The head was oval with large black eyes. No pupils. Its skin looked smooth and gray in color. That was all Nathan remembered before all went dark and he awoke the next morning on his floor. The being stared silently at him for a few seconds. He remembered that but nothing else. Nothing else. He tried to explain to his parents what he saw to his parents but all he got from them was a string of patronizing explanations.
“Sounds like this whole Susan Carpenter thing has gotten to you,” Mom said.
“I think maybe you just had a nightmare, but it felt real,” Dad said. “Those are the worst.”
But it wasn’t a nightmare and, yes, this whole Susan Carpenter thing had sure enough gotten to him. How could it not? She had said they were still out there in the woods. The ones who took her were still out there. He lay awake the next night wondering if what he saw in his window was what took Susan. He also wondered if the light and the thing in his window were linked. These thoughts consumed him for three sleepless nights. He refused to look out his window. The curtains remained closed day and night.
“You look awful, babe,” Jane said to him at school after a fourth sleepless night and Nathan considered telling her what he saw in his window. Perhaps she would understand.
Then, he decided against it. Jane couldn’t understand what he had seen. Only one person could.
Susan Carpenter.
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