One sunny day when I woke up, I felt something in my eye. As usual, it started itching and I kept rubbing my eye until the itching had stopped. When I fully opened my eyes, I was greeted by a rather unusually creepy salutation.

“GOOD MORNING, LUCAS! What would you like for breakfast?”

The voice was so eerie that I got goosebumps immediately. I looked in front of me and saw a blue-furred, big-eyed monster staring right into my soul.

“Waargh!”, I shouted in astonishment, “What in God’s name is that?!” From the next room I heard my dad’s voice, “It is our new servant, a housekeeper you might say. Get accustomed to aliens already, kid!”

New day, new scolding. Just awesome. I had completely forgotten about the recent ‘alien invasion’ or the ‘Seventh Impact’ that our Earth had faced. Wait, you don’t know about the Seventh Impact? Geez, let me enlighten you real quick.

Long ago, two races ruled over the solar system: Humans and Aliens.

One day, the aliens decided to invade Earth, but with unexpected good intentions.

They weren’t hostile towards the humans at all. In fact, they helped the humans, loved human delicacies, took part in human activities, and so on.

This invasion was termed as the Seventh Impact.

Please do not ask me where the other two impacts went. I just quoted my history book.

I told the blue blob that I wanted some scrambled eggs. It brought the food in front of me. After brushing my teeth, I ate it, and left to play. Unlike other summer children, your boy Lucas here loves to play outside like a real boy. I don’t have any friends though, so I just run around the field, ride on swings and slides, et cetera.

When I was walking on the road, I saw many humans and aliens walking and working alongside each other. There was an alien carrying a child to a nearby school, an alien with a shovel with a rose on its head, another one eating a burger and jumping up and down, and they were generally living their lives. But one particular alien caught my eye.

There was a gray alien, who looked quite old. They were struggling to cross the road as the cars wouldn’t stop. And when the green light appeared, the poor alien took such a long time to take a step that the red light appeared before they even set their foot forward.

I approached them and asked, “Hello there, good sir. May I help you carry those books you’ve got over there?” They were carrying seven books of varying sizes – mostly large. So, I thought that carrying those books would help them move a bit faster. “Sure, young one.”, they replied afterwards.

I took their book bag and signaled the road. Their speed increased significantly, implying that the books had caused that cut in speed. After crossing the road, they asked me what my name was. I replied firmly, “Lucas! It’s Lucas! But you can call me by my pen name, The Ultimate Best Boy!” They laughed at my enthusiasm, “Haha. You are quite the jolly one, arent’cha?” Then came a question from them I wasn’t prepared for.

“If you have time, would you like to come to my house? I want to thank you for your help.”, they asked me.

Wow! A potential treat? Who would pass up an opportunity like that? “Sure!”, I replied and followed them to their house. I was still carrying those books.

We walked for about fifteen minutes. We had some small talk between us, but nothing significant. I was asking them about their favorite flower when we stumbled upon their house.

“Ah, there it is.”, they said. It was medium-sized. Had lots of color splashes, here and there. It had a nice little garden with sunflowers and dandelions blooming. The house itself wasn’t much though, but had a nice, relaxing feel.

We entered and they guided me to their living room. “Wait here”, they said. “I’m coming soon.” Then they left the room.

I looked around. One thing struck me odd in particular. There was no one else in that house. Did they leave for work or a vacation, and left this poor old one alone? Who would do such a heartless thing? I looked around quite a bit, but found nothing of interest. There was a sunflower with the initials ‘A.B.’ engraved on its petals, thrown in the dustbin. Must be something personal, I thought, so I didn’t think much of it.

Eventually after five minutes, they arrived in the room, with some white cookies on a plate. “Here, have these quixolattes.”, they offered me.

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“Quixo- what?”, I asked, confused.

“Haha, think of these like earth cookies, but they are exceptionally soft. Here, have a bite!”, they said.

I took a bite, and oh, they were softer than marshmallows. But they had a sweet scent and taste, that I absolutely loved. “You don’t find these easily. I made them specially for you.”, I could feel the affection in their words as they spoke. They were acting and behaving with me like I was their own child.

I asked them, “So, where is everyone else?” “They are all gone.”, they replied as their happiness turned melancholy.

“G- gone...?” I stuttered. “Gone as in... dead?”

“Yes.”, they answered without any hesitation. Then they went on to tell a tale to remember forever.

“I had three sweet grandchildren. They were named Brendan, Ashley and Andrew. They did not have parents, the mother died the moment Andrew, their last child, was born. The father, wracked with grief, carried the mother’s corpse to a nearby dandelion field. The father had one wish. To keep his children safe at all costs. Sadly, the father still could not control his anger and depression, and eventually took his own life, leaving his children alone. I went to pay a visit to them the next summer, only to learn such a disheartening story. I took the three kids into custody and we lived together happily for many, many months.”

