The Things That Appear at Night…

Chapter 1
Purple Light?

I was trying hard not to doze off. I was in history class. Ms. Emily, my history teacher, has been talking for an hour now. She was explaining what all happened in World War 2. I really
like history. It’s interesting to know what all happened before I was born, how barbaric and inhuman people used to be. But having to listen to someone explain something for almost an hour is hard. So, I kept trying to stay awake and concentrate on what she was saying, in case she asks me a question unexpectedly. Teachers have a habit of doing that. I always get a panic attack when a teacher randomly asks me something; I then start stuttering and feel like the whole class is looking at me and judging my everything. It’s like I can feel their judgy eyes, burning through my skin – even though it’s not always the case. But, thanks to my overthinking mind, I can’t help but think in that negative way.
I looked at the clock that was on the classroom wall, above the door. Just two more classes to go, biology and math. I have to survive a little longer.
After the classes were over, we got homework on every subject we had today, as if we didn’t have anything better to do. Do the teachers really think we have no personal life other than school life?
I looked at my school schedule and saw that I still had two more hours of Physical Education (P.E.) before I could go home and rest. GREAT.
I hate sports. Not because I didn’t like to exercise, but it was because we girls had to play with the boys, who played like they were in World War Three or something. We girls couldn’t even have fun exercising. Since we were afraid one of the boys would accidentally hit us with one of the sports balls.
The boys kick and throw the balls so aggressively. I have always been a ball magnet. Everywhere I go, where people are playing with a sports ball, I somehow always end up getting hit by it. So, I stayed in a corner, praying that the time would go faster and that I could leave.
It was literally like a war field here; the chaos was overwhelming. I couldn’t even hear myself think with all the boys shouting, running, and kicking balls everywhere. I looked over and saw that all the girls were standing somewhere in a corner, hoping not to get hit by the sports balls. *sigh* Yup, that’s how we girls “exercise,” every time we have gym class. We just stand somewhere and worriedly look around, in case we need to dodge a ball thrown or kicked by one of the wild boys.
I wish the P.E. teachers would finally realize that boys and girls aren’t meant to play sports together … especially now that we have become older. They should just split us up, so we could all have fun exercising safely. That way I didn’t always need to make sure I survive, every time I have P.E. with these wild animals.
Oh well, I don’t need to worry about this for too much longer. This was the last year of high school – just a couple more months and school ends. Then we would get our diploma and finally graduate. That is, if we work hard and pass our central exams.
Everyone in my class already knows what they want to become and have their life all planned out. As if it’s the easiest decision you could ever make. This decision would have impact on our whole life. That frightened me the most and makes it hard for me to choose something. I still didn’t know what to become and so I told my school mentor that I needed a gap year. That way I would still have time to decide what I genuinely want to become.
When the school day was finally over, I quickly cycled back home. It was already time for dinner. I helped my mom set up the table and ate dinner with my family. We had my favorite: lasagna! Yummy! Every bite I took made me feel like I’m in heaven. I felt the flavors melting on my tongue, making me forget everything that stressed me out today. I felt like Remy from Ratatouille, during the scene when he was tasting the cheese and the strawberry.
After we were done stuffing our faces, I and my brothers Danny and Ben, helped my mom with the chores. When I was done with my half of the chores, I went upstairs to my room to do all the boring homework I got today.
It took me 10 minutes to finish both my biology and history homework. Since they were two of my favorite subjects, but, for my math homework, I needed 40 minutes. Because I’m so terrible with numbers, shapes and whatever else has to do with math. I never understood what math had to offer me in life, other than agony and emotional breakdowns. I just hope I don’t fail my central exams just because of math. I really needed to work hard if I wanted to graduate and not have to redo this year of school. I don’t think I could survive another year of school.
After I was finally done, I went downstairs to watch a movie with my family. We were watching, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I would do anything to be able to go to a world full of magic and scary, yet fun, adventures.
A world where I could wander around carefreely and not worry about a thing. Especially not to have to worry about all the expectations my parents had for me. I know they only want the best for me, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. It’s really hard trying to make them happy and proud of me all the time. Sometimes I do stuff only to make them happy, and I forget what delights me.
I saw how Bilbo and the dwarves were caught by the three trolls who wanted to eat them. This was one of my favorite scenes because it shows how useful Bilbo is, despite how small and weak he is. He always knows what to do and always ends up saving the dwarves.
I love the action and excitement of this movie. You can never get bored watching it; I have watched it over a hundred times already. Too bad I live in such a boring world and boring town, where nothing exciting ever happens. I never liked living in Chesterville. I have been living here since I was born. We somehow never needed to move away. When I turn eighteen, I would not hesitate to leave this boring place and go somewhere more crowded and alive, like a vital city.
When it got late, I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep, again. I guess worrying about my future and expectations so much gave me a lot of stress again. This is something I always have struggled with. Since I started being more responsible and have to make big decisions in my life.
My anxiety and fears really have an impact on my sleeping and my health.
When I stress about something, I always get really painful stomachaches. I even went to the doctor to check if anything’s wrong with me. But every time I would go, they would tell me that my stress is so much that it quickly impacts my body and gives me painful cramps. They would then tell me to just calm down and relax. That’s easier said than done, doc.
