The Alien

Last night I was just sitting upstairs, drinking champagne, eating gelato, and watching Sherlock Holmes with a friend, while a rainstorm flooded the driveways. It was dark, really dark. My hair was soaked from a ill-conceived trip to the store. We sweated in front of the fans like hyenas under saharan scrub brush.

Suddenly, it was gold. Everything was gold. It burst through the windows. We threw on clothes, instead of the t-shirts we'd been lounging in, because goddamn it was hot. I grabbed the black cocktail dress I had worn the night before. He forgot to put shoes on. We ran into the driveway, and outside above our heads was a rainbow. Not just any rainbow. A full bow, stretching across the city, and in it's shadow another rainbow, one that unfortunately eluded my camera. Double bow, like a double dip or a double shot. We stood there staring. Rainbows are not uncommon. My friend happens to be a rainbow magnet. He can find a rainbow anywhere, they follow his scent. One time, years ago, when I was really depressed, he took me to a hill and made one appear. This is his talent. But this one was something beyond his small conjuring skills.

We stood there ogling, until I heard a whisper behind us. Turning around, we saw the source of this golden shining light. A circular globe, a ball of glitter, this creature hovered above the concrete, singing in this slow hiss, obviously animated but unable to communicate. It was big, expanding and breathing, but it seemed so small.

For a few minutes, we both stared at each other, this photon jellyfish, this starlight sailor. You could feel the confusion in its glare, wondering where chasing the rainbow from the clouds had left it. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it raced away down the street. We jumped into the car, determined to follow it. But all we could do was chase the glow it left behind, always two light years behind. As it sped up, it's glow became intolerable, a halo across the horizon. Panic.

Through the wet city streets we chased it. My friend felt certain it was headed to the lake, but I knew, I felt it, it would head for the highest point. So we sped to the highest hill in the valley.

We were too late. The sphere raced up into the sky, scared and lost. It's fragile molecules met the electrically charged rainclouds, and burst like a star exploding. We caught only the aftermath of the combustion, as its pieces scattered across the lower atmosphere, and the sky faded again into dark earthly gray.