Alien

I was walking alone along the cracked sidewalk as the sun set; the temperature dropping. In my head, step on a crack, break your mother’s back, replaying. Eyes down, careful to avoid cracks. When porch lights and street lights started flickering. The air is still. No sounds except a dog barking in the distance.

Up the sidewalk I saw shapes moving, as if carrying something. Moving quickly. For a moment, I stopped to watch.

I move forward. Their shape human like, but deformed, long, lanky, rubbery. I heard sounds. I did not understand.

Startled, they stop, looked, then gone, alien?