After a few hours of really restful sleep, I woke up and felt completely drowsy at the first moment, while I groped with my hand for the light switch of my bedside lamp. When I finally found it, I flipped the switch, but, nothing happened. The room remained dark.

I assumed that either the power was still gone or already gone again. But I didn't want to dwell on that thought, I really needed to pee and wanted to hurry to the bathroom. I kept groping for my phone, but then remembered that I had last used it in the living room, where it must still be lying. I hadn't paid it any further attention because I didn't have a cell phone network anyway.

Since I didn't had a light source, I knew I'd have to feel my way to the bathroom in the dark. I briefly thought about whether there might be any tripping hazards on the way in the form of shoes or the like, then remembered to have cleared everything out of the way after I had packed the backpacks and sat up carefully.

As I put my first foot on the ground, my second foot automatically slid along with it, and so did the rest of my body. You could say I literally slid off the bed. Only then did I realize how close I must have been to the edge of the bed. But why?

So after I landed with my entire body on the floor, I rubbed my aching butt before I stood up again, leaning on the bed, and slowly made my way to the bathroom, slurping my feet on the floor.

I had not yet gone two meters when I said hello to the bed frame with my little toe. Only with great difficulty could I suppress a cry of pain; after all, I didn't want to wake Yibo. With a limp and my teeth clenched tightly, I continued to the bedroom door and out, where I almost went into cardiac arrest when suddenly Yibo stood in front of me with a flashlight held under his chin, looking like a grinning horror figure.

Startled, I cringed and clung to the bedroom door handle with both hands. Completely in shock, I asked Yibo, "Are you out of your mind?" However, Yibo just laughed and pressed a flashlight into my hand. I looked at him grumbling and then rushed past him and into the bathroom. My heart was still racing!

After finally emptying my bladder, I washed my hands and noticed that the warm water was still running. So instead of just washing myself, I decided to get in the shower. In the light of the flashlight, I undressed and stood under the shower and the warm water felt great on my skin. It felt like it was the first shower I'd had in a long time, even though I shower every day.

I think I showered for about 15 minutes before I brushed my teeth, dried off and put on some clean clothes that I still had lying there and had wanted to put on in the morning.

When I came into the living room, Yibo was sitting on the sofa by candlelight, listening to the battery-powered radio. And before I could even ask what the news was, he pulled me to him on his lap, put his arms around my body and explained to me: "In the short news they said that there will be evacuations. Even where our parents live. They apparently want to get as many people out of the cities and suburbs as possible. But they haven't said where."

"Mhhh, okay." I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say. I just didn't want to think about it any further at that moment. Besides, I doubted that our parents would let themselves be evacuated anywhere. At least not my parents. Unless the threat was at his front door, my dad would never voluntarily leave home. I know that.

When I tried to get up from Yibo's lap and sit next to him, Yibo held me and wouldn't let me get up. He wanted to know, "Why don't you want to sit on my lap?" And I explained to him that it must look pretty ridiculous that I, of all people, am sitting on his lap when I'm even a few inches taller than him. And besides, I wasn't used to it.

After all, I hadn't allowed the real me for very long. Before, well there it was me sitting on the sofa. And it was my petite ex-wife who sat on my lap. That had been normal. So this with Yibo still felt somewhat abnormal to me, although beautiful, I must admit. Still, there was this old me in me telling me that this was not right and that I should not sit on his lap.

Yibo, however, was little interested in my explanation. He shook his head laughing and said that I should just clear my head and relax. As if that were so simple. But he already had a solution for that, too. Because he pulled my chin around to him with his hand and with the other he gently pressed my head to him and kissed me. Oh yes, that really distracted me from my thoughts.

After a while of intimate kissing, I felt Yibo slide his hand very slowly under my t-shirt. He slowly let it slide from my belly up to my chest. These touches felt just great and tempted me to moan softly. His hand felt gentle, warm and tender, so no wonder I melted at these caresses. Besides, it had been weeks since our last time.

In the past, I had never minded not having sex for weeks at a time. It was more like a marital duty, which I could live easily without it. But now, with a man I am very much in love with, it is hard for me.

