Do you remember that story called The Pit and the Pendulum? How the character was being tormented in that prison and was trying to find a way out? Well, that's how I felt right now. I forced to hang out with a man who is threatening me, and there is no way out of this. My own mother still doesn't believe that he is a bad man, and I'm being tormented by his questions. It's so not fair!

Pam called me and asked if I was taking Dainu anywhere. I told that I was going on a date with the so-called government guy.

"Oh man," she said. "That stinks. Are you going to have to hang out with him all day?"

"Probably," I groaned.

"Bummer," she said. "And I thought you were finally going to show Dainu the lights of our city. You and Dainu could hang out at the mall, chill at the park, party at the club, you know, the kind of stuff we do together. But now you have to hang out with someone you don't like? Uh-uh, that ain't right!"

"I know!" I exclaimed. "It's against our right of freedom of will. I keep telling my mom that he's a bad man, but she won't believe me. She's so, like, naïve!"

I wanted to cry out like crazy. I wanted to throw my head off. I wanted to scream at the top of my diaphragm until my lungs burst. I couldn't stand the tension; I wish I could run away from my house. I wish I could call the police; maybe they'll believe me. As a matter of fact, I wish I hadn't met Dean. I've should've minded my own business, and walked straight home.

"OK, calm down, Kaley. Chillax," Pam said.

"How the heck can I chillax when I'm going to have the worse weekend of my life?" I whined.

"Kaley, listen to me," said Pam calmly. "I know you're, like, really upset and you're, like, flippin' out right now, but maybe there's a way out of this. You can find a way to get rid of him."

"How?"

"I don't know. Just do something, anything, to distract him and you'll make a run for it."

I thought about it. I wasn't sure if Pam's idea would work, but it was the least I can do.

"OK," I said. "I'll try. And maybe next weekend, I can take Dainu out if there's not a lot of people."

"That's the spirit, girl," Pam said enthusiastically. "You're beginning to have confident in yourself. I have to go now; Mom's calling me. Good luck tomorrow."

"Thanks. Bye," I said.

Saturday came really quick. Dean was already in the kitchen, eating my Mom's waffles. He gave me his usual fake smile when I entered the kitchen. Mom cleared her throat at me and cocked her head towards Dean. That was her warning that if I don't be polite to him and smile back, she might ground me for a month. So I fake smiled him back, and sat down for waffles.

We ate in silence. Dean wasn't looking at me this time, since his nose was glued to the newspaper. Probably trying to find something unusual that happened in town.

"So," Mom started. "What do you want to show Dean first, Kaley?"

I gulped down my waffle with milk. "I dunno."

"How about the mall?" she asked. "You teens these days just love going to the mall. What do you think, Dean? Will you like to go to the mall with Kaley, or is that going to be a bore for you?"

"Whatever Kaley wants to take me, I'll follow," he answered. "I just want to have a good time with your little sugar plum."

Did he just call me "sugar plum?" Oh my God.

"Well, Kaley," Mom looked at me with warning eyes, "what do you say?"

I smiled, looked at Dean, and said in a cheerful voice, "Yeah, let's go to the mall."

"Wonderful," Mom said excitedly. "You two are going to have a great time together. I know it. So brush those teeth, change your clothes, and wash your faces. Oh, this is so wonderful!"

Yippee! (Not).

Mom was about to clean up the table, but Dean insisted to help. While I was getting ready for my awful date, I can hear Mom talking vigorously to Dean. All this naïvety from my mom's was making me angry. She was being too friendly and flirty with a stranger she hardly knows, and thinks I'm the one who's crazy, her own flesh and blood. For once, she should get out of that habit and believe me. I still think she is trying to find a replacement for dad.

After I brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, and combed my hair, I found Dean waiting for me by the door. He didn't wear his work suit this time; he was wearing a casual button shirt with khaki pants. He smiled at me, and grabbed his car keys and trench coat.

"Let's have some fun, princess," he said.

I am not your princess, you scumbag, I thought.

We drove over to Downy Street, the middle part of town. Dean parked his car besides the parking meter, and paid a dollar for it. We went into Way-Out Mall, one of the best, and one of my favorite malls in the whole state. It was four stories high with an indoor skating ring for the winter, two indoor arcades, and a fitness center with an enormous pool. It has over a hundred stores and twenty eating centers, including coffee shops. It will take you a whole day to shop in every store in this mall. You might shop till you drop dead in there.

