Nighttime had arrived and with it came the darkness. On the porch of her house, Allison was sitting on a rocking chair smoking a cigarette, the smoke swirling in the air making complicated shapes before they would disappear into the dimness of the night. A simple light was hanging from the ceiling of the porch, its light attracting different insects such as flies and moths. Somewhere around her property Allison could hear the sound of crickets. Further in the distance came sounds from traffic, although there wasn't much of it happening right now because of the time of day. There was some distance between her property and the closest settlement and she preferred it this way. She liked her privacy.

The serenity of Allison's night was disturbed by the barking of a dog. Allison could distinguish that it was her own dog, Scott. She got on her feet and extinguished the rest of her cigarette on the ashtray that was placed on the rail of the porch, the tray containing too many cigarette butts already. She whistled into the night as she left the lit porch and waited for her dog to appear. Scott was nowhere to be seen, but he kept barking at something. Allison strayed from the light even more as she followed the loud sounds the dog was making.

“Come here, boy!” she yelled into the darkness.

And still, Scott continued to bark. It wasn't until Allison was getting close to where Scott was barking when he finally stopped and came to her, tail wagging. The dog was a mongrel about the size of a German Shepherd and to Allison, he was a perfect watchdog.

“What did you find, boy?” Allison asked from the dog and ventured further in darkness.

She heard movement nearby, a twig had just snapped. Didn't sound anything big, though. She should have got her flashlight with her, she cursed in her mind. Suddenly Scott dashed into the blackness, but stopped not far away and was wagging his tail. Allison could recognize a small figure, even in darkness. 

“Goddammit, Devon, what are you doing out here this late?” Allison lectured the little boy, feeling a little relieved that it was just her son and not something threatening.

“Nothing”, the boy said sheepishly and looked at his feet.

“Go to your bed and don't even think you have the right to complain that you're tired in the morning”, Allison said and started to slightly push Devon towards their house.

They reached the lit area in no time and Allison urged her son to go inside while she remained on the porch. Annoyed by her little boy's nightly adventures, she decided to smoke another cigarette. Scott settled down on her feet after she had sat down on the rocking chair again, blowing abstract shapes into the air.

“Damn that brat”, she mumbled to herself.

A sharp and high-pitched noise suddenly pierced her ears, so sharp she felt it in her head. Allison had never in her life heard anything like this and got a little startled by it. Her heart trembling, she remained stationary as she focused on her hearing. Seconds passed but the sound didn't repeat itself. It had been just this single one, like a blow of a whistle. Allison let herself relax after some while, pondering about possible causes for the sound she had just heard. Maybe it was just a group of teenagers clowning around near her property – it wouldn't be the first time. Or maybe it was a really strange noise made by a bird. She didn't think much of it, though, and once she had finished smoking, she prepared to go to bed as well.

She wasn't thrilled when the annoying ringing of the alarm clock woke her up in the morning. Early rays of the sun were attempting to infiltrate Allison's bedroom through the small gaps in the curtains. She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling, her hand on her forehead.

“Fuck this”, Allison muttered to herself and managed to lift her body from her bed. She opened the curtains and headed downstairs, starting her day.

Her first task was going outside and opening the hatch of the chicken coop, letting out her precious birds. She had a fenced area for them to roam freely during daytime, so she could confidently leave them to do their thing while she was away from home. Allison gave the chickens food before she headed back to the house. She quickly smoked one morning cigarette and went back inside. It was time to prepare breakfast. Once she found her way to the kitchen, she immediately got the coffee maker going. It was bubbling in the background while she made toast for both her and Devon, putting the pieces of bread in the toaster. She also poured a glass of orange juice for the boy. Soon the slices of bread jumped from the toaster and Allison snatched them, putting just butter on her toasts while she spread raspberry marmalade on the ones that were meant for Devon. After this, Allison left the kitchen to wake up her son.

The boy was still asleep when Allison entered Devon's room. She stepped towards the curtains and opened them and said: “It's time to wake up.”

Devon let out a whining noise and protected his eyes from the flow of sunlight that was now flooding his room. But Allison was having none of it.

“I told you don't have the right to complain”, she said as she walked towards the boy's bed. She tapped Devon's body a few times before she left the room, saying: “Get up and get dressed. And don't forget your backpack.”

