"The oldest and strongest emotion is fear. And the oldest and strongest fear, is fear of the unknown."- H.P Lovecraft.

The fallowing is based on real nightmares that I have had.

It was early summer.

A young girl by the name of Alexandria (Alex) Collins lay in the hot sun at the public pool. She had dark hair and blue eyes. She had on a blue bikini and sunglasses. The warm sunlight embraced her bare skin. She was half asleep being so relaxed.

Alex's youngest sister Ashley was playing in the kiddy pool, her younger sister Kimberly was jumping off the diving boards, and her eldest sister Cassie was scrolling through news feeds on her phone.

Their parents where astronomers who worked for NASA. The parents where working at the observatory that day, leaving Cassie in charge of the other kids.

Alex was woken by a sudden shadow. She lifted her sunglasses to see that a solar eclipse was happening.

"Hey Cas?" Alex called out to her sister. "Was there supposed to be an eclipse today."

"Not that I know of." Cassie said. "But it'll be over soon. No big deal."

"Hey, did you guys see my wicked dive over there?" Kimberly interrupted.

The whole world seemed to be getting darker and darker as the sun was covered up.

"Guys it's nighttime!" Ashley said, joining her sisters.

"Does it usually get this dark in an eclipse?" Alex asked.

Cassie tried to call their parents. "Fuck! No signal."

"Maybe we should head home." Alex suggested.

"No way!" Ashley said. "This is so cool! It's like it's night time, but it's only 2 o clock."

Alex figured her sisters where right, after all. It was only a solar eclipse. Likely the sun would be back within a few minutes. But the young teen couldn't help but feel there was something more sinister about this eclipse.

About ten minutes passed. Still the outside world was as dark as the knight. The teens and pre-teens in the pool had started to talk amongst themselves.

Alex looked up at the sky.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon is in front of the sun and casts a shadow on the earth. Usually you would be able to still see the outline of the sun behind the moon, as the sun is unfathomably larger than the moon. However, Alex could not see the sun's outline.

"Hey Cas, where's the sun?" Alex asked her older sister.

"Behind the moon genius." Cassie replied. "It's a solar eclipse."

"Shouldn't you at least see an outline?" Alex asked.

"I don't know." Cassie said. "You'll have to ask mom and dad when they get home."

"Attention, the pool will be closing due to technical difficulties." A voice came from a loudspeaker.

The four sisters piled in their car and drove off.

...

It was still pitch black out when the girls returned home.

"This is the longest solar eclipse I have ever seen." Cassie said.

"It's been dark for at least 20 minutes now." Alex added. "Are we sure this is a solar eclipse?"

Cassie turned on the TV. "Maybe the news can tell us something."

"Across the globe, reports claim to be experiencing complete darkness." The anchorwoman said.

Ashley grabbed Alex's hand.

"What's going on?" The little girl said.

Alex could tell her younger sister was getting scared.

"Hey guys check it out." Kimberly called to the rest of the girls. "Meteor shower."

The girls went to the window to see streaks of light falling through the sky.

"Many religious groups are claiming this eclipse marks the beginning of the end times." The news lady went on to say.

"Hey look." Alex pointed out the window.

The moon was visible in the dark sky.

"Well this is no eclipse." Cassie said.

But if the moon wasn't blocking the sun... then what was?

...

The four siblings tried again and again to get a hold of their parents. They called their parents cell phones, as well as calling the observatory they worked at. Neither option answered.

"I'm sure they're fine." Cassie assured her sisters. "Let's just wait here. I'm sure they will be home soon."

"I just got a text from Billy." Ashley said. "He said something ate his dog."

The other girls gave her a blank look.

"I'm sure Billy is just trying to scare you." Cassie said.

The day, or night went on and their mom and dad didn't show. The girls figured they must be working a late night. So, they went to bed assuming Mom and Dad would be home the next day.

...

