"Fuck," he cursed, spitting the stale beer onto the cold moonlit dirt.

There they were twerking, vibing, wearing masks of society. Falsely portraying themselves to gain approval. And here he was, standing outside in the cold autumn Carolina air.

"Larrell was Carolina bred，Central University student with aspirations to become more than a statistic for FOX News to wave around.

Smooth dark-skin, cropped black hair, half-moon spectacles to amplify the vision of his brown eyes, wearing jeans and a polo shirt he sat outside.

Larrell sighed, slumping onto the dying grass and cradled his knees, his thumb and middle finger gripping the stale beer can in a vice-like grip.

It had been another party. There he was with them, having a good time. It almost felt like the fences and racial feuding would rest for one night.

He stood beside Becky, a freshman student from Florida.

Kryptonite, Larrell and other brothers would joke. She was beautiful, petite, dark hair with a quasi-punk look to her.

Future's ATL sound blared, the black women seemed dejected to watch one of their own standing beside and flirting with an outsider but Larrell had long grown used to it. The snide remarks and silent bullets that would cut any man seeking an interracial
experience down.

"He can't handle a sista, go ahead then, sell-out" amongst the many insults the music had drowned it. And then Larrell had gotten used to the silent smirk behind his own mask when a Superman or male kryptonite greeted the same sista and they would smile and applaud their new interracial odyssey.
-

Hypocrites.

Everything had been progressing smoothly. The Florida girls name, "fuck", Larrell hissed, taking another sip of beer. The alcohol had clouded his memory. What was her name? He meditated for
a moment hoping her name would surface from beneath the oasis of memories like an apple that dropped into a lake.

"Fuck," Larrell repeated, giving up. But Larrell's memory remembered one thing clearly, the turning point of his night.

-

"Hey, watch me twerk?" The Florida girl called, offering Larrell a glimpse of her rear.

Larrell glanced at it. "Erm, yeah," he shrugged, as the girl began to gyrate.

The music, dim lights and atmosphere elated Larrell. It had been months since Dylan Roof had crucified elders inside a church mass. Now, Larrell nodded, as a people Carolina was beginning to heal. Well, as much as it possibly could.

They were the future leaders. The torch carriers that could be the turning point. He watched her. Her ass gently flexing from side-to-side. It was cute. It was nice to see her try.

Suddenly, Larrell was grabbed by the shoulder and spun around. He stared into a pair of cold blue eyes. A muscular young man with cropped blond hair stood, pale white skin, wearing a sweater, a paper cup of beer in his hand stood before Larrell. "You talking to my girl, boy?"

(Boy?) Larrell shrugged, his eyes measuring him.

The party froze, racial turbulence shaking the souls of the partying students. The music lowered, a crowd began to encircle the scene.

Larrell glanced at the Florida girl. She said nothing. Larrell's eyes returned to the young man. "She your girl?"

"She's not yours," The young man slurred, clearly full of liquid courage.

"If she your girl than check her. Don't speak to me about it because she wants to talk to me." Larrell coached to an overwhelming OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH by the surrounding students.

The young white man shook his head, "Know your place," Grabbing the arm of the Florida girl and yanking him by his side. "Fucking nigger!"

Larrell was stunned. He didn't see who threw the first punch.

Chairs flew in the air. Tables were flipped, liquor spilt as a racial melee sparked. Larrell ducked, his arms up to protect himself. He folded his glasses, stuffing them in his pockets. Heart pounding with adrenaline, Larrell's eyes searched for the drunkard. Nothing.

"Nothing.

"Get him the fuck out of here!" One man shouted as a group of men of all races (black, white, asian and latin) dragged the drunkard to the front door, shoving him out the door to the cheers of everyone.

The DJ began to speak, narrating and offering his two cents on the recent event and racism and the drunkard before playing a new song to soothe the tension.

Some filed out the party. Their night ruined. Some stayed. determined to end the evening on a high note.

"Hey," The Florida girl smiled, tapping Larrell's wrist.

