We Were Trapped In An Abandoned Suburb

(Part One)

This is going to sound insane, but I'm so sick of keeping it to myself. I was witness to something of a homicide, and very few people know what truly happened that night. If you ask me, the government is purposely preventing it from spreading worldwide because it..

Well, it sort of involves supernatural. Very obviously so, to the point it would probably create mass panic, so big details were hidden and it has very little, next to none, news coverage. I've honestly been afraid that if I speak out, I'll go 'missing,' if you catch my drift.

But, I'm tired of staying silent about this, it's like a huge weight on my chest. I don't care about sounding crazy anymore, this experience has ruined my life. I startle at my own shadow, every creak of an old building, and I've developed a severe panic disorder and a case of PTSD.

Maybe if I speak about it, it'll offer me a form of closure?

Well, make yourself comfortable, and I don't know, maybe grab a snack and a drink, because this is going to be a bit of a doozy.

My name is Grace. I'm currently 30 years old, and this happened when I was 16. My friends and I had been planning to explore this abandoned, supposedly haunted house for about a week. It was October, and we were feeling pretty festive. Halloween Eve fell on a Saturday, and we already had plans to go to a Halloween party the following Sunday, so we decided that would be the day we would go ghost hunting in the infamous ‘Eye Ripper House.’

I know, it certainly sounds like a fun time, doesn't it?

I would've never gone if my best friend, Yazmine, hadn't peer pressured me into it. You see, I was a dorky chick with brown hair and big glasses, a late bloomer who kept her nose stuck in books and was always regarded as the teacher's pet. I wasn't exactly the daring type.

When I moved to town I had virtually no friends, until Yazmine came and sat next to me at lunch out of the blue one day. She had light brown skin and long curly dark brown hair. I remember she called me pretty, said I looked like one of those girls in movies who would take off their glasses and suddenly become the hottest girl in school, even though they were just as pretty when the glasses were still on. I blushed and said thank you, not used to being complimented, and then she just kept talking up a storm, no matter how short and bland my responses were she carried the conversation nonstop. That's how we became friends, she almost sort of adopted me, like a pet, and dragged me everywhere with her. Others who didn't like me were forced to get along with me in her presence and I was invited to a lot more parties.

The thing about Yazmine was, while on the outside she seemed like a cliche popular cheerleader all the boys drooled over, she was an absolute geek for the paranormal. She ran a vlog where she talked about ghost stories, folklore, and tried to commune with spirits on her bedroom floor via a ouija board. Her parents didn't know of course, and she kept it a secret generally from our classmates. But a week before the incident, she had complained about her viewers pressuring her for more… risky content. They wanted her to explore abandoned and haunted places like other content creators did. And while she didn't have a lot of subscribers, they were very loud and demanding and threatened to leave her with none if she didn't follow their suggestions. She had drawn them in with her personality and now she had to keep them hooked by spicing things up a bit.

The only people she told about this aside from me were her other friends, John, Zack, Bryce, and Vanessa. Well, Bryce was her boyfriend, he was on the football team with John and they were inseparable and among the kids who were popular because they were cute looking, athletic, and outspoken. Vanessa was a relatively new friend, she was kind of a lot to take in and no one really liked her, but Yaz had adopted her the same way she had done for me so I have no room to talk. Zack was sort of a social reject and everyone believed John became friends with him out of pity, mostly because they couldn't believe John, the quarterback heartthrob, actually had an interest in Dungeons and Dragons, which they had apparently bonded over.

Yazmine had broken down the plan to us while we were in her house after school one afternoon, watching a movie on her couch with her parents at work.

“So, you know the house those kids were killed in some years back?” Yazmine spoke with a mischievous grin.

“Oh, God,” I said with a groan.

“You mean, that freaky ass house where those kids were found with their eyes ripped out? That house?” John asked incredulously. To describe John, he was tall with dark brown skin and short black hair. He often wore his bright red varsity jacket.

“Oh yeah!” Vanessa pitched in with a sick grin of excitement. “Sign me up for that, baby!” She was a true crime fanatic, to an annoying extent, at least in my opinion. She almost seemed to fangirl over serial killer cases as if she were gushing about celebrity drama. She was pale from powdery foundation with blonde hair dyed black at the tips, and mascara always ringed her gray eyes.

“Well, count me the fuck out,” Bryce said through a mouth full of popcorn as he dug his hand greedily into the bowl we were sharing. He had sandy blonde hair with blue eyes and really liked wearing hoodies most days, even in the summer.