Dean took out his wallet and handed me a couple of hundred bucks. I looked at him like he stole that from somewhere.

"Here," he said, giving it to me, "a little something extra for your shopping spree."

"No thanks," I told him. "I have my own money."

"Oh, I insist," he said nicely. "This is our first hangout and I want it to be the best hangout in your entire life." (Translating: I want to ruin your life and I want it to be the worst hangout in your entire life) "And besides," he continued, "I know how much you girls like shoes." (Stereotype)

I took his cash anyway, just to make him happy and not cause any trouble.

I shopped at my favorite stores, while Dean followed. Most of the time, he would follow me around like a little kid. If he's not doing that, then he would look around like he was still looking for some clues. I stayed unclear from the underwear section because you never know what kind of gross, perverted thoughts he might be thinking.

We went to the movie/video game store, and browse a little at the movies and games. Dean picked up a movie and showed it to me.

"Ever saw this movie before?" he asked me. The movie that he showed me was E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. You know, the one that Steven Spielberg directed?

I knew what he was doing. He was trying another method to make me confess. If I said yes, and I watch a lot of other alien movies, that will get him closer to finding the truth, and capturing Dainu.

"No," I lied again (lying is starting to get easier for me). "I've never seen it. What is it about?"

"It's a fantastic movie about a boy finding a stray alien in his yard, and the alien has incredible powers, like levitating, telepathy, and healing."

Sounds like Dainu.

"But the thing is," Dean continues. "E.T. is having some trouble with government and all he wants to do is go home. My most favorite part in this movie is when the boy rides his bike with E.T. in the basket, and then E.T. helps him levitate and he rides through the air. Just like this picture here."

He pointed at the picture on the movie where the boy is riding his bike in the night sky with E.T. and the moon reflects their shape.

"You're such a sci-fi geek," I told him, pretending to tease him for fun.

He chuckled. "Well, many people have different taste in movies and books. It makes them who they are. What about you? What do you like?"

I shrugged. "Romantic Comedy, I guess."

"Ah," he nods. "You young girls like that stuff, don't you?"

I quickly changed the subject. "Are you hungry?" I asked.

"Are you?"

"Not really. But later on, I wanted to take you to this ice cream café. It's one of my favorites."

"Mmm, sounds great. I love ice cream," he said.

I continued my shopping at the mall. I don't think I will ever shake off Dean, while he's trailing and watching me. I thought about pretending to go to the restroom and managed to sneak out of there without Dean noticing. But I think that will make everything worse, Dean would probably send an army of security guards to search me. And Mom would be very disappointed if she finds out I stood him up. I guess I'm just going to have to deal with being a dog on a leash.

After two hours of shopping, we decided to eat at the café. We sat in the little ice cream bar that I had promised Dean. He had a plain coffee, and I had a vanilla ice cream. I started to decorate my ice cream with every topping they had: cherries, sprinkles, chocolate chip, nuts, and whipped cream with chocolate and caramel glaze drizzled on top. Sometimes if I'm bored, I would do this and I don't care how many calories I gain. I even like to make my ice cream a work of art. I use the spoon to sculpt, mix, and glaze it just to make it look pretty.

Dean was watching me sculpt my ice cream. I turned and fake smiled him, and he fake smiled back. He took at sip of his coffee and said, "It looks like you're making a work of art."

"Yeah," I said tonelessly.

"What is it suppose to be? Abstract?"

"It's supposed to be your face," I insulted.

He just laughed.

"You're a great kid, Kaley," he said. "I don't have any kids of my own. You're like a daughter to me and I'm like your father having some nice quality time with you for the very first time."

Oh, God! I think I'm gonna be sick!

"It's great that we're starting to get to know one another," he continued. "Meeting new people increases a friendship, don't you think?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so."

An uncomfortable silence flowed around us.

"You know, Kaley," Dean said. "We live in a small world, you know? We meet so many new people everywhere, and they're all the same. Doesn't matter where they're from; American, Africa, Asia, Europe. We all look alike, and speak the same language."

"Yeah," I said. "We are all unique. Our bodies, our skin, and our eyes are special. That's how God created us."

"Yeah," Dean stated, "but what is really unique is how God created the whole universe. It was nothing but a tiny molecule, a speck of dust. And then, BOOM, it exploded and becomes our home. But what are the other galaxies like out there? Did you know there are seven different galaxies beyond our milky way?"

