I remember, I was roughly seven years old. It was late out. The glow of the street lights penetrated the light blue curtains that loosely hung in my bedroom window. Shadows would cast all over my room. Different shapes and sizes, leaving me to stare into the dark masses. Thinking back on it now, I was a very nervous kid. I didn’t like confrontations, I obeyed my parents, I paid attention at school, I found if easier to play along with the mundane system of life. It worked, for me at least.
I remember on this particular night I had just finished up some homework before I retired to bed. I instantly fell asleep.
I was awoken by what I thought was a flash. It was harshly bright. Could it have been lightning? I couldn’t hear any thunder or any raindrops pattering on the window. I layed back down and shut my eyes. The flash, again. Though this time I caught it lighting up the room for a few milliseconds longer.
I unravelled myself from my bed sheets and sat up, staring at the curtains. No flash.
A few minutes had passed. Still no flash. I slowly made for the window, casting all kinds of shadows across my bedroom floor as I moved. I nudged the curtain open slightly and looked across the street. Nothing. Just trash cans aligned outside our neighbours houses, I scanned up and down the road squinting as the street light beamed on my face and still could see nothing out of the ordinary.
Flash! I saw it. It came from a bush just behind the garden fence. I froze. I couldn’t breathe. There was a figure standing in the bush, staring at me, I couldn’t tell properly. Was he or she staring at me? They must have been.
I turned to get my parents. FLASH!
Mum and dad weren’t happy I woke them up. When we got to the window there was no figure. No flash. Nothing. Just the usual street scenery that existed every day, every night. I didn’t sleep that night.
20 years later I now own my parents house. They moved but gave me the house so that I could have a head start in life. I now have a wife and a little boy.
My little boy told me he saw a flash last night…