Night Owls

Jerry glanced down at the photograph in his hand, then back up again at the woman sitting alone at the back of the cafe.

Jerry thought the woman seemed like an older version of the smiling woman in the photograph. Her face was lined with age, and her hair was had lost its luster, but her smile as the waiter approached was the same.

All at once a blinding light coursed through the space. Jerry and the woman froze. And then a creature appeared, seemingly from the air itself.

The creature opened its jaw wide, and snapped at Jerry, catching his arm in its teeth. He clawed at the creature’s mouth, trying to pry it open, screaming in agony, the photograph falling to the floor, forgotten.