(for nalak)

Marilyn adjusted her pink satin blouse and took one final glance at her pocket mirror before ringing the bell on the front door of the Penderton Mansion, home to Lucy Penderton, one of Hollywood’s most trusted celebrities attorney, her second trophy husband Jack, twin daughters Amy and Willa, and a cute little Pitsky that went by the name of Conan. Both a barbarian and a destroyer, the blue-eyed animal was the first to come running, unleashing a sound that was neither a bark nor a howl but a strange mixture of both. Sensing the furry quadruped sniffing at the door, Marilyn raised her right index finger to her burgundy-painted lips and whispered a numbing command. Immediately, the mixed-breed dog dropped to the floor, belly side up, dreamy gaze fixed on the high ceiling of the manor, and remained there quietly, unable to break free from the stupor enveloping him.

“Much better,” Marilyn said to herself as she waited for someone of note to welcome her. It’s not that she hated dogs - or any other animal - but their heightened perception was often a liability when she was trying to keep a low profile, for the early twenties brunette with viridescent eyes, jet-black hair with white highlights at the tips, a perfect Greek nose, puffy lips, and generous breasts, had a secret that would tear the world asunder if it ever were to come public.

Marilyn - whose real name was Mehrillhyne - was of extraterrestrial origin, born on a planet located in a galaxy thousands of light years away from Earth. Its official designation lacked any translation to any known human language and trying to make sense of it was a fool’s errand no one in their right frame of mind should bother with. This was her third visit to the blue planet orbiting around the sun, one she hoped would prove more entertaining than the other two.

The young alien was part of an expedition team of twelve scattered across the world to test the latest advances in her species’ brainwashing and mind control techniques. For the first since time their experimentations began, she was fortunate enough to get the better assignment in the lot. Gone were the days of lurking in smoke-filled European cities or islands in the middle of nowhere that just getting there was a nightmare of its own. Now, she was playing in the Big League, and a taste of luxury was waiting for her. Marilyn tapped her feet and smiled as the door opened.

In front of her stood a petite woman between her forties and fifties dressed in a frilly maid’s uniform. She had callous hands and a subdued smile, signs of long hours of menial work crushing her lively spirit. She looked at her as if she had seen a ghost or worse and then asked,

“Good morning, Miss. May I help you?”

“Hello,” Marilyn chirped. “I’m here to see Amy and Willa. I’m Marilyn, a friend of hers from college.”

“You’ll forgive me, but neither Miss Amy nor Miss Willa are in the house at the moment,” the maid replied, her sunken voice barely audible.

“Oh? They told me to meet them here this morning. Have they been gone for long? Do you know when they’ll return?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have an answer to any of those questions. You should probably come again, Miss Marilyn. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

“Please wait. Is there anyone else in the house? Mrs. Penderton, perhaps?” Marilyn waved her right hand seductively before the maid’s weary eyes.

“The lady of the manor is indeed inside but has given me explicit instructions not to be disturbed no matter what.”

“Doing her research for a high-profile case, I bet.”

“That’s not something I’m at liberty to discuss. You’ll need to come back later. I’ll inform Miss Amy and Miss Willa of your visit so they can get in touch with you the moment they arrive. Have a good day.”

Marilyn continued waving her hand, creating a slight ripple in the air. “Do you have a name, maid?” she emphasized the last word as if it were something demonic that needed to be exorcised.

“I’m called Dorothy, Miss Marilyn, but you’ll forgive me for asking why is that any of your business,” the older woman replied, a slight hiss on her lips.

“I’m fascinated by names and the power they possess. Yours means ‘gift of God’ while mine is ‘star of the sea’ but if you think closely about your true nature, you’ll realize that the only gift you can offer is being of service. When you’re not obeying and giving your time, sweat, and tears to the pleasure of another, you feel empty and abandoned, don’t you? A lonely soul wandering in the endless void, waiting for another order to give it meaning... I bet it hurts when that happens. It’s like there’s something powerful crushing your heart, and making it so hard to breathe, isn’t it? Harder and harder and harder, your skin first turning blue and then purple as the oxygen flow thins down, declines, and you find yourself wobbling, barely standing on your feet, eyelids fluttering on the edge of unconsciousness... When you feel that way, all you want to do is sleep, forget, and dream of being on the receiving end of another mesmerizing instruction like, invite me in right now.”

Dorothy’s legs quivered, arms falling loose as if they were rubbery extensions with no bones inside. The maid leaned against the door to stop herself from collapsing on the marble floor, and muttered,

“Would you... would you like to come in?”

