Unidentified Men

My brother was smoking salmon fillets on the grill out in the front yard while the rest of us were sitting on lawn chairs and laughing. I'm not quite sure why there was so much laughter because not much was being said. At least not anything I could remember. I just know we were all having a great time. That's why I'm surprised that I didn't realize it was a dream right then. Everything was more real than reality: the grass, the trees swaying from the wind, and the aroma from the food.

I was happier than I had been since my ex-boyfriend and I had parted ways for bringing out the worst side of one another. There was nothing that occurred that would've warned me for what was about to happen; not even my intuition.

The sky was crystal blue, and there were no clouds. My aunt blew her cigarette smoke in the air, and my uncles smoked their cigars. I lied there on the chair and watched their exhales transform into unknown creations. As I lied the back of my chair down, I put my arms behind my head to embrace the relaxation. That's when clouds rolled in and thunder followed. The atmosphere went from pleasant to sinister when a helicopter hovered over; it came out of nowhere.

My family put out their smokes and quickly raised from their seats to approach the two men that jumped out of the aircraft. Uncle Philip said sternly, “What the hell is going on?”

The one with the white hair forced his way through my protectors and headed straight towards me without uttering a word. I was still lying down in shock. I wasn’t able to move my body at all, although I really wanted to run. They picked me up, planted me on the ground, and rushed me over to the helicopter shoulder to shoulder with me squished in the middle.

I was shoved onboard, and they came behind me. As the one with the white hair climbed aboard, I noticed that he had strange eyes. They blinked left to right instead of up and down at first. He shook his head, and then his eyes looked like marbles before turning into a human-like appearance. I was creeped out, but I didn't scream.

The other one squeezed by and sat down before asking, "Do you know why we're here?" I calmy shook my head no. The alien man then leaned in closer and said, "Unpublish every piece of work, or we'll be back."

This is where I woke up... Left to ponder what that dream meant and whether or not it was even a dream at all, but I still didn't let it stop me from writing about it.