation.” Sandra mumbled something else under her breath, and I pressed her to repeat it. She refused with a shamed expression, which made me all the more curious what else she might want to be my friend for. I took a quick glance at the clock and almost yelled, because it was well over midnight. I decided to leave, and I noticed Sandra’s mood drop a tad. I figured that she enjoyed my company, as I enjoyed hers.

    “Um, Erikson? I want you to know that you’re always welcome here. It was really nice to meet you.” I nodded with a smile, and got up from the dark leather couch. I walked to the door, waving a hand at her from behind me. Little did she know that I wasn’t really leaving, but simply waiting outside, watching out for danger.

    I jumped off the side of the porch, gracefully landing on the ground 2 feet below, before running down the side walk. My idea was to let Sandra think I left, when I was actually in her backyard. My job did not entail observing Sandra’s every move, but rather keeping her safe. She had been targeted by TOP, a spy agency whose main goal was to destroy watchers for being different, and to do so, they kidnapped healthy people and brainwashed them. Our job used to be to keep the world balanced, but now, we’re just frenzying to keep our numbers from dwindling to extinction, which is hard to believe because we usually live for at least two centuries. In fact, we’ve had to begin transforming humans into watchers in the past century, and that is something we all find unethical, although TOP isn’t willing to give up. My orders were to transform Sandra into one of us if she finds out, but I know that she will find out anyway. Although converting Sandra was the best choice for the watchers, I didn’t want to do that to her when she seemed happier with life than me. As I pondered over all of this, I was met with a surprise…

    All that I could remember was having a terrible throbbing in the back of my head, and then black. I woke up in a room, sleeping on a fawn sofa with a mahogany silk sheet over me. It occurred to me that my assaulter had brought me to this place, although it seemed too comfortable for a prisoner. With a yawn, I climbed out of the covers and stood with an arm draped over the back of the couch. I looked around, noticing a fire place crackling behind me, which sent red and orange lights dancing across the maroon walls in a homey fashion. The small black coffee table was stocked with a fruit bowl and some exotic flowers in vases, as well as a note. I picked it up slowly, as if it were a bomb, and read it.

    “Dearest Watcher, if you are reading this, it is time to consider surrender. TOP welcomes you to our secret base, and you have two choices. You may either: 1) surrender yourself to TOP and be rid of your powers; in short, become human. 2) Die with the knowledge your brethren could really use… If you think you can escape, you cannot, because there are guards observing you at this very moment. Sincerely, your nemesis company, TOP.”
    I threw open the wooden door to meet a surprised guard, who I simply knocked out with a blow to the head. A rush of guards in silver armor ran down, not bothering to throw the emergency switch, and all surrounded me against the wall. I smiled cunningly and willed all of the men down. I threw my hands in front of me, and in a blast of air, they were all unconscious (my favorite ability). I didn’t hesitate to keep running, hoping that I could find Sandra and leave. My radar helped me through the winding halls, and any guard that I passed was either too frightened or shocked to try and stop me. I finally reached a room with an open door, and I gasped when I saw Sandra...