The Moon
   “National Alert, This Is Not A Test: LOCK YOUR DOORS, TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS, DO NOT GO OUTSIDE, DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON”

Zack picked up his phone and looked at the odd message. “Is this a joke?” he asked himself. Looking out his front window, it seemed like a normal January evening, grey and cloudy with a few inches of snow on the ground. It was 5:30, it would soon be dark. Zach padded over to the front door and locked it: better safe than sorry” he thought. At that moment his phone rang, it was his friend Garrett.
“Hay Garrett wha—”
“Oh my god Zach! They are finally here!” shouted Garrett. “They're here! I told you about this! I told you they would come! If you wou—”
“Whoa, whoa chill out Garrett. What are you talking about? What did you tell me?
“The alien's dude, I told you about how I was reading up on them on TheRealTruths”. TheRealTruths is a conspiracy website that Garrett likes to spend too much time reading about bigfoot. “TheRealTruths? You can't be serious dude. That website is full of nerds daydreaming about lizard people” says Zach.
“Seriously, no joke dude. I read about this, take the warnings seriously and whatever you do don—” Garrett cut out as all the lights in Zach's house began to dim. The light bulbs got to the point of almost being off when they roared back to life. They began to flash on and off. Zach ran to find a light switch, slipped on a rug he fell to the hardwood floor. Suddenly the lights began to explode, Loud “Pops” filled the house along with the sound of glass clattering to the floor. Zach crawled under his wood kitchen table as small explosions filled the room. Within ten seconds all the light bulbs in the house had been destroyed. What followed was an eerie silence, all he could hear was the occasional “clinks” of glass slipping to the floor. He crawled out from under his kitchen table. “Ouch, oh ah” Zach held back yelling out in pain. Looking down at his hands he could see that there were multiple cuts from the glass shards. Making his way across the kitchen he looked out the window.
It was still cloudy and almost dark outside so he couldn't see the moon. Looking out across the street he could see that none of his neighbors had lights on either. Glancing at the clock on his wall it read 6:02 “Hmm, they should have lights on for dinner, this must be a more widespread issue.” thought Zack. Coming into view, Zach could see his neighbor Mrs. Golan walking down the middle of the street. Mrs. Golan was an old lady that lived down the street. She had always been nice to Zach, waving whenever she went by and occasionally bring cookies. Zach was about to open the door and yell out to her when he realized something was wrong. Mrs. Golan's normal stiff posture was now sluggish, she dragged her feet across the snow-dusted road, her arms dangling lamely at her sides. Everything about her seemed sluggish. Mrs.Golans head had been turned for the few seconds Zach had been looking at her. Almost like she could hear him thinking about her she turned her head and looked straight at Zach. Her eyes were no longer human, they had been replaced with glowing white. She pointed upwards towards the sky, the clouds began to thin and part. “Look at the moon” She cackled “ It's beautiful tonight”.
Zach turned and ran for the stairs, glass fragments were crunching under his feet like ice. He sprinted up the stairs going two at the time and went to his room. Careful not to slam it, he closed the door. His room was on the front of the house facing the street but luckily the blinds were closed. He didn't dare to peek, sliding up against the side of his bed he tried to catch his breath. His heart was racing, his ears were full of the beating of his heart. He swore that Mrs.Golan could hear his heart.

. . .

Zach sat there for hours just listening. He swore he heard scratches and knocking from downstairs but he pretended that he was just be hearing a thing. He prayed it was his imagination. Looking at his digital alarm clock he saw it read 9:47. At this point in the night, it should be pitch black outside. But it was not. Through the curtains came a bright white glow. “It must be the moon” he thought “this is the brightest I've ever seen the moon” Zach didn't dare peak but he could see the bright glow coming from through the fabric of the blinds. The moon slight seemed to be radiating in, filling every nook and cranny even when the angles made it impossible. “Uhhg. what am I going to do?” Zach whispered at himself, almost sounding in pain. “Think idiot… think” he mumbled. His eyes flashed upon, he had an idea. First Zach would have to grab his laptop, which was on the other side of the house.
He grasped the cold metal door handle and slowly opened it, the screech of the hinges sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Zach paused and waited. He couldn't hear anything move inside the house or outside. Creeping out into the upstairs hallway he could see that moonlight was shining in from all the windows. He turned and back into his room and snatched the blanket from his bed. Draping it over his head he walked back out into the hall. Traversing the house only being able to see his feet was difficult but, he managed to do so only bumping into walls occasionally. On the way back to his room, Zach decided to take a risk, he took a detour and walked back to the front window where he saw Mrs. Golan. He parted the blanket just enough so he could see a sliver of the outside world. Mrs. Golan was no longer outside instead, there were footprints in the snow that matched her demeanor. They led straight to the window.
Zach made it back to his room feeling disturbed and blanched. Opening his laptop he made his way to TheRealTruths.com. Scrolling down the front page Zach thought “how does Garrett read this crap, it's all crazy” After scrolling past countless headlines urging people to “invest in gold” he was able to find the headline story “Don't Look At The Moon” reading the article, most of it sounded like something only a crazy person would believe “The moon is an alien ship… don't look at it… wear tinfoil… “they've come here to probe us” blah blah blah, most of it sounded like nonsense but who was he to judge there's a crazy person outside with glowing eyes. Finally, Zach scrolled down to the last sentence and it made his breath hitch “They are drawn to Electronics”. At that moment he heard a crash downstairs, the sound of splintering wood echo through the house. An unfamiliar voiced called out “Come look at the Moon!”.
Zach leaped over his bed to his bedroom door and slammed it shut, from downstairs he could hear countless footsteps crunching on the broken glass. All of them saying “Look at the moon, Zach! Isn't the Moon beautiful Zach? Come on, just a peek. LOOK AT IT” The mass of people had reached his bedroom door and were pounding on it. With his back to the door, Zach was trying his best to keep the door shut. There are too many of them. The horde was able to push forward and get some hands and fingers in the door jam. With all of his might, Zach gave the door one final push. He could hear fingers and wrists break, sounding like wood being snapped in half. However, the broken bones did not phase the mob. “Come out Zach, come out and see” they said jeered as they pushed the door open. A dozen people, all with glowing white eyes streamed into the room. Countless hands fell upon Zach, he felt like he was drowning in a mess of bodies. However, to Zacks surprise and horror they weren't hurting him. The mob grasped him with their hands and carried him out of his room, down the stairs, and out the broken down front door.
Zach kept his eyes closed and his head down as they carried him out the front door. Trying to keep the sky out of his vision. Abruptly the throng of people dropped him into the snow. The snow and wind were frigid but Zach didn't care, he had begun to go numb from the shock. Everything was bleak, they had got him. A clammy hand palmed the top of Zach's head and wrenched his head backward. In Front of Zack was the moon, bigger and brighter then he had ever seen. It was Beautiful.  Zach could feel a feeling of euphoria go spread out through his body, he felt at peace. “Haaaa” Zach gave a sigh of relief as his vision when white.