The lights are outside my window again.
They've been there since I turned off my laptop. It's been like this for weeks. Granted, not during the day. The lights only show during the night when they know I'm alone.
When they know no one else can hear me.
Let me explain.
I didn't really pay attention to them when they first started appearing in the garden outside of my window. My family and I live in the country so strange things during the night aren't too abnormal to see. It's only when I brought it up to my family members that something... didn't feel right.
It was a couple days after the lights first showed. I decided to bring it up during breakfast in a joking manor since I didn't really think anything of it.
"So, I noticed some strange lights last night. You think the neighbor down the road was riding their four wheeler?"
I let out a chuckle and quickly stopped noticing that my parents weren't laughing or even smiling. "Were they in any specific shape?"
My mother asked, quietly, almost in a whisper. I looked at her inquisitively. "I mean, I couldn't really tell? They were pretty small, but I guess they were shaped like hearts?"
Her face immediately went pale and she looked at my father with what I could tell was genuine concern. "Just... never mind. If you see them get any bigger or change shape, would you mind telling me?"
I felt my eyebrows raise as I looked at them both with confusion. "I... guess so?"
After that conversation I didn't know what to think. Were the lights unnatural? Why did my mom not even give me any context as to why she asked? But, eventually, it just slipped my mind. For good reason, since the lights had yet to show themselves for the next week. That was, until last Thursday night.
I had just been talking to a friend over a game and she had decided turned in for the night and I decided to do the same. The lights briefly crossed my mind as I shut the laptop lid and, for some form of amusement, I peeked through the curtains into the yard.
What I saw was... well, something.
The lights were back, and still shaped the same. Except this time, they were just across the road from our house, instead of faintly in the background as the first time I'd seen them.
I stared, curious and confused. Was this a prank? Were my parents just screwing with me because I'd even decided to bring them up? It didn't seem like something my parents would do, but maybe. Closing the curtains, I made a mental note to bring it up the next morning just to see their reaction.
When I did bring it up, my mother's face instantly lost all its color. My father had gone out for work and therefore wasn't there when I told her. "A-are you sure?"
I nodded. "Yes, why wouldn't I be? They were just across the road, and they were still shaped like hearts."
For a moment, she was silent. "Mom?"
Her head snapped towards me as though she'd been in a trance and I'd broken it when I spoke. "Yes?"
It's like she'd forgotten the conversation entirely despite having it only seconds ago. "I... never mind."
For the next few days, I kept an eye on the lights but stopped bringing them up, specifically to my mother. The way she just spaced out when I told her the other night... I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it.
As I'm sitting here now, they're right outside my window. Before I could turn on my laptop and you wouldn't be able to tell the lights were there just from the dim glow of my laptop screen. Now, the light radiating from them was bright enough to where it wouldn't make a difference if I turned on my room light.
I don't know what they want. I don't know why I'm the one who has to see them. What have I done? What did my parents do? Did they do something and now I'm the one to suffer the consequences?
Like I said, I don't know. All I know is they want in.
And I'm going to let them.