So, after it was twelve o’clock midnight, I was still awake and heard my parents brush their teeth. A couple of minutes passed by, and everyone was sound asleep, excluding me. I just couldn’t go to sleep. So, I just laid on my bed looking at the white ceiling. I then started counting sheep in my head, that usually works.
Then suddenly, I saw a purple light reflecting in my room, through my windows. The light lit up my whole room; it was so beautiful. I got curious. I then got out of bed and walked to the windows to see what that was. I wasn’t into sleeping anyway. So, when I walked up to my window, I saw a bright purple light in the dark starry sky. It kept coming closer.
First, I thought it was an airplane, but the purple object kept coming closer and closer, blinding me with its light. It then crashed in the middle of the woods, somewhere close to my house. It didn’t make a lot of noise. I then started panicking. What am I supposed to do?
First, I thought I should wake my parents or call the police. This was an emergency. There could be people hurt or severely injured in that airplane. But then a random and crazy thought went through me and told me that I should go and check it out myself. It was in the middle of the night, so anything could happen to a girl like me. I was really scared, but my curiosity was much more powerful than my fear. Besides maybe a late-night walk would help me sleep.
So, I did the craziest thing ever, I quietly went downstairs put my jacket and shoes on, quietly opened the door and closed it carefully not to wake up my family. Then, I quickly sprinted over to the woods, like a careless idiot in a horror movie.
While I was walking through the dark woods, I had so many regrets. Why am I even doing this? This is madness! I should just call the cops so they can take care of it, but no, I am too stubborn to go back now. Especially since I have already come this far. So, I kept walking and, when I saw the purple light shining far from me, my heart was beating like crazy, as if I just ran a marathon or something. The smell of burned wood then filled my nose – a tree was on fire. I heard an owl howling somewhere in a tree. I felt like I was in a horror movie or something.
I then walked towards the light, something everyone says not to do, but I am an idiot, if you didn’t know that. When I came close enough to the strange-looking airplane machine thingy, a wave of heat hit me. The heat came from the airplane machine thingy. I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure it was not an airplane. So, I just stood there staring at it, trying to figure out what I was looking at. Then, in an instant, the strange machine thingy opened, and I saw a gray humanoid creature, who had big black eyes, strange shapes on his face, wavy short white hair, and strange pointy ears come out of the machine!
I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was an alien creature looking right at me, and he was coming CLOSER!!!! OH MY GOD! What am I supposed to do? I don’t want to get eaten! Oh no, I should have brought something to protect myself with. This was definitely not a good idea.
I slowly stepped back, and he kept coming closer to me, and he came so close to me, that we didn’t have any personal space between us. He was three heads taller than me, which is not a real surprise, because I am truly short. He was of sturdy build. I bet he could overpower me without even trying. He looked right through me; I felt my body trembling in fear of what he might do to me.
I couldn’t move or say anything, so I just stared at him. He stared back at me strangely like he’s never seen a human being before. Of course he didn’t; he’s an alien after all, silly me. He then raised his right hand and put it on my head. I closed my eyes, ready to feel pain, but then the strangest thing happened. He took his hand away. I opened my eyes, looked at him, and he spoke to me in my own language! How is that even possible?!
He said, “Human girl, begone or else … I WILL HURT YOU!!!”
Well, he did not have to tell me twice before I ran across the woods back home, went upstairs in my bed and pulled my blanket over my face, with my heart beating like crazy. After a couple of seconds, I slowly walked to my window and saw that he didn’t follow me. Phew!” I sighed in relief. I got back in bed.
I couldn’t believe it! I saw an ALIEN!!!! And he wasn’t nice at all!!
I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about that alien. “What was he doing there? What does he want? Where did he come from?” Those are the questions I kept thinking about, over and over again. I closed my eyes for a couple of hours and, before I knew it, my alarm went off. It was morning. My eyes were burning because of the lack of sleep I had tonight.
I quickly stood up, got myself ready and went to school as if nothing strange had happened. At school, I could not concentrate at all. I kept thinking about the alien. I really wanted to tell everyone what I saw but having a secret like this made me feel special and different in a fun way, and it somehow felt wrong to say, so I just shut my mouth.
I kept wondering what he was doing right now and why he came here in the first place. My friend kept talking to me, but I wasn’t paying attention to her; I was lost in my thoughts.
So, when school was over, I quickly went back home, got a bag, put some food inside it and went back to the woods. I quietly went to the place where I first encountered him and saw that he was still there. He was busy with his spaceship.
I then breathed in and out, gathered some courage and said, “Hello.”
He looked at me surprised, then he shouted, “What are you doing here!?! I thought I told you I was going to hurt you if you come close to me!!!”
I showed him the bag full of food and said, “I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you some food.”
He looked at the bag and shouted, “LEAVE! I don’t need help from a pathetic human like you!!”
My eyes started filling themselves with tears, and I felt like I was going to cry. So, I just dropped the bag there and ran as fast as I could back home.
My mom came to me and asked me what happened. I said, “Oh, it’s nothing. I just got something in my eye. Nothing to worry about.”
She looked at me trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. I then gave her a fake smile. She finally fell for it, nodded, and went back to the kitchen to keep an eye on the food she was making. Judging by the aroma of the food, she was making pasta with tomato sauce.
I then rushed to my room. OK, I do understand that sometimes people, or aliens, I guess, want to be left alone, but this kind of anger inside him was not normal. It was like … I was like an enemy to him …


