Outside the window

On a thunderous night, there are more than thunders coming through the sky.

It’s so dark I can’t see anything; that is while the lighting is not coming from the windows every 7 seconds. The thunders haven’t stopped for hours, they don’t let me sleep, and I can’t even close my eyes in peace. I love rainy days, and the sound of the rain is like music to my ears, but thunder is a whole different story. 

I decide that I can’t take it anymore and go into my mom’s room, even though she told me not to because I was driving her mad already. 

“Mom! Mom!” I yell until she wakes up. “How can you sleep with all this noise?”

“No, not today, Thomas. I have work early tomorrow and you have to go to school. Go back to bed now!” she closes her eyes again and pretends to be asleep. 

“But mom, the-”

“There are no monsters Thomas, go back to bed”, she already knows what I’m going to say and doesn’t bother to even open her eyes. “You’re 11 years old, when are you going to stop believing all this nonsense?”

“But I’ve seen it, you have to believe me!”

She abruptly sits down and turns to see me. “There are no monsters coming from the sky; thunders are not an opening from another world. How many times do I have to tell you this?” Her voice breaks through the thunders while she keeps a tight grip on her bed covers and grins her teeth. 

I remain in silence for a few seconds, I don’t want to make her angrier. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“No. And that’s the end of the story.” She goes back to sleep. 

I give up and walk out of her room, leaving the door open in case I need to run back in if the monsters try to catch me. I take out my flashlight from my drawer, turn it on and sit on my bed looking at the wall. I’m afraid to look out the window, I can’t bear the thought of seeing what I saw a few months ago again. 

It was a cold rainy night just like today, but there weren’t as many thunders. I was looking out the window fascinated by the rain when I saw it. As soon as the light hit my eyes I saw a portal, and from it were 3 creatures not from earth coming down from the sky. I still have nightmares about them, their picture can’t be erased from my memory. One was green with 3 eyes and four arms; another one was red and had an intimidating size, like a body builder, he had one big eye and sharp teeth; the other one was pitch black, he was incredibly tall, with 4 eyes and carried a gun with a shiny green liquid inside of it. I don’t know where they ended up, but I’m glad they didn’t come here. 

Time passes and the storm only gets worse. I stand up and pick up a children’s book from my bookshelf. My mom’s voice resonates in my mind, saying I’m too old for children’s stories, and she’s probably right, but this is the kind of thing I need to take my mind to a happy place. I pick The Blue River. I cover myself with a thick blanket when I sit back down, but the lightning still gets through. I start reading out loud, trying to ignore my surroundings, but it’s nearly impossible. 

My voice cracks as I try to raise it while I go through the pages. Almost finishing the book, I realize the thunders have stopped for about a full minute. I take off my blanket and point the flashlight to the window, it’s all pitch black out there now, the moon still hidden behind dark clouds. I stand up and turn on the lights, but the electricity is still not back. Well, at least without the thunders I can have some sleep. 

“AAAHHHH”, the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard makes me scream my heart out and drop my flashlight. 

My breathing comes too fast and doesn’t seem to reach my lungs, I feel like I’m going to pass out. I can’t move, can’t even blink. So much lightning follows that it looks like there are a thousand flashlights lighting up my surroundings. I don’t dare look to the window, I have my eyes fixed on my bed. 

When my brain decides to let me move again I run straight to hide under my bed, where my flashlight fell. I try to slow down my breathing, but I sound like a vacuum and can’t help it. My mom sure had to wake up with this noise, no doubt. But I’m too afraid to go anywhere so I just stay here pointing the light up so I can see to the sides too. 

Most kids are afraid of monsters under the bed, in the closet or just in the dark, I was too once. But I know now that’s not where the real monsters are. 

The lightning stops again. The only light now is from my flashlight. My body refuses to move to leave this spot, my hands shaking and my teeth shattering; I know it makes no sense, but I actually feel safer here. That’s until I realize I have no weapons. What if the monsters come for me? What are they even after? 

My chest hurts and my heart pounds so hard and out of rhythm that it makes me think I just dropped dead for a second. 

You know when you feel like someone is watching you or is near you? Yeah, that’s how I feel right now. And whatever is out there, I know it’s not human. 

I turn off the flashlight so no one can see where I am, just in case. But now I can see absolutely nothing; although it’s not like I’d like to see their faces if they come. 

BAM! Someone just broke my window. I cover my ears and head; I try my best to shut up and not hyperventilate; the heavy rain masking all the sounds coming out of me. There’s no more lightning, so I can’t see anything; but it feels like at least one of them is very heavy. I can feel their every step, but I can’t figure out how many there are. 

“Come out come out wherever you are.” Sings a hoarse voice.

 

“Where do you think this one’s hiding, under the bed or the closet?” says the other one with a higher and smoother voice, and they both laugh. 

“You take the closet, I’ll take the bed.” Says the hoarse voice. 

My heart is about to break out of my chest; tears come down my cheeks while I hold my breath. I hold the flashlight as tight as my hands let me and hope I can hit the monster in the head hard enough for me to scape. I can feel that he put something next to the bed, probably his weapon. Whatever it is, it can’t be good. 

I roll to the other side of the bed as far as I can without coming out of it. How can they see if there is no light? Maybe they can’t see me after all. I can hear his breathing; he’s already looking under the bed, but doesn’t seem to notice me. 

“BOO!” says hoarse voice with a loud thunder following. His face is pale red, with horns coming out of the top sides of his head, no ears, no nose beside two holes in the center of its face, and thin lips with fangs over it. He’s pretty much Satan.

  

My hands drop the flashlight again. My first instinct is to roll out of under the bed and make a run for it, but I crash with something that is definitely not a wall. 

“Aw, they always run from us. Don’t you want to make new friends?” says the other one and smiles, his white teeth breaking through the darkness. “Don’t worry, we promise we won’t hurt you.” 

“Mooom! Mom!” I yell as loud as possible, my throat burning while at it. 

“Your mommy won’t come to the rescue, little human.” Says hoarse voice. 

Another lightning strike lights up the room and allows me to see him. He has purple skin, his eyes shiny orange, and a human-like face; he looks like an skeleton with skin.

Hoarse voice hits me hard in the head and that’s the last thing I remember. 

Author's Note

Please feel free to provide any feedback on this. Thanks for reading!

Reviews

[Yelissa]

Very sad and powerful. I really liked it.