Allison then headed downstairs again to enjoy her breakfast. Her coffee was now ready so she filled her cup with that dark hot liquid and sat down on one of the chairs that surrounded a round table in the middle of the kitchen. She was scrolling news through her phone while eating and drinking and after a couple of minutes, Devon silently joined her. He didn't utter a single word as he took his place around the table and started to munch on the toast his mother had prepared for him. None of them spoke to each other during the breakfast; these quiet meal times were normal to them.

Once Allison was done with her breakfast, she finally broke the silence by saying: “Now, get ready to leave while I change clothes.”

“Okay”, Devon responded quietly.

Allison stood up and placed her coffee cup in the sink, then headed upstairs yet again. She swapped her pajamas to something more decent; she worked as a cleaner so it didn't really matter that much how she looked. She was quickly finished with this task and descended the stairs one more time. Devon was already waiting by the door with his backpack and Allison just grabbed her keys and both stepped out of the house. Scott was left inside. Allison locked the door before heading to the car with her son. Devon hopped on the back seat while she sat down on the driver's seat. The engine roared a little as Allison turned the car on and soon she steered the vehicle on the only road that led out of her property and began their short and quiet drive.

The vibrant rural area soon turned into a suburb. Less vegetation and more land shaped by human hand. More and more buildings appeared into the scenery, their familiar forms passing by as Allison drove through the same route as she did every day. Some time later she steered her car at the parking lot of the local elementary school and did a little turn in there. She stopped her vehicle for a brief moment so Devon could hop out. No words were exchanged as the boy stepped out of the car and headed towards the school building. Allison drove away, her current workplace as her destination.

This is the pattern where Allison was stuck at. These mundane days, she felt like living in a loop. She would wake up and get ready for work while also preparing Devon for school. She would drop him off and head to work. Excruciatingly slow hours she would have to endure in her workplace that kept changing. Then she would pick up her son and on some days, go to the grocery store. Allison would head home and spend the evening just watching television and smoking cigarettes, having no strength or desire to do anything. Her life kept repeating itself over and over again and while she was very much dissatisfied with it, she didn't really know how to break out of the infinite cycle.

The next evening Allison was again sitting on her rocking chair on the porch, blowing strangely dancing shapes of smoke into the chilly air. Scott was laying on her feet, keeping her company. Allison enjoyed the quiet dark evenings, having nothing around but nature.

She heard giggling from somewhere nearby. This broke her peaceful moment and she knew immediately who the culprit was. Very much annoyed, she quickly fetched her flashlight from the lobby of her house and walked into the darkness, the bright beam of light cutting through the dimness. But as she was getting closer to the source of the noise, it then stopped completely. Still, she pressed onwards and soon enough, the light beam revealed the small figure of Devon.

“What are you doing here again?” Allison asked with a very angry tone.

“Nothing.” The boy gave the exact same answer as before, but this time, he said it more confidently.

Allison thought nothing of it and grabbed her son by the arm and started to forcefully drag him back to the house. “Go to bed and stay there.”

Devon didn't struggle against her. He behaved like a good kid and went inside, heading upstairs. Allison was about to turn off her flashlight when its beam suddenly touched something in the darkness, appearing as a silvery glimmer. She pointed her light at her surroundings, confused about what she had just seen. For a while she tried to find the source of the shimmer, but had no luck. She shrugged and clicked the light off, retreating on her chair again.

Her ears were pierced by sharp high-pitched sound. The same sound she had heard yesterday. It hurt her head during the couple of seconds she heard it and then it just vanished. Yet again she was left to ponder what it was, but just like before, she had no answers. She decided to check around her property by morning when there was some daylight. Allison went to rest for the night, still bewildered by the sound that was haunting her. It was odd for the first time alone, but the fact she had heard it twice? It was strange.

As the morning came around and she went to open the chicken coop, Allison also made a brief investigation around her property. She decided to check the area where she had found her son sneaking around in the evening, but she found nothing. No source of weird sounds or evidence of what Devon had been doing. Allison strolled around a little bit more, but still, she didn't notice anything strange. Everything appeared normal to her, but for some reason, that was exactly what she was worried about. She figured she could do nothing about it at the moment and just resumed her day as usual.

The next evening Allison was prepared for any oddities to occur. She was sitting on her chair, her flashlight on her lap so she could immediately investigate if she heard anything weird. But the night remained silent and still, she could only hear the familiar melody by the crickets resonating in the chilly night air. There was just peace and blackness surrounding her. Allison pondered whether the unexplainable sounds she had heard were just random mysterious occurrences that she wouldn't experience anymore. Odd things tend to happen in life. She returned inside her house and went to bed.