For some reason I remembered a phone call with one of my good friends who I had told about my relationship with Yibo and who asked me if I wouldn't mind Yibo being the top, wherever he knew I don't know, but I assume he suspected. My answer was no, because I always kind of knew and felt that I was a bottom. I have never seen myself in any other position. But that's just by the way now, because actually that had nothing to do with what Yibo and I were doing at that moment.

While Yibo was kissing and caressing me, I could clearly feel how much he wanted me. I mean, I was sitting on his lap and had been able to feel this "hard" fact right underneath me. Well, there's no hiding something like that.

And finally it was Yibo who pushed me off his lap and put me on the sofa. We undressed each other while greedily kissing each other. And as I looked at his naked body, I smirked. Oh God, how I missed that sight. I sometimes think that even if I wasn't gay, I would have fallen in love with Yibo. Simply because he is awesome.

When we made love that night on the sofa and in the candlelight and with soft music from the radio, it just felt beautiful. I don't have any other words for it. It was just beautiful. There is nothing more to say about it. Because after the weeks that were behind us, weeks in which we couldn't see each other, couldn't talk to each other, couldn't touch each other or kiss each other, it could only be beautiful. Yes well, admittedly, I was already fearing the soreness I would undoubtedly get after weeks of not having sex.

I just wish we could have spent the rest of the evening and night like that. But just before midnight we heard explosions again. Immediately we blew out all the candles, got dressed and went to the balcony. The darkness, an all-encompassing darkness, was so strong that you couldn't see anything further away than a few inches.

Within about 10 minutes we had heard about 4 explosions. Someone in the apartment building across the street called out to us that he had seen something explode to the north. He must have seen a red glow in the night sky. Yibo and I thought about what was in the north, or what might have been there now, but apart from an old factory site that no one had entered for years, there was really nothing there.

After these 4 explosions it was quiet again and nothing seemed to stir outside. Only the quiet conversations of some neighbors had been heard when Yibo suddenly grabbed me and pushed me onto the floor on the balcony. I was so startled that I automatically wanted to fight him off. But then he covered my mouth and made, "Shhhh... there's something."

I listened for what felt like a minute and could hear nothing. Had Yibo misheard? Was his mind playing tricks on him? These questions ran through my mind as I lay there flat on the balcony, Yibo on top of me and covering my mouth.

And just as I was about to take his hand off my mouth and push him off me, I felt a cold breeze and froze. It hadn't been windy, so where did this short and powerful breeze come from? My heart raced as I blinked trying to see anything. But I saw nothing. The darkness lay like a thick veil on everything and hid what was hidden in it.

Not even half a minute later, we heard the shrill scream of a woman! Someone was wildly shining a flashlight back and forth, trying to see what was happening, just like the rest of us. And what we saw then was just unbelievable.

In the air at about the height of 20 meters, a woman was wriggling! At first it looked like she was hovering there all by herself in the air. But then we recognized a raven-black outline of a huge creature with wide, broad wings. It had grabbed the woman with what looked like sharp claws like those of birds of prey.

The eyes of this flying thing lit up in the light of the flashlight, like the eyes of cats. It made a shrill sound that reminded me of bats, only in mega size! And, this thing was not alone!

More and more screams had been heard from people around us, while we, with holding our breath on the balcony remained lying and did not dare to move a millimeter. Only after 10 minutes we almost slid on our bellies back into the apartment. We quietly closed the balcony door and remained sitting under my living room window.

Although I'm sure we both had the impulse to turn on our flashlights and use them to dispel the darkness around us, we didn't and remained in the darkness and under the window. Which turned out to be the right choice when one of those flying creatures landed on our balcony and scratched at the window pane trying to see into our living room.

Once the creature was gone again, we crawled from the living room into the bedroom, where thick dark curtains hung in front of the window. We sat down on the bed and held each other. Were we scared? Oh hell yes, we were terrified!

That night Yibo and I realized, as we lay cowered together in my bed, hiding, that we couldn't stay here. We realized that we had to get weapons and find a safe place as soon as possible. But while we at least knew where to get the weapons, we still had no idea where that safe place was,

In addition, we knew we would need a bigger car, perhaps an armored one, before we would pick up our parents. We also knew that we would need to get supplies, medicines, and whatever else was needed to survive far from doctors.

After that sleepless night of fear and horror, we crawled out of bed and cautiously ventured a look outside. Everything was quiet again. The creatures were gone. So for now, we were safe again. It was time to make a real plan and not waste any more time.