The Next Day

At school, I was talking with my best friend, Anne. She has been my friend since kindergarten, and we both have brown hair and brown eyes. Sometimes people would assume that we’re sisters. I wish we were. I always wanted to have a sister. We were talking about an anime series we both liked. So, yea, we are kind of weebs. The anime was called Maid-Sama. I love it so much! It’s my favorite anime. Usually I tell Anne everything, and I wanted to tell her about the alien, since she and I are also fond of science-fiction stuff. But I somehow couldn’t tell her. We always watch alien-related movies when we have sleepovers, and one time when we were still kids, we dressed ourselves as aliens on Halloween. Those were some good old memories; they were the times when we were too young to worry about our futures and everything else stressful that was to come. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to the time when I was still a carefree kid. My mind was so peaceful back then.
Anyway, it felt wrong to tell Anne for some reason. I preferred to keep it to myself in case she got too excited and told everyone. Since Anne does have a habit of not being able to keep a secret, so yeah, it’s for the best, I guess. When school was over, I cycled back home, and ate dinner with my family. I wondered what my family would do if I told them about the alien. They would probably laugh at me and think I’m joking, since I always make stuff up to scare my little brothers for fun.
Then, I started wondering if the alien would be hungry too, so I put half of my food inside a lunch box, and then I went outside and cycled to the woods. I parked my bike next to a tree and went to the place where he had crashed. I saw his spaceship, but didn’t see him, so I put the food next to his spaceship and left.
On the way home, I wondered if he ate the food, I gave him last time. It wasn’t there so, hopefully, he ate everything. I then went home and headed to my room. I put my comfy baby Yoda pajamas on and watched some funny videos and then went to my Art account and posted some of my art. I may not be popular at school, but, on this social art app, where you can make and post your art at the same time. I am quite the popular person. A lot of people like my art, and I have a lot of online friends. Only on this app, I can be myself and have friends who fully understand me and can really relate to me. Too bad those people live on the other side of the planet.


