There were once two boys, Ted and Billy. They both lived happy lives with their respective families. They both attended public school, where they learned about "stranger danger". Afterward, each boy questioned their parents about "stranger danger". Ted's parents explained that sometimes people hurt each other, and that sometimes adults even hurt children. They explained that most people who hurt others are sick, and that there are signs that indicate danger, which they enumerated. Ted's parents taught him that most people can be trusted, but that all people should be watched. Billy's parents explained that you should never talk to strangers, never let them touch you, and that you can only trust the police, your family, and people that Billy's parents say are safe. They instilled in Billy a powerful fear of unfamiliar people and taught him to rely absolutely on his parents' judgement. One night, the dark ones in the lake awoke after a hundred million years of slumber and rose from the inky depths. They hovered high in the sky, as static as celestial bodies and nearly as bright. Their impossible light etched the details of their frames deep into the psyches of all who beheld them. The details were many; they left little room for the rational thoughts whose sum we call sanity. Ted, who understood the sickness of men's minds, recognized that his parents no longer behaved like safe adults. He fled, he hid, and through a mix of cleverness and luck he found one of the only remaining healthy and sane adults. Together, they escaped into the wilderness. Billy did not recognize the signs of his parents' insanity. He cried out for their protection even as they ripped at his skin with their bare nails. Eventually, the government's bombs would reduce Billy to ash. Until then, his corpse would bear the confused expression of a boy unable to think for himself because his parents had always thought for him.