This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for August 25, 2025: Write a story that takes place in darkness.

The Cricket

The enemy was all around. We had heard the bumblebee drone of the transport planes overhead, and I had caught a glimpse of white parachutes in the faint glow of the stars before they fell below the level of the trees.

I gripped my rifle, straining to hear anything in the darkness. We had no idea how many soldiers had landed, and I wasn’t about to turn on my flashlight and draw their fire.

But the captain had sent a few of us to patrol the area, so that’s what I was doing. My 19^th birthday had been a few weeks before but even though I had been in uniform for over a year, I didn’t feel like much of a soldier. We’d been doing nothing but guarding train lines and factories until tonight.

I moved a few more steps, then froze. Someone was walking right in front of me and they had stopped at the sound of my steps too. I didn’t dare call out in case it was the enemy, but I wasn’t about to shoot in case I’d gotten turned around and it was one of my comrades.

I hear a click. It was high pitched, almost like a single chirp of a cricket, but it seemed to be coming directly from the invisible figure in front of me.

The click came again, then a muffled curse. “You going to click back or what?” the voice said. My heart seemed to stop: the voice was speaking English!

Suddenly, there was a flash of light. It caught me full in the face and a second later was gone. I was truly night blind then, but I had the sense to duck as a burst of submachine gun fire sprayed the area where I’d been standing. I crawled back to my captain.

“What did you see?” he said.

“Nothing,” I said. “But it’s the British. Or Americans.” I had no idea.

That was my first experience with what later they called D-Day. It only got worse from there.

Metal clickers were used by the paratroopers on D-Day to be able to identify each other in the dark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicker