Bird Box

Not quite five years earlier, Malorie shares an apartment with her sister Shannon. The two are close but sometimes annoy each other.

After missing her period, Malorie looks in the mirror, wondering if she is pregnant following an isolated sexual encounter a few weeks earlier. From another room, Shannon calls out the latest news about a series of bizarre murder-suicides. The first three incidents took place in Russia, but the latest reports come from Alaska and Canada. Entering the bathroom, Shannon recognizes Malorie’s concern at a potential pregnancy. Shannon hugs her and encourages her not to panic.

In the later timeline, Malorie and the children make slow progress, with the boat occasionally getting stuck. They hear birds, fish, and other animals moving around them. Recognizing the significance of hearing in a world where they are compelled to travel without looking, Malorie trained the children to recognize a variety of sounds from a young age. Malorie tries to shake her fears that the children will remove their blindfolds out of curiosity or, worse, that hands will reach out and pull them off.

In the earlier timeline, Malorie and Shannon drive to a drugstore to purchase a pregnancy test. On the way, Shannon points out some of the precautions people are taking against seeing whatever it is that causes the violent behavior, such as draping blankets over windows.

Returning home, Malorie takes the test, which confirms that she is pregnant. After trying to get in touch with Henry Martin, her date from a few weeks earlier, she calls her mother and tells her that she intends to go through with the pregnancy. They also discuss the death of an elderly couple in Iron Mountain, Michigan, the closest incident so far.

Scanning the newspaper, Malorie notices a classified ad advertising a “safe house” in which to gather. Shannon puts blankets over the windows.

Three months later, Malorie and Shannon shelter at home as the incidents continue to escalate. Online discussion of “the Problem,” as it’s called, proliferates on blogs and social media, and everyone agrees on some basic facts: It starts by seeing something, though no one knows what, and it ends in suicide. Shannon more readily believes than Malorie, but eventually Malorie accepts the mounting evidence. Their alarm increases when their parents, who live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stop answering their calls. As her pregnancy progresses, Malorie faces various uncomfortable symptoms and cravings.

One day, while Malorie is watching news, she hears a noise upstairs. Going up, she sees that the blanket over Shannon’s window partially fell. She finds Shannon dead in the bathroom, scissors stuck in her chest. After failing to contact the police and her parents, Malorie remembers the ad for a safe house in Riverbridge, which is a 20-minute drive away.

Traveling down the river in the later timeline, Malorie stops rowing when Boy says that he hears something. She hears it, too, something big moving through the water. She wonders whether it is an animal, such as a bear, or one of the creatures. Malorie feels it touch the boat and prepares to swing with the paddle, but it moves away and apparently steps or crawls onto shore. They drift away.

In the earlier timeline, Malorie makes her way to the house in Riverbridge. She drives slowly, shielding her eyes as much as possible. After arriving at the address, she blindfolds herself, grabs her suitcase, and rings the doorbell. She hears voices from inside the house; one of them questions her. The occupants let her in, then feel around her with brooms to make sure she came in alone. They then remove their blindfolds, as does Malorie.

She meets the five occupants of the house: four men named Tom, Jules, Don, and Felix, and a woman named Cheryl. Tom is wearing makeshift body armor and a helmet, which he removes. When Malorie admits that she is pregnant, Tom offers to give up his bedroom for her.

They give Malorie a tour of the house; she meets Jules’s dog, Victor. Felix explains that they have a few months’ worth of canned food. Tom questions Malorie about her knowledge of the Problem. He explains that they have no internet or mail, but the phone and electricity still work, thanks to a nearby hydroelectric plant. Lacking running water, they draw water from a well in the backyard and carry out waste in buckets. Tom adds that George, the owner of the house, died after seeing one of the creatures. Tom speculates that the creatures exceed human comprehension.

Malorie faints.

Malorie wakes up in her bedroom. Going downstairs, she finds Jules doing laundry, Don and Cheryl cleaning, and Felix calling random numbers in the hopes of contacting other survivors. Malorie joins Tom as he counts their food supplies in the basement. He shows her an area in the basement wall where the brick is broken, revealing earth, as well as the tapestry-covered entry to a laundry room.

Tom shares that he was an eighth-grade teacher before the Problem. About eight years ago, his wife died in childbirth, leaving him a daughter, Robin. Robin was a precocious child, curious and intelligent. After the Problem forced Tom and Robin to shelter at home, Robin became increasingly troubled. One day, she died by suicide, leaving Tom to wonder whether she saw a creature or acted by choice.