Bird Box

Two weeks later, under Tom’s direction, the housemates (except Don) finish calling all the numbers in the phone book, leaving messages where possible. Malorie examines herself in the mirror, sure that she will give birth soon.

Hearing Victor growling, Malorie goes downstairs and sees that the dog’s unease centers on the door to the cellar. Tom, Jules, and Victor go down into the basement to see Don, who first appears defensive, then tearfully accepts Tom’s invitation to join them upstairs. In the kitchen, Tom opens the bottle of rum and shares a drink with Don.

Malorie suddenly feels lightheaded. The others help her upstairs to her room, where she lies down.

In the later timeline, the sound of something moving on the shore continues as the sound of the agitated birds increases. When birds start falling from the sky, Malorie realizes that they are fighting each other. Suddenly, the Boy tells her that he hears someone talking. Soon, Malorie hears it too: a recording of Tom’s voice, motion activated, playing back a message he once left on an answering machine. Malorie realizes that it is time to remove her blindfold. At the same time, the Boy warns her that something else is right next to them; Malorie senses that it is neither human nor animal. Suddenly, she feels her blindfold being pulled away from eyes, which she keeps shut.

In the earlier timeline, Malorie’s water breaks and she goes into labor. Felix and Jules help her upstairs to the attic, which Tom considers the safest place in the house, and where Cheryl and Tom are already helping Olympia, who is also in labor. Malorie settles onto a towel on the floor opposite Olympia. At Malorie’s request, Tom turns on some music. Olympia and Malorie scream in turn as they experience contractions. A storm breaks, and the room darkens apart from a single candle. People come and go from the attic; Cheryl offers encouragement to Malorie and Olympia.

An argument breaks out downstairs. Malorie hears Don’s voice. Tom appears and expresses his confidence in Malorie’s ability raise a child, even under adverse circumstances. He goes back downstairs, and the argument continues. Malorie recognizes the sound of the birds cooing as though something is near them. A loud crash comes from below, and Jules goes to investigate, leaving Malorie and Olympia alone in the attic.

During a flash of lightning, the room lights up, and Malorie sees Gary standing nearby. She realizes that Gary never left. Instead, Don snuck him into the basement when Tom opened the front door, where he has been living since then. Malorie screams, but no one from downstairs responds. Gary locks the door and tells Malorie that he lived in the tent in the street without a blindfold, watching the creatures pass by; he also observed Tom and Jules exploring the neighborhood. Gary claims to be immune to the creatures’ effect. At his bidding, Don is downstairs trying to prove Gary’s theories. Malorie hears someone shout that Don pulled down the blankets and let the creatures into the house.

Tom knocks on the attic door and demands to be let in, but he soon stops. Malorie wonders if Tom saw a creature. Just as Olympia’s baby comes out, someone breaks into and enters the attic. Her back to the stairs, Malorie does not see the newcomer, but Olympia does, and her face shows an expression of wonder. Gary, meanwhile, looks scared. Malorie closes her eyes and listens as Olympia’s words and actions become increasingly nonsensical. After pushing out her own baby and covering his eyes, Malorie convinces Olympia to give up her baby as well, before Olympia jumps out the window and ends up hanging by her umbilical cord, as Gary describes it.

For a moment, the creature hovers near Malorie, then it goes downstairs, and Gary soon follows. A moment later, Malorie is stunned to hear the telephone ringing. Holding the babies, and keeping their eyes closed as well as her own, Malorie makes her way downstairs. Malorie answers the phone to hear the calm voice of a man, who introduces himself as Rick. He says that he received Tom’s voice message and invites Malorie to travel 20 miles downriver to a haven housing more than 100 people. He tells her about the motion-activated speaker and which channel of the river to take at the fork. Rick promises to call back and tells Malorie she is welcome to come anytime.

Malorie lets Victor out of the cellar, hangs the blankets back up, and checks the house with a broomstick before opening her eyes. She discovers the bodies of her housemates, whom she buries in the yard. It takes her months to clean the house.

In the later timeline, Malorie hears the recording of Tom’s voice repeating. Pulling back her blindfold back into place, Malorie says, “No, […] This is mine” (249). The Boy tells her the creature is moving away. When he and the Girl confirm that the creature is behind them, Malorie summons her courage and opens eyes. As she directs the boat towards the correct channel, she gasps at the colors on display before closing her eyes again. Malorie recognizes how much she has changed because of her experiences.

Entering the channel, the boat triggers an alarm system, as Rick told her would happen, trapping the boat behind a gate. A woman calls out, introducing herself as Constance, a friend of Rick’s. Constance leads Malorie and the children into a building and invites her to remove her blindfolds. Malorie does so and finds that she is in a windowless but well-lit and ventilated building that once housed the Jane Tucker School for the Blind. When Malorie explains that Tom is dead, Rick says that he used the recording of Tom’s voice because Malorie was the only person who he expected to come down the river, and he wanted something familiar to greet her.

As Constance and Rick explain how the facility functions, Malorie catches sight of a group of young women whose eyeballs have been removed. Scared, Malorie moves to protect her children. Rick explains that in the early days of their settlement, a tragedy occurred after a creature got into the facility. After that, those that were not already blind removed their eyes for “absolute protection.” Later, after fortifying the school, they gave up on the practice.

Deciding to trust them, Malorie removes the children’s blindfolds. Rick explains that the facility is self-sufficient, with medical staff, farm animals, and more. When Constance asks the children’s names, Malorie identifies the Girl as Olympia and the Boy as Tom. She cries, thinking of Shannon and the housemates, particularly Tom.