Alien Boy

Everyone was enjoying the peaceful afternoon the universe -or God, you know, we respect everyone's beliefs- had given them.

It was going like any other afternoon would in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. When the city would usually be at its busiest moment of the day, the streets and citizens were calm and relaxed. No annoying sound could be heard around the neighborhood, other than the noises of children playing outside or the occasional car that passed by.

A couple, riding a motorcycle, had just bought a present for their daughter, spending all their savings so that her she would know how happy they where she was excelling school at the moment. This couple is who we are going to follow through this special opening chapter.

They drove by trees, houses, cars and some people who where taking out their you know, those little beasts they called chihuahuas, for a walk. There was also a Golden Retriever and a Doberman. The last one approached the Chihuahua, no doubt looking for a friend. It reached for the other one's rear and- Oh, nevermind, there goes the Chihuahua.

So, while the owner is trying to get the whining Chihuahua out of the Doberman's mouth, the couple drove by two streets. Of course they didn't notice anything of what I just told you, but I did because I am omnipresent and the narrator of this story, and I can do whatever I like with it.

Anyways, as I was saying, Teresa, Raul's wife, was hugging her husband's back, squishing the big teddy bear meant for her daughter. Both were wearing helmets, which is a good thing because security, but only Raul was wearing googles. And, may I tell you, did he look ridiculous. But whatever, you know? As I said, here we respect everyone's believes... and likes apparently.

A traffic light changed to red and Raul stopped the bike, landing one foot to the side. As I said, there were few cars on the street today, so there was not many noise. And Teresa, being the proud Mexican mom she was, had a keen hearing, made specially to catch all the coin's gossip and to know if her children were doing what she asked them to do.

Her ear vibrated, but the sound waves were not produced the cars by her side, or the bike, she noticed. No, this was a different kind of vibration, a different kind of sound. Confused, she frowned and looked around.

Just then, something caught her eye on her husband's helmet. Something, kind of red or brown, glided slowly along the surface of the helmet. It wasn't some bug or a stain of mud, but rather a stain on the sky.

Teresa lifted her gaze. Her frown, deeper than ever, relaxing only for a couple of seconds before a world-ending thought came to her mind.

"Raul", she said to her husband, shaking his shoulder. "Raul, ¿qué es eso?"

Seeming as some of you may not have paid attention to your spanish lessons, I'm forced to translate what they said to you. But worry not, I am one of the best translators of this world, which is why the author hired me to be the narrator of her book.

"¿Qué?" What? Raul asked, turning his head.

"¿Qué es eso que va cayendo?" she asked again. What is it that is falling?

Raul followed his wife's gaze and looked at the thing moving in the sky, not even half as worried as Teresa. "Ha de ser un satélite" It must be a satellite. He said. "Creo que leí por ahí que los gringos iban a traer una de esas cosas de regreso que porque ya no funcionaba o algo así" I think I read somewhere that the Americans where bringing back one of those because it was no longer working, or something like that.

"No mames, Raul, ¿cómo va a ser un satélite? " Are you sure, Raul? Teresa asked, voice shaking slightly. "Eso está muy rojo como para ser una caída controlada, ¿no?" That is way too risky to be 100% controlled, isn't it?

"Ah cabrón" Oh!, he exclaimed. "¿Ahora me saliste experta en aerobismo o qué pedo?" Now you are an expert in this kinds of things or what?

"Aeronáutica, pendejo" No, I'm not, Teresa answered. "Aerobismo es otra cosa."

"Uy, perdóneme. La experta." his husband mocked.

"Pero ya en serio, Raul, ¿eso no es un meteorito?" But seriously Raul, isn't it a meteorite? Teresa asked.

"Ah, Teresa." Oh, Teresa. "Vivimos casi casi al lado de Estados Unidos, ¿crees que no nos enteraríamos si una piedrota del tamaño de Rusia nos cayera del cielo?" We live next to the United States. You think we wouldn't know if a meteorite the size of Russia came falling from the sky? "Dejate de chingaderas" Raul barked a laugh.

"Ya sé, pero lo que quiero que entienda tu cabeza de alcaparra es que no siempre nos vamos a enterar de algo así." I know, but what I want you to understand is that we won't always know when this kind of thing will happen.

As the thing came closer, Teresa noticed it became bigger and bigger, like it had no end to its size, and that was only making Teresa even more anxious with every second passing. And, as every wife in the world, she took it all out on her husband.

"Raul, eso está muy rojo y demasiado grande." Raul, that is way to red and way to big. She insisted.

"Otra vez con lo mismo, como chingas." Again with the same thing. her husband said, but didn't look at her like she had wanted him to.

