Latest / Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories / Paranormal Phenomena: Unraveling the Eerie Events Leading to Liam's Disappearance at 3:33 a.m.

Transcript

Paranormal Phenomena: Unraveling the Eerie Events Leading to Liam's Disappearance at 3:33 a.m. · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

• 0:12
  I have to find out, Marie. I have to end it.
• 0:16
  Can't go on like this. I still love you, even if you
• 0:21
  don't love me back. Look after Lucy.
• 0:25
  And if you wake up at 3:33 AM, don't look outside.
• 0:32
  That's what my husband's note said.
• 0:34
  The note he left before he vanished just walked out of the
• 0:38
  house in the middle of the night and never came back.
• 0:42
  Front door wide open, his car still parked on the drive, his
• 0:46
  clothes still hanging in the cupboard, even left his
• 0:49
  toothbrush. I suppose I should start at the
• 0:53
  beginning. It's just hard to know exactly
• 0:55
  when that was. Liam and I had been married for
• 0:58
  almost 8 years but had been having problems for more than
• 1:02
  half that. After our daughter was born, our
• 1:05
  sex life fizzled out and I suppose things spiraled from
• 1:08
  there. We could never quite get on the
• 1:11
  same page, and every small thing would inevitably lead to massive
• 1:15
  arguments. When old frustrations don't get
• 1:18
  chance to evaporate, they just simmer beneath the surface, and
• 1:23
  I think we were both guilty of spilling over the edges at the
• 1:26
  slightest increase of heat. Eventually we simply found it
• 1:31
  easiest to stay out of each other's way.
• 1:33
  We each had dominion over different shores.
• 1:36
  He cooked, I cleaned, and generally the only time we spent
• 1:40
  together was sleeping. One particular morning, as I
• 1:45
  stirred from my dreams, I was surprised to find him sat up in
• 1:48
  bed, propped against the backrest and staring forward
• 1:51
  into space. Normally, once Liam was awake,
• 1:54
  he was up and about. Maybe it was because of his work
• 1:58
  or his outdoor hobbies, but he had always been a morning
• 2:01
  person. He noticed I was awake and
• 2:03
  snapped himself out of whatever thoughts he'd been ensnared in.
• 2:08
  Everything OK? I asked.
• 2:11
  Just tired. He said, stretching like a bear
• 2:15
  out of hibernation. As if to exaggerate the point.
• 2:19
  He clamored out of bed and paused, as if hesitating whether
• 2:22
  to tell me something. As he dressed, his voice took on
• 2:26
  an air of forced casualness. Woke up in the middle of the
• 2:30
  night and checked the clock. Tossed and turned for what fell
• 2:34
  like hours, and when I looked back at the clock it was still
• 2:37
  the same time. Must have misread the clock the
• 2:40
  first time. I yawned, rolling over and
• 2:43
  closing my eyes. I could hear him muttering to
• 2:46
  himself as he put his socks on. Something about never believing
• 2:49
  him about anything. If my eyes were open, I would
• 2:53
  have rolled them. The rest of that day was normal
• 2:56
  though. He took Lucy to school and went
• 2:59
  to work, and I probably would have forgotten all about it, but
• 3:02
  after we'd gone to bed, I awoke to a thud in the dead of night,
• 3:06
  barely visible to the Starlight drifting around the curtains.
• 3:09
  Liam stood at the foot of the bed and I sat up, rubbing my
• 3:13
  eyes. What are you doing?
• 3:16
  Stupid phone won't work. He snapped.
• 3:19
  Not so loud. You'll wake up Lucy.
• 3:21
  I hissed. First the clock freezes now, my
• 3:26
  phone won't turn on. He moaned, albeit quieter.
• 3:30
  My eyes drifted to the floor where a dim rectangle of light
• 3:33
  was reflecting off the carpet. Well, it's on now.
• 3:39
  Liam stopped pacing and turned around as he scooped up the
• 3:42
  phone. It's bright screen illuminated.
• 3:44
  His face wrinkled up in confusion.
• 3:47
  Must have knocked some sense into it.
• 3:49
  Using his phone screen as a light source, he walked out of
• 3:53
  the door towards the bathroom clock.
• 3:56
  Definitely needs new batteries though.
• 3:58
  He added in a whisper, stretching over to his side of
• 4:02
  the bed. I reached over his pillow to the
• 4:04
  bedside table and lifted his alarm clock to face me.
• 4:08
  It's black face showed large Crimson numbers on a digital
• 4:11
  display. 3:34 AM. As I squinted at it through the
• 4:16
  darkness, it flickered to 3:35 AM.
