Danger in Disguise

After a few minutes, I heard some noises behind me. Sena came back into the room, and saw me looking out of the window. She walked to stand by my side.

"I am really sorry for waking you up." she said.

"It isn't you, I couldn't sleep anyway." I said.

"I know... Telling haunted stories in the night might not have been the best idea, but you just had to know." she said. "This was how I was like when I first saw the light too, years ago. But trust me, I watched it over and over again in many different nights. Sometimes it goes off, and comes back; sometimes it falls over different areas of the town. It even lights up our house every now and then. But, it does nothing special. Nothing that I or any other people have noticed so far. It's behaviour isn't periodic, it does not work by any rules or an algorithm. The only thing we know, which the people of Yuvakaya knew for a few decades now, is that the yellow light means danger."

"Are there other colors too?" I asked.

"Oh... No. None that I know of." she answered. "Unless, you know, people climb the mountain and want to signal things to each other with flashlights or laser pointers; which doesn't happen very often. I guess it isn't a very remarkable mountain for sport purposes."

"Did you ever climb that mountain?" I asked her.

"No." she said. "Why would I?"

"Didn't you ever wonder what is up there?"

"I did wonder, but on the other hand, I like to live a healthy life." she said.

We heard something close behind us, and turned around with a bit of panic. However, our sudden response was unnecessary. Mr. Idris froze when he saw us so anxious.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." he said. "But what are you doing in the middle of the night? Having a date?"

"DAAD!" Sena shouted angrily.

Mr. Idris came in front of the window as well. Coincidentally, the yellow light made a pass over the house just then. The inside of the bedroom lit up with a yellow tint, for a fraction of a second.

"The fact is..." Mr. Idris started speaking. "This phenomenon has been happening more often lately. The yellow light used to appear like once every couple of months... But now, this happens like once every two or three weeks... or something like that."

"That is correct." Sena said.

"Eh? Why?" I asked.

"Only if I knew..." Mr. Idris sighed.

No one said anything for several minutes as we all watched the yellow light moving over to faintly illuminate different spots on the town. The light eventually disappeared. The only thing left to look at was the infinite blackness.

Mr. Idris turned to us.

"If you don't go to sleep soon, you will never be able to wake up in the morning." he said. "I mean, you don't absolutely HAVE TO, of course, but you seriously should consider."

"Alright." I said. "Good night."

"Good night."

"Good night."

- - - - -

It was morning before I knew it.

I woke up and enjoyed the view of the world with the entire color spectrum once again. The sun was high up in the sky already. I could hear birds chirping and people chatting outside.

I stood up and looked around the room. Sena had apparently woke up before me, and she was nowhere to be seen.

I got to the bathroom, washed my face and started looking for people.

"Hello! Anyone home?"

No one was around.

I went downstairs to the book store, hoping to find someone there. When I got there, I saw that the book store was open; Sena was trying to help a customer while Mr. Idris was talking with... my aunt!

"What are you doing here, aunt!?" I asked in shock.

"Good morning to you too, dear." she said. "I was worried when you didn't come back last night, so I came to look for you."

Mr. Idris was listening to us without joining the conversation.

"How did you know I was here?"

Mr. Idris coughed lightly. It was looking like he wanted to say something, but he was holding it back.

"Gut feelings." my aunt replied. "Yuvakaya is a small town, it isn't hard to figure out where people are."

While this was going on, I saw that everyone in the store was looking at us. It was such an embarrassing moment.

"Anyway, I get it aunt." I said with a calmer voice. "Sorry about it, Mr. Idris."

Mr. Idris chuckled a bit.

"It is okay, you did nothing wrong." he said.

"Well." my aunt spoke. "Now that he is here, it looks like it is time for us to leave. Sorry for bothering you, mister. I promise we won't be a nuis-"

"No, no; you are getting it all wrong." Mr. Idris said. "I am happy to accommodate and be with Ender. You could say that we are good friends."

"Is that so..." my aunt tried to fake a smile, poorly. "In any case, we should go now."

"Come back soon, my friend." said Mr. Idris.

"Sure, hopefully." I said before my aunt practically dragged me out of the store. On my way, I made eye contact with Sena, but we didn't talk.

I took my bicycle and my aunt began leading the way to her apartment.

"Aunt..." I said. "Were you trying to be kind or hostile to Mr. Idris? Honestly I couldn't tell."

"Look, I don't like that guy." she said. "He is a weirdo, and a dangerous man."

"Dangerous? How!?"

"Ugh..." my aunt said. "Just... try to stay away from him and his daughter. I don't want something bad to happen to you."

"I thought like that as well, but actually, he is a friendly guy once you get to know him." I said. "And aunt... Why didn't you tell me about the yellow light before?"

"The yellow light, the yellow light... I just never found the right time and setting to tell you." she said.

"When would be the right time for that?" I asked.

"I don't know." she replied. "But hear me out. Please, for god's sake, please stay away from that book store."

"I don't get why you are so scared of them." I said. "He is genuinely a nice guy."

"I just happened to hear a few things about him that you didn't... yet."