Ghinti often invited his children to visit his workplace, so as far as Gwenith knew, most of his offspring were grown and around her age, ripe with young adulthood. They owned different towers and traveled separate paths. Whenever they dropped by they disregarded Gwenith's existence like every other alien would, treating her like the slave she was supposed to be in the world.

     A family reunion was hosted in Ghinti's tower. A swarm of relatives were gathered together, their chatter buzzing in the air. Gwenith, alongside several other humans, was to serve any aliens refreshments and obey their every whim.

     While scrubbing the dishes with Finn, one of her co-workers, Gwenith felt a tug on her apron. She turned around.

     "I need to show you something," Sinjin said, looking up at her with slanted amber eyes.

     Gwenith tilted her head to the side. "What is it?"

     "You have to come with me to know."

     "All right. Sorry, but let me finish this first."

     Sinjin pulled out a chair. "I can wait."

     When Gwenith finished she wiped her hands through her apron, bid a brief farewell to her co-worker Finn, and followed Sinjin up two floors, through a maze of corridors, and down the vast chambers of the garage, where all the spaceships were being parked.

     Gwenith scanned the area. "What did you want to show me?"

     With his back bent, Sinjin sifted through a mountain of scraps in a corner. Lifeless bulbs, rusty screws, and other obsolete materials were tossed over his wings. After shoveling up a mound of junk with his hands, he uncovered what he was searching for.

     A remote.

     Sinjin pushed it in Gwenith's hands. "This controls an antique TV box in one of the guest rooms. I don't watch the TV box often, but sometimes I will when I'm bored."

     "Oh," she said, blinking. "All right?"

     "We can watch the TV box together," Sinjin suggested. He wrung the hem of his shirt with his fingers, anticipating her response.

     "Oh," Gwenith echoed, this time with an all-knowing smile. "All right."

*~*~*

Sinjin talked to her much more than before. Most of the words that spilled forth from his lips would come off as bitter and indifferent, but sometimes he sprinkled hints of kindness here and there.

     Sometimes he cared, more than Gwenith would imagine.

     Today was Gwenith's birthday and she was turning twenty-one. However, she never hosted any grand celebrations over the day she was born (she couldn't afford to either), and this year was no exception. She had planned on carrying out her usual life duties and seizing the day like normal.

     When she entered the tower's kitchen, expecting routine to follow, she was startled to find a crooked three-layered cake thrust in her face.

     She staggered back, alarmed by the leaning hunk of mud and dancing worms presented before her.

     "Happy birthday," Sinjin announced. The apron Gwenith usually wore for baking draped over him like a dress, splattered with brown and green.

     Gwenith blinked, her breath stolen away by the elements of surprise. "Is this all for me?"

     "Who else would it be for? You're the only one here with me."

     "Thank you." Dimples dotted Gwenith's cheeks. Warmth squeezed her insides. "Sinjin, how long did it take you to make this?" She indicated the giant cake with her hand, a sunny smile planted on her ebony complexion.

     "Not long." The bandages around his fingers told a different story. "Do you want to eat now?"

     "Oh." Gwenith scratched her neck. "I really want to, but I can't eat mud and . . ." She stopped after witnessing the dejected look on Sinjin's face.

     He quickly erased all signs of chagrin. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

     With a sudden charge of determination coursing in her veins, Gwenith swiped a spoon from a drawer and settled down in a chair. She raised the utensil gripped in her hand, waving it. "I'll eat the cake."

     "You can't-"

     "I'll eat it."

     "But-"

     Gwenith scooped a mound of shiny dirt and shoved it in her mouth. Something crawled down her throat - one of the critters that had been swimming in the cake. She choked down on slug slime and grime, her taste buds screaming in protest. Tears swelled in her eyes and she attempted, with all her might, to not scrunch her face up too much.

     Smiling through it all was the most difficult task she could ever do.

     Sinjin gaped at her. "You're crying."

     "Tears of joy," she sputtered.

     Of course, Gwenith had vomited later on, but Sinjin's cake was still the best present she had received in years. Besides, it was worth seeing him smile at her efforts.

*~*~*

Something smacked Gwenith hard enough to fade her vision out black. After coming to terms with consciousness and shaking off the befuddled haze clouding her throbbing head, she found herself confined in a metal chair. Handcuffs bit into her wrists. The butt of a ray gun pressed against the temple of her head, cold against clammy skin.

     "Pathetic human," Ghinti spat, venom oozing in the label. His voice bounced off the walls of his dim attic.

     Gwenith flinched, the chains coiled around her producing sharp jangles.

     Shadows danced across Ghinti's bluish face, which flushed purple and gave way to newfound anger. "I warned you. If you were to do wrong I would end your existence. You are disposable. You can be replaced. You will be replaced."

     Gwenith's eyes bulged from her sockets. "Wha-" The ray gun cocked to the side with a dangerous click, silencing her. She swallowed on her own saliva.

     "You've brainwashed my youngest offspring with your nonsense," Ghinti continued, red eyes thirsting for bloodshed. "He is not to think of you the way he thinks of you now, he wasn't ever supposed to. He's turned soft, like a human. You must be at fault for his irrational thoughts. You-"

     Just then, the door screeched open. A hoverboard tackled Ghinti upside down the head. He swayed for four to five seconds, grasping what just happened with dazed shock, before crashing to the floor.

     Sinjin rushed by Gwenith's side to untie her. The chains and cuffs were unlocked. Then, she was yanked by the wrist, the road ahead of her blurring together into one gigantic mess. Her feet burned, as if they were running over fire. The gasp in her lips died as she burst into the outdoors, where a spaceship with neon bulbs awaited.

     He pushed her inside, flung himself at the navigational controls, flipped open a lever, and punched a green button.

     With a hideous hack and a growl, the ship launched away.

     Gravity vanished. Gwenith and Sinjin slipped away from the floor tiles their feet had been rooted to, their bodies cushioned by air resistance. The ship shot to the sky and mingled with the clouds, cruising past various city sites and local towns.

     "Your father tried to kill me," Gwenith blurted, the first words she'd spoken to Sinjin since he rescued her. She spun around in a complete circle. "I think I'm fired."

     "You're fired."

     "Where are we going?"

     Sinjin shrugged. Or tried to while floating in mid-air. "Somewhere better."

     "Your home-"

     "It's not home anymore. Home is not home if you are no longer with me."

     Gwenith beamed. "Wow. You've really grown."

     His lips cracked with a rare smile. "I still have some more growing up to do."

     "Sinjin, the world might get upset if you hang around a human like me."

     "If I cared about what the world thought I wouldn't have done this."

     As the two exchanged chatter throughout their runaway journey to no particular destination, Gwenith thought, maybe, just maybe, her life wasn't always shit after all.