“Are you little Lee?” Mrs. Chong ran and hugged her son.
Thirty years had passed and Lee looked not 45, but about 20. Little had he changed, his features were those of a man, he wore a military-style haircut, his eyes were full of determination and decision, his lips were full of energy and a smug smile that was hard to forget.
“You have changed, Mom. Your hair is white as snow and your face is more wrinkled than the last time I saw you.” Lee's voice was eloquent and jovial.
His beloved mother broke down in tears, not wanting to let go of the energetic adult in her arms.
“My baby” whimpered in the belief that he would disappear again. “Where were you, my beautiful child?”
Lee smiled, displaying his charisma even more.
“Where is The old, Ma? I want to see how changed he is! And the little but faithful Snooper? I don't see him either.”
The mother sobbed louder.
“My little... my baby... the dog died," she said hiccupping. “You don't seem to have aged. Where have you been?”
The keys rang out and the doors to the farm opened. A man with a baseball cap and a face marked by the weight of years appeared in the modest room.
“What's up Chong" was the first thing he said. “And who is the young man? He wiped his glasses and focused his eyes.
He detailed that young Lee was in uniform.
“It's little Lee. Don't you recognize him, Zhang? It's our little boy, our son who disappeared 30 years ago, he's back!”
“Hello, old man," said Lee dryly.
The old man Zhang did not come near and did not take his eyes off the peculiar insignia his son was wearing. He maintained an aura of mistrust.
“How is it possible? Our son is dead. Get away from him, Chong!”
“But what do you say, stupid old man?“ The mother shouted indignantly. “Of course he is my son, he smells like him and I instinctively know who he is.”
Lee resumed his talk:
“Oh, old man, I've wanted to see you for many years, and believe me, seeing your image used like that causes me pain.”
The old man Zhang gave a few backward passes, his senile face expressing insecurity.
“It's not him, you old fool! It's something else, but where he has been and why he has not aged.
Old Chong looked at her son, wiping her tears with the sleeves of her dress.
“Yes, where were you Lee?”
Lee pressed his dear mother's cheek, then looked at the old man and gave him a kind smile.
“As you must intuit old man, I was in space training and qualifying myself to be the best. I sense that you look at my badge a lot” Lee caressed his mother. –“I'm so glad it didn't touch you, Mom," he whispered.
Old man Zhang managed to touch the doorknob.
“You can't leave, old man, or I should say, you dirty rat in furs.” The smile turned into an angry face. “I was never allowed to see them, Mom, although I wanted to, but when you commit yourself to caring for life and everything in it, it becomes part of the sacrifice.”
Old Chong was confused, her gaze went to her son to her husband.
“I don't understand my little boy," she said.
The door squeaked open. Lee immediately pulled out his gun. It was not a conventional one, it was small and it would have passed through some sort of sophisticated flashlight, the material it was made of shone like the stars.
“Then, if you are one of them!” the so-called Zhong closed the door.
“And you are a miserable Blatodopter. I guess my dear old man died a day ago, didn't he?”
Zhang nodded.
“I had no idea I was related to an OMO officer, I was just trying to settle down and survive. You should understand me.”
“What's going on, Lee? What are you saying?” Her mother walked a little bit to her husband. “Are you going to shoot Zhang?”
“First it's not Zhang, Mom.” Then he walked towards Zhang. “Second you broke the immigration clause by coming here and breeding with the animals in the area.”
Lee took out a golden pen, in one click it became a syringe which he quickly handed to his mother on her neck, in her arms he landed quickly.
“Where is your miserable Blattodoptero nest?”
The decrepit skin of the old man began to melt and underneath it a huge black insect appeared. Its six long arms cut away the epidermis that would obstruct its emergence, and its disgusting mouth had tweezers that squeaked like a cicada.
"You will never touch my young!” the insect violently shook its multiple blades.
The creature did not speak English, but its antennae vibrated creating different sounds that Lee understood.
“Just ask as a courtesy!“ The creature exploded into a thousand pieces when the weapon was detonated. “You lasted a long time and you touched my old man.”
The room was impregnated with the animal's fluids, a nasty green slipped from the photos and memories his beloved parents treasured of him.
Lee looked at his mother with pity, but he had no time to waste. Perhaps he would never see her again, the team would come in seconds and clean up the area. He left in his mother's hand a souvenir, a small coin with a peculiar engraving similar to his badge.
“If those damned are born they will all run the same end as the old man- “ Lee disappeared out the door.
Image created in Canva, separators made in Photoshop