'Destiny's calling,' my father would tell me. 'It has greatness for you and you alone. You can't imagine what it has in store for you.'

I'm destined for greatness. I can feel it in every inch of fibers and bones. All I need is a chance to prove it to his grave. It looks like God is telling me to see it now because, in the crosshairs of my sights, something soars like a falling star through the sky's baby blue barrier with its crimson flames sheltering it like a child hiding from a monster.

No one else seems to see it. While Eddy watches in modesty, frankly I'm surprised he hasn't peed himself.  I watch it with glory as I bow down my head, and whisper to myself the wish I truly desire. 

Whatever it may be, it's coming in fast with the flames seeming to get hotter after every second. That's when the blue fireball flies right above us landing charcoal bits on Eddy's shoulder. 

I have never seen him so quickly throw his shirt to the side. My eyes are too blind to care about the black clumps searing a dent into my white uniform. It's pure beauty. A wish that'll have me finally rise above the dead. 

To my disappointment, like a bat, it disappears past my line of sight. However, my mind draws up the image of where it should end up, and let me say, the results seem promising. 

"What the hell was that?" Eddy yells, still stomping on his shirt.

"Something we're going to check out," I reply, my smile finding it hard to contain its excitement.

"You can't be serious."

Afterward, our faces exchange a wild Western style. The clock hits ten his eyes buckle, the clock hits eleven my eyebrows narrow, and then, the clock hits twelve. I take my shot which I never miss. 

With that settled, we jog toward where I believe it to be. To keep up with my body, I take jagged leaps as we get closer and closer. That's when the worriedness and drag start tugging at me. At this point, I'm sure I know where it has landed, I just don't want to believe it. 

A smirk never appears faster on my face seeing the bottoms of whatever it is filling the dirt of my front yard. The smoke spreads its way like a can of hairspray over a fire. Luckily, the air glopped it all up, letting us take a good look

It isn't a space rock. Even if it does look like one at this point. It smells of burnt metal and leaking oil. Still, my nose has no reaction, and neither has Eddy's who's been over countless times since we were five. 

Nobody comes our way or even shoots a glance while we parade the thing. Most of our neighbors probably thought it was one of Lisa's gizmos that went arise, once again. I started to think that to myself as my eyes saw the design. I place my hand upon its side and even burnt, it still feels icy.

The smoke finally lifts, so now we both can see the full picture. It has the wings of a rocket, the legs of a spider, and the blast power of a missile. A strange piece of art indeed. Its front legs are caught inside the ground while the hind is caught in the air. It's all too advanced, yet simple. It reeks of Lisa's design.

"Hey Lincoln," Eddy's voice shakes. "You might want to see this."

His fingers shiver at a black square button only inches from the dirt. Right above is an egg-shaped dome yet that's not what terrifies me. A thick fog is enclosed upon it and my eyes squint to see a black figure on the other side. Eddy's eyes register it a few moments later.

"What should we do", He says with his body beyond trembling.

My eyes dart back and forth from the dome to the button. I must have done it like five times before the dots connected my suspicion. I can't even make it past my shadow before Eddy blurts out

"What the hell are you doing!"

"Come on Eddy, what's the worst that can happen?"

He gives me that look again. A look I've seen about 1,000 times if not counting moments earlier. This time, however, I indulge his thoughts, playing a montage of them inside my brain. I can't help but snicker at my last thought. 

"Eddy that last one is not even possible" is my only response.

"Lincoln what if it's-"

"Don't worry Eddy. If it's something of that sort, then I'll let it eat me first."

"Geez, how noble of you." He sighs.

With that out of the way, I move slowly over letting my index finger take the honor. As the dome lifts itself into the air, I jump away like a meerkat hearing the sounds of it grinding its gears to stay alive as I do. Once it finishes, To Eddy's relief, I remain disappointed.

