He lay in the guest bedroom with the window open, enjoying the breeze. He stared up at the ceiling for a long time with his thoughts shifting between headless horsemen and what happened at Bertha’s—or at least what he thought happened.

He pictured the cold river and shivered and pulled his blankets higher.

His eyes turned to the open window, and he decided he would lock it after all.

He pushed his blankets aside and swung his legs off the bed, and that’s when he noticed the purple light hovering outside his window. At first, he thought it was one of those lights they have at parties that make your teeth glow, but why would anyone be dancing outside his window?

Without taking his eyes off the light, Charlie patted around for his jacket. He eased to his feet, and the light retreated behind a tree, but its glow still shone through the branches.

The cold from the floorboards seeped into his bare feet, but he was too focused on the light to think about shoes. He moved to the door and got a weird feeling that someone was watching.

“Hello,” he whispered into the dark. “Is anyone there?” Nothing returned but the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

As much as he tried not to think about the movie, some of the scenes began playing through his mind. He forced them aside and took a step out into the night feeling the dry leaves and sand crunching beneath his feet.

The light retreated further.

Allie’s house backed onto a forest, and there were no walls to keep things out and so squirrels and other creatures often ventured close to the house at night to scratch through the dustbins. That didn’t explain the light though.

Allie’s room sat above his, and he half expected to see her hanging out the window with a laser pointer, but her windows were closed and the light out. It wasn’t her unless she had snuck off into the forest, but being alone at night with the trees would give her a heart attack. She didn’t exactly trust the forest. She always said she could feel strange things there that she couldn’t explain. It didn’t help that she followed all the conspiracy theories about aliens and ghosts and fairies.

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The light peeped out from behind a tree, and Charlie put up his hands to show it that he meant no harm. “It’s okay,” he whispered, feeling a little stupid for talking to a light.

It hovered in place for a few seconds as though studying him.

He had that feeling again that someone was watching and he turned searching out the shadows around him. Nothing moved in the forest, but with so little light making it through the trees, someone could have been right on top of him, and he wouldn’t know until a chainsaw started up, and... angrily, he forced the thought aside. He must stop allowing Allie to talk him into watching scary things.

That light moved a little closer as though testing him. “That’s it,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

He chanced a small step towards it, and this time, it didn’t retreat. Slowly, they closed the gap. The light began to take shape, and Charlie had to blink two or three times to make sure that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him.

What in the world was it! After all that had happened, he believed his mum was slipping something funky into his juice. It looked like a creature of sorts, about the size of a hummingbird, that was hanging by its wings like a puppy lifted by the nape of its neck. It had small monkey hands and a bat’s face with large purple eyes that were giving off that strange light.

Charlie wondered if he’d slipped into a dream, and he pinched his leg in case.

The forest lit up as dozens more ventured out of the trees, fluttering towards him and surrounding him. It was beautiful, and yet, it frightened him a little. Cartoons and bad vampire movies taught him not to trust anything with glowing eyes.

Against his better judgement, he raised his hand to one, tentatively, and it settled on his palm. It weighed no more than a tin of tuna, but it would have made a cuter pet.

“Hello, little guy,” he whispered. “What are you? Where do you come from?”

The creature studied him curiously, tilting its head from side to side.

“It’s okay. I’m not that funny looking am I?”

Abruptly its eyes snapped past him. The glow shifted from purple to red, and it hissed showing sharp little teeth.

Charlie pulled away sharply and knew right away that he’d blundered. The sudden movement startled it, and it struck, sinking its teeth into his finger and drawing blood.

He cursed and flicked it off, and the others swarmed striking at his neck and face and arms and legs.

He squealed and flailed his arms trying to fight them off, but there were too many, and more kept coming out of the forest. He had to get back to his room. He couldn’t protect himself out in the open like this.

He pulled his jacket over his head and turned back towards the house, but a dark figure stood in the middle of the path blocking the way.