I took interest in learning more. Don’t get me wrong, it was really sad, however for some weird reason I felt hooked, and loved how this old being was sharing their personal story with another specie. They gave me food, treated me like their own child. It was almost as if they had found their grandchildren in my soul and being. “What happened next?”, I asked curiously.

“One day, the three kids went out to play together. I bid them a goodbye. Sadly, I didn’t know that it would be a farewell instead.”, their voice started sounding raspy. "About three hours later, I heard a doorbell. Usually, no one paid me a visit, and it was too early for the children to come back, so it was awkward. I went out of my room and opened the door. There was a police officer standing there. She told me that the kids met with a fatal accident and couldn't survive. I rushed out of the door to the hospital they were kept in. The wind was howling, it was raining so hard, and yet I ran to my fullest. I could feel the storm inside my whole body. Unlike human beings who feel things on their skins, we aliens feel it all throughout our bodies. As I was running, I came across that dandelion field. The storm was raging harder and the dandelions had lost all of their petals. The plants were struggling, but I couldn't stop to save them. I rummaged my way to the hospital, only to see that they really were dead. I watched as the nurses carried the lifeless bodies to the morgue, and left the hospital in grief. I backtracked my way to my home. The storm had coincidentally stopped, and the sun was shining bright. The dandelion field was devastated, but the sunflowers beside them had not. I picked up one surviving dandelion and carried it to my home. I saw my grandchildren's toys scattered all over the floor. The books in the shelves seemed empty. My grandchildren loved books. That's why I bought these today.", they pointed their weak, fragile fingers to the book bag that I had carried.

"But, they aren't here anymore. Why the books now then?", I asked.

"It's just for self-satisfaction.", they uttered those five words. I didn't need anymore explanation why they did so.

Sometimes, we try to find happiness in the big things that are available to us. But real happiness lies in those small, little things that we don't usually think of, and take them for granted. Now that the grandchildren were no more, the happiness was in the books they loved. They bought books for those children, even though they knew it was of no use anymore. No one would read them, but deep in their heart they found glee and happiness in this. Practically, there was no point, but it was just for self-satisfaction. If it weren't for that, this old alien would probably meet the same fate as the father. Even though fate and destiny aren't real things, it still felt like it. But self-satisfaction kept them alive, self-satisfaction kept them happy, it gave them hope.

"The flower you saw in the dustbin," my thought was interrupted when they spoke, but I kept listening.

"Wait, how'd you-- I mean, yeah, what about that?"

"The initials 'A.B.' are for my grandchildren."

Now it made sense why it was thrown in the dustbin, but still, I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it had some other significance too? I didn't think much of it though, and the sun was already setting.

"You should go," they said, "it's quite late. Your parents must be waiting."

"Yeah, I think so too.", I answered, sounding upbeat, but I still felt sad in the inside. I got off of the couch, and was leaving the door, when I suddenly heard a shout.

"Hold it!", the old alien had interrupted me. "Here, take these with you."

They gave me a box full of quixolattes, a sunflower, and a dandelion.

"Those were my last quixolattes. Take them. And those flowers too. Your presence made me feel like my grandchildren had arrived again. So, you deserve these small but nice things." They said and bid me farewell. Those maybe small things for them, but I will cherish those things forever. I walked to my home just before evening.

I went to my dad's room, and asked him a very weird question. "Dad, do you love me?"

Dad spit his tea as it was unexpected. "Of course I do, son! But why this question?", he said, while the blue blob was cleaning the mess.

I replied with a smile, "Nothing, no reason in particular. It's just for self-satisfaction." I hugged him and went to bed.

Many years passed, I was a grown up by then. I had a job and I got very busy, so I had no time for recreational activities. I had completely forgotten about the old alien, until one day their thought crossed my mind again. I fondly remembered their address, I mean, how could I ever forget? And I went there after my work.

The house was the same as before. The garden, the color splashes, the relaxing feel were all still there. I rang the doorbell, but oddly, nobody came. I sat on the doorstep for a while, hoping for them to come down. I looked at the garden, all the sunflowers had withered, but the dandelions remained intact. I got up after a while and rang the bell again. But still, there was no response.

Suddenly I heard a call from the neighbor, "Who are you trying to find?", I looked at the balcony of the house beside and saw a human waving a hand. "I'm looking for the old alien that lived here!", I shouted.

She replied, "Oh, Brett? Don't you know? They died three years ago. What a good alien they were! Sad that they had to go."

I stood there, as I realized three years ago was precisely the time I had met them. A sudden strong gust of wind blew across my body, as I took one final look at the garden.

The dandelions had flown away.