“On Monday, she got the call that they were being shut down.”

It was an early Monday morning at 5:30, and Alexis was on a run. She woke up sweating because of a horrifying nightmare, so the bitter cold morning air felt comforting against her warm skin. Alexis often had recurring nightmares about aliens from a planet two light-years away plotting to take over the world and kidnap her and her family. She knew it was an irrational, silly dream. Alexis didn’t even believe aliens existed, but she couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling she got whenever she thought about them.

She was on her normal route when she realized she had been running for almost an hour. It was time to go home and get ready for school.

When Alexis got home, she started her typical morning routine: take a shower, finish her homework, do her makeup, get dressed, and eat breakfast. Once everything was done, she stood outside her house waiting for the bus.

Twenty five minutes passed. Alexis checked the time again. The bus was fifteen minutes late.

The bus was never late, she thought.

If anything, it was always early.​​ She was a Junior, and the Juniors always got picked up second. Alexis started getting nervous. She had a first period test, and if she missed it she would not have a chance to retake it.

Just as she finished that thought, the bus finally pulled around the corner and stopped in front of her house.

The entire morning at school felt off. All of Alexis’s teachers, and some of her friends were missing. They probably all had called out sick. It was weird, but Alexis didn’t really think too much about it. She tried to convince herself that there was probably just some type of sickness going around.

At lunch, Alexis sat with her best friend Audrey, like she did normally. They were halfway through eating, when a loud noise suddenly came from Alexis’s phone. It sounded like a Amber Alert, except it was much louder and wouldn’t stop.

Alexis pulled her phone out. When she read the words “Government Alert” across the screen goosebumps ran up her arms.

“This is not a test,” a robotic voice said on her phone. “Government officials have detected suspicious intergalactic activity. All citizens are advised to remain indoors and…..”

After a long pause, the message cut off suddenly. Alexis stared at her phone.

“Audrey…” she whispered nervously.

“What?” Audrey asked.

“Read this.”

Audrey leaned closer to the screen to read it. Her face went completely red, then pale.

“Intergalactic?” she asked. “Like… aliens?”

Alexis didn’t answer.

The nightmare she had last night flashed through her mind. The strange planet she had seen. Her family running for their lives. The feeling of being watched on her run.

“There is no way,” she said to herself. Trying to calm down.

Then everyone’s phones in the cafeteria started making the same Amber Alert sound. Everyone went silent.

A second alert appeared.

“Shelter in place immediately. Do not leave your current location!”

Alexis looked around the cafeteria. Teachers were rushing students toward the doors and everyone was talking. The lights suddenly began to flicker numerous times before they completely went out. The entire school went dark. Outside, an enormous figure moved across the sky, making the bright afternoon sun disappear.

Alexis froze, it was like deja vu. She had been here before. She knew the shape that the shadow made on the ground, she had seen it before. She had seen it in her nightmares.

She stood motionless with thoughts chasing through her mind, and then she saw them floating down, from the imposing, silver, iridescent unidentified flying object. Alexis saw them getting closer, the gargantuan, dark green creatures.

Alexis pinched her arm, praying that this was another nightmare, but this time it was real.