Published: 2025-10-24
It was another summer day in New Town. The merchants sat in front of their stores, waving their hand fans to combat the heat while kids ran around an open fire hydrant, jumping over the puddles it created. It was a peaceful life, the sun rose from the East every morning and set in the West every afternoon, and everyone could count on it. Nothing new ever happened in New Town, except for that day.
The day turned pitch black, as if night had decided to arrive early, but there was no moon, no stars to illuminate the night sky. The merchants stood up, their jaws open, and watched the sky in awe; kids pointed upwards and shouted while the fire hydrant hissed. Women ran from their houses and grabbed their kids; passersby knelt and prayed in the middle of the streets, others cried, others passed out.
From the night sky, a beacon of light descended, cutting through the darkness as a table knife cuts through butter. Carried by the light, two figures descended to the ground. Their silhouettes could be distinguished, no different than that of a regular person, but when they reached the asphalt, they could not be discerned.
“This must be a publicity stunt from a fancy beer company. They don’t understand we like drinking local here.” Said the owner of the liquor store, who watched from the comfort of his store.
The two figures, so familiar and yet so alien, stood in the middle of the street; they could not be seen, and yet there was no doubt they were there. Maybe it was the glow they emitted that made them invisible yet tangible.
“This is ridiculous.” Said the owner of the liquor store, while rushing to the door.
The owner of the fruit stand saw the man approaching the creatures and ran towards him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He said, grabbing the man by the sleeve.
“It’s the fancy beer company, they’re pulling this stuff right in front of my store; people don’t have no respect anymore.”
“I don’t think this is any beer company. You should calm—”
“Let go of me.”
As the two men struggled, the creatures started to approach them. The way they moved could not be described as walking; it was as if they glided towards them.
They stood there, petrified, the creatures coming nearer and nearer.
The creatures opened and closed their mouths in perfect synchronization, but no sound came out of them. The two men looked at each other, bewildered. One second later, they exploded.
People looked from inside their houses as the insides of the two merchants violently rained over town. Some brought their hands to their mouths, others vomited, the women took their kids away from the windows. Something sinister lurked in town.
Mía sat in the attic, trying to broadcast on her amateur radio station, when the incident happened; she had little idea of what was going on. With a burst of sparks, her station broke down. She jumped back, startled by it, and shielded her eyes.
“No, no, no,” she said, “you cannot break down now, I was just halfway through my top 10 Mexican urban legends. People have the right to know.”
She grabbed a screwdriver and started opening up her broken apparatus.
“Just as I thought. It blew a fuse.”
Mía dived into her toolbox, but she didn’t find a spare fuse there, nor was one in the pile of boxes filled with extra parts she kept in the attic.
“What remedy? I’ll have to run to the electronics store.”
She went down the attic and to the ground floor.
“Mom, I’m going to the electronics store. I’ll be right back.”
Her mother sat on the living room sofa with her hands folded over her lap. She didn’t answer.
“Let’s see, if I’m going out, I'd better buy some—”
Opening the door left Mía shocked and dazed. The streets were desolate, and the sky was pitch black. She checked her Casio G-Shock; it said 02:37 PM. She then noticed the beacon of light descending from the sky.
“Holy guacamole!” She said as she ran back into the house.
She could see how two figures stood at the foot of the beacon.
“It’s aliens! Aliens visited New Town, and it had to be the day my radio station broke down. Mom, it’s aliens!”
Her mother sat motionless on the sofa.
“Bah, she’s probably drunk.”
Mía was glued to the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the creatures.
“They seem to be talking, but with whom…”
In her back pocket, a device was getting hotter, and its beeping grew louder and louder.
She grabbed the device and looked at its screen; it was her radio frequency meter.
“They talk, and the meter reacts… Yes, of course, they emit radio waves; that’s why my station blew up. Now, if I could determine the exact frequency they use, I could communicate with them.”
Mía ran towards the door, but felt a force pulling her in the opposite direction. She looked behind, it was her mother, who grabbed her by the waist and would not let go.
“What are you doing, Mom?”
“Don’t go out, they’ll kill you.”
“No, they won’t.”
“They killed Bill and Tom. I saw it with my own eyes, the aliens talked, and they exploded.”
“Mom, that’s ridiculous, for that to happen—”
Mía stopped herself, she shook her head, her face was pale.
“They are transmitting at thousands of milliwatts, maybe watts, maybe even kilowatts. They just want to communicate, but their mere words could—.”
She ran to the attic. The station was still open. She took the thickest copper wire she could find and used it as a replacement for the fuse. She turned a couple of dials all the way to the right and others to the left. The station was alive. She took a deep breath and, holding the microphone close to her mouth, screamed from the top of her lungs: “Leave!”
A meter went up, then a second one, next the station caught fire.
“Jesus!”
She threw the station into a cardboard box and ran outside, the box engulfed by flames.
The beacon disappeared, and the pitch-black sky gave way to a bright summer day. The creatures were no more. People started to come out of their houses.
Mía’s mother ran outside. “What did you do?” She asked.
“I saved us… or condemned us.”
THE END.