The following three days were marked by a tension that no member of the family dared to mention.
Every morning Donald left for his workshop displaying a disinterest that called into question the reliability of the news reports.
Linda was a woman shaped by the realities of life and death through her nursing experience. Yet, she found her usual composure clashing with a deep, instinctive fear only a mother could feel.
During her breaks at work, she would call home, her voice overly stern. At times, too commanding, each time she called to ask about Daniel and Chloe.
True to her word, Chloe refused to go to school.
She spent the majority of her day sitting near the window, staring up at the sky.
Meanwhile, Daniel was caught in the middle of the chaos. He tried to shift his focus from the whole thing by spending time doing what he does best— playing video games.
The image of his sisters face repeatedly appeared in his mind.
He frequently caught himself staring at the clock. The hours slipping away seemed like a countdown… almost as if it were the ticking of a time bomb.
On the third day, everything seemed completely normal. Nothing unusual happened, and the sun rose at its usual time. People carried on with their daily routines as if nothing were amiss.
By the afternoon, Linda had already called three times.
Donald had called once, his tone blunt, telling Daniel to "make sure your sister isn't scaring herself silly."
The house remained quiet, except for the low hum of the refrigerator and the anxious voices of reporters on the TV, which Danielhad left on as background noise.
He was about to pick up a can of soda from the fridge in the kitchen when the microwave clock changed to 2:30 PM.
It did not begin with sound. It started with a feeling.
A powerful, profound tremor started beneath the earth. It surged upwards as if a colossal beast were stirring beneath thefoundations of the world.
The floor under Daniel moved sideways making a glass tumble from the counter and shattering on the tiles with a sound that was immediately swallowed by a deafening roar.
"Daniel!" Chloe shouted from the living area.
He held onto the doorframe as the entire house shook violently. Books tumbled from the shelves.
Pictures shook on the walls. A loud creaking snap spidered its way up the plaster next to him.
This wasn't a gentle tremor. It was a violent earthquake, registering an astonishing 15.8Mw on the magnitude scale.
He could hear the tortured screech of twisting metal and the explosive crash of collapsing structures from outside.
The tremor was so intense it seemed as if the earth was tearing open.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, the shaking stopped. Complete stillness took over.
But the terror was far from over!
Daniel looked through the window in horror as the hazy afternoon light began to fade with impossible speed.
It wasn't the gentle descent of evening, it was as if a global switch had been turned on.
The sun, their sun, was being consumed.
Within seconds, it disappeared completely. It was replaced by a ring of darkness hanging in the sky.
The world was plunged into total darkness, a profound void that felt more complete than any night.
But it wasn't truly dark.
Exactly, at the center of the sky, where the sun should have been, a new celestial body pulsed into existence.
A moon was suspended in the sky. It wasn't the silver-white they were familiar with, rather it glowed with a blood-red shade.
It cast the world in gruesome shades of red and black, turning their street into something resembling a horror film setting or a slaughter house.
Panic erupted.
The momentary silence was broken by the shriek of car alarms, the screech of tires and the sickening clash of metals striking, as motorists startled by the blinded by the sudden darkness, crashed into one another.
Then the shouting started. It was intense and overwhelming, rising from every direction.
"Daniel, whats going on?" Chloe stood beside him, trembling uncontrollably with a pale face, under the ghastly glow.
He gently pulled her away from the window, his heart racing wildly within his chest like a bird struggling to escape.
On the TV, the news anchor was no longer her usual composed self.
Her face shone under the studio lights damp with sweat.
"We… we are getting reports… I don't understand," she stammered, her voice cracking.
The camera feed cut to a shaky, handheld view from a news helicopter, showing a city street bathed in the same hellish red light.
People were running, their bodies casting long, distorted shadows.
But they weren't just running from the chaos. They were running from something else!
As the camera moved closer, the picture grew blurry and unstable.
Unusual shapes began appearing from the alleyways and from glowing cracks that seemed to open in the very air.
They seemed grotesque. Certain figures took form. Displayed twisted horns protruding from their brows with stretched-out limbs and skin colored like bruised flesh.
They were monstrous. Some took human forms with horns but grotesquely twisted. They had long limbs and their skin was the colour of bruised flesh.
Others were skittering, insect-like creatures that moved with a horrifying speed.
The reporters tone escalated into a shout.
"They're everywhere! Oh God, they're killing people! They're monsters! They're...." The feed cut to static.
Daniel was seized by a overwhelming fear.
This wasn't a natural disaster. It was an invasion.
The sarcastic comments his dad made about survival kits and his own irritation over missing the football game now seemed like echoes, from a time that had long disappeared.
At that moment the sole thing that truly mattered was the trembling girl next to him.
His mind, once clouded by lazy indifference turned keen and brimming with urgency.
"Keep away from the windows!" he shouted, his voice sounding odd to his own ears.
He swiftly led Chloe through the corridor of the house heading toward the door and fastening the deadbolt with a snap.
He hurried around the house, securing the door and drawing the curtains closed, enveloping them in almost complete darkness, a refuge from the crimson horror outside.
He grabbed his phone, his thumb fumbling across the screen.
He dialed his mother's number. The call didn't even ring.
A pre-recorded voice, soothing stated: "All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later."
He tried again. And again. Nothing.
With shaking hands, he dialed his father's number. The same result. They were alone. Completely and utterly alone.
The screams outside were getting closer now, punctuated by deep, inhuman roars that vibrated through the walls of the house.
He heard a window shatter at the neighbour's house, followed by a series of wet, tearing sounds and a final, choked-off cry.
They were coming!
Chloe sobbed loudly, her small hands tightly covering her mouth to stifle the sound.
Her wide, terrified eyes gleamed in the dark.
They couldn't stay in the hallway. They needed to hide. His eyes swept over the room, searching, assessing.
The couch? Way too predictable. Under the beds? The very spot everyone would check first.
His eyes then settled on the wooden wardrobe in his room. It was deep, packed with old clothes and blankets his mom refused to throw away.
A sanctuary of forgotten things.
"Chloe, listen to me," he murmured, grabbing her by her shoulders . His tone was gentle. "We have to hide, Now!"
He practically dragged her into his bedroom.
The monstrous sounds were just outside their front door now, a heavy, rhythmic thudding, accompanied by a low, scraping noise, like claws on concrete.
There was absolutely no more time!!
He pulled the wardrobe door open, the old wood groaning in protest. He began moving aside piles of clothes, creating a space at the back.
"Get in. All the way to the back," he commanded.
Chloe, paralyzed by fear, just stared at him.
The knocking, on the door intensified into a bang. They had broken in.
"NOW!" Daniel shouted, his voice filled with panic. The fear, in his tone finally broke her paralysis.
She rushed into the closet sliding into the space. He flung clothes and a musty blanket over her, hiding her completely.
Then, just as non-human footsteps began to stomp through their living room, he squeezed himself into the remaining space. He pulled the door shut until it was closed, leaving only a sliver of a crack.
The darkness inside the wardrobe was absolute, thick with the smell of mothballs and dust.
He felt Chloe's shaking body pressed against his back. He wrapped an arm around her holding her tightly.
At this moment he was able to hear the creatures, within the house.They overturned furnitures. Their movements was marked by guttural clicks and low growls.
They were searching.
He inclined his head downward until his lips were close to Chloe's ear. He felt her quick anxious breaths lightly touching his cheek.
He gave her the only instruction that mattered, the one their lives depended on.
"Do not make a sound."