“Mommy, what was that!? Why is it here?” A young girl cried.
The mother used a soft voice.
“Honey, I don’t see what you’re talking about.”
“But...how could you not? It’s right there above the buildings!” The girl used her right hand and pointed up to what she saw. The mother looked where she pointed and sighed.
“I still don’t see what you’re talking about. Let’s go home. You’re imagining things.”
The girl ripped her hand away from her mother.
“I am not! I am not!” she cried.
The mother sighed again and shook her head.
“Alright, tell me what you see then.”
The small girl looked up to the sky, with fear in her eyes.
“Octopus hands...no...dragon tails….no….I-I don’t know, “ she replied with a small voice. She wanted to run but she had nowhere to go. They were everywhere!
The mother looked up, but did not see anything. She could not understand why her daughter was so scared. She tried to comfort her but it did not work.  She kneeled down in front of her daughter.
“Honey…” she paused, then whispered, “Are you sure?”
The young girl nodded slowly, and carefully looked at her mother.
“Uh huh.”
The mother showed little to no emotion.
“Okay, but let’s let’s keep walking and I’m sure they’ll be gone tomorrow.”
“What if they aren’t? What if they hurt us!?”
The girl cried and covered her face, not wanting to see them anymore. The mother looked at her daughter with soft, careful eyes.
“They’re above the buildings, I’m sure they’ll stay there. They don’t seem to be making any movements down where we are.”
“But what if they don’t?! What if they come down a-”
She cut herself off mid-sentence and looked at her mother for reassurance, but she did not receive any. Instead her mother gently grabbed her hand and held it.
“Let’s just ignore them and be on our way, okay?”
The young girl stared at her mother and then pulled away.
“Ignore them?” she asked, unsure if she heard her mother right.
“Yes, ignore them and they won’t harm you.”
Before the young girl could speak, the mother tugged on her hand and they started walking. The young girl tried to look anywhere but up. She heard screams come
from the buildings, then she saw their shadows on the sides of the buildings. There was no escaping these creatures. 
“Mom, I thought no one was here.”
“It seems that way because they are all inside, just as we should be.”
The young girl whispered an “oh” as they approached their building and walked in. They were home. 
The girl ran to her room and tried to forget. She ran to her bed and laid down on her stomach, hiding her face in the pillow. The mother looked out at the sky through a window in the corner of the room, and saw what her daughter had been talking about. She wondered if she had done the right thing by telling her daughter not to worry about them. She could still hear the dying screams of her husband. It was not too long ago he died by one of them. She didn’t know what to call them or how to explain them. All she knew was they attacked with no warning.
~
On the night the young girl’s father died, he was almost home from work. He was just outside the door, about to enter. The mother opened the door for him like usual, but as soon as she opened the door they grabbed him. He dropped everything he had in his hands. Fear appeared in his eyes. His mouth opened as if he was about to speak but no words came out. They wrapped themselves around his small frame and seemed to be squeezing him. Blood filled his mouth. He hated that bitter taste. He hoped his daughter would never see him this way. He hoped she’d never hear of this. Most of all, he hoped he’d make it out alive. He was scared. His dark brown eyes turned to a light brown, like they do when he’s sick. His oxygen was cut off and he was dying. He gasped for air, as if that’d do him any good. He coughed up blood that got on the creature's arm. The creature seemed to enjoy the feeling of his blood on it.   
Everyone was silent and seemed to stop and stare when they grabbed him.
He was lifted up about six feet before the blood started to pour from him. At first it came as droplets, then it started raining down on his soon to be widowed wife. She stood still feeling helpless knowing there was nothing she could do to save him. His screams filled the air. He struggled against them but they were too strong. His small frame became smaller. His skin became pale. His dark hair started turning brighter. His clothes tore and seeped with all the blood. They were slowly devouring him for everyone to see.
Still, no one uttered a word, all standing still. Watching, listening, smiling. It was as if they were under some sort of spell. Some of their eyes were black and some of them were clear and showed no color. 
It ended not long after and everyone who saw went about their day as if nothing happened. The mother of the young girl was left tearstained and husbandless. She picked up his things and brought them inside. She hid them in a closet and did everything she could to keep the young girl away from them. She would never let her daughter know of the horrors of those things.