Parentnormal

Intro:
I didn’t have the funny done this week, sorry. So I decided to just write. I don’t think this particular story will go into the memoirs that someone will eventually pay me to write, but it is an interesting story none the less. Lucy, Ruby and I have big plans for the next post. Anyway, the following story takes place over the course of about 2 months. The most recent these incidents occurred about a week ago. I think it’s interesting. I think it’s weird, and I don’t have an answer. As always feel free to leave comments or emails, I’m interested to see if any of you have had something unexplainable happen. Without further adieu, I give you the first of a non sequential, positively true and currently unexplainable mystery in the trilogy Parentnormal.

Little Blue Men

6 a.m. never feels right, it’s always disappointing. I can’t think of one single moment in my life where waking up that early was a positive or for that matter productive. In fact, unless you told me that was the optimal time to go for a swim in the magical-milk chocolate-money-river, there is absolutely nothing at all good about 6 a.m. Lately, this… this God awful morning hour has became the new 8, which used to be the old 6, and well let’s just say my days are beginning earlier and earlier. Then without warning, something happened, and our household took another hit to our erratic sleep patterns.

I open my eyes, its dark. I remember it being hot that night. I rub my hands across my chest, I was covered in sweat. I wait a few seconds for the silence to sustain the room, and then once again I let my eyelids meet halfway. I doze back to sleep… “Daddy? Daddy? I need you.” Suddenly I opened my eyes again, but this time I sat up. Was that Lu? I look over at Cath, she’s still asleep. The laser green numbers on the digital alarm clock are blinking 2:00… 2:00… 2:00. Why am I up? “Daddy? Daddy? I need you.” She sounded so far away. Her voice was so little, it was almost a whisper, but she was definitely calling for me.

To this day, Lucy does not get out of her bed unless we get her. She’ll scream she has to go potty and when we open the door, there she is, waiting in her bed. Even at nap time, she doesn’t leave; not to play, dance or do those general mischievous things kids like to do when no one is watching them. She just sits in her little sleep station, waiting for us to open the door. I say this because when I opened the door sometime after 2 a.m. that night, Lucy was not in her bed.

I opened the door, her red nightlight which usually brightens the room, was a bit duller. I noticed it was off of the charger. Battery must be going dead. I look over to the bed, it was empty. Her blanket was half on the floor. I’m confused. Where is she? Didn’t she call me? Am I asleep? Then I look towards the closet, there she is. She was standing next to herself. At least that’s what it looked like. The door has a mirror on it, her reflection; she’s standing next to her reflection.

“Lu?” I don’t know why I was whispering. Maybe I didn’t want to startle her. She was looking at me. She was definitely awake, but she didn’t answer. Then she looked at me, “Daddy? I’m scared.” I kneel down on the rug and motion her closer to me. “Hey sweetie, what’s going on? How come you’re not in your bed?” It was quite. I heard Cathy roll over from across the hall. Lucy was dripping with sweat. Her hair was matted to her shiny forehead; I pushed it away and tucked it behind her ear.
“Lu, did you have a bad dream?”
“Daddy I want to sleep in bed with you and mommy.”
“I think you just had a bad dream. Why don’t you get back in your bed? I’ll get you some cold water.” Lucy sat at the end of her bed and waited for me to return with her drink. I hand her the glass, within seconds it is empty. I set her nightlight back onto the charger and the red, reddens. I lean down and kiss her on the head. She asks me to cover her up, I do. Then I tell her that she just needs to close her eyes and go back to sleep. I tell her that her bad dream was over. I tell her to stay in her bed.

