I arrive home safely that night and went straight to bed, throwing my rings on the bedside table and putting my pajamas on. I pulled out the card the girl, Kate, had given me. I looked at it longingly. I could call her right now, ask her to go out or something. Or I could tell her about the dreams that I had been seeing, ones of a different life where I did have a wife, a beautiful wife, an incredibly smart wife.

But I didn’t. Instead, I threw the card in the trash, knowing I would never want to see her again. She was just too strange, too suspicious. I didn’t want to risk anything. Especially anything I liked to keep secret.

I climbed into bed and went straight to sleep. It took a moment, but I eventually fell into a dream state, and the things I saw were… well, they just weren’t right.

The sky was red, and there was a man, floating in the darkest part of it all. From his figure flowed several tentacle-like arms, reaching around me and stabbing at several people who were trying to run away. Some were lost in tablets or glasses, completely unaware of what was happening around them. All that were absorbed in the technology were stabbed. I gasped in horror and watched as their life was drained from their faces. When the tentacles pulled away, they dropped to the ground.

It wasn’t just people getting stabbed. Animals, plants, and even some inanimate objects were pierced just as easily as the people were. Some of the living things died, but just as many fell to the ground and started to change. A dog grew an entire human body with old-fashioned Egyptian clothing. The dog kept his head as it was, but the rest of his body was human.

There were others that didn’t have as much of a dramatic change. One woman had little sparks popping around her. Grass grew on top of one man. Another person was covered in mud, but the mud bubbled and started to boil. All were breathing, as far as I could tell.

And the changes weren’t all external. I could tell that other people were changing in other ways, and I could feel the powers they were gaining. Powers that were similar to mine. Only… there was a difference. I had heard rumors of a night like this happening. They called it the Night of the Rewriter. It was a horrifying night for anyone who witnessed it. At least, for those who witnessed, survived, and remembered it.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I never saw the Night happen. I didn’t remember the red sky and the dark figure floating in the distance. I must have been asleep with my wife. Whoever my wife was…

I was flashed over to a room. A bedroom. My bedroom. The one I was sleeping in right at this moment. Except, there were differences. The biggest difference I noticed was a woman. She was laying in the bed with her turqoise eyes open, looking out the window. Her golden brown hair spread across the pillow, and her pink lips squeezed together tightly, stressed about something. I was not there, but I knew that this had to be my wife. She was probably wondering where I was. She had to be. It was nighttime. I should’ve been home by this time.

The sky outside was red. Despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen, I still hoped with all my heart that she would not be a victim of the Night. I wanted her to stay safe, to be with me always.

Well, one of those wishes came true.

A tentacle stabbed through the window. The glass exploded into the house, but each piece froze in midair. The tentacle stabbed the woman in the bed. Her eyes started to close, as if she had already accepted her death.

I held my breath. My heart stopped beating. I stood completely still as I watched in suspense. It felt like years passed. Decades. Centuries. Finally, she closed her eyes. My nameless wife closed her eyes and succumbed to her fate. She breathed in, and she started to glow. Brighter and brighter, until her body exploded in a burst of light. The light didn’t disappear, though. Instead, it refocused toward a ring on the nightstand. A green ring similar to mine except for the gold. The golden light flowed into the ring, and when the light eventually disappeared, there were gold lines wrapping around the ring. Exactly like my ring.

I finally understood.

I shouted, “No!”

The tentacle turned like it was looking right at me.

I was breathing heavily, and I said again, “No.”

The tentacle launched itself at me.

And I woke up, sitting bolt upright. I looked at my ring, the green ring. My wedding ring.

My wife.