When the UFOs appeared, from out of the clouds, I was relieved. They came from out of nowhere on a Tuesday evening that threatened rain. The forecast projected showers for the next few days, and I'd kept my eye on them throughout the day, to see when the gray would release. My phone had been going on the fritz with texts and posts about the foreign objects emerging from the clouds, but I'd seen them at the same time and saw no need to check my phone for reassurance.

I felt no fear, no grief, not a hint of confusion because I knew what they were. The old woman who lived below me was screaming her head off as her dogs barked their heads off. Her screaming abruptly stopped, and I figured she'd had a heart attack. I could hear the screech of brakes on the main road, and I could hardly count the times I'd heard the sound of metal on metal. I pulled my computer chair up to the window and watched as these massive metal spheres with sharp edges cleared through the rain-filled clouds, as multiple beams of vibrant blue dropped down to abduct. I could see the bodies floating and screaming as they vanished into metal. A streak of blue pierced through my ceiling and onto me, and then there was nothing but darkness.

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I was at the gym when my phone went crazy with text messages. When I removed my AirPods, I saw that the entire gym was in a panic. People were jumping off treadmills and stair masters while they were still running, people were dropping their weights to the floor without a single regard for surrounding people. This one guy who was jacked into an oblivion, with tree trunk arms, had a 55lb weight dropped on his toes. It was the panic that freaked me out. I felt as though I was moving too slow as everyone moved too fast. I bumped into others, a vending machine, and tripped over some old lady. I could see the blue lights scattered throughout the parking lot, and I could see the hulking pieces of metal that sat in the sky.

I couldn't tell what scared me more, the UFOs, or the sheer chaos around me. People got violent in the gym lobby. The docile girl who greeted me every evening punched her boss in the face. Someone threw a 10lb plate for a reason that I couldn't figure out. A car crashed through the front entrance, and that's when everything boiled over. I pushed through the crowd, my back throbbed as someone collided into me, someone stepped onto my foot and hurled me forward. I could hear the screech of brakes and see headlights burrowing straight for me, could feel the warmth of blue light shower upon me...and then nothing.

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We were going for our nightly walk when my human looked up and started screaming. He picked me up, struggled to pick me up...more than anything else, and started running, my leash dragging behind us. Every human was screaming, and others were howling and barking, so I started to do so too. Then we lifted high into the sky, away from our home, and away from my treats.

Away from the Earth forever.