Larrell turned to her, "Hey...," trying to let the anger within him subside. Her beauty didn't help at the moment. Larrell sighed, "Was that your man?"

"She shook her head, "I don't know him."

Then why didn't you say something. Larrell wondered, shaking his head and turning to her. His thoughts retraced the melee, the punches were thrown and the chaos.

Where were Corin? Tre? Or Prince? He wondered.

Larrell hadn't come to the party alone.

Corin? He thought.

"I'm sorry," Ms. Florida sighed.

"I just..." "I need some air," Larrell sighed, pulling a beer from the cooler and heading out the backdoor. A shooting star. Larrell thought staring at the heavens. And another. And another.

A meteor shower. It was a bewildering moment. Worldwide, random meteor showers had been taking place for nearly a week.

(Corin?) Larrell thought, whipping out his phone and staring at the screen. He couldn't find Larrell, Prince or Corin at the party? Had they left without him? Been thrown out? Or worse, had they chased the drunkard for retribution?

Larrell shook his head. Prince would. Tre and Corin would try to mediate the situation. Maybe they went home, preparing to dial Corin.

THEN, he saw it.

Its reflection on the screen of the phone, it was behind him, standing beside a tree behind him, watching him.

The alarm goes off on my phone…

"Fuck, I got to get up" I said to myself and honestly I didn't want to after the night I had last night. I pulled myself out of bed and went straight to take a shower.
"I still can't believe the night I had last night", I thought to myself. "I got twerked on by some kryptonite, got in a bar fight with some white dudes and I saw some strange creature last night. I wonder what that thing was…"
Right now, I couldn't focus on that because I have a class in a few minutes. I got dressed after my shower, got my books and everything else I needed for class then I left out my dorm.
"Got to seem normal to everyone around me" I thought to myself as I walked into my political science class. I hoped that a little discussion of world governments would take my mind off last night but that would soon go for not as Ms. Kryptonite from the party would walk in.
"Great, this is just what I needed right now" I thought to myself as she sat right beside me. She looked at me and said, "Hey, aren't you that guy from the party last night?"
"Yes, I am what's up?
"Nothing, I just wanted to apologize for those guys who started a fight with you"
"It's OK you should expect that here, you should've seen all the black girls giving me dirty looks for dancing with you"
"Why were they anyway?"
"Because they have this mindset that black men are sellouts if they even look at white women when many of them like white boys themselves"
"Oh, that's fucked up"
"Yep"
The professor walked in and we stopped talking. I was half-focused on the lecture because I couldn't stop thinking about her. She seemed pretty cool, nice and from what I remember from last night, could twerk pretty good for a white girl. After class was over we talked some more.
"So, you're a political science major, too Becky?"
"Yeah, Larrell I am, I want to be a lobbyist"
"Cool, I want to become a political analyst with my own news show one day"
"That's awesome, I hope you accomplish that goal"
"Likewise"

"Well, I got to go meet my friends at lunch, I'll talk to you later"
"OK, bye"
Well that was an interesting conversation. I wonder what Corin, Prince, and Trey will have to say about this.

I walked from the political science building over to the cafeteria. Central's campus is really beautiful especially on sunny days like today was. I arrived at the cafeteria got a plate of French Fries, a cheeseburger and some broccoli and met up with the guys sitting at our usual spot in the cafe.
"Hey, boys what's up?" I said.
"Hey, Larrell" they all said.
"Man, I still can't believe what happened last night" Prince said. "Motherfuckers were getting buck wild last night"
"It must've been the liquor, that is all I can say" Corin suggested.
"I didn't go" Trey said, "but I heard it was nuts plus you had the meteor shower going on at the same time".
"Yeah, speaking of last night. Larrell, how did it go with Ms. Kryptonite?"
I looked up from eating some fries. "What you talking about, Prince?"
"Don't act like you don't know what I mean. I saw you getting twerked on and flirting with the kryptonite at the party. I also saw all the salty looks the sistas were giving you, maybe it's the conspiracy theorist in mine but I think one of them told them white boys to go and fuck with you" Prince said.
"I don't know man but anything is possible. Speaking of possible, what do you guys possibly think landed on Earth?" I asked.
"I don't know, could've been anything. I heard rumors that people saw strange creatures last night after the meteor shower" Corin said.
"You know what Corin, when I called you after the fight I saw something strange in the reflection of my phone. Do you think it could've been one of those creatures?" I asked.
"I don't know about you guys but this seems like something we should check out" Trey said.
"Oh, hell no. I'm not walking off this campus and risk getting hurt or worse. Who knows, those white dudes we had to fight at the party could've been in the Ku Klux Klan. I'm not taking any chances, why do we do what we usually do on Mondays and watch RAW" I said.

