The Night One's by Lea Wilson (christmas read aloud TXT) 📖

The Night Ones:
An original short story by Lea M. Wilson

There used to be a town that I lived in my whole life. It used to so beautiful…that is until the Night Ones. There were many other people that lived in this beautiful town. They were trying to build a machine to eliminate the Night Ones. That’s what we called them. They lived in the mountains around our town, making loud noises when it was night, being very silent when they took someone from our town.
Well construction stopped one day, for the Night Ones had finally invaded our town. They took everyone that was outside not hiding, and those taken were never seen or heard from again. I never heard any stories about survivors, so I always assumed that there were none. I think Mina and I, Mina was my best friend, were the only ones for a while, though I could have sworn I saw a few people in the daylight, but they were only shadows. I know there were at least three survivors, but they were eventually taken. I wish I had found a way out of that town sooner, maybe things would have gone differently.
Some people used to say that the Night Ones kept you for dinner. Others, they’d just kill you and dispose of you in the incinerator. But one that was said most often said was they put you in the gas chambers. Nobody except those that had been taken knew what the Night Ones looked like.
So my part in this story? Well it all started on a sunny morning, I had gone outside to go see how much work had to be done on the Machine. We were allowed to go outside in the day, because the Night Ones hated it, they were never out in the sun. It was Mina’s idea to work on the Machine, although she stayed inside most of the day because she was afraid of our town. Anyway I thought it was a good idea to work on the Machine, not that I knew much about it. I didn’t even know how it worked; all I had to do was follow the blueprints that had been left behind. So I began working on the Machine. Daylight was short inside the walls of our town. The walls had been built by the Night Ones after they had invaded. I had maybe five to six hours of light, and right when I thought I was getting somewhere with the Machine on the first day…the Noises started. When the Noises started it always meant they were coming. They never came right away, but they always made a lot of noise when they were coming, unless they were attacking. Well anyways, I had lost track of time and I could feel my heart pounding with fear. Sweat was rolling down my forehead with anxiety. I dropped my tools and ran towards the house, my legs feeling like sand bags like in nightmares. As soon as I was in the house I began locking all the doors and windows’, checking to make sure every light was turned out.
I ran to the bathroom, where Mina and I hid every night and locked the door. Mina was already sleeping, curled up next to the sink. I kept the bathroom incredibly clean, especially where I slept next to the toilet. I turned out the light and curled up with my blankets.
A few days later, maybe weeks later, Mina and I were eating a late lunch talking about what would become of us when we heard drilling coming from outside. We stared at each other for a minute wondering if the Night Ones had dared show up in day. But voices reached the house, sounding too human to be the Night Ones. We both ran to the door and ran to the walk way. There were two men out working on the Machine, but it was hard to see how old they were from the hill our house sat on. It was getting late, and the Noise had started. The men continued to work, unaware of the danger yet. I called out to them, and they looked up from their work. They threw their tools down and ran towards the house, finally realizing the danger they were in.
That night all four of us crammed into the bathroom.
The two men stayed in our house for ten months, or that’s I many months I marked off. They were really nice, and about our age, which was early twenties. One night Mina and Dave, one of the men, had a spat. She got up from the table and left to go the bathroom.
I suppose I should tell you that Dave and Tom had found a place to stay at that was safe and had moved in there. It was very close to where they could work on the Machine. I was sitting with Tom on the sofa, talking about what we could do if we could only get out of the town. Tom said he wanted to marry me. I said I would. But it was late and they had to leave for the night. Tom kissed me goodnight and went out the door. I watched his figure fade into the last bit of light left. Then the Noise started, and I realized that Tom would never make it home in time.
“Tom, please come back!” I shouted.
“Lock the door,” was his only reply as he finally faded around the corner from my sight.
“No!” I shouted, falling to my knees crying bitterly. The Noise was getting closer and I had to get up. Slowly I raised myself and closed the door, tears silently rolling down my cheeks. I turned to go lock the other doors and turn off lights. I walked past Dave.
“You can stay for the night,” I said without emotion. I went to the bathroom and closed the door. I told Mina to get down and I turned off the light. Mina turned the light back on. I heard the front door unlock and open. I gasped.
“I told him to stay,” I told Mina. I was crouched low by the sink. I stared at Mina who was standing in front of the mirror. She took out a tube of bright red lipstick and started applying it.
“What are you doing? You’re not going to wear lipstick to bed,” I told her. She had already applied eye shadow and eyeliner, she was all dolled up. She unlocked the door. I heard movement going around in the house. The Night Ones were in searching.
“No! What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Don’t stop me.” Was the last thing she ever said to me. There was no smile on her pretty face. I went behind the door as she opened it. I watched her through the mirror as she walked into the living room. I also saw a really fast glimpse of a Night One and I don’t care to recall what it looked like.
I closed and locked the door. I was still looking in the mirror, seeing the petrified look on my face, too shocked to cry anymore. They started banging on the door and I just stood there, arms tightly crossed.
The next morning I woke sitting against the wall. The Night Ones apparently weren’t very smart because they had never gotten the bathroom door opened. I heard no sounds, so I opened the door. The house was wrecked; all the furniture was overturned and thrown aside. There were tears in the curtains, and holes in the walls. I was the only one left. I walked to where the door was hanging off its hinges. It was early morning and I knew I had a lot of work to do. I started cleaning the house and putting things back in its place. Then I went upstairs and went into the bedroom I hadn’t used in a very long time. I boarded up the window and set up a sleeping space in my huge walk-in closet.
I sat for the longest time, but then got back up to lock up the house, and board all the windows. I went back to the closet and locked the door, turned off the light and waited. Of course the Night Ones would come back now knowing I was still there. I just had to be smart and try to get out of the town. In an hour I could hear them outside trying to figure out how they were going to get inside this time, now that everything was boarded up. For the moment I felt safe, I went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up and went outside to look at the Machine. It was almost finished and probably would only take a couple days to finish. However I no longer wanted to finish the Machine. I had lost my best friend, and the man I loved all in one night and I felt I could no longer continue in this town. I had to get out.
I walked over to the beginning of the wall and found that there was hallway with a door at the end. The door was locked but there was an air vent above it. Even though it made no sense, I went back to the house and grabbed a ladder and unscrewed the vent. I could easily fit through the hole. I wasn’t to go yet though. I placed the vent back into place and I went over to the gate that separated where the Night Ones lived and where the towns’ people used to live. I peered inside, seeing nothing or hearing nothing. Time was slipping away and I waited until I heard the Noise before I went back to the house. I boarded up the door and went to bed. The next day, I woke up as early as I could and went outside to stand in front of the gate. I had a small backpack on, that carried rope, a flashlight, and granola bars, water, a gun and a knife.
Then I did the craziest thing anyone could ever do. I crossed the border into the sleeping domain of the Night Ones. I moved quickly but silently until I came upon carvings in the mountain side and decided to go with the one on my level. I walked in cautiously and took out my flashlight and my gun. I held the gun in my right hand and flashlight in the other. I turned on the flashlight, and then quickly turned it off. There were Night Ones everywhere, standing against the wall with their hunched backs heaving with each breath. I took a deep breath and turned it back on. Carefully keeping the light off any of them as I made my way through the crowd. I made it through the largest crowd and it started thinning out as I got deeper into