• 4:19
  Seemed to be working fine to me. I rolled over to the side of my
• 4:23
  bed and went back to sleep. It was my turn to take Lucy to
• 4:28
  school that day, and as I got her dressed, Liam made
• 4:31
  breakfast. Turned out he actually had woken
• 4:33
  her up when he'd thrown his phone, and he must have felt
• 4:36
  guilty since he made pancakes. They'd always been Lucy's
• 4:39
  favorite, probably from one movie or another, and despite
• 4:42
  Liam's insistence that we're not Americans, we don't have
• 4:45
  pancakes for bloody breakfast, he knew they were an easy way to
• 4:49
  make her happy. That was one thing I can't fault
• 4:51
  my husband for. He did love our daughter.
• 4:54
  It wasn't often when he'd go out of his way to make her happy,
• 4:58
  but I suppose he tried when it mattered.
• 5:00
  But the next morning, he was in a foul mood.
• 5:04
  Ah, now she's awake. He grunted sarcastically when I
• 5:09
  walked into the kitchen, fastening up my dressing gown.
• 5:13
  I ignored the comment. It wasn't like I'd slept in
• 5:16
  overly long. Besides, it was a weekend.
• 5:19
  I braced myself for a tense breakfast, sat in frosty
• 5:22
  silence, but as I approached the worktop my eyes fell on a black
• 5:27
  screen covered in splintering hairline cracks.
• 5:31
  What happened to your phone? Stopped working again, he said,
• 5:35
  ruffling his newspaper. Tried knocking some sense into
• 5:38
  it like I did the other night, but it didn't work.
• 5:41
  Then I tried again, a bit harder.
• 5:43
  Too hard, apparently. Well, that was stupid.
• 5:47
  I said matter of factly as I put the kettle on.
• 5:51
  Liam didn't say anything, but he folded up his newspaper, threw
• 5:54
  the last of drags of coffee down his throat, and left the room.
• 5:58
  Probably more mad at himself than me.
• 6:00
  If he'd been mad at me, he would have shot some comment back.
• 6:04
  He always did like to have the last word.
• 6:06
  His voice took on a sugary lilt as he bumped into Lucy in the
• 6:10
  hall. Morning, darling.
• 6:13
  Didn't wake you up again last night, did I?
• 6:16
  No, Daddy. I suppose I did find it a little
• 6:20
  strange that my husband had managed to smash his phone
• 6:22
  without waking either of us, but those thoughts were drowned out
• 6:26
  by the sheer idiocy of it. With both of us in a mood
• 6:29
  already, we avoided each other as best as we could.
• 6:32
  This was always a little bit harder on weekends, and just
• 6:36
  before we slept, we ended up bickering.
• 6:39
  What's that? I asked as I saw him place
• 6:41
  something under his pillow. A torch.
• 6:45
  I couldn't help but laugh. What do you need a torch for?
• 6:48
  To see where I'm bloody going if I wake up in the night again?
• 6:53
  Well, maybe if you kept your anger in check, you'd still have
• 6:55
  your phone. Maybe if you stopped criticizing
• 6:58
  me all the time, I wouldn't be so quick to anger.
• 7:02
  And as simple as that, we descended into an argument that
• 7:05
  got increasingly personal and ended up with us both rolled
• 7:09
  over in bed, backs facing each other.
• 7:12
  When you're mad at someone, even the slightest thing can annoy
• 7:15
  you. The way they have put a breath
• 7:16
  through their nose or the way they tug at the sheets.
• 7:20
  Eventually, Liam started snoring.
• 7:23
  I wasn't far behind. I woke up the next day to an
• 7:27
  empty bed, and I'd assumed my husband would still be in a mood
• 7:30
  with me. But when I found him that
• 7:32
  morning, he was completely oblivious.
• 7:35
  Staring up at the clock above the fireplace, he clutched a
• 7:38
  collection of watches and alarm clocks in his arms.
• 7:41
  In the background, the news was on, but he'd got it on mute.
• 7:45
  Hey, he said as soon as I walked in the room.
• 7:49
  He actually seemed pleased to see me.
• 7:51
  Can I look at your phone a SEC? What are you doing?
• 7:56
  Just what time is it? I told him when he shook his
• 8:00
  head in exasperation. I showed him.
• 8:03
  I can't be all wrong. He muttered, setting the bundle
• 8:07
  in his hands on top of the fireplace. 1 by 1.
• 8:11
  He left the alarm clock until last and grabbed it with both
• 8:14
  hands, raising it into the air to examine.
• 8:17
  What are you doing, Liam? I asked sleepily, making a point
• 8:21
  of taking my pink watch from his collection.
• 8:24
  There was a power cut last night or something.
• 8:27
  I think there's been one every night.
• 8:28
  Even my torch didn't work. I shrugged.
• 8:32
  The clocks of batteries, A power cut wouldn't stop them.
• 8:35
  You're not listening, He said, shaking his head.
• 8:39
  Even my torch didn't work. Nothing worked.
• 8:42
  That's why my phone wasn't turning on.
• 8:44
  I tried yours last night and it wouldn't turn on either.
• 8:47
  You were going through my phone last night?
• 8:49
  No, he said. I was seeing if it worked and it
• 8:54
  didn't. Nothing did.