"Eso no está cayendo nada más, se está estrellando con nosotros." That thing isn't only falling harmlessly, it's crashing against us! Teresa shouted, I don't know why but it's probably because she was excited! "Raul, mira eso, ¡se está desbaratando!" Look, it's falling apart!

"Así es como deben hacerle. Seguramente lo hagan así para que sea más fácil recolectar después las piezas." That's probably how they do it, so that it's easier to gather the pieces afterwards.

"Ah, sí, no mames. ¿Te parece que es más fácil recolectar cien piezas pequeñas a recolectar solo una grandota?" You think so? Teresa asked, trying to believe in her husband.

"Pues si tú te crees que esa cosa es un meteorito, pensé que también te creerías cualquier pendejada que dijera." I actually don't, I was just messing with you. Her husband replied.

Teresa smacked his helmet and Raul laughed before suddenly stopping the bike. Teresa was pressed against his back, the teddy bear almost slipping from her grip, and looked over her husband's shoulder to see what had caused him to stop.

Raul was already dismounting the vehicle, ready to fight the idiot who had stopped so abruptly in front of them. But, to Teresa's dismay, the young man owner of the car exited the vehicle and paid no attention to her husband. She saw him talking to the phone in his ear and an awed expression on his face, looking at the meteor.

"Oye, wey" Raul started. "¿Qué te pasa o qué? Casi haces que mi esposa y yo choquemos, cabrón." Hey, man, you should be more careful next time. We almost crashed!

The man didn't even seem like he was listening to him. His expression, at first confused, changed completely in a couple of seconds. His phone almost fell from his grasp as he took a step back and then, as several people followed his example, other drivers and housewives with their children exited their houses and cars to look at the thing in the sky.

At that moment, Teresa's phone vibrated. She took it out from her pocket and unlocked it. They were all Facebook, Twitter or Instagram notifications. From 'live' notifications to stories or posts from her friends all over the city and country. She quickly looket at them.

"¿Alguien sabe qué pedo con lo que está cayendo del cielo? Por favor díganme que sí :("

"Puta madre, nos vamos a morir todos."

"Y TANTO PINCHE PROBLEMA CON LA ESCUELA PARA QUÉ????"

"A esto nos ha llevado nuestra codicia. Al fin, la madre naturaleza se está cobrando todas las que le hicimos. Yo, por lo menos, estoy tranquila. Considero que lo que está sucediendo lo hace por alguna razón. Adiós, amigos, fue un placer compartir y tratar de salvar la Tierra con ustedes."

"ADIOOS PENDEJOS JAJAJA La neta nadie me caía bien de todas maneras!!!"

But the worst of all those notifications was the one she recieved from Twitter, specially from NASA

She just managed to read 'unexpected' and 'meteor' before all hell broke loose inside her.

"No mames, Raul, ¡nos vamos a morir!" Raul, we're gonna die! Teresa shouted happily.

"Es un satélite, ¡no nos va a pasar nada!" It's just a satellite, nothing will happen. Raul replied, sure of himself.

"No chingues Raul, tú y tus mamadas de siempre." Oh, you and your witty ideas, you silly! Teresa teased her husband. "¡Eso no es ningún puto satélite, es un meteorito! ¡No mames! ¡NO MAMES!" That's no satellite, that's a meteorite! Oh boy!

Teresa screamed severals words that I will not translate for you becasue I want this to be a family friendly book. Teresa, by the way, seems to be suffering a panic attack. Probably because she was too excited about seeing a meteor on live. All the while her husband insisted that she and all of the people that were running by them, were drama queens.

It was a total chaos down in the city, all of the citizens screaming how they were goners along with other couple of things. But, like Raul, I also think they were drama queens for, from all the guesses they were taking as how it was a meteor that was crashing on Earth and how it was going to kill them all, they weren't right about a single thing. For one, they would not die as the objet was not large enough to cause such a disaster, and the other, that unidentified object wasn't really a meteor either.

But they were to discover that later.

It drew closer and Teresa started to pray. Raul, who had finally accepted that maybe it wasn't such a controlled landing after all, fainted right in front of her wife and laid there as most of the people ran to hide in their houses.

Her wife noticed this and so, with all her strenght and renewed determination, she carried her husband and adjusted him on top of the bike, thinking of her daughter. She roared the engine once, twice, and then took of to the road, the teddy bear falling behind, thinking she would never see it again.

But, thirty minutes later, they would return for it because this was not really a life or death situation and they had paid a lot of money for it.

Maybe, though, it was a life or death situation for someone. But this was also something that will be discussed later.

For now, the couple rode the bike and the meteor crashed on the horizon, lifting a cloud of dust all over the city and making the world feel as if the Apocalypse had just started.