“Yes, Dorothy. I would very much like that. It’s so much better than waiting out here or having to come back later and risk being sent back again. Thank you. You are most kind.”

“You’re... hmm, welcome?” the older woman shook her head.

“Yes, I am,” Marilyn walked past her and winked. “I’m always welcome around here and should never be told to leave unless I want to, isn’t that so?”

“I... hmmm... what’s happening to me?” the maid asked, dry tongue sticking out of her half-parted lips. “I feel... strange.”

“That’s because you’re tired. Every muscle in your body is sore, and your legs weigh like lead. You love what you do but you’ve been working too hard and don’t have the guts to ask your employer for an extra day off, but that’s okay, for I’m giving you permission to go home and get your much-needed rest. You don’t have to be around here any longer today, and you need not worry about Mrs. Penderton, either. I’ll explain everything to her while you sleep and dream of returning the next day, completely rejuvenated and eager to serve. Go now, Dorothy. Don’t wait any longer than you have to. She’ll understand as I do. No one will blame you or judge you for taking care of yourself first. Chin up, eyes looking sharp, ready to leave. I’ll lock the door after you’re gone.”

“Thank you,” she slurred.

“No problem, and see you soon. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Miss Marilyn,” the maid quietly walked out the door, not even worrying to take off the uniform. In her mind’s eye, she saw her fluffy bed calling her by name and her blotched tabby purring on the pillow next to her. She walked mindlessly past the property’s outer gardens and disappeared around the next corner.

“First successful test of the day,” Marilyn said, stretching her arms in the foyer. The energetic puppy remained lethargic on the floor, its sky-blue orbs glimpsing the extraterrestrial’s true form yet powerless to do anything about it. Marilyn closed her right hand, and the Pitsky fell into a perfect slumber. 

The inside of the Penderton Mansion was as opulent as the outside, approximately eight thousand square feet decorated with the most outlandish extravaganzas money could buy. Besides collecting shoes and designer dresses, Lucy Penderton had an insatiable taste for expressionist art with countless paintings lining up the walls and up the main staircase. The mansion had seven bedrooms, a theater room, a private gym, an indoor pool and spa facilities, as well as a king-size office where the attorney could work to her heart’s content with no one hounding her or interrupting her thoughts. The mid-fifties owner was a bona fide workaholic who had specialized in multi-millionaire divorce settlements. Whenever she was on a case, bank accounts were sure to dwindle one way or another. Anyone in the show business who didn’t resort to her services was doing him or herself a disservice.

Lucy’s family always had money. Her grandparents moved to the U.S. from England shortly after The Great Depression, first investing in a chain of grocery stores across California and then switching to real estate once the consumer’s confidence was on the rise once more. Originally built in the 40s, the mansion had undergone several large renovations, with the last one being a complete overhaul of its foundations to better suit the oddities of the 21st-century lifestyle. While the original builders would not approve of such radical transformations, Time had made sure they were dead and buried long before they came to be.

Marilyn took some time to waltz around the manor, checking every corner with a childlike curiosity. The human fascination with material possessions was something she could never fully grasp, although she appreciated them to a fault. The vigorous strokes on some paintings were imbued with a raw, almost tribal-like energy that resonated with her on a deep level of consciousness, but other elements like the collection of bronze statues, each one depicting a solitary limb in a vacuum of shapes, struck her as odd and nonsensical. There was also a medieval suit of armor polished to the extreme whose glow around the edges hurt her triangular-shaped pupils. One look at it was enough to never want to do that again.

Mehrillhyne’s world differed completely from the Earth’s atmosphere, with a vaporous blue-green and violet aura everywhere, and nothing resembling an ocean or even a puddle. There were no cities or countries, but solely a single landmass where all natives shared multi-tiered hive-like structures reaching three hundred feet high. Having come into existence at the bottom levels of society, she didn’t miss her home planet as much as her other companions but didn’t want to be stuck on Earth duty forever, either. Once her reports were filed, and the results validated by the Supreme Council, she was going to request a transfer to another quadrant where there were more stars in the skies than living creatures underneath them. She already had a few destinations in mind but those would forever remain a fleeting dream if the results were not one hundred percent satisfactory.

In order to maintain her unique guise, she used a combination of psychic and technological means. The former comprised a particular wavelength unique to her species that obfuscated her bodily contours to fool predators, while the latter resided in a spiral-shaped necklace around her neck that projected a three-dimensional image so realistic that only an infinitesimal number of humans could see past it. The living hologram automatically adjusted to the surrounding light conditions and shadows being cast, always creating the perfect volumetric sense of depth. No reptilian brain bipedal had ever seen her true form, and no one ever would.