• 8:56
  Not the lights, not the fridge, not the watches.
• 8:59
  The only thing in the whole house that was still on was this
• 9:02
  clock. He raised the little alarm clock
• 9:04
  in his hands and was stuck on that same time. 3:33 AM.
• 9:09
  Are you sure this wasn't a dream?
• 9:12
  It wasn't a bloody dream. OK, so there was a power cut
• 9:17
  last night. I said, making my way towards
• 9:20
  the door. Do you want a cup of tea?
• 9:23
  It wasn't just. He started, rubbing out his brow
• 9:27
  in genuine exasperation. Look, I was up for a while.
• 9:32
  At least an hour, it had to be. And all the while, nothing
• 9:35
  worked. All the while, this clock said
• 9:37
  3:33 AM. Then suddenly everything turned
• 9:41
  back on, back to normal, and. And this clock said 3:34 AM.
• 9:46
  So what are you saying? He gestured wildly to the
• 9:52
  television, pointing at the little timer at the bottom of
• 9:55
  the screen and holding up the alarm clock to compare.
• 9:58
  They both matched to the minute. How can it be the same?
• 10:02
  Where has that time gone? His movements were so frantic he
• 10:06
  looked like he was 2 steps away from frothing at the mouth.
• 10:10
  Must have been a dream, Liam. I don't know, call the electric
• 10:14
  board or something, see if they had any power cuts.
• 10:17
  I'm making a cup of tea. Wasn't a damn dream.
• 10:21
  I heard a mutter as he knelt in front of the TV, holding the
• 10:24
  alarm clock up to the screen and comparing times.
• 10:29
  I suppose that was the start of his obsession, but at least he
• 10:32
  was a bearable that day. I could tell it was occupying
• 10:35
  his mind, but he didn't mention it again until he woke me up.
• 10:39
  At least, I think it was the thud that woke me up more than
• 10:43
  the whimper, but the whimpering was what made me sit bolt
• 10:46
  upright. What the hell, what the hell,
• 10:49
  what the hell? Liam's voice drifted over the
• 10:52
  foot of the bed and I could barely see the shape of him
• 10:56
  scrambling backwards on the floor.
• 10:59
  The curtains wafted open, moonlight shining through.
• 11:03
  He must have fallen over but was still kicking himself away from
• 11:06
  the window, wide eyes glinting as he shook his head in denial.
• 11:11
  As I got out of bed and made my way over to him, he flinched and
• 11:14
  looked up at me. Even in the dim light I can make
• 11:17
  out the tear etched on his face. I'd never seen my husband scared
• 11:22
  like this. There's someone outside.
• 11:25
  He spluttered in a frantic whisper.
• 11:27
  Someone in a mask or they saw me.
• 11:31
  They looked right at me. I rose and peeked out of the
• 11:34
  curtains myself. Our quiet St. looked normal to
• 11:37
  me. Parked cars, St. lights and the
• 11:40
  houses opposite. I scanned around looking for
• 11:43
  people but came up short. There's nothing out there.
• 11:47
  I said, letting the curtain fall back.
• 11:50
  Liam clambered to his feet and shoved the curtain aside,
• 11:53
  getting his whole body in front of the window.
• 11:56
  He searched the empty street with both hands pressed against
• 11:58
  the glass. I saw someone, He muttered.
• 12:02
  I bloody saw someone. As I got back into bed, I
• 12:07
  glanced at the alarm clock on Liam's side of the bed. 3:35 AM.
• 12:13
  The next day was my turn to take Lucy for school and I didn't see
• 12:16
  much of Liam all day, despite not going out of my way to avoid
• 12:19
  them. In the evening I caught him
• 12:22
  fitting extra locks on the doors, a deadbolt on front and
• 12:25
  back. I had to bite my tongue not to
• 12:27
  say anything but knew it would just cause a fight.
• 12:30
  Besides, we lived in an OK neighborhood and maybe a bit of
• 12:34
  extra caution wouldn't go amiss. What if Liam had seen someone
• 12:38
  out there looking to rob us or hurt us?
• 12:43
  I stirred that night to find the bed empty.
• 12:46
  A quick glance around the room told me Liam was elsewhere.
• 12:49
  Since I was already awake, I decided to go to the bathroom
• 12:53
  and on the landing I bumped into my husband walking up the
• 12:55
  stairs. Even in the dim light I could
• 12:58
  see him try to hide something behind his back.
• 13:01
  What's that? I asked before he could open his
• 13:03
  mouth. Nothing, he muttered.
• 13:07
  I walked down the steps to see what he was hiding, but he
• 13:09
  twisted and grabbed my arm with his free hand.
• 13:12
  Go to bed, he hissed. What have you got?
• 13:16
  Is that? Is that a crowbar?
• 13:19
  It's nothing. He said, but dropped any
• 13:22
  pretence of hiding it now I'd guessed correctly.
• 13:25
  The tool fell to his side, glinting in the darkness.