“Daddy, I don’t want the little blue guys to come back through the window.” I tilt my ear to her, and then lower my face close to hers.
“What little blue men?”
“The little blue men that come through my window.” She says this like, I know what she’s talking about. Like I’ve seen them before.
“There are no little blue men coming through your window. You were having a dream; it just was a very real dream. No one has ever come through your window.” I can tell she’s not buying it. She doesn’t look the least bit convinced of my theory.
“But they come through my window every time I go night-night. They come and they hide.” I tilt my head again. Now, I’m not so convinced of my theory. I scramble to think of something soothing to say. The back of my knees are dripping with sweat. Cathy asked me a few weeks ago to put the window units in. I didn’t, but I should have. I’ll do it tomorrow, I tell myself. But I won’t. I won’t put them in at all.
“What do you mean they come in every time?”
“They always come back when I sleep.” It’s too late for this conversation, it’s too hot. She’s imagining them. There are no little blue men, because they don’t exist. She’s overly tired, I can tell. I stand up and her eyes close down. Little blue men, huh? I begin to walk back out of her room. Then I turn toward the window and stare. The curtain looks weird, it’s disheveled. I look down at Lu; I have to check the window… for her sake. I examine the window closely. It’s shut, it’s locked and there are no signs of little blue men.

I walk across the hall and ooze back into bed. I think about an air conditioner, it would feel nice. This makes me laugh. Cathy rolls back over, I must have awoken her.

“Where were you?” She asks.
“I was checking on Lu, I think she was having a nightmare.”
“What time is it?”
“Sometime after two a.m. The power went out. The clock isn’t working.”
“Was there a storm?” This caught me off guard. Was there a storm? That would make sense. A storm clipped the power. I didn’t smell the rain, and our window was open. Surely I would have smelled the rain. I get up and walk to the kitchen. I pull a box of orange juice from the fridge. I unscrew the top, then I look out into the back yard… It’s dry. I wipe a few drips of juice from my chin onto the back of my hand. I take another drink and put the box back into the fridge. For a second, I’m cool. The fridge is humming. It sounds angry. I close the door, and grab my phone, its 3:23. I head back to bed. On the way, I peek my head into Lucy’s room. To my surprise she was looking right at me. I open the door a little wider and motion her with my head to follow. I put her next to Cathy. I set the clock. She’s asleep instantly.

By the next morning, the house had cooled down considerably. Lucy, Ruby and Cathy were in the kitchen getting breakfast. I was staring at 6 a.m. Damn it’s early. I shake off the fog, and follow the scent of coffee. Two cream, 2 sugar. Cathy kisses me on the forehead and asked how Lucy got in the bed with us. She doesn’t remember?

“Remember? She had a bad dream.” She nods her head back and forth. I sip my coffee, it’s hot. Later, while Lu and I were on the couch and Ruby scrounged the floor for Cheerios, I waited for my coffee to give me life. I hate the cartoon were watching, I’m sure we’ve seen this a million times.
“Lu, are you watching this? Can I watch the news?”
“Sure you can. You’re the best dad who makes the best oatmeal.”
“Thanks.” Soon she’ll know the difference between instant and homemade, but for know I take the accolades.
“Daddy. Remember when you came into my room last night?” I turned towards her; she stretched her arm out and patted me on the head. She does this a lot.
“That was nice, when you let me sleep in your bed. I just don’t like it when the little blue men come into my room.” I understood. She felt safe with me, I like that. She knows I’ll protect her. I’m her dad, that’s the innate part of my job. So she had a bad dream, she’s a kid, who in panic, couldn’t separate fantasy from reality.
“Don’t worry about that stuff, it’ll be fine, daddy scared the little blue men away.” She smiled. I smiled, and after that everything was fine. We slept sound, for weeks. Lucy continued to stay in her bed and I never gave that particular incident another thought. Then last week, I woke up. The numbers on the clock read 2:30, although it felt later. I was thirsty so I made my way to the kitchen, and unscrewed the top of the orange juice. I wiped my chin with the back of my hand, then start to walk back to bed. As I neared Lucy’s door I heard a sound. I opened the door and peek my head in. Sure enough, she was sitting on the edge of her bed, almost as if she knew I was coming.
“Daddy.” She whispered. “The blue men are here.”

There have been a total of four separate “Blue Man” incidents since that night when the power went out. I’ve never seen or heard from any of these blue men. But, I’ve been told by Lu, that they float through the window, even when it’s closed. In ten years at this house I’ve never felt or seen anything that would allow me to believe that it is haunted in any way. This is more likely a scenario pulled from the head of an overly imaginative three year old, but then again, what if it isn’t? (cue awesome freaky music here)…….