The strangest thing happened to me. I was sitting at the bus stop, waiting for the 27 like I do every morning, when I heard a strange thump behind me. It was raining pretty hard, so I thought that it was a tree branch that had fallen against the glass bus shelter, since this particular bus stop backed onto a huge forest. Still, curiosity got the better of me like it always does. I turned without standing and cried out in surprise. There was a face behind me! Not just any face, a creature with greenish-blue skin, long brown hair, and long pointed ears. It had enormous brown eyes and no nose, just two tiny nostrils where its nose should be. It was staring at me and frowning, and it raised a greenish-blue fist and pounded on the glass. I leapt to my feet, and the creature leapt backwards, its eyes never leaving mine. Slowly, I walked around the shelter with my umbrella in hand. I could see the creature more clearly, in spite of the torrential rain. It was naked and seemingly genderless, its body smooth and sleek. It had a dark blue spotted pattern on its back, and walked easily on all fours. I could also see that the skin between its fingers and toes was stretched out and webbed, and I concluded that this creature must live in the water somewhere. Hesitantly, I reached out with my umbrella to poke at it.
The creature reached out with lightning fast reflexes and grabbed my umbrella from my surprised hands. It held it carefully and sniffed at it with its strange nostrils, and put it in its mouth to bite it. I could see, as its blue lips parted, that it had long yellow pointed teeth and a dark, almost black tongue.
“Hey!” I exclaimed, in spite of myself.
The creature’s eyes snapped back to me, suddenly remembering I was there. In a flash, it had taken off into the forest with my umbrella. Forgetting the number 27 bus and the fact I had to go to work, I took off after the creature, determined to retrieve my umbrella. The rain continued to pour and I was soon drenched to the bone, but I kept up my pursuit. The greenish-blue creature was fast, weaving in and out of trees and leaping nimbly over fallen logs and rocks. I slipped several times, but managed to regain my footing before I fell. I clutched at my bag, feeling like it was a life preserver, and renewed my mad capped chase.
The rain fell like a solid sheet of water, painfully pounding on my skin as I lost track of the creature. I ran for a little while longer, thinking I would once again pick up its trail, before I realized the hopelessness of my situation. The creature was gone with my umbrella, and I was soaked to the bone, lost in a forest, and late for work. I sighed deeply and turned around, but the rain made it impossible to see more than a foot in front of me. I sneezed and sat down on a rock, ignoring the slimy sensation of the wet stone on my skin, and waited for the sun to return.