One BIG eye, staring at me.

I didn’t say anything. I remember the thought crossing my mind that I hoped she wasn’t here for anal probing. Or he. I have no idea what alien sexes are supposed to look like. I don’t even know whether their species has sexes. But I’m going to call her she, because she had these long eyelashes around her eye and large red lips under her eye stalk.

I think I was in some sort of shock. I mean, I’ve walked home over the field a thousand times before, but never before had I found myself face to eye with an alien. And it was so sudden. I might have been in my own thoughts, but without a sound, she was just suddenly there, holding out a baking pan with cookies towards me.

I blinked, wondering whether it would make any sense for me to ask her whether she was offering me cookies. She held out the baking pan further towards me. I took one, only slightly distracted by small rat-like heads looking at me from the pocket in her red spotted apron. The cookie smelled sugary. I couldn’t recognise the darker spots in its brown matter. I thought it might be chocolate or raisins. Then the thought struck me that it might be something else entirely. What if it was poison? She seemed friendly, but how would an alien know what a human can eat? I swallowed and looked into her large eye, studied the blood vessels. She looked expectant. But again, I had no idea. I still haven’t. It might have been her way of saying that she hates me.

I nibbled at the cookie and sugary sweetness burst into me. Oh, if you ever get the chance to eat a cookie like that, don’t miss it. It’s like hot chocolate when a storm is shaking the roof and rain is splashing against the windows, it’s like an unexpected kiss from that crush you’ve had all year, then it’s like floating into a kingdom made of clouds and half sleeping through an unknown number of days.

Then I woke up under a bush. The sun was high in the sky. I rolled onto my side with a groan and after gathering my strength for maybe an hour, I struggled to my feet. I felt dizzy as I made my way home. Dizzy and shaky, and my butt was sore and I really, REALLY wanted another cookie.