The two walked along the sidewalk. They ended up following the trickle of people. Ray saw someone he recognized but didn’t know the name of.

“Hey!” Ray called out. “Where is everyone going?”

The person turned around. He was a middle-aged man, a neighbor of Mrs. Lufrin. Ray had seen him mow his lawn before when he was around the area. The man seemed to recognize him as well.

“Well, I just got a call from the neighborhood committee. They had some news to share, so we’re all walking over to the town hall,” the man replied. He shrugged. “Probably has something to do with the structures over San Francisco.”

Ray figured as much. It was pretty likely that everyone was heading over to find out more about the structures above the cities. But why host a town meeting now? It was night time, almost time to get ready for bed. He checked his phone.

It read 8:30 pm.

They kept walking. Ray ended up thanking the man and moving on. As they walked, the trickle of people turned into a stream, then a river as larger amounts of people were found on the sidewalks. He kept an eye on Mrs. Lufrin, always making sure they were together. There were a lot of cars on the road as well now. They were getting close.

A few minutes later, it seemed like the whole world was walking over there with them. Ray made sure not to lose Mrs. Lufrin in the crowd as they all closed in on the spot. They were within eye-sight of the place now. It was just across the road.

The crowd waited at the stoplight. There was a mass of cars on the road, trying to get in. Ray was glad they walked along with the other people. If they had driven, they would still be on the road.

Green came on. The crowd walked at a brisk pace forward to the place. Ray couldn’t recognize anyone, as this wasn’t his town. There were just too many people. It felt like everyone in Dublin had shown up.

Ray thought that this was natural, though. Everyone would want answers from the government about what was happening. Perhaps the government would reassure them. Somehow, Ray doubted it.

They reached the town’s civic center. Outside, there were clear directions as to where to go from there. Ray followed the crowd to an open area, where there was a makeshift podium set up. It seemed like someone was speaking through some speakers there.

“Welcome, everybody.” The woman made introductions. Ray saw that she was standing in the highest position. Wasn’t that their mayor? “Welcome, welcome.”

Mrs. Lufrin poked Ray to get his attention. “I wonder what she’s going to say about the buildings over San Francisco.”

“I don’t know, but I just hope there is nothing too serious,” Ray responded.

The mayor started to speak, “As everyone knows, there are structures recently spotted hovering over San Francisco a few hours ago. We’re currently investigating the cause of the situation and the implications these buildings will have on our neighborhood. As a safety measure, our town and towns around us will set a curfew at 8 pm starting tomorrow. That is all I can say for now. Have a good night everyone and get home safely.”

Chatter erupted inside the center. People started speaking freely.

“What the hell?”

“I spent my time on this?”

“We still don’t know what’s going on!”

Chaos ensued in the center. The mayor tapped the microphone to try and assert control over the situation once more. A loud blaring sound followed, making people quiet down.

“We know the information isn’t quite satisfactory, but I assure you that we have done our best in providing what we have,” the mayor finished. “We have provided refreshments and snacks on the left side of the square.”

With this, she gestured to her right side and stepped down from the make-shift podium. There was light noise as the crowd parted to find their way over to the free food.

Ray and Mrs. Lufrin didn’t bother and they both left the square, beating the rest of the crowd. The night seemed cooler as the two made their way back to Mrs. Lufrin’s house.

The two ended up reaching the house uneventfully.

“Thank you for visiting Ray,” said Mrs. Lufrin. “Drive home safely.”

“I will,” Ray responded politely. At least he confirmed Mrs. Lufrin was safe, even with all the chaos going on currently.

He waved goodbye and walked to his car. Ray then hopped into his car and started the engine. He glanced over his car’s digital clock.

It read 9:50 pm.

“Man, it’s getting late. I should probably take the backroad so I can get home faster,” said Ray with a shrug. He could probably fit in a few hours of games before he slept.

Ray sped off. He reached the backroad fairly quickly. The backroad ran through a large area of heavy grasslands and farms for miles on end. There was almost no illumination on the road except for his car’s headlights. Deers and other small animals often appeared on the side of the road during this hour and roadkills were pretty common. Very few people drove on this backroad at night now for this reason.

However, Ray didn’t care. He just wanted to get home as fast as he can. Ray looked over to his car’s digital clock again.

It was 10:00 pm.

Suddenly, there was a huge thump that struck the left front of his car. Ray immediately slammed on the breaks and his car screeched to a halt. The left side of his car went completely dark from the impact.

Ray scrambled to turn on his phone’s flashlight and immediately went to check if there was any major damage to his car’s left front. The entire left headlight was completely shattered along with heavy dents.

“Shit, this will cost a fortune,” murmured Ray to himself. It hadn’t felt like a person or anything like that.

As he looked more closely at the headlight, he spotted a weird green substance trickling down on his broken headlight. He curiously touched the green substance with his finger. The substance was very gooey and sticky. Ray could smell a faint odor emitting from the spot.

“Hmm… It almost seems like the toothpaste I use at home,” mused Ray. He was very puzzled. There was no animal that he knows of that would produce such a green substance.

Ray suddenly remembered to check the animal that smashed into his car. He looked back and saw a faint shadow lying on the ground. Ray slowly walked towards the direction of the injured animal, aiming his phone’s flashlight in front of him for vision.

As Ray slowly crept forward, his heart started to pound harder and faster. The realization of what he’d done was sinking in. Sweat started to trickle down his forehead and neck. He had no idea what kind of animal he hit.

Maybe I should just leave. Ray thought. This animal is probably done for.

However, before Ray could turn back, he had already arrived next to the unidentified creature. The creature was unlike anything Ray has ever seen before. It was completely green with large pointy ears, a human-like nose, and a brown skirt.

“Is that a goblin?”