Mom was pale as a ghost and she held the handle above her door. Aiden had a mixed look of awestruck wonder and pure terror as he held onto Tain. The situation was insane but we escaped.

I felt relief wash over me and sighed. It was done. For now. The house was probably ruined, but the monster lady was behind us now.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked, “Is everyone okay?”

“Are we okay?” my mom asked. “Are we OKAY? What was that woman?”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t know. A Banshee I guess.”

“Like from Irish mythology?” asked Aiden.

I nodded.

“Her eyes were glowing, and so was your hand…” my mom trailed off.

“Yeah… about that,” I started but didn’t really know what to say. Hey Mom, I have super powers now. Okay, not super powers, magic. Same diff. Yeah, right. Even in my head it sounded stupid. It got awkwardly quiet real fast.

“When this settles over tomorrow, I’m going to call…”

“You’re not calling anyone, Mom. Okay? This is over. Not the cops, not the psych hospital. No one.”

My mom’s mouth hung open.

“I don’t mean to be so harsh, Mom. I’m just saying, it appears there’s monsters out there. That’s the reality.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know there’s monsters. Serial killers, rapists, murderers, thieves.”

“No, Mom. I mean actual monsters. Demons. And apparently Banshees.”

“Don’t say that in front of Aiden.”

“It’s okay Mom,” Aiden interjected. “I’m not scared.”

“Yeah see, Mom? He’s old enough.”

“No,” she said. “He is old enough to NOT believe in monsters. There are no monsters.”

“Then what do you call that thing back there?”

“People can do crazy things when they have drugs pumping through their bodies.”

“Drugs? Come on, Mom. Still living after I shanked her with my whole katana?”

“Perhaps, she was on PCP.”

We were on Highway 12 now and we had just passed everything from a Black Bear Diner to Jack in the Crack and Popeye’s Chicken. I was reminded of my mortality. Backyard brawls really work up my appetite.

“I know,” interrupted Aiden. “She was a zombie. That’s why she didn’t die.”

“Zombies aren’t real,” I said. Actually, all preconceived notions of reality had just been shattered, so maybe they were real.

I took a second to look Mom in the eyes. “What if monsters are real, Mom? What if we assumed man was at the top of the food chain? We’ve created weapons since the Stone Age. We’ve hunted the most dangerous prey and come out on top. Lions and tigers and bears. But what if we’ve gotten complacent? We have guns now and nuclear warfare. We have drones.”

I was talking faster and faster, like a conspiracy theorist hopped up on caffeine.

“But what if we’re not actually on top? There is always a bigger predator.”

“What are you talking about?” Mom asked.

“I’m talking about what’s going on. Open your eyes. The thing that attacked us looked like a woman but sure didn’t act like one. She was dang near unstoppable.”

I tried getting some support from Aiden. He looked like he agreed with me, but I could tell he was suppressing a confused look.

I inhaled deep, eyeing my mom. “I never told anyone this but the night that Anna passed away—”

“Enough!” My mom said, a hint of fury in her voice. I knew I had gone too far. I bit my lower lip.

We sat in silence for a few moments. I spoke up again, “A while back something happened to me and I noticed that I have these abilities, this power now.”

“Like Spider-Man?” asked Aiden.

I glared at him. “Anyways. I noticed that I can sense these things. These predators in disguise.”

Mom looked at me like I was troubled.

“Hear me out, please. These faux people set off the alarms in my gut, and the feelings wouldn’t go away. I had to do something about it. I‘ve practiced martial arts for years. I figured, what the heck? Why not follow the feeling one time and see where it leads.”

“Well look where we are now.”

“Look Mom, I get it if you don’t want to believe—”

“I believe you,” said Aiden.

“I don’t need you to believe!” I yelled. “I need Mom to believe me.”

It got really quiet. He blinked a few times. Oh, don’t cry little buddy. But the damage was already done. I’d gone too far again and hurt his feelings. He looked out the window, not wanting me to see his eyes water.

The clock read close to ten thirty. Geez, this night was never going to end. I just wanted to get home, crawl into bed, and fall asleep for a few hours. I was going to have to call in sick to work tomorrow.

Mom spoke up. “You expect me to sleep at night knowing that you’re out there following your gut and brushing up against death? You’re going to get yourself killed. I can’t lose another child. I already lost your sister. Your brother barely visits. Your father…”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Tears streamed down her face.

“Awe Mom. Geez.” But I knew it was good for her. It was late. If I were in my mom’s shoes I would probably think that my son Sean was losing it. Except for all of the supernatural screams and glowing eyes. That part would have given me pause. But she was tired, emotionally drained and probably coming down off of an adrenaline rush. Now came floods of different emotions.

“You’re not gonna lose me. I’m trying to save the family, not tear it apart.”

She stifled sobs.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I didn’t have any experience of what to do after you’d just stabbed a monster and uppercut them with a magic fist.

We passed some housing on the right side of the highway. I pulled up to a red light and stopped in the right lane. In my rearview I saw a pickup truck pulling up to the stop light in the left lane next to me.

My Banshee senses went off and my stomach dropped.

As the truck pulled up to the light, I saw the Banshee leap from her hiding place in the truck bed and fly through the air. My sword was no longer in her gut because it pierced the roof of my car and slid down right between my mom and I.

Tain lost it, barking like mad.

Everyone in the car screamed and I mashed on the gas, blowing through the red light.