An Alien Friend

“An Alien Friend” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Sonal S, The Horizon School, India.

An Alien Friend

One fine morning I was taking a stroll in my garden. Suddenly I saw a bright flash of light. A spaceship had landed in my garden. At first, I got scared, but then my curiosity overcame my fears. Slowly I went near the spaceship. It was a huge one. I was curious to look inside. Secretly I crept inside and looked around. There were many lights and screens. There were many switches and buttons too. I wanted to touch those buttons and switches, but then I thought it was better not to. I came out of the spaceship only to stare at an alien. He looked very ugly and slimy. He spoke a weird language and I couldn’t understand a word what he said. But he was very small and looked somewhat friendly. So, I decided to make an invention so that the alien can understand my language and I can understand his.

After the machine was made, I gave it to the alien and showed in signs so that he could understand how to use the machine. He understood my signs and wore the machine. Slowly he started to speak. The alien told me how he landed up in my garden and how much he longed to reach back home. He also told me that his spaceship had a button labeled ‘Home’ and that it had stopped working. I told him not to worry and that I would set the button right. He was very happy.

Soon both of us worked hard and set everything right. By this time, we had become good friends. He said that his parents might be waiting for him and would be worried if he didn’t return soon. Before leaving, he gave me a necklace which had lots of beautiful flowers on it. He told me that this is a magical necklace. Whenever I touch a flower and think of a question, he will give me the answer. I was very happy to get this gift. But he warned me to use it wisely because once a flower has been touched it will get dried up. It returned the machine back to me, said good bye and flew away in his spaceship. He also promised to remember me always and tell how he got a friend on earth to his friends in his planet. I felt very sad when he left. But I will always remember him as a very special friend of mine. This will indeed remain as one of the most cheerful and memorable moments of my life.