I tightened the rubber band around my dark colored hair, hoping that my ponytail wouldn’t slip out while I was on my shift at the zoo.

Then I heard a rustling, something moving.

“WEE WOoO WEEE WOOO..”

“Oh my…they’re at it again. Animals killing and attacking our workers, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen coworkers of mine get bitten by a crocodile.” Aaron sighed for a rather long time.

Then he turned to me, his face showing amusement. “Are you actually scared of the very animals we’re working with?” He smirked..as if he knew anything about me!

I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

I snatched his baseball cap from him. “We’ll..we’ll see who really is the scared one.”

Ivan came up behind us. “You too are acting like kids. Go to your shifts! Aaron, Rey, you both act like this job is nothing but a place to hang out. Since you both are acting this way..Rey you get the shift at Joe’s pasture. Aaron will get your old one.”

“What?!” I almost screamed, but still, please not that—that devil.

Ivan just stands where he is and tells us both to go to our new shifts.

Joe…”Why Joe..? Ugh…” I groaned for a bit, while slowly moving to Joe’s pasture.

Amelia, a short girl with curly blond hair, who’s 15, volunteers as a helper. For some reason she was at Joe’s pasture, and it looked like she was panicking, while pacing around.

“What’s happened?” I waved at the nervous fifteen year old.

“It’s..it’s nothing.”

“Ok..” but seriously, who’d believe this girl if they saw her, pacing around and being all nervous like.

But then I saw something that actually distracted me from this whole scene.

As I was looking for Joe, I spotted nothing. Joe’s here, right.? Joe’s gotta be here. He has to be here. I keep repeating it in my head.

“Amelia. Joe. Did you see Joe?”

But that’s when it clicked, Amelia just went frozen and couldn’t move her face for a few seconds. It looked like she was trying to speak but couldn’t. Then finally, Amelia spoke. “I’m..I’m sorry! Joe suddenly just got this—this bellicose look! His eyes were fiercer than before, I feared what he might do so I stayed for the next shift. And..He striked. Somehow he got out, I didn’t tell anyone, but I know it’s not you. Someone helped him escape.” She hurriedly said it all, then afterwards, Amelia started shivering and rubbing her arms.

Well…that changes things.

I told Amelia to try to keep it a secret to our coworkers for now, to try to keep a temporary secret.

I sprinted through our grounds, searching for a wild, dangerous beast. And also..maybe one accomplice.

Eventually, I spotted Aaron again. He seemed like he was too happy for no reason. He was grinning to himself, but not shouting his joys out loud like the usual.

“Aaron, have you seen Joe today?”

“Haha, you didn’t..lose him, did you?” He grinned at me, but also seemed a bit too distracted.

“You did it.” I pointed at him.

He dropped his hands to his sides. “I’m only trying to get my friend back. Honestly, why does this planet insist on keeping my friend trapped against his will here? I miss him..” he sniffled a little. Then I noticed something.

“You’re..one of those aliens, aren’t you?”

“So is he, and..so is she. But then again..she is pretending to be someone she’s not. She’s scared, afraid, I tried to talk her out of it.” He sighed about the last part.

Who is he talking about?

“I see you don’t get it, well..Joe isn’t actually a lion, he’s a person. He’s a shapeshifter to be more exact. And..my best friend. Also..Amelia, when she started working here I thought she looked familiar and then a day later, I knew. Amelia isn’t human either, she’s disguising herself, she must be from the planet across from mine.” To you, we..aliens, I suppose.

He shrugged at the last part.

Aliens.

But somehow, I couldn’t quite get something. “Wait..why did you go to—“

Someone was approaching behind Aaron, his face was an almost translucent color but like a rock or mineral. There were cracks on his face.

“Bye.” Was all he said.

Then..they disappeared right in front of my eyes. Wait..what?!