• 13:29
  Go to bed, freaking psycho. I spat in disbelief, stepping
• 13:34
  away from him. Well, that's a good job.
• 13:36
  I had it. Someone was trying to open our
• 13:39
  door. I must have scared them off.
• 13:43
  Someone was trying to get inside.
• 13:46
  Yeah, I could hear them trying to handle.
• 13:49
  I'd hoped that would be the end of it, but I was sorely
• 13:52
  mistaken. Liam's nightly obsession only
• 13:54
  became worse and worse. He was touchier than ever,
• 13:58
  snapping at the smallest thing. It was clear he wasn't getting
• 14:02
  enough sleep, and if it wasn't for me urging him on, he would
• 14:05
  have been much later for work. If you went in at all.
• 14:09
  Not that I got any thanks for it.
• 14:11
  I became the object of his anger.
• 14:13
  What was happening was somehow my fault.
• 14:15
  I didn't believe him. Wouldn't help him wake me up
• 14:20
  then if it's so bad, I said one day.
• 14:23
  Don't you think I've tried that? I've shook you, slapped you, but
• 14:26
  you won't wake up until it's over, Until he's gone.
• 14:30
  Until who was gone? I asked, cautiously processing
• 14:34
  what he was trying to tell me. He'd slapped me.
• 14:38
  Subconsciously, I rubbed up my cheek.
• 14:41
  Surely I'd have felt that if my husband had been slapping me in
• 14:43
  my sleep. Surely I would have had a mark
• 14:46
  or even a bruise. Liam wasn't exactly a small man,
• 14:50
  but it also wasn't like him to hurt me.
• 14:52
  He could be a prick, sure, but he'd never purposefully hurt me
• 14:55
  before. Forget it, he muttered.
• 15:00
  The alarm woke me up, beeping in the darkness As soon as I rose
• 15:04
  to turn it off. Liam's hand pressed it down to
• 15:07
  silence it. He was fully dressed and
• 15:10
  standing on his side of the bed. He had the crowbar clutched in
• 15:14
  one hand. What are?
• 15:17
  What time is it? I asked blearily, still half
• 15:21
  asleep. He's hoping to wake you up.
• 15:24
  I can't do it once it starts, but maybe it'll work if you're
• 15:26
  already awake before. He stalked towards the window
• 15:30
  and opened the curtain a crack with his crowbar peeking
• 15:33
  through. For goodness sake, Liam.
• 15:37
  But I got up all the same. If it would keep him quiet and
• 15:41
  get him back to some normality, I'd tolerate it.
• 15:45
  It was hard to believe I found myself wanting the old Liam
• 15:47
  back. This new version was making me
• 15:50
  see how good we'd had it before. 3:32 AM, the clock read.
• 15:56
  Standing on the other side of the curtain.
• 15:58
  I pulled it open and peered outside.
• 16:00
  Nothing except our quiet Rd. streetlights casting an
• 16:04
  artificial haze across asphalt pavement, a distant rumble of a
• 16:08
  car speeding along a connecting Rd.
• 16:11
  Unseen. So what am I looking for
• 16:15
  exactly? I asked.
• 16:17
  Liam didn't reply, so I kept watching the streets outside and
• 16:21
  watching and watching. Shaking my head, I eventually
• 16:25
  pulled my head away from the curtain and turned to Liam, but
• 16:28
  he wasn't there. I looked around the room.
• 16:32
  He wasn't here at all. I'd never heard him leave.
• 16:36
  A quick glance at the clock told me it was 3:38 AM.
• 16:41
  Deciding it would be best to look for Liam before returning
• 16:44
  to bed, I crept out of the room. I eventually found him
• 16:48
  downstairs on the kitchen floor, hugging his knees and crying.
• 16:51
  Even despite my current mood for my husband, he looked so weak
• 16:55
  and fragile I couldn't help but hug him.
• 16:58
  The crowbar lay on the tiled floor next to him.
• 17:02
  I've made it so much worse. He croaked.
• 17:06
  He's never got that close before.
• 17:08
  What do you mean? I asked quietly, wiping tears
• 17:12
  off his cheek. Why did you leave the room?
• 17:15
  You wouldn't move, you wouldn't answer me.
• 17:19
  I thought for sure you could see it too, but it was like you were
• 17:21
  sleeping with your eyes open, standing up.
• 17:24
  I came down here and saw him right out there.
• 17:27
  He pointed to the kitchen window.
• 17:29
  I glanced over but couldn't see anything through the darkness.
• 17:33
  Liam swallowed and spoke again, hands trembling.
• 17:37
  I open the window to yell at him to scare him off but it he it
• 17:42
  was like he was sliding towards me but fast being pulled through
• 17:47
  the gap I was making pulled inside.
• 17:50
  He was almost touching the glass.
• 17:51
  By the time I slammed it shut he was.
• 17:55
  Liam broke off and began crying again.
• 17:58
  Oh God, I've made it so much worse.
