Concern, sudden and unbidden, had driven him from bed, unable to sleep. Rising came with its usual, but quickly overcome challenges as he gets to his feet, shrugging on a woollen jumper rather than labcoat in a bid to broaden the separation of work from his home life. Not that work rarely left him alone, given that there was always papers from his students to grade, as well as the latest attempt to... address... his condition, safely housed behind glass a few rooms away.
No, in this case, compelled to walk, Connors slipped out of his bedroom and was already heading downstairs before the prolonged sounds of Martha snoring reached his ears. With one beloved family member accounted for, it stood to reason that he should check on the other, just in case, calling out to the shadowed interior of the house with a loud "Billy! Are you still awake?"
After a period of standing still, waiting for an answer, when nothing but silence persisted, he heaved a sigh, a mutter of "Damn that boy" automatically leaving his throat as he made way for the garage, only to be halted, as hand comes to rest on the door handle. In a worrying development, the same feeling of concern that drove him to wakefulness returned anew, along with a searing, painful prickling along the back of the neck, that felt like a warning.
A warning that danger was close at hand!
But alas, before his mind could parse this meaning, it was far too late, as the door was already swinging open, revealing his precious son, rooting through his comic book collection, completely oblivious to... the devil, closing in!
"My god!? Billy! Billy, get back!" Catalysed by fear, Connors bull-rushed towards the unsightly creature, scratching up a car sponge along the way as he hurled it at the monstrous intruder, desperate to capture its attention.
All in the hopes that it would focus on him, rather than his all-too vulnerable son.