Humans?

You could hear a pin drop. Later, Lewis would swear that he heard a cricket chirping in the background.

Though he was also the first to break the silence…

"So… You aren't human?" His face lit up, thinking that he had finally found someone to relate to out in the middle of nowhere.

'Human… don't humans belong to Earth? Oh my god, those d*mn elders sent me to a no-contact planet with that stupid randomized teleport.' She couldn't help but face plant onto the table.

"Umm, are you alright Annabelle?" Shelly came around the table, sitting down next to her she put a hand on her shoulder and leaned forward. "What's wrong honey?"

Not really listening to the woman Annabelle was consumed by her own thoughts.

'What am I going to do? No, one'll come to Earth, and I can't teleport yet. What if I'm stuck here for forever? I'd be here until the end of the world, and then I'd die with the planet? This is just great! Plus, I'm not sure why it's so hard to use my powers, but it's almost like there's no energy in the air…'

"You'd think it'd be the opposite on a younger planet." She mumbled, not even realizing she had said it out loud.

"Younger planet?" John was the first to catch her blunder.

"What? I didn't say anything." She kept her face on the table, trying to avoid looking at the people that were probably staring at her.

"Yeah you did, you said younger planet." Lewis piped up.

"Oh, sorry I was thinking that I should carry around a daily planner." She chuckled awkwardly. "If I did, I might be able to give your dad my guardian's contact information."

'That's the best you can come up with? Great, just great. I'm going to be caught before I'm even here for more than forty-eight hours…' She disparaged herself, pushing her forehead against the table.

"Okay…" John didn't believe her for a second. However, he couldn't make sense of the phrase 'younger planet'. So, he decided to drop the matter for now.

"Even if you don't know his phone number. Tell me his full name and when I talk to the police, they'll be able to find him."

She stopped trying to push her forehead into the table. 'Ugh, this is where remembering Earth customs would be useful. What were some really common names?' She actually started lifting her forehead off the table and dropping it back onto it.

"Umm… Doesn't that hurt?" Lewis looked at her as if she was crazy. While his mother put her hand between the girl's forehead and the table.

"Dad are you sure she didn't escape from a mental institution?"

John slapped the back of his head. "You're being rude."

Annabelle blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"I can't remember I was abducted by aliens."

'Did I really just say that? I am such an idiot… I blame the idiot for talking about mental institutions and that professor who never stopped talking about human's obsession with life in outer-space…' She rolled her eyes and inwardly gave Lewis the finger.

John rubbed his temple. "Let's just eat tonight and we'll figure it all out in the morning."

Shelly glared at her son, seeming to promise punishment of some kind. Lewis avoided her gaze, staring at a corner of the ceiling.

"It looks delicious Shelly." Annabelle took in the sight of the food in front of her.

'It really is, though I'm not sure what it all is…' She thought, peering at the multi-colored food on her plate. One was green and had what looked like fronds and a stalk.

'That must be a vegetable, I remember the prof saying most green plants are what humans call vegetables… I wonder what this is.'

She picked up a yellow slice that had seeds in the middle, tentatively putting it in her mouth.

'Interesting, I wonder what's on it.' She stabbed a white piece from the plate. Staring at it intensely she tried to determine what it was.

'It looks like it has layers, and it's no where near as soft as the yellow thing. Is it meat?'

Putting it in her mouth, she was surprised at the burst of juiciness. 'Wow, not bad. I'm not too sure about those green things though…'

John, Shelly and Lewis stopped eating to watch the girl. Wondering why she was looking at the chicken as if she had never seen it before.

After she finished chewing the chicken Shelly spoke up. "Do you dislike chicken? Let me know, I'll get you something else to eat. I'd understand completely, not everyone enjoys sheet pan meals."

"Oh, no, it's very good! I've never had this yellow thing though. What is it?"

"You've never had yellow squash before?" Lewis was shocked, he'd never met anyone who'd never eaten or seen one.

"Nope, it's really good though." She mumbled, not looking up from her plate.

"Well I'm glad you enjoy it, just let me know if you want more."

"I will thank you." She went back to eating.

After the meal John sent Lewis to do the dishes.

"I can help him." She didn't really want to work with the brat, but she also didn't want to eat and then not help clean up.

"No, it's okay, you're our guest. Plus, you've had a long day, how about I show you where you're sleeping and you can call it a night? Be rested for tomorrow, to get you to the proper authorities we'll have to take you into town, and that's a really long drive."

John didn't add that it would probably be emotionally draining for her, since when morning came, he wouldn't be so lenient. Whether she wanted to or not, she would give them her guardian's contact information.

'He's not going to let up about that guardian thing… I'm so dead…'