The first thing I did was shut the blinds to all of the windows in my room. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I had seen enough horror movies to know not to take any chances.
Werewolves? No, couldn’t be. That’d be insane. My buddies and I had just snuck in and seen An American Werewolf in London a few nights ago at the local cinema and werewolves happened to be on my mind, I guess.
My phone went off again. Another text message. I ran to the charger to grab it and check it out. It was from Riley, except it wasn’t like the other
messages. It read, “Are you okay?”
I stared at the screen not sure how to respond. I hadn’t heard from Riley since we started freshman year. She became “popular” and started hanging out with a different crowd — the jocks. Specifically, Trevor Estrada. He was such a douche. What’s weird, though, is that I had received a message from Trevor as well, telling me how beautiful the moon was and to take a look. That’s when I knew something really messed up was going on.
I texted Riley back, “Yeah. Are you…?”
“Yes… Do you know what’s going on?”
“No. You?”
“No.”
I hope she’s okay.
After a few seconds, I texted her again, “What about your folks?”
“They’re not here. I don’t know where they went. What about yours?”
It was just me and my mom. I never knew my dad. I realized that I hadn’t even thought to check on my mom, though. I walked out of my room and down the hall, headed for her bedroom. We lived in a nice place considering it was only my mom and me. A two-story house in the suburbs, a nice neighborhood. I couldn’t complain. As I approached her room, the door swung open and my mom stood in the doorway. I jumped back, startled. She didn’t seem startled at all.
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“Honey,” she said, a smile forming on her face “what are you doing up?"
“I just came to check on you is all.”
“How sweet.” Her voice was odd, robotic almost. Maybe she was just tired? She did just wake up after all. “Well since we’re both up let’s spend this time together. No point in trying to fall back asleep now. I’ll go make some coffee. We can go sit on the patio and look for shooting stars, like we used to do when you were little.”
Does she not know? Did she not get the message?
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mom,” I muttered. “I’ve been getting some weird messages.” My phone beeped again. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check who it was and it was Riley. She texted, “Don’t turn on the TV. It’s everywhere. Paris. Greece. Washington. What do we do?” I started to text back, but then my mom interrupted.
“Why don’t you put that phone away? You’re always on it. Come now, let’s head downstairs and grab some coffee. The sky should be full of stars
tonight.”
I slid the phone back into my pocket. “Okay, Mom,” I said, and followed her downstairs. When we got to the living room I sat on the couch and told her I’d head outside with her when the coffee was made. She nodded and went to the kitchen to make the coffee. I had no plans to go outside with her. Something’s not right with her, I thought. That’s not my mom. I pulled my phone out and started texting Riley back.
“So what’s the plan?” I typed.
“I don’t know, but we can’t stay here. Everyone else I’ve texted is telling me to look at the moon. Everyone except for you…”
“Wanna meet?” I haven’t hung out with Riley alone in years. The truth was I missed her. I just wish it didn’t take… whatever this was, for us to start
talking again.
“Yes,” she replied, promptly. “Remember the fort we made in sixth grade, in the woods behind the school?” I can’t believe she remembered. Of course she remembered.
“Meet you there in ten minutes,” I responded. “I think my mom looked at the moon. I’m ditching her.”
“That’s rough. Sorry….” The phone was silent for a few moments before she texted back. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever you do, don’t look at the moon. You don’t know what it does to people. I’ll tell you what I saw on the TV when we meet.”
That was all I needed to get off of the couch.