“This damned light!” She screamed throwing a pink fluffy pillow at the window. It did nothing, obviously; however, it seemed to have made Cassie feel better.

She’s had an ongoing battle with the streetlight that shined directly into her bedroom window. Every single night Cassie would snuggle into her bed, and get all warm and cozy. Managing to fall asleep for roughly 3 hours before you guessed it, the streetlight would flicker and flash brightly into her window. It never failed.

Cassie ran a hand through her hair messily, before flopping herself in the opposite direction of the window. It was an uncomfortable position but anything to help her get more rest was sufficient.

It was the next morning, Cassie was miserable. Her neck was stiff, her undereyes were prominent, and she was very irascible.

During her morning classes, she couldn't help but nod off occasionally. The lack of sleep was taking a large toll on her body.

“Cassie since you're focused on this lesson, why don't you tell us what I was just talking about?” The teacher announced sarcastically making everyone in the class look at her. Her eyes widened and her mouth went agape.

“Uh- I-” She stuttered out nervously.

“Unfortunately, that's not in the lesson plans.” The teacher responded making everyone laugh. “Please pay attention, Cassie.”

She shrunk down in her seat, feeling embarrassed. She wrote down sloppy notes about Morse code. It was used for telegrams back in the 1830s or something. She didn't fully pay attention, just wrote down the basics before class was dismissed.

Throughout the whole day, Cassie had a sour attitude. She wanted nothing more than to go home and go to sleep. So, that's what she did. It didn't matter to her that it was 5 in the afternoon, she was tired and cranky.

She slept through the entire evening until the sun went down and the flickering of the streetlight began. At first, she tried to ignore it. That didn't work out.

“Fine! I'm up!” She yelled as she sat up in her bed. The flashing of the streetlight shone brightly against her face. She leaned back against the headboard and just watched the streetlight. She was so tired and deranged that she just simply stared ahead.

After about 5 minutes of just staring, Cassie noticed something weird. She didn't know if it was her imagination or not, but it seemed that the streetlight was flickering in a pattern.

It would blink three times, then flash longer three times, and then blink three more times. She knew the pattern looked familiar she just couldn't place it..

_Oh my God._

“The morse code!” She shouted as she quickly got up out of bed and ran to her notebook. She quickly flipped to the page where she sloppily wrote down the notes and began decoding them. Every time it blinked, that was a dot, every time it flashed that was a dash.

“S. O. S.” She muttered confused. She walked over to her computer where she did a quick Google search. “The SOS signal is an internationally recognized Morse code distress signal. Blah, blah, blah.” She muttered before continuing to read. “Is used to alert authorities to a situation requiring immediate help.” She read, her voice trailing into a distressed tone. She ran a hand through her hair as she kept rereading the results.

She wasn't sure what to do. She got up from the chair and ran outside. The cold air left goosebumps on her legs, but her adrenaline was too high to care. She walked over to the streetlight where she examined it. It was dark outside, so she almost didn't see it; however, there was a small carving in the metal of the streetlight.

“Bite the bullet.” She said out loud. “What does that even mean?” She muttered before looking at a series of numbers etched below it. It looked like coordinates. She took her phone snapping a picture before making her way back inside the house, although she couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

She went back up into her room, putting the coordinates into Google. It popped up to the old abandoned water tower that was at the end of her street. She couldn't figure out what the importance was of the old water tower. It had been abandoned for years.

In the next tab, she searched for the phrase “bite the bullet.” Google told her that it was a military code word for deciding to start an unpleasant and unavoidable experience. She let out a shocked gasp as she read that. Whatever ‘unpleasant’ thing that was happening, it was happening at the water tower.

So that's exactly where she went.

Her boots roughly hit the ground as she jumped off of her bike. She was shivering, not because she was cold but because of her nerves. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

As she approached the water tower, everything looked relatively normal. She walked around with her flashlight examining everything she could see, which was little to nothing. It looked like a normal water tower. She sighed as she took multiple steps back, looking upwards to the top of the water tower, she stumbled on something.

Her hands touched against a cold metal door that was covered scarcely by dirt. She dusted herself off as she looked at the door, skeptically reaching her hand down against the handle. Tugging at it, she didn't expect it to open. But it did.

She bit her bottom lip nervously as she walked down the metal steps, her boots clacking loudly against it. She shut the door gently as she looked at her surroundings. It was a long hallway. It was dark, dusty, and smelled awful. However, those things didn't stop her.

There was a door at the end, an orange light shining brightly through the cracks of it. She cautiously went closer to the door, opening it ever so slightly.

Her eyes widened as she opened the door. It looked like a large doorframe with an orange glow surrounding it. It was so bright and beautiful. Something was enchanting her to walk towards it; almost like it was calling her. She walked closer and closer to the orange light, unaware of the noises behind her.

As she reached her hand out, she felt the heat radiating off of the light. It was warm and welcoming. She reached out just a bit more, her hand now fully inside the light before it was jerked away.

“Hey! What!?” She shouted as she was jerked back away from the light. Two masked figures surrounded her as she shouted and screamed in fear. She tried fighting them off as much as she could, but they were too strong. They stuck a needle in her neck leaving her eyes fighting to stay open. The last thing she remembers was staring off into the orange light longingly.

Cassie woke up in a small room. The room was white, her clothes were white, everything was white. After rubbing her eyes and getting used to the harsh light her senses automatically kicked in. She had to get out of there.

She ran towards the door, it was already opened. She ran down countless hallways every other door was locked. She felt hopeless. She started to give up but decided to try one more time. Luckily she did because the door opened.

She walked into a room that had a button panel and multiple screens. The screens were black, and for the most part, the panel did nothing. Suddenly, the screens all lit up at the same time, showing Cassie that there was no way out. All the doors were sealed off, there was no way she could get out.

This place was so confident she couldn't escape, it showed her the entire layout of the building. It was shaped like a diamond. Cassie had been running down the same halls repeatedly, without even knowing. She let out a cry of despair as she began pressing buttons on the panel.

“Hello! Please! Can anybody hear me? I'm trapped!” She screamed but was just met with a faint buzz. She then started pressing more buttons when she heard a beep. Her eyebrows furrowed as she hit the button again. Another beep. Her eyes widened as she began frantically hitting the button; however, it let out an error message before stopping. She let out a small groan before hitting the button again, this time it beeped again. She decided to use the button wisely, she had to use it to signal that she was down there. So, she did the only signal she knew.

SOS.

Cassie had done it over and over again, but yet she was getting nowhere. The signal kept repeating as Cassie slowly lost her mind. She had hoped that someone was getting her message, someone out there would realize that she needed help and would come to save her. Unfortunately, that never happened.

-

“There you go kiddo, you'll get to rest easy tonight. No more stupid streetlight.” The man said looking at the new curtains he installed for his daughter's room after she had been complaining about the streetlight flickering.

“Thanks, Dad. You're the best.” The girl smiled as she rested on her bed with a smile on her face.

“You're welcome, kiddo.” The man said as he walked over to the door and began closing it.

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, Cassie.” The father responded smiling at his daughter. Ever since she went missing for a day, everyone started treating her differently. She was different though. She wasn't the same Cassie as before.

The girl got up and watched from behind her curtain the streetlight continuing the signal. She let out a wicked smile as she closed the curtain fully. She rested peacefully that night and every night, never getting bothered by that pesky streetlight.. Or by the real Cassie again.