Blogtober, Day 11: Alluring

Nathan woke up. His usual morning routine passed without incident. He showered. Brushed his teeth. Got dressed. Ate a blueberry Pop-Tart for breakfast. He even found time to admire the alluring photographs in the Playboy magazine hidden under his bed. This was not a usual routine, though, because the image of the figure in the woods was burned in his memory. Whoever it was, they were short in stature. No taller than Archie as far Nathan could tell.

Archie spent the night in his parents’ bed. They saw the light, but not the figure.

“Probably just a weird shadow thing with the trees,” his dad had said.

“What do you think that light was?” Mom asked Dad while they were all eating breakfast.

“No clue,” he said. “I’ll let the sheriff know about it, though. How’s Archie?”

“He seems completely unfazed by it,” Mom said. “I’m still keeping home from school today. I took a sick day so I’ll be here with him. We’ll be fine. I’ll let you know if any more weird lights show up.”

She seemed awfully calm about this, Nathan thought. She stood and walked to the kitchen sink and looked out the window as she sipped her coffee. Dad joined her, put his arm around her waist, and kissed her on the cheek. He mumbled something in her ear that Nathan couldn’t hear but it prompted a half smile from her.

“C’mon, sport,” Dad said to Nathan. “I’ll drive you to school.”

Nathan left against his better judgment.