“Colby! Wake up!” My eyes flew open. Mom and Dad were standing next to my bed, both with worried looks. Dad handed me a phone. Confused, I took it and held it to my ear. “Hello?” A woman’s voice answered.

“Did you see Shelby go home?” What? Why would Shelby’s mom call me at two in the morning to ask if I saw her daughter go home?

“Is she not there?” I asked. Shelby’s mom burst into tears. She started to say something, but a humming noise started up. The phone clicked as the connection was severed. Trembling, my hand lowered the phone from my ear slowly. I thought back to what happened before I got home.

Mark, Shelby, Nicole and I all lived in the same vicinity, but we had to walk in different directions to get home. We were laughing and reliving the party as we walked down Nick’s driveway. A strange humming noise filled the air, and the power went out. We hurriedly said our goodbyes and parted ways, anxious to get home. About a block away from home, I heard a scream. For a second, I thought that it was just someone having too much fun at the party. I ran the rest of the way home, just in case that wasn’t the party.
***

I realized as I was holding the phone that the humming noise I heard on the phone was the same sound that I heard before the power went out. Something was wrong, but whatever it was, I didn’t know.


The next morning started normally as I ate my breakfast. Summer break was finally here. I relaxed until I turned on the television. Various reports of a missing girl were on every channel. Shelby’s picture was plastered on every station. The events of last night came rushing back as reporters talked about the disappearing teen. I shut off the T.V., overcome with fear. That scream must have been Shelby. But what happened? Possibilities raced through my head. Could she have been kidnapped? No, that’s never happened here. Did she get lost? No, she would’ve found her way back by now. What else would’ve happened to her? I forced myself to calm down. That too failed, when another report came on about Shelby’s mom. She was gone too.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have any evidence of what happened.” I hung my head. I thought that the police could help, but apparently they can’t.

“No, I’m sorry.” I started in rage. “I’m sorry that you can just sit here and tell me that a mother and her daughter just got up and did a disappearing act in the same night. That’s not your job! You’re supposed to find these people and bring them home, not just tell me that you don’t know what happened!” The officer stood up.

“I care just as much about these people as you do kid. We’re doing all we can to find them, but it’s like I said, we don’t have anything to show what happened.” I wanted to scream, but instead, I thanked the officer for his time, and walked quietly out of the station. I hadn’t noticed how fast today went by. It was already night, and I had get home. I realized that I had walked to the police station, and that left one option to get home. Just like the night at the party, I started down the long trail to home. I jogged more than I ran, fearing that horrible humming noise that would surely come.

At last, I could see my house, and the power was still on. I climbed up the stairs and set my hand on the doorknob. Suddenly, the humming noise filled the air as all the street lights flickered and popped, plunging the street into darkness. I tried without success to open the locked door. Where was everyone? I rang the doorbell, but there was still no answer. I didn’t have my house key, and the back door was surely locked. I shook the door and yelled in desperation, but nothing happened. A blood curdling scream reverberated down the darkened road. ‘Not again.’ I thought. Just when I thought that things couldn’t get worse, another scream broke the silence. It was closer. I kicked the door, trying to open it. Why was no one answering the door? I started banging the door, screaming for someone to let me in. A third scream sounded from the house across the street. I froze in fear, unable to move, let alone try anymore to open the door. Something shook the ground. Thud, thud thud. It was moving towards me. I tried again to knock the door down, but with fruitless efforts. Thud. Thud. Thud. I slammed my body into the door. THUD. THUD. THUD. The noise stopped. I turned around and looked up. Looking right back at me was a pair of glowing eyes. The creature growled, and something grabbed me. I screamed as it lifted me off of the ground and toward those hideous eyes.
***

Phones rang everywhere. Officer Oldham tried his best to answer them all. ‘Four people gone in one night. That’s not possible.’ He thought. He set down the phone he was holding and turned on the news. Sure enough, on every channel was a picture of four people, all supposedly gone. Officer Oldham sighed and rubbed his eyes. Six people had vanished in a matter of days. These things aren’t supposed to happen. One last phone call was made. The officer answered, but all he heard was humming. The lights popped and went out. Oldham reached for his handgun. He could only hear one noise. THUD. THUD. THUD.