When Alex woke up, she noticed 2 things. First it was really cold, so much that she could see her own breath. She decided to put on a black sweater with white stripes on the sleeves. She looked out the window to her next surprise. It was still dark out! Even though it was already 9:00 am.

Alex left her room to find Cassie. Cassie was wearing a red sweater and black sweat pants.

"Did mom and dad come back yet?" Alex said.

"No." Cassie replied. "I'm going to drive over to the observatory."

"Careful out there." Alex warned. "I can't help thinking about Ashley's friend, how he said something ate their dog." Alex shivered. "Damn it got cold."

"No sun, no heat." Cassie replied.

"I don't mind." Ashley came bounding down the hall. She had on a pink sweater, whose sleeves came past her hands. "It gives me a chance to wear my favorite sweater." The little girl smiled and gave herself a hug.

"Guess we'll just have to keep moving." Kimberly joined the group wearing a red hoodie.

Cassie put on a black leather Jacket and headed for the car.

"Do you need me to come with you?" Alex asked.

"No." Cassie replied. "You stay here and watch after our sisters. I'll be fine."

...

As Cassie drove through the streets, she saw hordes of people smashing the windows to stores and looting them.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Cassie said to herself.

Cassie kept her eyes forward hoping none of those crazy people would try to hijack her ride, or worse.

In the darkness she could see an old man holding a sign that read "The end is here!"

"Let's hope not old timer." Cassie mumbled. She reached the observatory her parents worked at.

Shooting stars shot across the sky. A meteor shower that has been going on since the night before, since the eclipse started. The two events had to be related somehow.

Hopefully her parents knew what happened to the sun, hopefully they were alright.

As her headlights hit the side of the building, she saw the claw marks on the wall.

"What the fuck!" Cassie said.

...

"I wanna go outside!" Kimberly said, holding a basket ball in her hand.

"I don't think it's really safe out there." Alex said.

"It's just darkness and a bit of cold." Her younger sister told her. "It's just like playing after dark in October. We just need to keep the light on."

"Ok but don't go past the front yard." Alex warned her younger sisters. "Stay in sight."

...

The door to the observatory was broken in. broken pieces of wood and furniture that had been stacked up as a barricade had now littered the floor. Pools of blood flooded the ground, with red smears along walls. Bullet shells and empty guns piled on the floor, some with disembodied hands still gripping them.

Cassie's heart raced. She preyed that she was not seeing the remains of her parents. Her mother and father also worked with a team of scientists, this could simply be the remains of their co-workers.

Cassie herd some commotion. A woman stepped out from the shadows in a white lab coat with the word NASA on it.

The woman was named Betty, she was one of the Women that Cassie's parents worked with.

"Betty what's going, where are my parents." Cassie asked.

"Gone." Betty said. As she got closer Cassie could see that Betty's arm was torn apart, her face was covered in blood. Her stomach was sliced open, and blood poured out.

"What happened?" Cassie asked. "Are you ok?"

"We tried to fight them off." Betty said.

"Who?"

"THEM!" Betty said. "This darkness... the meteors... it's... it's an invasion."

Then Betty fell to the ground motionless.

Something else moved.

"Hello?" Cassie called out.

She heard a deep growling noise that shook the room.

She didn't wait around to find out what it was, she got out of there as quick as she could.

She got in her car, put the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine started immediately.

"Thank God." She said to herself. Then she sped off.

Did I just leave that woman to die? Cassie thought to herself.

...

Back at the house, Kimberly was shooting hoops by the light of the porch light. As well as the moon, stars, and shooting stars.

Alex Sat in the living room. She turned on her PlayStation. A game of Fortnight should calm her nerves. Unfortunately, it seemed that the internet was down. Alex let out a moan. She walked over to the entertainment center to pick out another game from her library. Something single player that didn't need an internet connection.

"You're really playing video games at a time like this?" Ashley interrupted.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" Alex replied. "It's not like I can turn the sun back on."

