#158

The beginning went like this...in the darkest moment of the night, they heard a noise. At first it was quiet. So quiet they almost didn't recognize it as a noise.

But just as the edge of recognition began the sound increased. Soon it was clear. It was song. Playing over and over. It got louder and louder, but then stopped at a volume just below what they could make out clearly. The melody was foggy and the words slightly muffled, but it was playing over and over. It was clear that it was the same song, repeating.

But why?

And how did it get there?

Now both sitting up in bed, they were silent but looking at each other, looking around the room, trying to decide what to do next, but not wanting to speak for fear the spell would be broken. Because that's what it felt like. Like there in their bed, in the dark of night, they had some how mysteriously been placed under a spell.

Just as Alex was getting ready to get out of the bed and see what exactly was going on, it stopped. Almost as if someone could see him about to place a foot on the floor and than in that instant cutting off the music.

By now, the spell had lifted. Claire was looking around, fear teasing the edges of her eyes. Her mouth was beginning to frown and her breathing was quick. She knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

That song. She'd heard it before. But where? She couldn't quite bring it up in her mind, but she knew she knew it.

Alex was tempted to swing his feet back into bed, pull up the covers and roll over, that is, until he saw Claire's face. Then he realized this was one of those moments. A be the man moment. Just like catching a spider he thought.

"Relax Claire, I'm sure it's nothing. I'll go check it out."

With that he grabbed his jeans from the back of the chair and stepped into them. He walked the two steps across the room to the door while zipping up. He reached out, firmly took the door knob in his hand and gave it a turn. The door swung open easily, just like it always had.

He stepped through into the hall way and quickly shut the door behind him. Snapping on the hall light he was thinking, I'll do a little walk around the main floor, grab a glass of water and head right back to bed.

The hall showed no signs of anything other than their normal everyday life. As he drew near the entry to the kitchen, the hairs on his arms began to stand up. His heart began to pound. His mind tried to keep up with what he was seeing.