• 18:00
  As I looked at the kitchen window, I did notice something.
• 18:07
  It was a whisper, faint and fading still.
• 18:10
  I stood and made my way to the window.
• 18:12
  If it wasn't for our neighbors security light in the
• 18:14
  background, I'd never have made it out.
• 18:17
  But sure enough, on the window my husband said he'd opened was
• 18:21
  a faint smear of condensation, the kind of hot breath makes on
• 18:25
  a cold surface. I wiped out it with my fingers,
• 18:28
  but it didn't come away. It was on the other side of the
• 18:31
  glass. As I watched it fade, I tried to
• 18:35
  reassure myself it couldn't have been breath marks from a person,
• 18:39
  It was too tall. They'd have to be 7 foot tall or
• 18:42
  so to make marks like that. But it did unnerve me.
• 18:46
  Coupled with my husband's reaction, it was hard not to
• 18:49
  tremble a little myself. I let him back to bed and we
• 18:55
  tried to sleep, or one of us did at least.
• 18:58
  Liam just sat up all night, just sat there staring at nothing and
• 19:02
  shaking. The next day I called the
• 19:05
  electric board to see if they had any reports of power cuts in
• 19:08
  our area. Not for a couple months they
• 19:10
  said. Then I called the non-emergency
• 19:13
  number for police to see if they'd had any break insurance
• 19:16
  or home invasions around my post code lately.
• 19:19
  They were reluctant at first, but eventually told me no, no,
• 19:23
  no increased activity in your post code ma'am.
• 19:26
  That didn't leave me with many choices.
• 19:29
  The simplest explanation is often the correct one, and the
• 19:32
  simplest explanation was that my husband was losing his freaking
• 19:36
  mind. That didn't explain the fog in
• 19:39
  the window, but maybe that was just damp air or a trick of the
• 19:43
  light. Whatever the explanation, my
• 19:46
  husband's behavior was starting to get out of hand and was
• 19:49
  scaring Lucy. His eyes were constantly wild
• 19:52
  and nervous, as though expecting something to lurch out of the
• 19:55
  shadows at any moment. He bought extra locks for the
• 19:59
  windows, security cameras, and even metal grills to fix over
• 20:02
  the downstairs windows. I drew the line at that.
• 20:05
  I was already close to taking Lucy and walking off and told
• 20:10
  him as much. I hoped it might snap him out of
• 20:12
  it, but all he said was fine. He left the grills off, but
• 20:16
  installed the rest. That night.
• 20:20
  I made him sleep on the sofa downstairs and I'd restless
• 20:23
  sleep myself, drifting in and out.
• 20:26
  After a bit of tossing and turning, I wondered what time it
• 20:28
  was and reached for my phone, but the screen wouldn't turn on.
• 20:33
  Frowning, I pulled myself across the empty bed and picked up
• 20:36
  Liam's alarm clock. I almost dropped it when I saw
• 20:39
  the time. 3:33 AM. Scrambling out of bed and
• 20:44
  putting on my dressing gown, I tried the bedroom light switch,
• 20:47
  but nothing happened. Same in the hall.
• 20:50
  Was this Liam's idea of a joke? Was he so desperate for me to
• 20:54
  share his delusions that he'd somehow turned everything off?
• 20:59
  That would be easy enough I suppose.
• 21:01
  Flicked the fuse board off and drained my phone battery without
• 21:05
  me knowing. What stumped to me was the bath
• 21:07
  taps. When I turned them out of sheer
• 21:10
  desperation, not even a drop of water dribbled out.
• 21:14
  I supposedly AM could have isolated the water, but I didn't
• 21:18
  understand why he would. He'd never mention the water not
• 21:21
  working. Making my way to the stairs, I
• 21:26
  had to feel my way across the walls with no lights working and
• 21:29
  no light source to use. The interior hallway was pitch
• 21:33
  black and I awkwardly shuffled my feet down each step, taking
• 21:37
  my time and clutching the banister.
• 21:40
  Downstairs was no better. Normally, even at this time,
• 21:44
  there would be enough light coming from the glow of the
• 21:46
  street lights outside to see my path, but not even the street
• 21:50
  lights were working. Liam kind of done that.
• 21:53
  Power cuts have always unsettled me.
• 21:55
  It feels like being plunged back a step in our evolution.
• 21:59
  They shake you out of your daily life and for a moment you're an
• 22:02
  animal again, afraid, powerless. We forget how much we rely on
• 22:07
  electricity, but power cuts always remind us.
• 22:12
  Liam. I whispered.
• 22:14
  Even though I was afraid, I didn't want to wake Lucy.
• 22:18
  Hopefully she could sleep right through it, at least until
• 22:20
  morning. I made my way through the
• 22:24
  kitchen, feeling for cabinets and door handles so I didn't
• 22:26
  smash into them. Liam.
• 22:30
  Still no reply, but then I was being quiet.