He's just an average Joe like him or me. His brown skin is a bit lighter than Eddy's. Unlike him, however, he has flat hair. To give this guy some credit, it is clean. He also looks to be around the same age as a few of my elder sisters. Yet his flak jacket and other choices of clothing make him look a lot older. Curious my fingers poke at his forehead. It's cold like the metal of this machine.

"Lincoln" his voice grinds through his teeth. "What are you trying to do? I hope Ronnie Anne isn't making you think like this."

"Don't worry old chum, I'm thinking with my main head." He rolls his eyes back at my words. "We can't just leave him here. Come on and give me a hand with this will ya, so we can check him out, inside."

My arms begin to wrap underneath the boy's armpits and one feels colder than the other. Eddy struggles to do the same but still puts himself behind me as we yank him out, slowly but surely. He's a bit heavier than I imagined. I have to admit he has a muscular build to him, something I admire and envy at the same time.

Once halfway, I motion for Eddy to lift his legs. Eddy looks like he's carrying tree logs, though he fights through them. Step by step we make it to the front door. My hand desperately tries to grab the doorknob while Eddy's arms shake rapidly. I promised him I wasn't doing it on purpose.

Eventually, my hand finds its way, and my nose cheers to the smell of my humble domain. We plop his body onto the couch that sits in the middle of our living room. A true centerpiece. 

Getting a closer look, nothing stands out from what we had seen before. Although we both noticed he's lengthy noting his legs that hang off the edges of the couch. And that his flak jacket is a crimson green with what looks to be a white tee underneath.

What catches me off guard is when Eddy points to his left arm. It's wrapped in cloth, but inside the cloth pokes out curves of metal. His left shoulder is lanced in it too, maybe even a little of his chest I bet as well. He's no ordinary boy that I know for certain. Eddy already starts walking in circles, big breaths in and out, in and out.

Still staring at the body, I say "Eddy there's no need to panic." He then explodes. 

"Well Lincoln", his voice seeming to get louder after every word. "We just put a person who might not even be human, who was just in a pod thing or something on your couch, there's metal where his left arm should be. I think there's a reason to panic."

He rushes inside his bag for a much smaller bag of brown paper. I shake my head slowly at the sight of him using it as an inhaler. For thirty seconds straight, I might add. I begin to pat him on the back, while his eyes look at the bag in disgust after he tosses it to the side. He then starts apologizing for bringing out the bag. I interrupt him and say,

"No, I'm sorry, I pushed you to that point."

"So, what are we going to do now?" He whispers, his breath now more stable.

"Well let's go to the kitchen and..." I pause. "Then we can go map out our options before the rest come home. I'll keep an eye to see if he makes any noise."

With a bugging shrug from Eddy's head, we go right past the front door, entering the dining room which leads into the kitchen. The right side has all the stoves, sinks, cabinets, and whatnot while the left side leads into the backyard. 

Between the sliding door and the refrigerator, there's a small table out against the wall. One chair faces the door while the other faces the entries to the dining room. I took the one near the dining room, letting Eddy be near the backyard door.

We began mapping out potential options. It felt like only a few minutes, but we came up with plenty of ideas, even a plan B with water buckets already made. Then that's when we hear the front door fly open, following three pairs of footsteps entering the living room, only stopping to probably see our centerpiece. My mind bricks as I try telling Eddy that they came home early, at the same time trying to move him over to the dining room, quietly.

He's able to grab the two buckets of water before leaving as we put our heads to the thin wall that separates both rooms. I could only hear muffling among themselves presumably about the boy lying motionless on our couch. 

My body remains a frozen sheet of ice, shaking underneath my tomb. I only start to feel warm once I hear a man's voice, speaking to them. My mind tries to get my body to move, but it's paralyzed from the waist down with Eddy in a similar boat.

I can't tell how my feet manage to get off the ground. I must have had enough because all I can remember in the moment of fire and fury is me grabbing the water bucket and rushing to the living room. Only sung by two Yeti's roars.