"Yeah, I've heard about that," I said like I didn't care.

"Isn't it outstanding? We are tiny human beings living on Earth, and we have other neighbors out there that we don't even know about yet. No astronaut has set foot on these other planets, because they are billions and billions of light-years way, and we don't even have the fastest spacecraft yet."

He was getting really excited talking about all this universe and cosmos stuff. "You are such a space nerd," I said.

He laughed. "Well, I've been to college, you know. I had to learn this stuff. But what I'm saying here is that we haven't visited the outside universe yet, but they have."

He pointed his index finger to the sky. I knew exactly what he was thinking. My heart started to pump, I had to try my hardest to remain neutral.

"They have traveled a thousand times more than we did. We just travel around own planet's orbital, but they travel at the speed of light. They have the intelligence higher than us. They have the advance technology. They know what they are doing, or don't they? But we don't know who they are, or where they came from. How do we know they're safe? With all the advance knowledge and technology they have, I don't think I would feel comfortable with them, would you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, sounding casual, so I won't throw off any reactions.

"What am I talking about?" he repeated. "WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?! I'm talking about your idiotic security, Kaley!"

Everyone in the café started to look at us now as soon as Dean raised his voice at me.

"While you people are lounging around at your 'crib,'" Dean continued to yelled, "back at Washington, we are wide wake and worried! Why?! Because everybody wants to know what we know. But the truth is we're still not clear about everything. These UFO sightings, abductions and other freakin' phenomenon have been going on for years, and people want answers! But we can't provide those answers because we don't know everything and we don't want mass hysteria! You think this is all fun and games, but what is it, where did it come from? Venus? Jupiter? Mars? Neptune? Zenn-La?! I DON'T CARE! All I know is that it is not from around here, and it's loose on this planet, waiting for the perfect moment to attack! Now, you are going to tell me what it is, and you're going to lead me to it, and we are going to destroy before it destroys us!"

My heart pounded harder, and faster. Dean was shaking his fist at me like he was threatening to punch me. Everyone in the café continue to stare at us. It was so awkward. No one did anything to stop him. I did notice a red-headed, twenty-year-old boy that was working behind the counter coming towards us. He looked very concerned about me.

"Excuse me, sir," he told Dean. "You better keep it down and ease up on the kid, alright? Or I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Don't you tell me what to do!" yelled Dean. "This is none of your business! Who are you to tell me to ease up!? Do you even know who I am!?"

Dean was too busy arguing with the red-head that he completely forgot about me. Some of the people in the café started to leave. This was my perfect moment to escape without Dean noticing me.

I slowly climbed out of my chair, walked casually to the door, and ran out. I ran as fast as I could back to my neighborhood. It was like a half a mile back to my house from town. I was a fast runner, and it wasn't hot out, so I able to make it home without wearing out.

As I got back, I decided to visit Kyle's house, just to check on Dainu.

First, I looked around me just to see if Dean was following me, but there was no sight of him. He's probably still arguing at the café boy.

I knocked on the door, and Kyle answered. He was wearing an apron that was smothered in paint. His left hand was holding paintbrushes covered with red and blue paint.

"Kaley," he said warmly, "nice to see you again. Come in, we're making works of art."

"You two are having fun?" I said panting. "You two are having fun together, while I was hanging out with a psychopathic jerk!? I had to hang out with that scumbag, and show him the lights of the city, and it was awful. It took me hours to shake him off, and I come here and I find out you two are doing arts and craft!?"

"You got a problem with arts and craft?" Kyle said with a sly smile.

I breathe calmly. "No, but that government-idiot was giving me a hard time. Agh, my life is so unfair."

"Well, come in and paint with us. It will help get your mind off of him."

"Yeah, sure, but I'm not very good at painting."

"That's OK, at least you can do something to relieve your stress," said Kyle. "You can do abstract, that's very easy. Besides, I wasn't a very good painter when I was a kid. But I practiced and practiced, and I got extremely better at it. Even if you're not good at something, you'll at least have fun doing it."

He opened the door for me, and I went in. Dainu was cleaning his brushes, and adjusting the portrait frames. As soon as he saw me, his eyes lit up, and he gave me a great hug.

"You're really affectionate," I said.

"Your presence always makes me happy," he said.

"That's very sweet of you, Dainu," I cooed happily.