• 22:34
  Strangely, the fear which most crept into my mind was him
• 22:37
  attacking me with that stupid crowbar, mistaking me for an
• 22:41
  intruder. I tried again, raising my voice
• 22:44
  just beyond a strangled whisper. Liam.
• 22:48
  Nothing. Maybe he was sleeping.
• 22:51
  It would be ironic if he slept through this power cut, the
• 22:54
  first one I'd been awake for. In the living room, I could just
• 22:59
  see a silhouette sat on the sofa, facing away from me.
• 23:03
  My eyes were just beginning to adjust to what little light
• 23:06
  there was, and as I stepped around the sofa I could see he
• 23:10
  was awake, eyes open, staring forwards.
• 23:14
  He gripped something tight in both hands.
• 23:16
  A hunting rifle. Damn it, Liam.
• 23:20
  I hissed. What the hell are you doing?
• 23:23
  He didn't reply, just kept staring forwards, his breathing
• 23:27
  slow. You know I hate that thing.
• 23:31
  I muttered, twisting to see what he was looking at.
• 23:35
  A window facing out into our garden.
• 23:38
  It was hard to tell with just a slither of moonlight to see, but
• 23:42
  it didn't look like anyone or anything was out there.
• 23:46
  Turning back to Liam, I took hold of the gun and tried to
• 23:48
  pull it out of his grip. He didn't budget, not even the
• 23:52
  barest hint of emotion past his face.
• 23:55
  Even that stupid gun, he told me he'd sold it after his last
• 23:59
  trip. I tried again, really trying
• 24:03
  now, bracing myself to wrench it as hard as I could again.
• 24:07
  Liam didn't even wobble. He didn't even look like he was
• 24:09
  tensing. Well, I believe you now, I said,
• 24:13
  letting go of the weapon. But I wish you'd stopped acting
• 24:16
  like this. Just tell me what's wrong.
• 24:20
  Liam said nothing, did nothing, not Even so much as a frown.
• 24:26
  Even his breathing was the same steady pace.
• 24:30
  I tried pulling him up, but it was like he was frozen solid.
• 24:33
  It began to scare me a little. Liam.
• 24:36
  I asked, genuinely worried. Still no reply.
• 24:41
  As I look closer, I realized something.
• 24:43
  Liam wasn't blinking. I took him by the shoulders and
• 24:47
  tried to shake him, but he didn't even wobble.
• 24:49
  It was like trying to push a wall.
• 24:52
  That's when I remembered what he'd said.
• 24:54
  The time when he'd woken me up with the alarm.
• 24:57
  It was like you were sleeping with your eyes open.
• 25:00
  His words echoed in my mind and, I thought, gripped me.
• 25:03
  One way to test if he was pretending.
• 25:06
  I raised a finger to his face and slowly, carefully, brought
• 25:09
  it to his eye. My finger pressed into the white
• 25:12
  of his eyeball, wet and squishy. Liam didn't so much as blink.
• 25:19
  I took an involuntary step back and clasped the hand over my
• 25:22
  mouth. Liam's body was here, but he
• 25:25
  wasn't sleeping with his eyes open, comatose, collapsing on
• 25:31
  the chair in front of him, My mind raced.
• 25:33
  Was this what he'd been going through every night?
• 25:36
  Trapped in this place where nothing worked?
• 25:39
  Alone? He'd said it felt like ours.
• 25:43
  Surprisingly, that gave me some comfort.
• 25:45
  I could just wait. I could just wait until it was
• 25:48
  over. So that's what I did.
• 25:51
  I sat in that chair and tried to go to sleep, but no matter what
• 25:54
  I tried, I just couldn't seem to drift off.
• 25:58
  Try as I might, my mind was awake.
• 26:01
  Eventually I gave up. Just sat there waiting,
• 26:05
  shivering in the dark, and did feel like hours had passed and
• 26:08
  still nothing worked. Occasionally, I'd try again just
• 26:12
  in case, whispering to my statue of a husband with no reply.
• 26:18
  As I sat in that chair, willing time to creep forwards, waiting
• 26:22
  for the light to come back to the world, something else
• 26:25
  tickled the back of my mind. My husband had seen someone
• 26:28
  outside. Maybe I wasn't alone.
• 26:32
  The thoughts sent a chill down my spine and my eyes darted
• 26:35
  amongst the black windows around me.
• 26:37
  Each one could be hiding someone.
• 26:39
  Whoever was out there, He had brought my husband to tears.
• 26:43
  I drew my knees up, clutching them for warmth.
• 26:46
  It didn't work. Goosebumps prickled my skin and
• 26:51
  I wished my husband would say something, anything.
• 26:56
  The way he stared at the window behind me with such intensity
• 27:00
  made me keep checking over my shoulder.
• 27:02
  Faced with an eternal weight and just my husband's vacant body
• 27:06
  for company, my glances to each window became increasingly
• 27:10
  desperate. Part of me wanted to see
• 27:12
  something, just see something and be done with it.
