It'll Change Your Life

Tap, tap, tap

Carrie pulled an earbud out of her ear and glanced at the window. Outside, the sky was orange and purple. Soon, it would be dark.

She stuck the earbud back in and lay back on the bed. It was probably just this awful music—some indie band Blake had recently discovered and wouldn’t stop talking about.

“It’ll change your life,” he’d said. “Just listen to it, and you’ll see what I mean.”

Ok, whatever. If he would shut up about it, she would listen. He’d been weirdly obsessed with it the last few days.

She honestly couldn’t see what he liked about it so much. All she heard was screeching and noise. There was no discernable rhythm at all.

Tap, tap, tap

She sat up and jerked the earbuds out. Is it a bird?

She walked to the window, tossing the earbuds on the bed beside her phone. She had listened to two songs, and that was plenty.

Looking down at the front yard, she saw Mr. Jenkins on the other side of the street, drop a wrench into a toolbox at his feet and slam the hood of his old truck.

Carrie sighed. Maybe it was just Mr. Jenkins tinkering with the truck. He was always bent under the hood, working on something or other.

Her stomach growled. It was past her usual dinner time. She stepped through the door to go down to the kitchen.

Tap, tap, tap

She spun around. It was very clear this time. Something hard tapped on the glass. It wasn’t coming from outside. It was coming from the window, but there was nothing there.

She glanced over her shoulder and went down the stairs and into the kitchen. Leaning into the refrigerator, she found some sliced turkey and cheese. Perfect. She grabbed a few more things and put everything on the table to make a sandwich. She turned to grab the bread from the cabinet and heard it again.

Tap, tap, tap

She screamed, and the bread fell out of her hands. Through the sheer curtain over the kitchen window, she saw Blake. He tapped the glass and pointed to the door.

“What are you doing?” she yelled, unlocking the door. She didn’t bother to hide her anger when she jerked it open. “You asshole! Were you the one tapping on my bedroom window?”

Blake shook his head, an excited smile stretching across his face. “No, but you can hear it now.”

“What?”

“You listened to the music, and now you can hear it!”

“Blake, what the hell are you talking about?”

“The music I sent you. You listened to it, and now you can hear it calling.”

“Hear what call…”

He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her toward the door. “You’ll see.”

Reluctantly, she let him lead her out the door and onto the porch, and her heart stammered.

Instead of hers and the neighbors’ backyards, she was standing in a field. The sky's orange and purple were gone, replaced by grey twilight. Black silhouettes of dead trees stood out against the sky.

Some kind of animal, about the size of a moose but bulkier and without antlers, crawled across the field about fifty feet away. Something screeched above her head. A strange bird, like a cross between an eagle and a bat, sailed in front of wispy clouds.

She finally found her voice. “Blake! What is this place?” She turned back to the door, but it was gone. In the distance, two more of the strange animals made their way slowly across the field.

Blake pulled her closer to him, his smile never leaving his face. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s ours.”

She pulled away. “No! How do we get back?” She turned in a circle, looking for the door.

“Go back? No, now that you’re here, we can stay forever together.” He cupped her cheeks with his hands and gently kissed her lips. “I told you it would change your life.”