Marie entered the dimly lit kitchen after an eight-hour shift at Dunnes. Her feet ached; she bent down and untied her laces, tossing the black Ecco shoes into the cramped utility.

She glanced at her son, Ultan, who was sitting at the kitchen table, engrossed in a tablet, wearing headphones, and rocking backwards and forwards.

“Teenagers”, she muttered under her breath, and continued to switch on the kettle.

“Hi Ultan”, she said a few minutes later. “Anyone at home?”

There was no reply; he seemed transfixed. Enough, she thought.

“Hey you,” she said, raising her voice and gesturing her hands in front of his face.

“What Mum? You scared the life out of me,” Ultan said, pulling the headphones slightly off his ears.

“I’m home ten minutes, did you not see me?” she said, her shoulders rising. “What in the name of God are you looking at?”

“It’s the release of Shadows in the Dark, by Mishap,” he said, his eyes enlarging. “I’ve been waiting forty minutes to get the download. It’s amazing.”

“What’s so amazing about it? No one could replace the Beatles, and the title beggars belief,” Marie said. “Can I have a listen?”

Ultan turned the screen towards her and removed the headphones. Marie jumped back as the sudden loud noises and shrieks erupted from the small piece of equipment.

SHADOWS in the NIGHT rang out like a Buddha’s mantra.

“You’re grand, put those headphones back on. It’s a sin to call that music,” she said, half chuckling. “I’m heading next door to watch Corrie, make sure your homework’s finished before you go upstairs for the night?”

Again, no reply. Ultan reverted to his comical chair dance as soon as the headphones went over his ears.

She lay on the cushioned sofa, flicked on the TV to Virgin Media, and let out a sigh. She thought she was hallucinating when she saw Anne Doyle on the screen, dressed in red leather, standing outside Leinster House, with NEWSFLASH flashing underneath her. Marie sat up.

“Please listen carefully. In the past hour, a song titled “Shadows in the Dark” has appeared on the internet, and hundreds of thousands of people have already downloaded it due to the hype generated on TikTok and other social media channels this afternoon. We want to ask parents to be extra vigilant. Reports are coming in from the US and China that the music was created in a UFO which is currently circling Earth. Sources believe anyone who has listened could be at risk of being brainwashed.”

Anne seemed to finish the entire piece without taking a breath.

Marie screamed out and rushed into the kitchen. Ultan wasn’t there; everything else was on the table.

She shouted upstairs, “Ultan, are you there? Please, Ultan, let me know you are up there,” her voice rising with each word.

Nothing, the house fell silent apart from Anne’s repeated call coming from the TV in the sitting room.

She ran barefoot into the back garden to see a brightly lit cloud covering the entire town, with bodies gravitating towards it from all directions.

I must be dreaming, she thought, as she shielded her eyes from the glare.

She yelled, “Ultan,” and then dizziness overtook her — gradually, she began to float upwards.

The last thing she heard was Anne Doyle’s voice, calm and amused.

“Shadows in the Dark has caused quite a stir.”

THE END.

Written by Martina Maloney on the 18/10/25