I remember that night seemed so long ago, when the fire came from the sky. I remember as a child of ten, watching from the window, as the blazing wedge speared silently into the thickness of the mountain forest, swallowed by the December blanket of snow. In my young chest, I felt the stir of excitement and the cringe of dread. It was beyond midnight, the house was enveloped in silence, a silence that I was careful not to shatter as I slipped on my snowsuit. Every rustle of the fabric was like nails on a chalkboard to me, at any moment I anticipated my parents to come through my bedroom door and confront me. To my relief it did not happen. I located my little school bag from the floor; over this winter holiday I had been using it as an explorers kit. My cousins and I would spend ages in the woods, hunting for tracks in the snow, hiding, fighting, digging, being children. The bag was now worse for wear, torn, soil encrusted but filled with the essentials, a torch, a magnifying glass, chocolate bars, sweet wrappers and a compass (that didn't point north).

For my escape out into the night, I chose to go out the window. My room was located above the carport, it was a quick slide into the snow covering the roof, then down on the bins and off into the woods. That was the theory. I went to open the window, it cracked and strained with the ice but it did not move. I tried again, harder this time, feeling my body heat with the exertion. It cracked open, slide upwards with a bang. I froze, listening for any sound from the next room. No movement, I crawled out onto the carport roof, my bag dragging along behind me over to the bins. They looked further down than I remember. After taking a deep breath of courage, I slide down onto them where I quickly stumbled off the edge and crumbled into the snow below. I was out. Through the cold night, I could see the faint glimmer of bright blue, up on the side of the mountain. It was then I felt the fear, to go into the forest, alone, in the dark towards the unknown. I struggled against it, battled against it and then put one foot in front of the other, striding into the darkness with the idea of discovery fuelling my mind.

With the torch on it was rather easy to see the track up the mountain. The snow was thick, crunchy and would embrace my foot if I stood still too long. Even so it reflected the torchlight helpfully as I trudged further towards the blue light.

I was in such a rhythm of walking; I hardly noticed when I had approached my destination. There it was, a SUV sized black wedge, a spaceship, winking with blue lights upturned in a frozen wave of snow. I could smell a sort of burning, a bit like a burning doll, it smelt almost the same as when my cousin jealously cremated Barbie on the BBQ. I was in awe of this object, its deep black surface reflecting my astonished face. Curious, I walked round to the other side, scanning the ship with my eyes, absorbing its image into my head. That's when I saw him, the figure, slumped up against the side of the craft. My torchlight bathed it in a pool of light, illuminating his golden eyes, his long ears, his pale skin, his claws. I jumped back from him but composed myself to look again. His chest heaved, struggling to breathe. Blood was trickling from a cut on his head.

'Hi' I said shortly, quivering. He raised his heavy eyes to look at me but said nothing. The creature looked cold, his belly was uncovered and his sleeves short. Snowy sprinkles adorned his dark hair like diamonds. I scrambled in my bag, remembering that I had a towel in there; my mum had put it in there to warm my hands up when they were cold. I tossed it towards him.

'Here'

With a taloned hand, he pulled it around himself, smiling slightly at me. I smiled lightly back too. I rummaged further in the bag and found a chocolate bar. I threw that near him.

'Eat it'

He smiled, took the bar and consumed it. I watched him, fangs flashed between his lips as he ate it. Questions were spinning around my brain but my mouth had not courage to speak them. Before I had chance to utter a single word, a halo of bright blue lights, huge bright blue lights, hovered above us, illuminating the area below. Eerily there was hardly any sound, except for a low deep drone emitting from above. I stepped back out of the light, retreating into the darkness of the night forest. It was then he spoke, raising his glaze directly into my eyes.

'I'll remember this'

He took a laboured breath.

'I'll remember you'

The entire area was flooded in white-hot light, engulfing the figure and the star craft, blinding me. I toppled backwards, stunned. After a moment I gathered myself back up, the light now absent I shone my torch into the crash site. All that met my eyes was a disturbed bank of snow, broken twisted branches and a small, scarlet sprinkle of blood.