The Nightmare

Friend Or Foe

The bell rang. A thousand questions raced through my mind. I clenched my fists in fear. I looked at my father. He looked at me. We had no idea what to do. But he gathered himself and walked to the door. 

Mum said from the back, 'Don't open the door. What if it's them?' 

Before my dad could answer, we heard a man shout his name. 'Hey, it's me, Ron. I'm not one of them. Please open the door. I've come to help.'

Ron is my dad's friend. My dad has known him for many years. We were still suspicious. But my dad went on and opened the door. There he was, wearing a black button-up T-shirt and trousers. He certainly looked like one of them.

'Ron?'

'I know you and your family have not yet been turned by them. That's why I've come to help you. I followed you to the police station.'

'That was you? Why? Are you involved with them?' I asked.

'I know you think I'm one of them. But I'm not. They turned all my loved ones. They tried to do the same to me, but it did not work on me. We were interrupted while they tried to control my mind. But I knew I had to act as if they had succeeded.'

'When I saw your car on the way to the police station, I had doubts that you had not been turned. They were with me in the car, so I had to take a different turn so they would not notice you. When I went back to their base, I found out they were coming to turn you tomorrow. I sneaked out to warn you.'

Dad took a deep breath and said, 'This is all so messed up. Thank you for coming. We will be leaving soon.'

I said, 'Why are they doing this to us? How have they controlled everyone in this town? Do you know anything?

He replied, 'I don't know much. We just follow orders. And I don't think they're just going to stop at our town. They have bigger plans than that. It's better if you leave as soon as possible. '

He offered to help us. He suggested that he could take us to the border in his car so that no one would notice us. And we agreed.

We all took what we could and got into the car. It was 3 in the morning. We drove carefully, trying not to draw any attention. We reached the town limit and some people were guarding the town border crossing. Ron told us not to say anything. Just sit like robots. No expressions.