It was late at night on Christmas Day. I was on my way home after celebrating the holiday with my boyfriend and our families in Arroyo, Puerto Rico. I was distracted, looking through the car window. The night was beautiful, and the sky was full of stars. The scenery was soothing, with the city lights shining down the mountains and the mist starting to gather up on the hill, creating a veil just out of a magical forest. When we got to the highest part of the mountain, what we call El Monumento al Jíbaro, I looked up to the sky, as if something had pulled my head up, and I saw it: a UFO.
It was a round collection of lights that moved slowly. I was so confused, unsure if what I was seeing was actually real. I kept blinking, trying to see clearer. It’s impossible! I kept saying in my mind. Was it a spaceship or maybe a satellite? What about the space station? I’ve heard that it can be visible to the human eye sometime. Perhaps a drone? As I wondered, I never took my eyes off the thing. Then, it started going faster and faster until it went higher and disappeared into the void of the night sky. I went completely silent, analyzing the situation. Did I fall asleep? Was I daydreaming?
When we finally got home, I told my mom, because I can talk to her about anything and she wouldn’t judge me, though I have to confess that I was scared that she might think I was crazy. On the contrary, when I told my mom, her answer was, “Well… there’s an infinity of planets that mankind hasn’t discovered. We never know if there’s another form of life out there.” I felt a sudden relief because now I felt less crazy. When I told my friends, they were truly frightened and told me to not say anything, because they wouldn’t be able to sleep. Who was I supposed to share my emotions with?
In my younger years, I used to be obsessed with space stuff and I read a lot about aliens and UFOs, but I never thought the day that I would get to see one with my own eyes would ever arrive. That night, I barely slept, maybe because of the shock, or maybe because I was scared. What if the aliens didn’t want me to see them and they would come for me? Then, I thought that aliens are just people from outside of this planet and, although they might be different in shape, color or size, that doesn’t mean they’re evil. We earthlings tend to fear what we don’t know or what’s different, and that thought has helped me sleep peacefully ever since.