A Weird Walk in My Neighborhood

A short story about a UFO sighting...

I love fall walks in my neighborhood at night. I walk with Samson, my 12-year-old rough collie, and we like to explore the leaves and Halloween decorations. I always look up at the night sky to check out the stars.

When we pass one house in particular, I always stop because that’s where the “sighting” happened — my strange experience with an Unidentified Flying Object. One January night in 2022, Samson and I went for a walk, carefully stepping over icy patches on the sidewalk, admiring the clear night sky.

“Come here, look at this,” the neighbour called to me, gazing up at the sky above his house. I walked over to his driveway, Samson in tow, and stood with him, staring up into space. There it was — a sparkling, orange star twinkling above the tree in his backyard.

“That’s funny,” he said, smoking a cigarrette. “It was zigzagging and then hiding behind the tree, and just rose up as you came down the sidewalk.”

“No way,” I said. “Really?” We both watched the object sparkle silently above the tree top for a few moments. The feeling I had was strange, like we were being studied by something unknown. Suddenly, it burned out, like a light bulb, and disappeared.

I pass this house every night on my walk, and always think about it. I haven’t seen anything like it since.