(song: "Never Let Me Go" - Florence and the Machine)

"I don't know why you both thought that I wouldn't easily figure out who sent me the sample. I came here eighteen years ago and spoke with your grandmother when she first made the claims."

Dr. John McAdams was a stout man in his late-fifties with a gray-bearded face and eyebrows that looked like large, black caterpillars on his forehead. The three of us sat at Mrs. Whitman's kitchen table.

"It was pretty easy to put it all together when I saw the towns address on the mailing label," he continued. "I heard some pretty wild claims about you, Marcel."

I held Marcel's hand beneath the table and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze.

"What were the results when you ran the tests?" I asked.

"It's not a meteorite," John said without reluctance.

"So what is it?" Marcel now seemed impatient.

Dr. McAdams tapped at the box of cigarettes in his chest pocket, eager for a smoke. "I'm going to need the whole thing. Not just a sample, but the rock in it's entirety. We're willing to buy it from you if necessary."

"And if I refuse?" Marcel tested.

The doctor's mouth twitched slightly. He fished a lighter from his pocket and slipped out the box. "I'm going outside to take a smoke. I advise you to consider this kind offer. If things get to the point where it has to go beyond me, we can contest that you stole it. Technically, it landed or was discovered off your grandmother's property lines. That would make it belong to Mr. Barley, who already consented to giving us the rights to any findings on his property. That gives him grounds for a civil law suit, and you being a low-paid working teen with a sick grandmother, I doubt you can afford the lawyer to help you out of it."

He was clearly trying to scare Marcel. Until we knew for sure that what he was saying was true, I felt it best to not give in.

"What is so important about a rock that would have to take these kind of steps? We can go to the press about it at any time," I tossed in as a threat.

Dr. McAdams placed the unlit cigarette between his lips casually. He didn't seem bothered at all. "You could. Your boyfriend has a reputation in town for Mrs. Whitman claiming he's an alien oyster baby. Once the press catches wind of that at best the only reporters willing to cover the story will be obscure alien-sighting bloggers. That would make life for him worse, not better. I will give you two about twenty minutes to figure out what you're going to do. After that it's out of my hands."

The doctor left through the front door to smoke outside and I had the strong inkling to just lock the door and leave him out there entirely.

"Marcel, I am so sorry. This is my fault. If I hadn't pushed you to send in the sample this never would have happened. I thought that they'd say it was just a normal rock and give you some kind of peace of mind. I never expected it to turn into this." Apologies spilled from my lips. I felt so horrible about the position I put him him.

Marcel lifted up our linked fingers and placed a small kiss on the back of my hand. "I'm going to give it to him. Not because I'm afraid, but because I don't need it. I don't care about if the rumors are true or not. Maybe the goal your grandmother had with leaving the rock to you was so that we could reunite. It's done it's job, I have to let it go."

I didn't want him to give up the one thing that might have been a possible link to his past. I had no idea if the rock was connected to Marcel or not. He didn't know either, and I guess we'd never know.

When Dr. McAdams returned into the house he signed over a check and took the strange rock that Marcel retrieved from the pantry. The doctor repeatedly told Marcel that he was doing the right thing.

I didn't feel easy until he was in his car driving down the road to leave our cul-de-sac. Only then did my shoulders drop and a sigh escape me.

"You know, he took the rock, but he totally missed the real phenomenon. You are the true prize," I softly told him.

His arms wrapped against my waist and pulled my back against his front. "I think it's best if we don't ask any experts to confirm if I am an alien or not. Some mysteries are probably best left unsolved."

I couldn't have agreed more.

I opened my mind up to the possibility of the impossible. Before I met Marcel I didn't believe in much of anything, but maybe he was right. Maybe Nana saw how gentle and amazing Marcel was and wanted us to reunite. Maybe it wasn't because she was trying to send him a message, but instead she had tried to send me a message.

When I started college, I could envision myself visiting Marcel on the weekends. To the world he'd just be Marcel, a boy with strange stories surrounding him. To me, he'd always be the most extraordinary person I ever had the pleasure of meeting. I didn't care what he may have been, I accepted all of it and I felt excited about what the future could hold for us.

My arms lifted up behind me to let my fingers trace against the back of his neck. "Are there other superhero-power things you can do that you haven't shown me yet?"

Marcel gave me a ravishingly sexy smile that implied to me that there was so much more he could show me. . .

THE END

(Author's Note:

OKAY, so I didn't want this to be a sci-fi or paranormal story. I wanted it to be a young-adult novel with a hint of wonder.

The goal wasn't really to prove what or how Marcel is the way he is, the point was more learning acceptance of the things we can't change. Whether that change is deaths of loved ones, illnesses or something we're born with.

All three characters have wanted or tried to be something they weren't. Daniel tried to be straight to avoid alienation from his family, Lily tried to be popular to avoid the alienation she experienced in middle-school and Marcel tries to. . . well NOT BE AN ALIEN IN GENERAL!

If you finished this story, THANK YOU for reading from the bottom of my heart!)