No lungs were outside the house.

No man either.

The rest of the day went by without any incidents. As I went to sleep that night I thought, ‘maybe it’s over. Maybe he’s done torturing us.’

Wishful thinking.

When I woke up the next morning I could see red and blue flashes of light reflecting off the wall of the front room.

I didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t want to know why they were there.

It wasn’t up to me though, someone was knocking on the front door.

I looked over to Dan, he was also awake.

“What now?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

We both got up and answered the door.

“Good morning,” the officer at the door said. “There was an incident across the street. We need to make sure everyone here is accounted for.”

I told him they were all still sleeping, but I would go and check to be sure everyone was still in their beds.

As I turned to go check on my family I heard Dan asking what was going on. I could barely hear but I somehow made out that one of our neighbors had found something. I wondered if it was lungs.