In the morning Allison woke up with a headache. It wasn't unbearable, but pretty painful nonetheless. Before eating breakfast, she consumed a couple of painkillers in hopes that it would put an end to her pain or at least make it tolerable. The headache made her very irritated and she found even the sound of Devon eating his breakfast annoying. But Allison simply exploded when the boy accidentally knocked down his glass of juice, spilling the liquid all over the kitchen table.

“You fucking brat!” Allison roared as she suddenly stood up and hit Devon in the face. “That's it! No more breakfast for you, go wait in the car!”

The boy was quiet and exited the kitchen as unnoticed as a shadow. He had learned that it was best to say nothing to his mother; she would always win.

Allison's start for the day wasn't great and much to her dismay, she found out that her headache hadn't been going anywhere, making her work more unpleasant than it already was. Strangely the time tends to move forward as slowly as possible when you're waiting for it to pass, and so Allison's work day was just painful all around. Great was her relief when after a long and exhausting day she could finally go home.

Taking more painkillers didn't do anything for her headache. Maybe it just was one of those strange ones that will linger no matter what you do. She simply tried to relax during the evening at home and mostly she was doing fine.

As usual, Allison was smoking her last cigarette of the day on the porch when she was startled by the odd high-pitched sound again. It greatly grated her head, it almost felt like somebody was trying to drill onto her skull and she groaned from pain. However, the ache went away as soon as the sound faded and everything was completely silent again. Allison could think about the cause of that infernal noise only for a couple of seconds when something else got her full attention. For a very brief moment she could see something rushing through the darkness, at the edge of the lit area. It had a silvery shimmer in it and without it, Allison would have been pretty sure that it was some sort of animal. As far as she knew, no animal glowed in silver. This was the second time she had witnessed this phenomenon, but she could only guess what it actually was. She fetched her flashlight again and decided to look around a bit.

Her guess was that it was just some teens messing around. She wandered around her property investigating, but her light didn't reveal anything abnormal to her. She paused for a moment, just listening to the sounds of the night. Seconds passed, but she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. This outcome was frustrating to her, because the sounds and silvery shimmer she had witnessed were reoccurring things, not isolated cases. Something definitely was going on, but she wasn't able to find concrete evidence of it. Maybe she was finally going crazy. Maybe she was finally succumbing to her role as the "Cranky Ally", the boogeyman teenagers joked about.

With a bitter heart, Allison returned to the house and was heading to bed. She had just brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas and was about to close the curtains for the night, but as soon as she reached the window, she let out a surprised yelp. There was someone behind the window, watching her. Or more like, something. A weird creature that had silvery skin, huge bat-like ears and ridiculously huge yellow eyes and a wide mouth with rows of sharp teeth. It appeared to be about the size of a ten-year-old child. Allison didn't have much time to inspect this critter when it had already vanished. Allison remained on her spot for a good while, heart trembling and shocked. She had no explanation for what she had just seen. And the fact that it had been just outside of her room's window… Her room was on the second floor. That thing had climbed to spy on her. It took Allison a moment to gather enough courage to step towards the window and take a look outside. She saw nothing in the darkness. But she knew, oh she knew, that the strange being was out there.

She closed the curtains and dragged herself to bed, still shaken. She didn't rest well that night, she was so paranoid about the entity that it was like glued to her head, unable to think anything else than this terrifying encounter.

Allison wasn't sure if the next morning was welcome or not. Maybe the daylight would keep the critter away, but she was so very tired because of last night. But work day is a work day, so she got out of the bed and started to prepare for the day.

As she was drinking her morning coffee, Allison noticed that Devon was in an unusually joyful mood. He was smiling and his little legs were swinging back and forth; he even let out a quiet humming noise. It was irritating to Allison.

“What are you so happy about?” Allison asked angrily, her voice sounding almost like a growl.

“I'm going to meet friends today”, Devon replied.

Yeah, some brats from school. Allison thought nothing of it and the rest of the breakfast went in silence.