"Well in that case." Ashley said. "Can I play a game with you?"

Alex smiled. "Sure, thing kiddo." She looked for a game they could both play.

"WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" A shrill scream came from the front yard. Alex grabbed a flash light then she and Ashley rushed out the door to see what was happening.

Kimberly stood in the middle of the driveway with a shocked look on her face.

"Kimmy, are you ok?" Alex asked.

Kimberly pointed into the darkness. Alex shined her light where Kimberly was pointing. They found a dead cat. The bottom half of its body was completely gone, and blood covered the ground around it.

"HOLY SHIT!" Alex yelled. "What happened?

"Aw poor kitty!" Ashley said.

"I don't know." Kimberly said. "I was just shooting hoops and I heard this noise. Then I saw this..."

Alex grabbed Kim and held her. "Come on... let's go inside."

...

Cassie's car broke down just as she entered town.

"FUCK!" Cassie yelled. Her car was out of gas. The town seemed to be on fire, yet oddly enough, it was strangely quiet.

She got out of the car and looked around. There had to be a gas station somewhere. Hopefully there was some gas left.

She slowly got out of the car. They had kept a spare gas can in the trunk in case the car would break down like this, unfortunately it was empty. There was a gas station down the street. She slowly made her way to it.

The inside of the gas station was on fire. The pumps seemed to be intact. Cassie started to fill up her gas can when she heard the sound of someone sobbing. She slowly crept into the gas station to the source of the sound.

The floor was riddled with glass, and the light from the flames bathed the room in orange light. A Hispanic woman knelt on the ground holding a dead child in her arms.

Cassie assumed the child must have been this woman's daughter. The woman was sobbing and mumbling something in Spanish.

"Ma'am? Do you need help?" Cassie asked, approaching the woman.

The woman continued to sob.

"Ma'am?" Cassie repeated.

Then the woman pulled out a handgun.

"Woah! Miss what are you doing?' Cassie said.

The woman placed the barrel of the gun in her mouth.

"WAIT NO!" Cassie yelled.

BANG!

The woman pulled the trigger blowing her own brains out.

Cassie shrieked.

A man came into the gas station holding a shotgun. The man was likely the dead woman's husband. He noticed she corpses of his now dead family. He then aimed his shotgun at Cassie.

"What did you do?" The man growled.

"I...I didn't do anything!" Cassie pleaded, raising her hands.

BLAGH!!!

Some sort of massive creature burst from the shadows and grabbed the man. The monster was moving too fast for Cassie to see what it was. But whatever it was, it was big and vicious.

The shotgun landed on the now blood-soaked ground with a clatter. Cassie picked up the shotgun and ran to the gas pump where her gas can was. She aimed the gun into the darkness with a shaking hand. She heard something huge land on the roof above her. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of her car.

Her adrenaline carried her faster than she had ever ran before. She could hear rapid footsteps of some large creature chasing after her, getting closer, and closer.

She screamed at the top of her lungs in pure terror

She got to her car and started to pour the gas into her tank.

"COME ON! COME ON!" She uttered.

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.

The footsteps drew closer.

Cassie shot into the darkness. The kickback from the shotgun blew her to the ground.

She got up and had gotten into her car faster than she could register what was going on. She turned the key and the car started. She slammed on the gas to drive away as fast as she could.

...

Cassie burst through her front door.

"Cassie are you ok? Is that a shotgun?" Alex asked.

"Did you find Mom and Dad?" Kimberly asked.

"Something... Out there..." Cassie tried to catch her breath.

"What kind of something?" Alex asked.

Cassie then pushed past her sister and hurried to the bathroom. She fell to her knees in front of the toilet and heaved, spewing the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

"What's going on?" Ashley asked.

"I'll tell you what's going on." Cassie stumbled out of the bathroom. "We're being invaded by fucking aliens!"

Just then it started to snow outside.