Late Night (Archive)

Lately I haven't been sleeping much. There's a lot on my mind and I've always been prone to insomnia anyway. The last few days it's been bad enough that I'm lucky if I get two, three hours tops. Last night was my Friday and I had planned on staying up, but I hadn't planned on pulling an all-nighter. I'm working on a personal writing project, though, and I lost track of time. I took a break around three in the morning, got up to stretch and eat and shit. I passed my living room on the way to the kitchen. Like a lot of people, I leave my television on all the time on a low volume because I like having the background noise. Silence can be just as toxic as cacophony.

     I live in a very small town, and the local news still has the traditional sign-off when the program ends for the night. An American flag waves while the anthem plays, and a messages bids the viewer a good night. After that, it's just a test pattern until six, when the early guys come on. When I passed by, the anthem was just coming to an end. I made a sandwich and on the way back to the bedroom I stopped to change the channel to something else. But the station wasn't playing its usual test pattern and I sat down to see what was going on.

     Around here, the Forest Service puts out emergency broadcasts when someone goes missing or there's an issue in the park. Because our town is basically bordered on three sides by very dense woodland, anything that happens in the park affects us almost immediately, and alerts aren't that uncommon. I wondered if someone had had an issue at one of the campgrounds, and I figured I might as well see what was going on before going back to work. If it was a major issue, they were going to call me in anyway. Might as well beat them to the punch.

     I ate my sandwich and muted the TV so I wouldn't have to listen to the tone. Whoever was running the alert wasn't using a canned message, so the standard alert was still flashing. I found it odd that they'd be running it so early; generally if a major issue comes up in the small hours, the tornado sirens are turned on and the cops will go door-to-door. It's a very small town, so that's not an impossible task. The only times in my memory that we've had to do this were when the tornado touched down outside the town limits and last year, when a wildfire hopped the state border and was coming at us faster than anticipated. But I've never seen an alert run after about ten at night, so it was strange to see an emergency alert now without hearing the sirens running in tandem.

     The standard screen flickered for a second, which usually signals the end of the tone and the beginning of the actual message, so I unmuted the TV. I caught the tail-end of the tone before it switched to the interval honk, or whatever that flat tone is called. A message appeared very briefly, but I didn't have time to see it, and you can't, of course, rewind emergency broadcasts. A second message popped up.

     Please Be Advsied

     I laughed and started to pull my phone out of my pocket for a screenshot. I know the people in charge of the broadcast system, and they get hell about typos from the higher-ups. But before I could take a picture the message disappeared and was replaced with a real-time one. Whoever was writing it was typing fast and inaccurately. This is around when I started to get a bit uneasy.

     Plesae do not contact demergency serbvices or family memebers, we qre aware of the situation.

     The message disappeared and there was a brief pause. I sent a text to a buddy of mine, who also tends to stay up late, and told him to turn on the news. A new message, pre-typed, appeared.

     Please ensure that all children are present before making a report. False reports are subject to

     The message cut off. Nothing from my buddy. I started scanning the news on my phone for any breaking stories but I didn't see anything. The weather was calm, there were no fires.

     they can move?

     My phone buzzed and I pulled up the message. My buddy was watching and was just as perplexed so I called him. We talked while we watched the alert.

     call the police

     "You seeing this?" My friend said. "The fuck are they doing?"

     "Well who's doing it, too?"

     "It's not a drill, it doesn't say. Doesn't it say if it's just a test?"

     We were both quiet while we read the new message.

     make them run, if they can't go back inside and call 911. don't let kids see themselves we don't know what happens

     "There's no way. This is a joke. Dude someone's gonna get fired." I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me laugh or himself.

     at the tree line they get stuck and they run in place or they turn into something else please don't be afraid they aren't your children your children are asleep

     Both of us were quiet.

     please avoid going between levels of your house stay where you are your children are not outside they are upstairs in bed

     "What do we do?" My buddy asked.

     "Don't go up your stairs, I guess." Then we both started laughing for some reason, and we didn't stop until the next message popped up.

     stay where you are your children are sleeping they are asleep don't move just stay where you are

     please stop calling

     don't look outside it's not them

     read the prompts and follow

     we don't know what they are

     stop calling

     weapons are ineffective they cant leave the trees

     stay where you are

     they are not your children

     Suddenly the broadcast ended, and the test pattern came up. My buddy and I waited for a bit and then hung up. I turned the TV to another channel and got up to look out the window. My property includes several acres of heavily wooded land, and I looked out in the backyard, where the treeline is clearest.

     At the edge of the trees, I saw what I think was a small boy. He was running in place, in a very slow, almost robotic way. I couldn't make out any details but he seemed familiar. He continued to run in place, his legs moving in big exaggerated arcs, his arms pumping. I looked down for a second to unlock the door and when I looked up he was gone. As if he'd never been there. I closed the door and locked it and moved to the bedroom. I made sure all the blinds were closed but I didn't get much more work done.

     I don't work for the next two days, but this morning I texted my buddy to see what he's heard. He says only a few other people saw the broadcast, and the guys in charge are in deep water. As to whether or not the situation, whatever it was, was real, it seems no one is talking.

     But, he says, our park had an emergency meeting this morning. We've all been advised to keep an eye out for any 'unusual activity.' They haven't specified what that activity might be. I doubt we'll ever learn anything one way or the other, but I think I'll keep my blinds closed at night for now.