Know

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. The glowing moons burst through the clouds and refracted lavender light down upon the city. Violet hours meant dinner outside, photos with friends, and moonbathing.

Jumping into the local lake was Esther’s favorite pastime. Floating on the normally clear water that now reflected amethyst clouds made her feel like one of the fairies bathing in mulberry milk. The entire community lazed outside, laughed and played together. Who wouldn’t enjoy the moonlight before the morning inevitably came?

The water lapped at Esther’s skin as she stared into the sky. The stars cast their shimmering shapes onto her skin, like celestial freckles. She dipped her toes and rotated her foot to watch the stars’ projection dance across her. Her regular meditation wasn’t working tonight. The familiar dread of morning weighed on her so heavily she felt as if she was sinking into the lake. Why couldn’t she just enjoy violet hours and live in the moment like every other day?

The overwhelming anxiety was ridiculous, it was a night like any other. She’s supposed to savor the outdoors: the way wind caresses, grass and dirt under your palms, the warmth of the moons. Yet that all has disappeared beneath her. She can feel and see nothing except the encroaching dawn.

Her normally transformative waters began to suffocate her. The claustrophobic sensation invading her safe haven was too much to take. Esther left for home, ignoring the bewildered stares of her neighbors. It must have been the first time they’d seen anyone choose to be inside at night.

Dripping wet and in her swimsuit, she rushed to the town square. The townhouse ensconced in Main Street loomed over her while she blundered for her keys. Her slick hands slipped around the metal and as her anxiety increased the more she fumbled. She was on the verge of angry, scared tears when the door opened for her.

“You feel it too, don’t you?”

Esther raised her sodden head, peering through the waterlogged strands of dark hair to meet the ancient gaze of her neighbor.

“What.. what exactly do you mean?”

The woman’s weathered hands pushed the door open further before crossing her arms and cocking her head. She seemed to evaluate Esther, finishing with an insistent stare. Her chin dipped while keeping her eyes locked, and the lines of her complexion grew more severe in the shadows.

“The knowing. Like a flock of birds, or a colony of rats filling the streets.”

“I don’t understand what you’re telling me. I’m having a panic attack and you’re only making it worse, so don’t speak to me in riddles.”

“Disaster. You feel it. It’s coming tomorrow and you sense it right to your marrow.”

Suddenly the hysteria drained from her body, leaning a coldness inside her. The coldness of inevitable dread. She straightened her spine and still locked eyes through the strands sticking to her face.

“What the hell is going to happen and why do I know something will?”

“What’s going to happen”, she practically laughs, “I don’t know that. I just feel it. Same as you”

“But WHY?”

The woman shrugs against the doorframe.

“I’m old, and unfortunately that comes with wisdom. There’s no wild answer. It’s not some superpower. I’ve just been around long enough to shed my ego, listen to my gut. I’ve had enough years to pay attention to what’s around me and actually feel nature. Hear her. You can tune into a lot when you stop thinking about yourself,” she trails off. She pauses and squints, tapping her finger against her smooth spotted arm while she contemplates.

“But you…. You’re a youngin’. I figured I’d be the only one, I’m the oldest sack of dirt around here. But you sense it somehow. I can’t imagine how someone so young can just detach that way. You’re not meant to. How could you possibly know how to leave the present, block out all the noise and feel your instinct-” she stopped with her mouth still open, finger mid tap. Esther slightly vibrated, her countenance like a fierce rigid animal with her eyes darting and hackles raised. Frozen.

“Oh.”

Esther thought of rope. She thought of the sliver of window visible behind black heavy curtains. She thought of the Midnight Moon, staring for hours and her head full of nothing.

Esther lifted those brown eyes, and the aged woman’s mouth shut and pursed.

“Well. Then you don’t need me to tell you why.”

Bruised wrists and ankles. So many hands. Freezing basement floor. Finally being free of the duct tape only for it to be impossible to scream because day broke. Hunger. Thirst. Pain. It all fading away as her mind left. The bliss of being nowhere. Of not even existing to herself.

She stopped trembling and at last lifted her head. She shook the hair from her face like a wild dog.

“Yeah. I guess not.”

They regarded each other for a few moments, sitting in the silence of understanding.

“None of that matters. If this is so certain, what do we even do? Leave? What about everyone else?”

“Honey, leave where? You and I both know the moons are going to set before anyone can manage to get out of here and somewhere safe. There’s nothing to do.”

“That’s insane we can’t just wait here for something horrific to happen!”

“I already told you, it isn’t some gift or divine purpose. We’re just like dogs, birds, elephants, snakes. We lost our ego and now we can hear nature. We’re tuned in, like animals. That’s all.”

“Well… well maybe we’re wrong! There’s no birds filling the sky, or wolves running from the woods. If that’s how we work why isn’t everything fleeing?”

The woman sighed and gave a grim, humorless smile. She raised her arm and pointed to the fae feeder illuminated by the wall sconce. Esther slowly turned her head, keeping weary eye contact before snapping to the feeder.

“Oh. Oh God”

The garden variety feeder and attached little house was simple wood and plastic, the rudimentary style that was on the shelf of every store. Just a cheep “that’ll do” you could pick up even at the gas station. Nevertheless it overflowed with clans of fairies night and day. Now it swung abandoned in the breeze.

“They’re the only things fast enough to get the hell out of dodge. Everything else knows they’re stuck. Cowering in the woods, waiting for whatever’s coming to be done.”

Esther frantically whipped her head around, looking at the feeders on the doorstep of every home and storefront. The little homes either sat deserted or thrashed violently as clan after clan tried desperately to leave as fast as possible.

“What are we supposed to do?” Esther shouted. “We can’t just-“

“Shhh girl! You’re screaming, come inside already if you’re gonna be doing that.”

They proceeded into the elderly woman’s ground floor apartment like a death march. Esther practically fell into the dining table as she sat.

“I don’t even know your name. And I’m going to die with you.”

“Mm. It’s Judith. And if it’s any consolation, you might not die. But a lot of things probably will.”

“Jesus Christ,” her head thumped into the cradle of her arms on the table. Now facing the window, she groaned.

“Great. The moons are setting.”

Judith looked over from her place in the kitchen, finishing up their tea.

“It’s time. I’d ask if you’re ready but no one is.”

“I appreciate the honesty, I guess.”

“Anytime”, Judith sarcastically chirped while she set the tray on the table and took a seat.

The sky went dark as dawn arrived. They looked vacantly out the window as the familiar clicks and screeches came around the corner. Esther’s hand slid across the table and gripped Judith’s. They clung to each other as they watched and waited. The morning snow began to coat the ground. The sun eaters crawled their way through the streets, devouring the warmth and energy they needed.

Curtains blacked out every window in town, stores were locked tight, the majority of people most likely in their sound proof room already. There’s nothing anything to fear, it’s simply the every day annoyance of daytime. And then they feel it.

The rumbling earth. The flashing street lamps. The house almost lifting off the foundation. And a sound they’ve never heard before. The sun eaters whimpering. Their shrieks so loud that the sound waves demolished anything in their wake. Their normal clicks and growls replaced by screams of pain and begging. A sound so new and awful that Judith and Esther knew. It was over.