Alex, Danny, and Yasmin walked down the sidewalk toward Alex's house, entering the street where he lived. Up ahead were three boys about their age. Each of the boys was tall and bulky, resembling bodybuilders. They stood around on the street, speaking in a high tone and laughing at each other's comments.

The three friends noticed the boys and stopped walking any further. Realising they had to get around without being noticed, they started moving to the other side of the street. Unfortunately, when they were halfway across, one of the boys spotted them.

"Looks like we have company," boomed the boy.

The three friends picked up their pace and continued moving to the other side of the street. However, the boy followed them, blocking their path, while the other boys laughed.

"Get lost, Mike!" shouted Alex.

"You dare talk to me, you worm," commented Mike.

"Haven't you had enough of picking on kids during lunchtime at school?" said Alex.

"That was just a warm-up for what I'm about to do to you and your friends if you don't give me your pocket money," commented Mike.

"You can have my money," said Danny nervously as he took out his pocket money.

"You're not going to give him your money," Alex told Danny. "Mike, you're going to pay for what you've done to all the kids that you've bullied."

"The worm thinks he can threaten you, Mike," said one of Mike's friends from across the street.

The three boys burst into laughter, their voices echoing through the street.

Alex looked around and spotted a metallic trash can on the other side of the street. Raising his hand, he levitated the lid of the trash can. With a swift movement of his hand, the trash can lid started spinning like a frisbee. It flew through the air to the other side of the street until it hit Mike in the chest with a 'bam' sound. Mike yelled in pain and fell to his knees. The lid dropped to the ground with a 'clanging' sound.

Danny, Yasmin, and Mike's two friends all looked at Alex in terror. They were trying to comprehend how Mike had just been hit in the chest with a trash can lid.

Mike's two friends came running towards him, helping him up. Each of them took one of Mike's arms and dragged him away from the scene. Mike's two friends dared not to speak out of horror, not wanting to become victims themselves.

Alex, Danny, and Yasmin turned around and watched the three boys leave the street, disappearing out of sight. Once they were gone, Alex began walking towards his house. After a few steps, he turned around and saw his friends still standing in the same spot.

"Aren't you two coming?" asked Alex.

Danny and Yasmin didn't answer back but instead looked at each other before walking over to Alex. The three friends walked in silence towards Alex's house.

Once they reached Alex's house, Alex took out the house key, unlocked the front door, and the three of them entered. They walked to the other side of the house and exited through the back door, arriving in the backyard.

In the backyard stood a big, tall tree with a treehouse built among its branches, perfect for children to play in and offering a treetop view. The treehouse had a ladder providing access from the ground up to its platform.

Alex quickly climbed up the ladder onto the treehouse's platform. Danny and Yasmin remained on the ground, looking up at Alex on the platform.

"Let's make a run for it," Yasmin whispered to Danny.

"What if he sees us?" whispered back Danny.

"Aren't you two coming up?" called Alex from the platform, looking down at his friends.

"We'll be up in a moment," Yasmin shouted in response.

Yasmin looked at Danny with a sense of hopelessness.

"We don't want to get Alex angry. He has anger issues. You saw what he did to Mike when he got angry. Let's go up," whispered Yasmin to Danny.

Yasmin climbed up the ladder to the platform, with Danny following her.

Danny and Yasmin stood face to face with Alex, who noticed their nervous expressions.

"Sorry about earlier with Mike," apologised Alex.

Danny and Yasmin didn't respond.

"Why don't we all sit down," said Alex.

The three of them sat down.

"You both remember after lunchtime at school, I wanted to tell you something that I had learned from Mrs. Even," said Alex.

Alex paused, looking at his friends and waiting for a response. With no response from them, he continued to speak.

"So Mrs. Even is my aunt," said Alex.

"What? No way," said Danny, breaking his silence.

"She's dad's sister," said Alex. "And she's an alien."

Yasmin took a cushion and tossed it at Alex. It gently hit him in the face.

"What was that for?" questioned Alex.

"For joking about aliens. We know aliens aren't real," said Yasmin, annoyed.

"Then how do you explain my powers?" asked Alex.

Yasmin opened her mouth and then closed it, not knowing how to answer the question.

"If Mrs. Even is your aunt and she is an alien, then you're an alien?" questioned Danny.

"I guess so," replied Alex.

"And you have powers, awesome," said Danny.

"I'm sorry about the incident with Mike. He was going to pound you both. I had to stop him before it was too late," Alex said to Yasmin. "You know I wouldn't hurt anyone without a reason."

"I know. Apology accepted," said Yasmin as she calmed down.

"So what planet is your family from?" asked Danny.

"Saguture," replied Alex.

"Is that a real planet?" questioned Yasmin skeptically.

"My aunt showed me a holographic image of the planet. It's located in the Milky Way, and it resembles Earth in every way," responded Alex.

"Why did your family come to Earth?" asked Yasmin.

"It's not only my family but all the residents of Saguture," replied Alex.

"Alien invasion!" exclaimed Danny, jumping up and down in excitement.

"This is a serious matter, Danny. There are aliens here. We are in danger just like in the movies," Yasmin snapped at Danny.

"Are you a green alien?" Danny asked Alex excitedly.

"According to my aunt, the movies got aliens wrong. Aliens look just like humans," explained Alex.

"How do we know who is the alien among us?" asked Yasmin, horrified.

