“Pixie. Answer the phone, Pixie.” Poppy heard the voicemailpick up and immediately hit End to dial again. How dare Pixie not answer thephone when there were aliens? Aliens!
“Poppy!” Her sister’s voice had Poppy breathing a sigh ofrelief.
“Pixie! Are you seeing this?” Poppy peered over the rail onthe stairs to see a police car circling on the street beneath her third-storyapartment. She covered her free ear to drown out the siren that wascontinuously wailing. Poppy strained to hear what was being said.
“Stay indoors. Do not panic. Stay indoors.” The words werebeing repeated from the emergency vehicle in between the siren blaring.
Poppy walked back toward her apartment door even as the restof her neighbors stayed where they were.
“Pixie? I can barely hear you. What did you say?” Poppystruggled with the door to her apartment with one hand, holding the phone withthe other.
“Poppy, the ships…they’re everywhere…it’s all over thenews.”
In between crackles she could hear sirens on Pixie’s end ofthe line as well.
“Hang on.” Finally getting the stupid door open, Poppy ranto her TV to turn it on.
When the screen flickered, it was all Poppy could do to keepbreathing. The live shot from the news crew showed not just a single ship butdozens of them. Simply hovering over the city.
As the news alert showed different cities reporting the samephenomenon, Poppy felt her stomach sink.
“Poppy? Are you still there?” Pixie’s voice wobbled over thephone.
“Yeah, Pix, I’m here. Are you at home?” Poppy had theundeniable urge to get to her last remaining family member and make sure shewas safe. From her window she could see the police cars still making theirrounds on the busy street. From what she could make out, traffic was blocked upand down the road. Fuck. There went that idea.
“Yeah, I was watching the news before I went in to work. Itried calling your office but I couldn’t get through.”
“Well, at least you had the news to prepare you. I missed myalarm and almost mowed a guy down on the stairs. I didn’t know what washappening until I saw that thing in the sky.” Poppy took turns peeking out herwindow at the commotion below and walking back to the TV.
“What the fuck are they?”
Pixie started talking again but Poppy shushed her.
“Shhhh, Pix, they’re having a press conference.”
Turning up her TV to drown out some of the outside noise,Poppy sank down onto her living room floor. The local news switched over to anational broadcast. She held her breath as she stared at the screen, watchingthe president take his place behind a podium. He managed to appear calm andcollected despite the panic and confusion out on the street. Holding up hishands to quiet down the reporters shouting questions from all directions, hefocused directly on the camera.
“My fellow Americans, do not be alarmed. Many of you have beenwatching the news reports this morning regarding first contact that has beenmade with an alien species. The truth is that we are no longer alone. In fact,we have never been alone. This race of beings has also made us aware that theyare not the only ones in the unknown depths of space. The safety of allAmericans is our number-one concern. After our initial contact, we have startednegotiations with their leaders.
“While we speak with them, we ask that citizens stay calm.There is no need for panic. We have ascertained that they are here on apeaceful mission and the ships that many of you have seen are there forobservation purposes. During this time we ask that nonessential businesses stayclosed today and we recommend that citizens stay inside until the streets havecleared. For your safety and others, please only call emergency services ifthey are truly needed. The State Department also asks that concerned citizensdo not try to disturb the ships, which are protected by force fields. Airtravel has been suspended except for military flights, and there will be apress release announcing when commercial or private planes will restart.”
Poppy took in a huge gulp of air when he stopped speaking.Her mind was whirling, trying to absorb her new reality. Aliens. Motherfuckingaliens.
The screech in Poppy’s ear was loud and obnoxious butmanaged to knock her out of the funk she’d fallen into, hanging on thepresident’s every word. Still holding the phone to her ear with her sister onthe line, Poppy tried to swallow to clear her throat.
“Did you see that?” Pixie asked.
“Yeah.”
“Holy shit,” Pixie breathed out.
“No joke. So…wait…you can’t come over. I’m here alone,Pixie, and this is freaking me out.” For some reason, Poppy felt on the vergeof tears. Overwhelmed, she blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes.
Pixie was the only family Poppy had left. After a caraccident had claimed the lives of their parents five years ago, the sisters hadbeen closer than ever before. Poppy had begun to rely on her older sister morethe past couple of years. It was hard not to. Pixie seemed to have her shittogether. While Poppy worked at the front desk in a medical office, Pixie helda managerial position at a successful restaurant. She had to admit, she wasslightly jealous that Pixie had a chance to use her college degree and makedecent money doing it. Whoever thought to major in history was an idiot, andthat pool of idiots happened to include Poppy herself.
“Poppy, I can’t. There are actually barricades blocking mystreet.”
Poppy could hear Pixie fiddling with the loud blinds in herliving room. “I know, Pix. I’m sorry… I’m just having trouble taking this allin.” She dropped down onto her loveseat and kicked off her shoes to think for asecond.
“Is Brian home or had he already left for work when all thisshit happened?”
Brian was Pixie’s live-in boyfriend of two years. Her sisterseemed to be on the verge of becoming Brian’s fiancée at any time, if therumors were true. All their mutual friends hinted Brian seemed to be acting alittle sneaky and might have spent some time at a jewelry store recently. Poppywas happy for her sister’s success, both in work and relationships. Althoughshe’d prefer not to have to confess to it, she did
