It has been eight years since they left their home planet, eight years since they had watched all of their friends wave goodbye as they blasted off to a new world and a new start. Mishka had been here already, eight years he waited for them, and he had done all of the hard work to get things ready for his brothers.
Miska had come at nineteen years of age, the age of accountability, and started working for Mr. Hammond who owned a gas station. He was an old man, in his early to late sixties, balding of head and crinkle of brow. He was kind and yet firm with Mishka, and he knew the boy would quickly learn how to do things in the shop. Hammond had no family, his wife and daughter had died many years ago in a car accident, so it was nice to have a boy around to help him.
The house that Mr. Hammond had built sits next to the shop, it is empty and dusty after many years of neglect, because no one had set foot in there since the death of his wife and child. Afterwards, Mr. Hammond had an apartment built over the shop and house, it has three bedrooms and a bathroom, kitchen and small living room. It is here that Mishka lives, while Mr. Hammond sleeps in his office on an old broken bed with no sheets. Mishka had just turned twenty-three when the old man died and left everything to him, he had come down one morning and found the door still locked. When the morning faded to afternoon, he called the police and it was then that they found Mr. Hammond lying in his bed, he had died peacefully in his sleep.
It was after the reading of the will that Mishka knew that he had to send for his brothers, especially his brother Yuri, who had just lost his girlfriend tragically. Yuri is nineteen, and his girlfriend of a year had died at the hands of her family, but it is something that no one will talk about. A scandal of some sort, and Yuri seems broken, he hardly eats or sleep or speaks.
Their planet is called U-leyla, and other than the fact that they are stronger and their eyes the deepest and darkest of blue, they are exactly the same. Their planet is blue, with forests and oceans, diverse animal and plant life and massive volcanoes. Their society is far more advanced than ours and regrettably, they have a form of caste system. Yuri and his family are at the top of the "food chain," his girlfriend Bralyn was not.
Romanov is the last name that Mishka took when he moved here, and that is the name of the Tire and Towing company that he, Yuri, Alexi and Ivan run. It was hard at first, Yuri always silent after the death of his beloved girlfriend, grumbles as he changes tires. Ivan drives the tow truck and Alexi checks inventory, restocks and takes deliveries. Mishka does all of the paperwork and runs the office.
In all of this time, trying to make it on this planet, he has never once thought of settling down. But this story isn't about Mishka, it's about Yuri and his twin Alek, and the girl that turned all of their lives upside down, and it all started with a 1950 Chevy 3100 truck with a sun solar visor that read "Hell" on the left and "Bent" on the other.
Ivan had taken sick from self inflicted food poisoning when that call came in on Saturday, so Yuri went begrudgingly to the location specified and there she was. The moment he saw her, he could not help but smile, she wore tactical boots, faded blue jeans and a black tank top. She was pacing back and forth saying, "Damn it, damn it, damn it."
"Need a tow lady?"
"Apologies, but only married women or those over twenty five are called ladies." She informs him, looking up to see his dark sapphire blue eyes. " I guess, they would still call me a girl."
"Looks like you were in a hurry, big date or something?" He asks her as he pulls out tow chains.
"Date? Well, no," She blushed, "There is a car show over at Hatfields, I was taking Hellbent there, but now I won't make it."
"I know John, I can call him and tell him that you will be late." Yuri kindly offers.
"I called him, but thank you."
"Let's get you taken care of, and on your way," he tells her, "Why don't you go sit in my truck, this won't take long." He smiles and gives her a little wink.