Kyle interrupted, "Kaley, you've gotta see what Dainu painted. It's phenomenal!"

He held up one of Dainu's painting, and it was phenomenal. He painted a landscape of a lake with green grass around it and powerful mountains in the back. The sun peeked out from behind the mountains, making the lake shimmer its reflection. You might think this is just an ordinary portrait of a landscape, but this is different from all the rest. His painting was so real, so life-like that I felt like I was actually in it. I can imagine smelling the crystal clear lake, brushing the soft green grass on my cheeks, and feeling the mountains' hard, smooth structure. From looking at the painting, my worries and doubts had washed away, and I was in a land of happiness and joy.

"It's beautiful!" I said wondrously.

"I know," said Kyle. "That's exactly what I said when I first saw it. And Dainu did this under two minutes. It takes me about twenty minutes, hours, or probably a week to finish a portrait like this, but Dainu did it in a flash." Dainu smiled proudly at us.

I sat down on a stool and started to paint. I didn't know what I was painting, but somehow it made me forget about my worries. Dainu looked over my shoulder and examined my work.

"Very unique," he said with honesty.

"I don't think it is," I said.

"But look at your colors," he said encouraging. "The way they blend together makes it look unique and beautiful. That is what makes art come to life."

"Dainu's right, Kaley," said Kyle. "A portrait doesn't have to be perfect. It can be a bunch of scribbles and brushes and it turns out to be a masterpiece. If you go to an art museum, you will find a lot of abstract paintings, and their probably worth thousands of dollars. Something different can be beautiful."

"You go to art museums?" I asked. "Art museums are for geeks and old people. They're so boring!"

"Hey!" laughed Kyle.

"What is a 'geek'?" Dainu asked.

"What is a geek? Hellooooo!" I said sarcastically. But I corrected myself. "Oh, sorry, I thought you'd know already."

"I am able to identify your language, and adapt it to myself, but your terms and its meanings are unfamiliar to me."

"Well, a geek is a person who is, like, nerdy. You know, like, very smart but in a weird, funny way."

"Is this a way of labeling others by their interests, appearance, and communication skills?" asked Dainu curiously.

Now I started to feel guilty of myself. Not only because I called Kyle a geek for going to art museums, but because I put him in a category for his different interests. I've never thought about how labeling and judging others were wrong, until now.

"Yes," I said shamefully. "It's the way we are. We have a lot of names for labeling people. I know it is wrong, but we can't help it."

"Kaley, I am appalled of you," he said, with arms crossed and sadden eyes. "How you judge others is a sickening addiction! Appearances and interests are different all around us, and you create a label out of them. On my planet, we have different interests and appearances, but we do not label, we do not judge. We live upon equality, and you and your people should do the same." Kyle snapped his fingers in the air like a flamboyant girl, making me snicker a little. "Kaley, promise me not to judge others by their looks and interest again, it saddens me."

"OK, I'm sorry about it," I apologize humbly. "....but it's fun sometimes, right?"

Dainu looked at me with a firm expression on his face. Kind of like how my mom looks at me if I don't do as I'm told.

"OK, OK!" I said, raising my right hand. "I solemnly swear I would never judge or label anybody by their looks, interests, and social issues. No matter how many people do it, I won't follow. There, are you happy now?"

Dainu smiled cheerfully.

After an hour of painting, I decided to go home before Mom notices what I did. I was nervous that Dean might tell my mother that I ditched him at the café, and she was going to ground me. I had to think of a story on why I ditch Dean, and where I went.

As I entered home, I noticed Dean was already seated at the dinner table, reading the newspaper. He looked over the newspaper and caught my gazed. I felt the chill of suspicion again. I started for the stairs to my room, until Dean said, "Had fun at your friend's house?"

I froze, my heart pounded like a rock. "Yeah, real fun. Where's Mom?"

"She left a note saying she's doing some grocery shopping," he said. "Meanwhile, are you getting hungry?"

"No!" I snapped. "Thank you. I'm fine."

"Sure, you are," he said. "And how is your friend doing?"

My heart pounded faster. I felt my palms sweat. He was yanking me hard to unveil the truth. I had to continue to keep it cool and safe, before things get out of hand.

"You mean, my friends, Amy and Pam," I said normally. "Sure, they're doing fine."

"I hope so, Kaley. I hope so." He winked his cunning, deceiving eye.

I walked upstairs to my room, closed the door and locked it.