Moonglow

They weren’t from anywhere around here.  The popular rumor was they had come from a different galaxy, and nobody had any guesses as to how many there were, but it had to be hundreds of thousands, if not more. 

In broad daylight they were invisible.  Bright sunshine gave nothing away, but in the reflective light of the moon, their silhouette gave off a sparkly glow.  That’s how they were first discovered.  They were the shape and size of an old-style mailbox.  The kind you once saw on street corners.

Because there had not been any communication from them at all and their intentions were unknown, the entire world was in a panic.  What were they and why were they here?  What did they want?  So far, they had done nothing except to show up in great numbers.

No one had been able to touch one.  If you reached out with your hand, there was nothing there.  When in the road, cars simply passed through them as if they were made of wispy clouds, and although unphased, they remained.  The fact that they couldn’t be affected physically only added to the wide-spread fear. 

People were locking themselves in their homes.   Shopkeepers boarded up their storefronts.  Many people left the city, thinking the strange creatures were not in the country, but that proved to not be true.  They were everywhere.  At night, they could be seen amongst the cattle in the fields, and along single lane bridges, and scattered about farms.

The government stopped all media from broadcasting, as that was only adding to the panic.  Every television channel showed the same view of the presidential podium, as if he was going to show up at any moment and talk to the country, but he never did and nobody knew why not.