• 27:16
  How long had I sat here? 4 hours?
• 27:19
  5 I decided to stand, to stretch my legs and warm up if anything.
• 27:25
  Creeping to the garden window my husband was facing, I gave a
• 27:28
  long considering search amongst the dark rustling leaves
• 27:31
  outside, but I couldn't see anything.
• 27:34
  Whether it was paranoia or something else, it felt like
• 27:38
  someone was watching me through the windows.
• 27:40
  They made me feel vulnerable, exposed.
• 27:44
  I kept to the walls as I stalked around the room, only peeking
• 27:47
  the baris slither of my face around the window frame.
• 27:52
  The street outside looked as cold and alone as I felt.
• 27:55
  My eyes scanned across the cars and houses outside, but without
• 27:59
  the street lights working it was hard to tell for certain.
• 28:03
  Everything was just black shadow against Black Knight.
• 28:07
  Even the sky in my neighbors houses seem to blur into one
• 28:10
  single image. But as I strained my eyes
• 28:13
  against the dark backdrop, I spotted something that didn't
• 28:16
  belong to little pinprick lights, faint like distant
• 28:21
  stars, but on the ground. Squinting, trying to make sense
• 28:27
  of it, I wondered if it was an animal.
• 28:30
  The lights were close enough together to be eyes, and the
• 28:32
  Bony, straggly shapes above the lights look like antlers.
• 28:36
  I realized the rest of it was blocked out by a parked car and
• 28:40
  stood on my tip toes for a better look.
• 28:43
  I almost screamed when I saw the rest of the body, a man's body,
• 28:47
  standing perfectly still in the darkness.
• 28:50
  As the sound left my throat, whatever it was turned its head,
• 28:55
  antlers swaying in the night. The pinprick light of its eyes
• 29:01
  erupted into twin torrents of light, blinding me.
• 29:04
  I threw myself out of view, hiding behind the wall as a beam
• 29:07
  of pure white light flooded the room, illuminating my husband on
• 29:11
  the sofa, still clutching his gun, still motionless.
• 29:15
  That light moved with intent, searching, and I ran.
• 29:20
  As I made it through the doorway, illumination splashed
• 29:23
  against the timber frame, my own shadows stretching in front of
• 29:27
  me. I twisted around the corner,
• 29:29
  almost slipping on the kitchen tiles.
• 29:31
  I couldn't grab the gun, my husband's grip was too strong,
• 29:35
  but I knew he kept the crowbar upstairs in the wardrobe.
• 29:38
  As I ran up the stairs, the twin beams of light followed, passing
• 29:42
  the hall window. White light passed around the
• 29:44
  curtain, matching my pace, light spilling across its edges as I
• 29:48
  ran. Even though the curtains were
• 29:51
  drawn, whatever was watching me knew exactly where I was.
• 29:55
  Throwing open the bedroom door, I prepared to die for the
• 29:58
  wardrobe, for some slim chance of defending myself in the dark
• 30:03
  room. My eyes snapped to the only
• 30:05
  light Crimson numbers in the darkness. 3:33 AM.
• 30:13
  Behind me, light splashed my shadow across the carpeted floor
• 30:17
  and I fell to meet it, too scared to scream.
• 30:20
  Turning around expecting to see a figure with headlamp eyes and
• 30:23
  antlers towering above me. But it was just the hall light.
• 30:29
  Distant gushing water came from the bathroom.
• 30:32
  The power was back. The water was back.
• 30:35
  I glanced around the bedroom, back at the alarm clock,
• 30:38
  tauntingly reading 3:34 AM. Hard to say how long I lay
• 30:43
  there, gripping the carpet and sobbing, gut wrenching whales
• 30:46
  that hurt my throat. I didn't dare look at the clock.
• 30:50
  I just lay there, basking in the light, knowing that means I was
• 30:54
  away from that place. Lucy found me.
• 30:59
  A maternal instinct swallowed my fears.
• 31:02
  I forced myself off the floor and scooped her up, wiping away
• 31:05
  tears. I took her back to bed, wrapping
• 31:08
  a blanket around myself and fell asleep in a chair.
• 31:12
  I believe you. I told Liam the next day, still
• 31:16
  in a wide eyed state of shock. I was there 3:33 AM.
• 31:23
  Everything was turned off, even you.
• 31:26
  That last part made me cry again.
• 31:29
  Liam just held me as I trembled. I didn't mention the deer headed
• 31:32
  man or his headlamp eyes. I didn't need to, Liam had seen
• 31:36
  him too. We both called in sick and this
• 31:40
  time I said nothing. When Liam fit the window grills
• 31:43
  I even let him bring the hunting rifle into the bedroom.
