Don't Look
My eyes shoot open as a loud alarm breaks me from my deep sleep.
I sigh.
Sleep was a battle every night and nothing irritated me more than when it was interrupted.
Letting out a groan of annoyance, I turn to the left where my clock sits on my nightstand.
3 AM.
Too soon to be any alarm I set.
I'm thankful for my blackout curtains. I'd included them when I had redone my room and it helped tremendously.
Barely awake, I fumble around for my phone believing that the alarm must be an AMBER alert. I rub my eyes and squint to read the tiny words on the bright screen.
I read it once.
Twice.
At first I wonder if it is a mistake.
It didn't make sense.
The alert read:
DON'T LOOK AT THE MOON.
Before I can even start to wonder why or figure out if this was legitimate, my phone starts dinging like crazy.
Text messages.
People I knew.
Family.
Friends.
Numbers I didn't recognize.
All read the same haunting message:
It's a beautiful night tonight.
Look outside.
They flood my notifications and I start feeling overwhelmed and turn my phone on silent.
It buzzes repeatedly.
Trying to shake the fog of sleep, I run my hands through my hair and sigh. Living alone never really bothered me. I'd been on my own for years after moving out of my parents' place.
This has me quite on edge.
My phone continues vibrating every few seconds as more notifications come in.
Is this a prank?
I click my screen back on and go to my mom's contact and send her a text.
Mom did you see the alert?
What's going on?
- Kenna
Seconds later, a response.
But not the one I was expecting.
It's a beautiful night tonight Kenna.
Look outside.
- Mom
I text back getting more frustrated.
Why? Mom why is everyone telling me that? What is going on?
- Kenna
I try to call her but I get her voicemail.
I try to call Dad.
Same thing.
Wanting to find answers, I do what everybody does and I open one of the few social media apps I have on my phone. I scroll the message boards. Cold chills go up my spine.
Every message board is full of the same message my mother sent.
Others are in the same boat as me, completely lost on what's going on.
I open the search engine on my phone. I'm not too sure what to look for but I need answers. I'm not getting them from anyone else.
I type in moon alert.
Unfortunately it's just more of the same.
Panic. Confusion. And the messages.
No answers as to why we can't look.
There is nothing from the government or news articles after the first alert.
What's really going on?
It seems like everyone who looks ends up in some kind of trance repeating the same message over and over again. Like they've never known anything else.
At some point the adrenaline rush is gone and I manage to doze off for a bit.
When I check my phone I see that all the messages and calls have finally stopped.
Then I get a sinking feeling in my gut and I open the tab for the internet again.
The page renews and the headlines stun me.
STABBING IN STREETS
CAR SWERVES INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC.
WOMAN BEATEN TO DEATH IN GROCERY STORE.
It just gets worse.
People are killing one another.
I hear a gunshot in the distance and it makes me jump, startling me so much I almost drop my phone. Realizing that this random phenomenon is now causing full fledged psychosis, I rush about the house to make sure that all my doors and windows are locked.
I draw all the curtains and blinds, keeping my eyes closed and fumbling a bit as I do so but I'm careful not to look outside in any way.
My heart hammers in my chest and I'm out of breath as I grab my gun from my safe . I put it in position with the holster snug against my hip. It makes me feel a bit better but I'm still worried. Not just for me but for my parents.
We lived too far away.
Even a plane ride would take hours and it's not exactly safe to leave the house.
With shaky fingers, I try and call my mom again. The phone rings once before it goes to voicemail. This time there is no moon message.
She doesn't respond at all.
My heart begins beating faster.
I repeatedly reach out to relatives.
Aunts and cousins.
People I hadn't spoken with in years.
My hope is that I can get one of them on the phone so someone can check on my mom.
I know I could call the police.
Mom didn't have a good reputation with them. Long story short, before my mom got together with my father, she had an abusive ex and the cops didn't do anything to protect her.
Most of my calls and texts would be unanswered.
I'm on my third to last call in my contacts when my mom's sister, my Aunt Susan picks up the phone. I almost shout with joy. She hadn't answered the last few times and I was starting to feel like maybe I had nobody left that wasn't affected.
"Hey honey. I've seen what's been going on. Are you okay?" She asks
Her voice soothes some of my anxiety.
I'm not alone.
"I'm okay but I can't get in touch with my Mom. She looked Aunty Susan."
There's a short pause as she takes this in.
"I can be at her house in twenty minutes."
She would stay on the phone with me, not wanting to leave me alone while we got our answers. She walks throughout the house, giving me updates along the way.
No doubt she could hear me practically hyperventilating on the other side of the phone. I could feel my brain going into panic mode. My skin was buzzing with nervous energy and I was pacing around the house, unable to keep still until I was keeling over, hands on my knees, trying desperately to get air.
"Breathe. In and out." She kept coaching me
Once I felt like I could finally get some oxygen in my lungs again, I asked her how everything appeared in the house. According to her, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
Until she got to the backyard.
My mother and father were lying there.
Motionless.
Dead.
Based off of what Susan had seen, her best guess was that they'd thrown themselves off the roof during this craziness.
It would take police as well as the corner five hours to come collect my parents bodies. The world has been thrown into chaos and I wasn't the only one who lost someone.
There would be no real answers as to the cause of what would be called the 'moon madness.'
Tests would be done on the people affected. Those who were still alive anyway.
They tested blood, conducted mental evaluations, the works.
For weeks I was glued every early morning and late night, refreshing the pages to the news like a crazy person. Desperate to know what caused the gruesome deaths of my parents.
There would be nothing.
There were no anomalies.
People who were mentally healthy looked at the moon and became clinically insane.
They would never go back to normal.
Eventually the call was made to humanly euthanize the rest. They weren't safe around anyone. Their only option would be to live in complete solitary and even then, a large majority were a threat to themselves.
It would become a yearly phenomenon.
Busy streets would be abandoned, windows secured closed tightly one day out of the rest.
Almost everyone in the world lost a loved one.
They would never get answers as to why looking at the moon broke those who peeked.
We'd all be forced to move on without closure, instead, trying to turn to those who could relate to soothe our pain. Each person did the very best they could but deep down, we all knew that life would never be the same.
