The winds were just starting to pick up a little, as they always do at this time of night, and I paused outside my door to soak in the dry, warm air. I loved rain but this was nice too. At least it was always mostly constant.

It was a cool summer -which meant storms on the way. One problem with storms this time of year was that Colorado always had some kind of forest fires and this time it was a record breaking amount. With all that ash rushing down the slopes with the coming precipitation- New Mexico was in for a hellish time. It was all over the news.

My home wasn't very large -good for just the one resident that it held. The house had one and a half stories. The downstairs being the living room, kitchen, and half bathroom; the upstairs consisting of my bedroom and bathroom.

The entire place was filled with art. From wall to ceiling, there were posters and murals made of little scraps of paper. I was running out of room at an alarming rate and soon I would need to tape things to unconventional places like the outside of my cabinets or the ceiling. I was getting that desperate.

I drew a little of what you saw on the walls. It was nothing spectacular or anything but it was nice to have at least some semblance of skill.

For me, the only things I can seem to draw are eyes. Some people might find this kind of thing creepy as hell but, all around my home there are just pictures of eyes that I have drawn. I don't feel as if they are staring at me- I just think they look beautiful.

The eyes always look the same too, always the same shade of color and always the same shape. They weren't mine either- or anyone else's that I knew. My eyes were gold, while both the twins eyes were green. All I could seem to draw was blue eyes.

Taking a deep breath I looked around the room and paused, leaning against the doorframe that connected the short hall between the living room the kitchen. The house was quiet and peaceful. Nothing could be heard except the general hum of the plumbing and air systems.

I took a moment to think about Dylan. He was a crush that I had long been dealing with, and I knew a crush when I felt one. It was a crush when you only pictured their face and when you stopped to think about their personality -you drew a blank. He was attractive but I didn't know if he was someone I should pursue or not. Maybe I would meet someone who I didn't have just a crush on one day. I wanted to feel something the entire time, not just every once and awhile when my brain wasn't occupied. That was never going to happen in this town, though. I already knew everyone here.

Pushing myself away from the frame, I huffed and threw my bag down on the couch in my living room. The room was warm and cozy and even though it was summer I still felt I needed to put the fireplace on.

While the flames were igniting I went up the stairs and into my room to change- planning to change into the comfiest thing that I had in the hopes of falling asleep.

I walked past my art clad blue walls and came to my dresser to pick out the baggiest pair of sweatpants and sweater I owned. Placing them on the bed, I started to undress.

I was just going to go braless but thought better of it. Thanks to my mother, I wasn't lacking anything in the boob department and going without support, unfortunately, hurt a lot. So, I reluctantly kept on my cheap black bra.

Hobbling downstairs, I got some tea and shuffled around the kitchen making something I knew I shouldn't really have. Brownies.

Fuck it, I thought as I added about a gallon of butterscotch chips to the batter.

I switched on the T.V. and started watching a Back To The Future marathon, kicked back with my tea and my hot, half-baked- because I couldn't wait anymore once the smell started coming out of the oven- brownies and a huge spoon to eat them with.

By the ending scenes of Back To The Future II, it was past midnight and I had went through the entire plate of brownies, and I had to pee due to drinking three cups of 'Sleepy-time' tea that apparently wasn't working.

After relieving myself I figured out two things: I didn't want to watch Back To The Future III because it sucked balls and I wasn't in the least bit tired.

I plopped on the couch and while thinking of things to do other than watch T.V. -I watched T.V. I couldn't help it. It was like watching a car wreck. You can't really look away from badly done western scenes and a dying storyline. It was a shame. The first two were so good.

Next to my television room, I have a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that have a glass sliding door in the middle with a tiny narrow balcony leading out and it gives me a great view. At this time of night there isn't a whole lot to see but something in the shrubby sand land caught my attention.

There was a light. It was bright and white in the shape of a little circle. It never moved it just sat there. At first I thought it was someone walking around but after more observation that idea became less and less plausible.

In any case, whatever that light was was on my property so I had to go look.

Since I couldn't fall asleep and Back To The Future III was not going to cut it, what else would I have done otherwise?

Hopping around my bedroom in the attempts to hike up my jeans, I tried to remember the general location of my gun and flashlight.

The gun was my uncle's and it was one of my favorites. It was a black, Glock 40-caliber, 23 model and it was nice.

I know most people are completely against guns but they need to understand that for a woman living alone in the mountains, a fair distance from town, with tourists kids thinking its funny to get drunk and spray paint rocks and shit out here- one needs a gun.

Hell, I don't even have a dog to protect me. The gun is the only thing I have.

So with dirty, six year old, worn beyond recognition, converse tightly tied around the ankles- incase of snake bites, even though some flimsy canvas isn't going to protect you- I headed out.

It was pretty cold but the wind wasn't bad; I could feel it blowing the sides of my baggy sweater like a flag during a storm. Crickets everywhere were singing and faint rustling noises of desert creatures roaming around the brush were all you could hear.

Distant hints of pink were still visible over the mountain peaks, feeling as though they were a couple of miles away, even though in reality they were about a hundred.

Things always seemed closer than they were out here. That's what happens when you live in a place with hundreds of miles of flat land with no endings. I soon found out as my feet crunched along that I had apparently fallen fool to the illusion.

The light, only seeming about a couple yards out from my house was actually a lot farther away. Suspiciously far. I started to think that maybe the light had moved. With that thought I clutched my firearm a little tighter.

Step after step didn't seem to get me any closer to the orb. Not long after, it seemed as if I had finally made some progress.

As I got closer I noticed it wasn't an orb at all. It was a symbol in the sand that, from the distance that it had been at from my house looked blurry the lines together.

The symbol, to my fascination, was Enochian. In school, I had always thought that ancient languages were extremely interesting, especially those with close religious ties, so for a class project, I did loads of research and soaked up all the information that was available. From my memory, I found that it was either two things: a symbol for "God" or a symbol for "entrance".

I bent down to squat like a frog and lightly graced my fingers over the edges of the marking, wondering how and where it was getting its light source. I felt stupid after a brief thought of the possibility of alien activity crossed my mind. Everyone out here thought they were real but I never bought it.

Suddenly, a breeze blew past me and then my eyes were assaulted. Blinding white light enveloped me. It was as if I giant spotlight had been centered on my person from the sky. For a few seconds, all around me there was nothing but white. I couldn't feel the pressure of gravity or the weight of my own body anymore. I knew I should have been scared but it was such a surreal experience that I couldn't complain.

I wasn't being pulled up or being moved at all, at least it didn't feel as if I was.

Moments later, I felt gravity returning and the sensation of a solid surface touching the bottom of my feet. The white disappeared and where I was came into sight.

It was molten and rocky with flames coming up in random places. The heat was almost too much to bear even in the few seconds that I had to endure it.

As soon as I took it in -it all changed.

What was rock was now moss; what was fire was now trees; what was molten was now grass. Everything was happening so fast I didn't even have the chance to be scared.

The change that I welcomed the most was that the temperature immediately cooled and a breeze could actually be felt.

"Well...who are you?" a confident voice said from behind me.