While at work, Allison developed another headache. It started as something rather mild, but it just kept growing worse throughout the day. And strangely, as it got worse, it also made Allison hear things. That weird high-pitched sound she had heard these past few evenings was tormenting her again, although not as strongly. Still, it was making her insane; it almost felt like a horrible hangover. It really was messing with her head and in the end she was feeling so nauseous that she had to leave work a bit earlier. She really hoped that taking a few painkillers and staying in the quiet comfort of her home would make her feel better. But she was wrong.

She was in pain throughout the day. But the worst part was the infernal sound she was hearing; it did occasionally go away and Allison was grateful whenever that happened, but the noise would always come back and pierce her head like a drill. She was feeling awful and she started to think about whether she should seek medical help. This wasn't normal. Allison decided that if her condition wouldn't get better by tomorrow, she would visit a doctor.

When the evening came around, Allison felt really drained for some reason. She didn't have strength to do anything and was barely able to stand. She followed her night routines and was sitting on her rocking chair again, smoking her last cigarette. While she was trying to relax, suddenly Devon ran past her, heading to the darkness.

“Where are you going?” Allison yelled after him.

“To play with friends!” Devon answered and soon his small figure got devoured by the surrounding darkness.

Allison didn't have the strength to argue with the boy so she just let him do whatever he wanted. She could hear him giggling and whispering something, but other than that, she didn't really pay attention to what the boy was doing there. He would turn into a complete nutcase when growing up, Allison thought to herself in a bitter way. She finished smoking, inhaling the toxins into her lungs one more time, and extinguished the cigarette on the ashtray. She peered into the darkness, trying to spot her son. But she just heard him, although very faintly. Allison retrieved her flashlight and cursed in her head, she started to look for Devon. 

“Come here, Devon, the playtime is over”, she grumpily shouted into the darkness, moving her flashlight's beams all around to catch a glimpse of the boy.

Everything was oddly silent, Allison noted. The owl, the crickets… She heard nothing but her own rustling steps invading the vegetation. Even Devon had gone quiet. But there had been so many weird things happening lately that she didn't really feel surprised anymore. Right now she just wanted to drag her son back to the house and go to sleep.

Eventually Allison's light hit Devon; he had been crouching near a gooseberry bush. As soon as the light had revealed his hiding place, the boy stood up and turned to face his mother.

“There you are”, Allison said. “Now, get back inside, it's your bedtime.”

But to her disbelief, the boy shook his head. “No.”

After getting over her astonishment, Allison then turned angry. “This is not a debate, Devon. Go to your room and stay there.”

The boy shook his head again, this time even more vigorously. “I want to be with my friends. You go.”

“What the hell are you –“ Allison's sentence was cut short when she suddenly heard noises behind her. Something was rustling among the plants – and it sounded like there were multiple of them. She turned around and gasped from shock so hard that she almost dropped her flashlight.

There were about six little silver creatures. Exactly like the one she had seen peeking from her room's window. Their huge yellow eyes stared at her in a very unsettling way and they were slowly approaching her, like a pack of predators that worked together to catch their prey. They were making strange clicking sounds and they tilted their heads over and over again, moving in an unnerving way.

“What the fuck?!” Allison was instinctively walking backwards and she frantically pointed her light around, maybe even hoping that the beam would blind the creatures. But it had no effect. “Scott! Scott!”

Allison had hoped that her dog would come and defend her from the creatures. She heard how something was moving fast toward her location and she was sure it was Scott. And she was right. The dog appeared from the darkness, but he didn't even acknowledge the presence of the critters apart from glancing at them briefly. Scott bypassed Allison and went to Devon, sitting down next to the boy. This shocked Allison; she felt like everyone was against her.

“They're here to take you”, Devon said.

“Take me? What do you mean?” Allison inquired, her gaze shifting from the creatures to her son.

She felt a horrible pain in her head as the high-pitched sound impaled it once more, this time it was the worst one yet. Allison dropped her flashlight and she tried to shield her ears from the horrendous noise. It was like somebody was hitting nails on her skull and into the brain. She had never felt this kind of agony.

The pack of weird creatures approached her and they struck their claws on her, grasping Allison by her clothes or skin. She screamed and tried to struggle against her captors, but they were surprisingly strong and flailing her limbs didn't stagger them at all. They began to drag her away, into the darkness of the night. Suddenly a blinding white light appeared and the beings were taking her towards it. Allison looked at her son and her dog that just remained on their spots and watched. She could see that Devon had a wide smile on his face.

It was the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness.