I Went to Vote and Came Back Three Hours Later. I Still Have My Sticker

I want to start by saying I did vote. That part matters to me, so I'm putting it first.

I got to the Lincoln Elementary gym around 6:40 PM, later than I'd planned because of work. The line wrapped past the vending machines. I had my ID out and the sample ballot I'd marked up on my lunch break. Everything was normal. A kid was selling lemonade, and a poll worker in a pumpkin sweater kept telling everyone "almost there, hon."

I cast my ballot, got my "I Voted" sticker, and walked out to the parking lot. That's the last normal thing I remember.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on something cold and smooth, like a countertop that had never been touched. The light came from everywhere and nowhere. I wasn't scared, which is the strangest part. I felt the way you feel in a dentist's chair when the nitrous kicks in, calm and a little silly.

There were three of them. They were tall and thin, and their skin had the soft gray shimmer of a soap bubble. They didn't talk out loud, but I could understand them, the way you understand a dog that wants a walk.

They wanted to know about the sticker.

I'm serious. They had no interest in my organs or my DNA. One of them kept pointing at the oval on my jacket, and the question landed in my head as clearly as words: *Why do you wear proof of choosing?*

So I explained it. I told them we all line up, sometimes for hours, to pick the people who make decisions for us. I told them we don't always agree and sometimes get angry about it, but we do it anyway, every couple of years, and then we put on a sticker so other people know we showed up.

They went quiet for a long time. Then one of them peeled the sticker off my jacket very gently, looked at it, and put it back. I swear it was being careful not to wrinkle it.

I woke up in my car with the engine off. The clock said 9:52 PM. My phone had eleven texts from my sister asking if I'd seen the early results. My sample ballot was still on the passenger seat, but now it was folded into a perfect little triangle. I don't know how to fold paper like that.

I know how this sounds. I'm not asking anyone to believe me. I've thought about it every day since, though, and here's where I've landed. Something out there, something that crossed who knows how much space, found the most interesting thing about us in a little paper sticker that says we showed up.

I'm keeping the sticker. It's on my fridge now, right next to the triangle.