"Probably nothing of interest will happen on RAW anyway besides Sasha Banks for me" Prince said. "Larrell, I say we check it out and besides I drive so if we see anything crazy we can quickly get out of there"
I sigh. "Fine, where we should we look?"
"I suggest by the woods around where the party took place" Corin said.
"OK. As soon as the sun sets tonight, we will leave campus and go back to the area around the party" I tell the guys.
I can't believe I agreed to this shit but who knows what we will find, like I said earlier "anything is possible".

"Aye! You hear bout dem creatures dat popped up last night man"
''Nah but my nigga was there and he say he saw some crazy ass looking shit man. Jus crazy shit!"
"For real tho man there was some CRAZY. ASS. CREATURES. Out there in da wood. Like some scary movie shit."
I didn't care. Or at least I didn't care at first.
I'm always over hearing gossip, rumors and other bullshit from my classmates; even more so when there's a party. It's usually about getting "turnt up" or "that hoe I smashed" so I've never taken any of it seriously. But this time was different. This time they were all talking about the same thing. They were all talking about the creatures. That's a word that I almost never hear any of them use but my classmates almost always made it a point to say creatures.
b A

What made it really annoying is that no one would go into further detail about them. The creatures weren't described by appearance or compared to any animal. Everyone knew what it was but no one knows what it looked like. I should've just asked what it looked like but like I said earlier I didn't care.
I went on with my usual business, today was Monday and I had to finish reading chapters for a class I had tomorrow so I went ahead to lunch so I could eat first. The usual spot in the café with my usual friends Prince and Trey and my usual meal of a cheeseburger and fries since there's never anything else worth eating. But then Larrell came to the table and started talking about the party. He got twerked on by Kryptonite and a few black girls gave him grief about it. I didn't care. Or at least I didn't care at first.

I don't know man but anything is possible. Speaking of possible, what do you guys possibly think landed on Earth?" Larrell asked. Landed on earth? What is he talking about? "I don't know, could've been anything. I heard rumors that people saw strangecreatures last night after the meteor shower" I said.
"You know what Corin, when I called you after the fight I saw something strange in the reflection of my phone. Do you think it could've been one of those creatures?" I asked. He said it! He said it the exact same way everyone else did and I could tell he wasn't just repeating me.
"I don't know about you guys but this seems like something we should check out" Trey said. Larrell didn't want to go because it might've been too risky and suggested we just watch RAW, but Prince didn't really care for anything WWE related unless Sasha Banks was involved. As for me I had a bad feeling that if I don't check this thing I don't care about now I'm gonna HAVE to care about it later. I suggested that we go to the woods where the party was and we agreed to meet up at sun down. P| _I

We got to the woods at 7:30. The moon was bright, the sky was clear. After wandering around for a few minutes I realized we didn't even know what we were looking for. The creatures were only seen and described as creatures. We had nothing to go on. We were wasting our time. I got fed and told the guys that we should just go back to campus. That's when I heard it.
"EEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTEEEEEE!"
It was a piercing scream. A scream of agony. The kind of scream that makes you feel sympathy for whatever was being hurt. But that's the thing: what was it? Because it didn't sound human.
I didn't care, no. What I felt was concern.