"Good question," said Alex. "The Men in Black had no trouble finding me."

"The Men in Black are real?" questioned Danny. "I must be dreaming."

"Yeah, they're real," said Alex. "Top-secret government agents that the government doesn't know about."

"Did they hurt you? Did you throw a trash can lid at them? How did they find you?" Yasmin bombarded Alex with questions.

"They shot a tranquilliser dart at me, but I managed to escape the dart. Calvin rescued me, and he doesn't know why the men were after me," replied Alex.

"Calvin?" asked Yasmin, curious.

"He is a teenager, sixteen. He travels in a time-traveling cafe, the 'Time Traveling Cafe,' that's what it's called. The people who use the cafe are called 'Traveller' and belong to 'Traveller Inc.'. The Traveller's purpose is to maintain the timeline and stop people from getting hurt," said Alex.

"You got rescued by a time traveler. What's next, zombies are real?" mocked Yasmin.

"Ha, ha. Laugh all you want, but I was inside the 'Time Traveling Cafe'. I can take you there," said Alex.

Alex opened his backpack, which was lying beside him, and fished out a business card-looking card. He tapped the card once. A thin yellow glowing line appeared in front of the three friends. It widened and stretched until it formed a rectangular doorway—a portal.

Yasmin and Danny stared at the portal, not believing their eyes. They were looking through the portal at a cafe on the other side.

"After you," said Alex to his friends.

"Maybe another time," said Danny nervously.

"Another time," Yasmin said.

Alex tapped the card once, and the portal disappeared into thin air.

"One thing, the card doesn't work beyond the present time, our time. Anyone in the past and future will need to send a signal to the cafe. To send a signal, all you need to do is slap the card on your palm three times. Once a Traveller picks up the signal, they travel to that place and time and collect the Traveller. Once inside the cafe, double-tapping the card gives access to the Academy of Time and Space," explained Alex.

"Academy of Time and Space?" inquired Danny.

"I just saw a glimpse of the interior of a futuristic building. I don't know anything about the academy, except that Calvin is a member. I was processing so many things during that time, especially why the Men in Black were after me, that I forgot to ask what the academy does," replied Alex.

"When did this all happen?" inquired Yasmin.

"Sunday," replied Alex.

"And today is Friday. You waited all this time to tell us that the Men in Black are after you!" said Yasmin grumpily.

"I didn't have all the pieces of the story I was dropped into until today," said Alex.

"What else did you learn from Mrs. Even, I mean your aunt?" Yasmin asked.

"So, all the Saguturians didn't come to Earth at once. When climate change and pollution got beyond control on Saguture, the surviving people boarded a spaceship and took off to the nearest habitable planet. One group headed for Earth, and the other to the planet Oraelis. The people who were on Oraelis moved to Earth five years ago. When my aunt arrived five years ago, she discovered that my dad had gone missing on a mission to outer space," said Alex.

"We better take care of our planet or we'll end up like the Saguturians, building a spaceship and taking off to the nearest habitable planet just to survive," said Yasmin miserably.

"Your dad went to space, and he's missing?" asked Danny.

"That's what my aunt said," said Alex.

"Does your mum know about all of this? Is she an alien too?" asked Yasmin.

"She's as human as a human can be, and she knew dad was an alien, and she knew about the mission," answered Alex.

"So what is the mission that your dad went on?" Danny asked curiously.

"The Saguturians are refugees on any planet that they live on outside their home planet. So dad went looking for a habitable planet where the Saguturians could live. Problem is, he went missing on the mission," said Alex.

"Did someone go looking for him?" asked Danny.

"I asked my aunt the same thing, and she said, 'It's a vast universe; no one could find his whereabouts'," replied Alex.
Alex glanced out from the platform across the horizon at the late afternoon sky.

"I hope someone finds him and brings him back home," said Yasmin, trying to cheer Alex up. "Alex, please stay safe when you are outside. I don't want the Men in Black taking you away."

"Calvin got me off the Men in Black's radar. He took me to a pocket dimension for an hour so that the Men in Black would think that I disappeared from existence," said Alex.

"I thought pocket dimensions were hypothetical," said Yasmin.

"Pocket dimension?" questioned Danny, confused.

"It's a hidden, parallel world within our universe and exists outside our normal space and time—different rules, unexpected wonders," Yasmin explained to Danny.

"Wow!" exclaimed Danny in amazement.

"I need to talk to my mum about everything," said Alex suddenly.

"I don't know if it will be a good idea," said Yasmin. "There must have been a reason why she didn't tell you."

"My aunt said that my parents wanted me to have a normal childhood," said Alex.

"I know what it feels to be an alien even though I am not a real one. Just look at me. I have black hair and brownish-tan skin. I don't look anything like the majority of the students at school. I shouldn't be feeling bad about myself at all; at least I'm human. There are real aliens on this planet. You're an alien from freaking outer space," said Yasmin.

"Technically, I've never been to space. At least we can both feel like an alien together now," joked Alex.

"I can't believe you're an alien. I can't believe our maths teacher is a real-life alien," said Danny, still trying to comprehend everything he had learned.

"You can't tell anyone about us," said Alex.

"I won't, but if I accidentally tell someone, no one will believe me. 'Hey Adam, guess what? Our maths teacher is an alien.' Adam will be laughing until he falls off his seat," said Danny.

The three friends giggled and laughed together until it was time for Danny and Yasmin to go home before the sunset.