• 31:45
  He prompted up against the wall and we both lay awake all night
• 31:49
  staring at the ceiling waiting. At 3:30 AM Liam sat on the edge
• 31:55
  of the bed and started to dress. When I asked him what he was
• 31:58
  doing, he sighed and said if you got trapped there, that means
• 32:03
  Lucy might one day too. He snatched up the rifle and
• 32:07
  laid across his lap, head bowed. If that happens, I can't protect
• 32:12
  you, either of you. I could barely talk around the
• 32:17
  lump forming in my throat. What are you saying?
• 32:21
  What are you going to? I sat here night after night and
• 32:27
  he just gets closer. The windows rattle so hard.
• 32:30
  Marie, it's it sounds like the whole frame is going to come
• 32:33
  loose. The doors creaking strain.
• 32:38
  Last time I heard something climbing down our chimney,
• 32:41
  trying to get through the walls. I don't think I can wait.
• 32:47
  It's me. He wants Liam.
• 32:49
  I I've got to do this, Marie. I can't just sit here.
• 32:55
  I've got, I've got to do something, Liam.
• 32:58
  I saw he wasn't listening, talking over me.
• 33:03
  Too bullheaded, too stubborn. I've got to.
• 33:08
  The faint tick of the alarm clock silenced us both our heads
• 33:12
  snapped towards it in unison. 3:33 AM.
• 33:17
  As soon as my eyes fell upon those Crimson letters, they
• 33:19
  flickered to 3:34 AM. When I turned back, Liam was
• 33:24
  gone. In his place, a note.
• 33:29
  I have to find out, Marie. Have to end.
• 33:31
  It can't go on like this. I still love you, even if you
• 33:36
  don't love me back. Look after Lucy.
• 33:40
  If you wake up at 3:33 AM, don't look outside.
• 33:47
  I crumbled the note and ran, searching through the house for
• 33:50
  him. Liam.
• 33:52
  I cried. Liam.
• 33:53
  I saw him too, but my husband was gone, front door open, cold
• 33:59
  night air spilling in, car on the drive close in the wardrobe.
• 34:04
  The only thing he took was his gun.
• 34:08
  The next day was a sleep deprived blur of police calls,
• 34:11
  family calls and tears. And all the while I watched the
• 34:14
  clocks tick closer, second by second, creeping towards me.
• 34:19
  That time I was now more afraid of than anything.
• 34:22
  Well, almost anything. Liam was right, I had to protect
• 34:28
  Lucy. I could not let her experience
• 34:30
  that place. I just couldn't.
• 34:33
  So I tucked her in bed and waited out of sheer exhaustion.
• 34:36
  I actually fell asleep, but when I awoke it was still pitch
• 34:40
  black. I didn't need to look at the
• 34:42
  clock with its Crimson numbers to know what time it was.
• 34:46
  Outside, the wind howled. A garden gate battered open and
• 34:49
  shut. I wrapped myself tight in my
• 34:52
  sheet and tried not to think what Liam had said about
• 34:55
  rattling windows and something climbing down the chimney, but
• 35:00
  there was a faint glow coming from behind the curtains.
• 35:04
  The street lights were still on. Then I snatched up my phone, but
• 35:07
  it wouldn't turn on. The wind swirled and raged, and
• 35:11
  with a creeping dread I remembered our street lights
• 35:13
  cast an orange haze, not a pure perfect white one.
• 35:18
  I knew in my bones what was casting that light.
• 35:21
  I don't know why I looked. Curiosity, helplessness.
• 35:26
  Whatever it was, something drove me to peek behind the curtain.
• 35:31
  A deer's skull on a rotting body gazed up at me with headlamp
• 35:35
  eyes. As I stared open mouthed, it
• 35:38
  began to drift glacier slow towards me.
• 35:42
  It didn't walk, it floated, slid, but to be honest, I barely
• 35:48
  saw it. My eyes had fallen on a second
• 35:50
  figure, a man of familiar heightened build, clutching a
• 35:53
  hunting rifle whereas I should have been, were two black sunken
• 35:58
  pits with distant pinprick stars.
• 36:01
  His head tilted, snapped towards me.
• 36:04
  Those pits swelled into headlamps, high beams on a car,
• 36:09
  a lighthouse in the night, a spotlight on the stage.
• 36:15
  My eyes burnt, but I couldn't pull away.
• 36:18
  Liam raised the rifle, pointed it right at me.
• 36:23
  Tick. I staggered back.
• 36:26
  Street lights flooded the road with an orange haze.
• 36:29
  The wind died to a murmur. Liam and that thing were gone.
• 36:33
  The clock right. 3:34 AM. That was last night.
• 36:40
  The police have a guard posted outside.
• 36:42
  They think I'm worried about my husband coming back.
• 36:44
  I suppose in a way I am, But they could post 1000 guards
• 36:48
  outside and it wouldn't make a difference.
• 36:50
  None of them will be awake at 3:33 AM.
• 36:54
  It won't stop now. I've seen that thing outside.
• 36:57
  I know it's going to get worse. Each night a little closer each
• 37:01
  night a little stronger. Liam didn't slow it down.
• 37:06
  He just gave it away in.