Once Kyle was gone, I heard another loud sound which caused us all to jump. Susie was crying louder and Gabriel shoved his head into my side trying to muffle his cries. I was worried about Kyle so I got up off the couch and headed to the door. Gabriel followed behind me. I opened the door and peered outside. Kyle was just standing there. “Kyle?” I asked. “Are you okay?”



He didn’t answer. I hesitantly stepped outside. In front of us was mass destruction. I stood there like a statue and Gabriel was peering from behind me, his eyes wide with fear. “W-What’s happening?” I asked fearfully.



“I don’t know,” Kyle answered stiffly. Susie started to cry so hard her face was turning red. I patted her back gently, trying to calm her down.



Screams were heard from everywhere around. Gabriel started to sob, making the back of my shirt wet with tears. Kyle picked him up with a groan.



“We’re going inside,” Kyle said, then going inside. I followed behind him and shut the door.



We sat down on the couch and Kyle changed the channel to the news. Gabriel sat in between the both of us and Susie sat on my lap screaming and sobbing. “Shut her the hell up!” he yelled angrily, making Susie sob harder and longer.



“Kyle!” I said aghast. “She’s only a small child!”



Gabriel sobbed and buried his head into my right side. I put my arm around Gabriel and made him come very close to me. I didn’t know what was wrong with Kyle.
The news started speaking of the destruction in our area and they thought it was caused by some nuclear bomb. If it was some kind of nuclear bomb I wanted to get the hell out of here! Susie and Gabriel are in danger if we stay here! But it said for everyone to stay inside, which people were disobeying.
“Let’s get out of here!” I yelled frightened.
“That’s what the others are doing!” Kyle yelled back angrily. “Do you want to be killed?”



I sat in silence while Susie and Gabriel continued crying and screaming. Kyle turned the TV off in anger and got up off the couch. He walked away frustrated, I think to our bedroom. I set Susie down onto her play mat and told Gabriel to stay put and watch his sister. I was going to have a little talk with Kyle.



I headed into our bedroom to see Kyle’s back to me and his arms fixed onto his torso. He didn’t seem to notice me. His shirt was off so I could see his bare back. It looked different from this morning. It had all of these red spots on it, like chicken pox, only he’d already gotten them. When Gabriel had the chicken pox when he was three, he had spread it to Kyle. Gabriel seems pretty proud of it to this day.



“Kyle?” I asked questioningly.



He turned around and what I saw…, is hard to explain. He had what looked like the arms of a squid or octopus coming out from a giant hole in his stomach. They were squirming around in a big mass. The red dots seemed to be alive and moving. His hands hung limp on the tentacles. He seemed to have been trying to push them back in.



“R-Rachel?” he asked shocked that I was standing before him. He reached his arm out to touch me and I backed away.



“N-No,” I stuttered. “You’re not touching me or my family!”
I fled from the room and quickly, but carefully scooped up Susie. I took Gabriel’s hand and firmly held it. Susie was holding her rabbit and Gabriel had his pad and markers in his open hand. Before I could race out of the house, Kyle ran out of the room, his tentacles flying every which way. I ducked before one could stick to my head. Another tentacle almost grabbed Susie. I tried to run, but a strong force was holding me back. A tentacle had grabbed Gabriel’s free hand causing his notebook to slam to the ground with a thump and markers to sprawl across the room.
“Mommy!” Gabriel cried desperately.
I grabbed the tentacle and threw it off him and then fled from our home. But soon, it wouldn’t be much of a home anymore…