Marilyn silently finished her tour but not before sitting at the Steinway piano in the main living room and playing a handful of sharp notes that reminded her of the fierce winds sweeping the cold surface of her point of origin. The strident sounds reverberated along the empty bedrooms, finally catching the attention of the overzealous lawyer who opened her office door to ask,

“Hello? Amy? Willa? Are you home?”

“They haven’t arrived yet, Mrs. Penderton, but I’m here,” the alien replied, peeking at the living room’s threshold. “Won’t you please come down? We have a lot to talk about?”

“And who might you be, young woman?” Lucy Penderton adjusted her square glasses and yelled, “Dorothy? Why did you allow a stranger in my house when I specifically said I didn’t want to be disturbed?”

“Your maid isn’t here, Mrs. Penderton - may I call you Lucy? She was too exhausted and had to go home. You won’t be seeing her until tomorrow at least.”

“Go home?” the lawyer mumbled, her slightly wrinkled hands resting on the gold stair railing. “Preposterous! She would never leave her station without telling me first.”

“I said I would tell you the reason and so I did. I wouldn’t worry too much about her. Dorothy is a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

Lucy took three steps forward, stopping right where the staircase began. Despite being in the sanctity of her home where no prying eyes could judge her choice of outfits, she kept true to her lavish sense of style by wearing a sleeveless Versace crystal gold baroque midi dress with matching shoes whose heels were unsafe for long walks. 

“You still haven’t told me who you are. I suggest you give me a convincing answer or I’ll be forced to call the police for trespassing on private property.”

“I assure you there’s no need to get the police involved, Mrs. Penderton. I’m Marilyn, a friend of your daughter’s. Surely, they’ve already mentioned me around here.”

“Marilyn?” Lucy clicked her heels. “Hmm, no, they haven’t. I know all of my daughter’s friends and you’re certainly not one of them.” the lawyer produced a pink gold smartphone she had been hiding under her left palm and asked, “Care to try again or will you leave the truth to the authorities?”

Marilyn chuckled and started ascending the colorful steps one by one with a confident stride.

“Do you want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as you people say in court?” she asked.

“Yes,” Lucy flipped the phone up, index finger on the speed dial button. “Who are you, Marilyn, and why are you here?”

“I’m what humankind refers to as an alien entity, a reluctant member of a scientific expedition sent to observe and catalog the effects of our mind-altering ways in your weak psyches. I got rid of your maid so I can get inside your head without outside interference and then I’ll do the same to your daughters and your husband. You and I are going to become best friends right now but the goal is to enslave you and send the data to my superiors for analysis. Is this better?”

“Honey, I’ve heard my fair share of ludicrous arguments throughout the years, but yours are on a whole other level. Good luck telling that to the men in blue while they drive you away and know I’ll be pressing every charge I can think of against you.”

“You’re right, it’s preposterous,” Marilyn cocked her head. “Almost as ridiculous as this argument we’re having. There’s nothing wrong with being confused but I don’t want to get your brain worked up with such trifling affairs. The police have no business here, Lucy,” she cooed. “They should be left alone while we have our conversation, perhaps over a wonderful cup of hot tea? What do you say?”

“I say I’m done listening to your nonsense.”

“Then we have no choice but to start over,” Marilyn stopped mid-stairs and cut through the space between them with an accusatory index. “Is your memory playing tricks on you, Lucy? How could you have forgotten about your girl’s longtime companion, who’s been here for every birthday, and always brings the best gifts? You can see me, sitting at the table downstairs, camera in hand, taking the pictures you so preciously keep in a family album inside your office. See me now, once and forever, your dear, sweet Marilyn, who you would love to see working in your firm one day. I’ve always been here. I’m a fundamental part of your life. My presence in this house is as natural as breathing and when you see me, your heart leaps with joy, the third daughter you never had. Are you really going to send away such an esteemed guest who you adore more than anything, or are you simply going to drop the phone, and let me hug you? Choose what your mind and heart are telling you, my dear.”

“Marilyn?” the lawyer blinked, her face irradiating an overwhelming familiarity. “It’s you! You’re back! You can’t believe how happy I am to see you.”

“Believe me I can,” the extraterrestrial held the house owner in her illusionary arms, deepening the veil that had already started to rewrite her thoughts. They had a lot to talk about.