text: I plopped to my mattress, I’ve used Reading as a daily way to wind down for bed for years, I scanned a tower of books for tonight’s possible match. Mother creeped in and shut the door behind, trying not to wake the others. “How are you doing buddy” she whispered with a half smile, I could tell she was ready for bed and had already fitted her beige pajamas, not much of a surprise, work was hard for my mother and after returning home today the family were all aware of her exhaustion. “I’m alright, just thinking about reading something before bed”. I reached over toward my side table to snatch a few of my favorite solid color hardbacks. All but a few of my books had seen tough wear from my older brothers, previous owners, who had bequeathed the lot to me. I didn't mind the tattered covers, and would often imagine they were the writing of an ancient wizard’s spell book or maybe the account of a veteran Knight who had done his part in a great tale. She found her way across the room to take a seat at the lip of my bed. Her thick walnut hair flowed gently as she folded it behind one ear while inspecting a few of the novels I had laying across the maroon bedspread “Those are some good ones, how about this one James?” She lifted a smaller novel with a pirate on the cover. She saw the look on my face, and placed it back on the blanket I joined in the search but frowned, none felt worthy of being picked. “I’ve read them all so many times” I looked to my digital clock standing on my dresser across the room, I once had an analog clock there I loved dearly but with my current room configuration the digital my dad bought me last Christmas simply worked better, 9:45 getting awfully late “I think I’ll just get to bed,” I said yanking the edge of my blanket to my shoulders. My mom glanced back to me from reading the inside cover of Robin Hood and scooped the cluster of books from the twin bed. placing the books in a flush stack nicer than before “Alright then I think I’ll do the same”. I watched her leave, she turned and smiled, hitting the light as the door shut. It was dark, It was quiet, Just how I liked it. soft breezes spun around the tree branches beside my window keeping the fall leaves in a rustling shake. Nights like those help me compose myself. I thought about some of my books, they each had been read dozens of times, but what if tomorrow I Changed them, possibly added my own parts, that seemed intriguing at the time and I made a mental note for memory. I closed my eyes. WhRRR I sat up, the sound was not any ordinary noises of the nightly household or even anything I’d heard from our surrounding forest. WhRRR There it was again, It had a sudden metallic hum shaking the house ever so slightly, a rowdy rapid thump similar to the purr of the helicopter, father and I had seen a helicopter earlier in summer when attending the summer fair, although the Fair’s helicopter took a great build of strength to roar as loud as it had. Strangely this sound would fade as soon as it had come. “DaaaaD!” The shout echoed through the house, it was my brother Roger”s voice crying out for my parents, the commotion probably took him by surprise, maybe scared him, I wouldn't doubt it. I was shaken. “Dad, Daad” I shook off my sheets, the family was most likely awake after Roger’s shouts, might as well figure out what was going on. After a quick look the driveway seemed ordinary from my window, I tiptoed to my parents room each step creaking the walnut floorboards. It seemed peculiar to me they hadn’t gotten up to go check on Roger, he would shout in the night from time to time during the occasional storm, my parents would always check up on him although he often cried wolf. “Mom!” It was getting annoying quickly, I poked my head into the master bedroom, there was a small sliver of light along the edges of the blinds that kept the room from total darkness “Dad, mom hey” I whispered, staying in the doorway. An outline of the bed frame was visible with a squint. “Roger’s yelling for you” there was a moment of silence, I extended the door fully open. Had they really slept through that? WhRRR A shake came and I clutched the door knob and frame for stability. My chest felt a tightness of anger, it was bedtime and my parents intentionally not dealing with this had struck me the wrong way. “C'mon guys, go figure out what that is” I yanked the covers off my parents bed pulling them back. I was sick of fixing problems even though I was the youngest. The bed sat unmoving Silver sheets reflecting back at me and a couple of pillows lay sedentary, my parents weren't there. Strange, my mother told me she was off to bed just a half an hour prior. WhRRR The shaking came again, disorienting in the dark and this time having no door frame to catch I found my way into a stumble, stepping on my pajama bottoms and spinning as I tumbled toward the hardwood flooring. Throwing out my arms to take the brute force of the blow. My arms didn't connect, I had to open my eyes after an instant to find obscurity had encompassed me, enveloped in a soft darkness for which I was weightless within.