Jordan was left hanging on the railing. It was a very precarious situation. If her fingers relaxed even one microscopic bit, she would plunge to her gruesome death. Plus, the gathering rainwater was making it harder for her to maintain her iron grip.

  “Calvin, Andy, help me!!” she cried. No response. “HELP ME!!!” She was now screaming at the top of her lungs. Finally, there was movement nearby. A dazed and confused Andy stumbled to the balcony.

  “Wut-what?”

  “Andy, help me! I’m slipping!!” Then he looked down and saw. He quickly extended both of his arms and grabbed hers. She gave him a look that signalled that he was the sole guarantor of her life. Then he pulled her up, rather quickly. Jordan collapsed on the balcony floor, panting hardly.

  “Wow, you’re so light,” Andy remarked.

  “Where’s Calvin?” Jordan asked through breathing gasps.

  “What?”

  “Where’s Calvin?!” Andy looked around. Their leader was absent. “Oh my god,” he slowly gasped. “Calvin… he’s dead!” At this, he began to bawl like a baby. “My brotha and dear leader is dead!!”

  “Andy!” Jordan chastised quite sternly. “Now is not the time for such foolishness. The last time I saw Calvin was him not falling to the ground… he must have fell onto another balcony. Only one of the wings was ripped off-the other one must still be intact and functional.” Her eyes lit up. “Quick! We must go downstairs! Calvin must be at Unit 1006.”

  They quickly entered a navy blue-painted, wooden, New England-style living room dotted with white sofas and small frames of ornithology. As they rushed to the front door, Knock! Knock! Knock! Jordan and Andy stopped dead in their tracks. They were only a few feet from the door. Andy turned to his best friend with a fearful, trembling voice.

  “Jordan, what is that?”

  “It’s them.” Her lips trembled.

  And as the knocks continued, they could hear the quiet whispers of a chorus of voices chanting the mantra of “Let us in.”

  “What do we do?” Andy asked frantically. “Do we have to jump another balcony?” Jordan did not respond. “Do we?!” She went straight to the cordless phone that was plugged into the kitchen wall and dialed a number.

  “911, what is your emergency?”

  “We’re being trapped by Black Eyed Kids!” Jordan shouted in a panic.

  “What is your address?” asked the calm, stereotypical female call center operator. Jordan looked around helplessly.

  “I don’t know! Some unit near Calvin’s!”

  “What is your relation to Calvin?”

  “He’s my best friend!”

  “And what is his address?”

  “1107 Parkview Manor.”

  “Tell me what is going on.”

  “The Black Eyed Kids got into Calvin’s unit and they murdered our babysitter!”

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  “What did these children look like?”

  “They have black hoodies, white faces, and their eyes-they’re entirely bl-.”

  “What in tha bloody hell are ya doin on ma property?”

  An old, entirely bald man in a grey nightgown was standing in the bedroom doorway, aiming his Winchester Model 12 shotgun straight at her chest. His cheeks were pulsing red with magma.

  Jordan dropped the phone with a clatter as the operator continued to ask “Hello, can you hear me? Hello?” She turned to face him with a pleading face.

  “T-t-t-there was a h-h-home invasion at our place. W-w-w-we barely escaped with our lives.”

  “Speak properly, young lady!” He thundered. “Or else aah’m done listenin and aah’ll be whackin this on your heads!” He made several jabbing motions with the wooden butt of his shotgun.

  “Please sir, it’s true. We were in danger. The Black Eyed Kids, they’re evi-.”

  “Git out!” He clicked the safety pin to show that his threat was real. Tears were beginning to well up in Jordan’s eyes.

  “Please sir, if you do this, we’ll die.”

  “GIT OUT!!!” The old man was ganging up on her and Andy.

  “The Black Eyed Kids will kill you too!!”

  “AAH SAID GIT OUT!!!! YA LITTLE DEVILS BEFORE AAH BLAST YA IN THA FACE!!!!!!!” He was now forcing the two, inch by inch, towards the front door.

  “Please sir!!” The tears were now streaming down her face.

  “Old asshole!” Andy yelled, shaking his fist. “You’ll pay for this, you know that?!” He jammed the barrel into Andy’s stomach.

  “GIT OUUUTTTT!!!!!!!!!” Click! The front door was opened and the two children were shoved out.

  “AND DUN EVEN THINK OF KNOCKIN!!!!! AAH WILL PUT LEAD IN YA!!!!!”

  SLAM!!! The rumbling was so violent that it looked as if the walls were rippling like waves. The door was locked. Jordan and Andy were trapped in the rather dim hallway.

  “What are we going to do?!” cried Andy as he pulled at his already very short hair that was shaped like an egg around his head.

  Jordan, who had been crying just seconds before, was now dead calm and serious. With such a dumb, foolhardy boy as Andy by her side, she had to take certain action.

  “Do you have Layla’s phone with you?” She turned to him. Andy was super confused.

  “What do you mean by her phone?”

  “You stole it during the fight, didn’t you?” He then realized what she was saying and frantically searched his pocket.

  “Shoot. I must have thrown it away. Ethan, do you have one of your gadget phones with you?” He was looking at the air. “Ethan? Ethan! Where the heck are you?” A slow horror built itself into Jordan’s facial muscles.

  “We left Ethan at Calvin’s unit,” she began slowly.

  “What?”

  “We left Ethan at the hands of the Black Eyed Kids!!!”

  Suddenly, the lights at the end of the hallway went out. Dark patches formed where there once was an ounce of warmth. But it wasn’t just two lights-it was more. One by one by one these circular, crystal-covered ceiling lamps were snuffed out. And as they were extinguished, the dark patches became masses that covered and enveloped the elegant green wallpaper. As the massive phantom shadow neared Jordan and Andy, it looked as if they would be swallowed by the void. But then, Jordan chose to act. “RUN!!!!” She screamed and both went sprinting to the stairwell. The door was only a few feet away. Unfortunately, the blackening was so fast that before they reached the halfway point, they were fully eaten by the darkness. It was virtually impossible to reach the stairs now.

  And then… “Go to sleep… Go to sleep…”

  The Black Eyed Kids had massed around the two, this time beginning the chant even before they materialized. As they continued to stare at her with their beady black eyes and their glowing faces, their monotone drawls became more and more hypnotic as they wormed their way into her head. Thump! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Andy fall flat faced to the carpet, his eyes fast closed. As she witnessed this, she knew she had to stay awake. She yelled at herself from within her mind to do so. She began to run. Her legs froze. She looked at the emotionless children. Their hands were outstretched. They were controlling her. Then, as if on command, her fiercely fighting brain let go and she was completely submerged in drowsiness. A hole appeared in the center of her vision. It began to spin. And got larger and larger and larger. And then it flooded all of her vision. The black hole had totally consumed her.