The Next Day

I woke up and I saw that I was late for school! Damn it! My alarm clock didn’t go off. I rushed and put my outdoor clothes on, brushed my teeth and put my books in my bag, I ran downstairs. That’s when I realized I had a whole week off from school. “Phew!” I guess I forgot since my mind has been so busy thinking about that alien the whole time.
I went back upstairs and went in bed again, but it was too late; my parents were also awake. So, I had to come back downstairs, to eat breakfast. “Ugh!” I wanted to sleep in. So, I then came back down. After my mom made breakfast for all of us, we all sat down and started eating together. I am not a morning person so, I remained silent while my parents and brothers were all talking to each other. I then laid down on the couch and watched some TV. My favorite cooking program just started. I may not be a good cook, but I sure love to see others cook and get harshly criticized by the honest judges. When the program was over, I watched the news, and there was another person missing. During these past months, there have been a lot of people missing. The news keeps talking about how those people had disappeared unexpectedly. I can’t believe that those people could just disappear without a trace, it’s just not logical. I felt sorry for all their family and friends, who are worried sick. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that if someone is missing more than a month, they were most certainly killed by their kidnapper. I then turned off the TV. Too much sad and negative news can give you anxiety, and I have more than enough of that.
I then started wondering what that alien was doing. I wanted to know if he ate the food I gave him. So, I put a chocolate bar in my pocket and cycled to the woods. I saw him – he was busy with his spaceship.
Then, I gathered some courage again and greeted him. He looked at me with those big black eyes of his and said, “Why do you keep coming back, human girl? Don’t you get that I will hurt you?”
I rolled my eyes and ignored him. I then pulled out the chocolate bar from my pocket, raised it in front of him and said, “This is called chocolate. You have to try it. It’s really good.”
He looked at me, clearly annoyed by me. He then looked at the chocolate bar and said, “If I take that from you, will you finally leave me alone?”
I smiled and said, “Yes.” But that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave him alone for real, because there’s no way he is going to get rid of me that easily. Ha-Ha!
He then came closer to me and looked right into my eyes. It was like he was looking right through me. He then slowly took the chocolate bar from me and, as promised, I turned around and left him, only for today of course. I’m just glad he didn’t shout at me again. I guess I’m making a little progress with him. When I was walking back toward my bike, I looked back and saw the bags that I brought for him the other times. They were empty now. So, he really did eat the foods I bring him. I then cycled back home with a big smile plastered on my face.


The Next Day

I was busy studying for a test in math, ugh! I had to take the test after the short holiday was over. While I was trying hard to understand the calculations I had to memorize for my test, my father called me from downstairs. I went downstairs to see what he wanted, and he then told me to get changed, because the whole family is going out. So, I rushed back upstairs and put some nice clothes on and went to wait inside the car. I guess I need to study some other time. Having fun with my family is more important now. I wanted to check on the alien and give him some food again, but I don’t have time, and I bet he will be more than happy not seeing me for a day, *sigh* whatever …
We went to a park and had a barbecue with the entire family. I and my cousins wandered around the park. When we saw an ice cream truck, we obviously ran to buy some ice cream. I bought chocolate-flavored ice cream, and my cousins all got strawberry-flavored ice cream. I never understood how people could eat that flavor; it’s so disgusting. Oh well, I guess everyone has their own taste, no matter how disgusting it may be to me.
We then found our special tree and climbed it. We always climb that tree when we come to this park, and we would talk about the weirdest and craziest things in our life. Of course, I didn’t tell them about the alien incident. That’s something between me and me alone. They don’t need to know that. Some of them might even freak out and tell everyone.