“Baaaabe,” Yazmine whined as she wrapped her arms around him, “are you really gonna let me explore some abandoned house all by myself with no big strong jock to protect me?”

“Yaz, why the hell would you want to go there?” I asked, rubbing my temples stressfully.

“I told you,” she rolled her eyes, “ghost hunting in spooky, abandoned places is what's hot with paranormal vlogs nowadays.”

“You have a ghost hunting vlog?” Zack, who hadn't spoken in a while from his secluded spot in the armchair in the corner, suddenly piped up. He was skinny and naturally pale with shaggy black hair and thin-framed glasses. He always seemed to wear band tees and skinny jeans, and he barely talked outside of his circle of video game nerds at school.

“I do now!” She smiled at him. “Come on you guys. This Saturday, Halloween Eve. Don't be pussies, it'll be so fun. Oh, and pack your sleeping bags. We're gonna be spending the night!”

“Hell no!” We all, except for Vanessa and Zack, shouted in unison.

“Come on, what's the worst that can happen?” Yazmine seemed to be getting frustrated at our refusal. “Casper jumps out at you and goes boo? There's six of us. It won't be that scary with such a big group.”

“I'm in!” Vanessa said. “But what are we supposed to tell our parents?”

“Tell them you're all at my place.” Zack said, smirking deviously. “My dad works the graveyard shift and my brother will cover for us if anyone calls. There won't be any trouble.”

“Don't tell anyone where we're going!” Yazmine snapped. “I'm serious, not one soul! I don't want this getting out to people at school! My mom would snap my neck if word got out and she found out I was doing this.”

Zack raised his hands up defensively. “I'll tell my brother we're going to a party. Chill.”

“Wait, so you're actually doing this?” Bryce asked, finally turning his attention away from the movie.

“Yes, I'm serious. I wanna catch some creepy paranormal shit on camera.” Yazmine gave him a hard stare.

“You're out of your mind.” John shook his head and laughed.

“If you're scared, just say that.” Yazmine crossed her arms.

John and Bryce exchanged annoyed glances. “Ain't nobody scared.” John replied indignantly.

“It's just childish,” Bryce defended weakly.

“Are you two really gonna let Zack prove he has bigger balls than you?” Yazmine smirked and raised an eyebrow at them.

John and Bryce glanced over at Zack, who tensed awkwardly under their gazes, then back at Yazmine.

“Fuck, fine.” Bryce's shoulders sagged as he gave up.

“Whatever,” John shrugged, “but if I die, I'm definitely haunting you.”

“I don't think it's smart to go to some abandoned house where people were murdered.” I said shyly.

“Please?” Yazmine held my hands in hers and stuck her bottom lip out. Her eyes grew big.

As much as I tried not to, I cracked a smile.

“Come on, Grace, show everyone you're not the square they think you are,” Vanessa took a subtle jab at me with a sneaky smirk.

“Fine!” I shot a glare at Vanessa, absolutely hating to be called a square. “But never again!” Yazmine squealed happily and hugged me. It felt nice to be shown affection and included, and at the time that was worth risking a visit from a ghost.

And so, fast forward to the night of Halloween Eve, we were parked in John's car on an abandoned street on the outskirts of town. It was located on an unfinished suburb, where the house was at the end of what was meant to be a cul de sac, with at least two other finished houses and the rest half-built. The exact address of the ‘Eye Ripper House,’ as it was dubbed, was 52 Magnolia Way.

Nature was quickly reclaiming the semi-rural land, the yellowed grass on different sectional plots of land where houses were originally going to be built were high and swaying in the autumnal breeze, and the shivering trees crowding in too close for comfort. We were the only sign of life out there, six teenagers stepping out of the car and looking up at the two storey single family home looming over us with dark windows that may as well have been empty eyes staring out. The night sky was a dark blue, dotted with twinkling stars and a full moon. Civilization was miles away.

“So… this is it.” I said, feeling a chill run down my spine as I imagined the horrors that went on there decades ago. There were remnants of old memorials littering the street, fake flowers and little teddy bears blown away by wind, dirty, weathered, aged, and covered with leaves.

“This is it.” Yazmine nodded as she and Bryce pulled out the duffel bag with the ghost hunting gear. It contained a notepad and pen, an infrared camera, an audio recorder, enough walkie talkies for all of us, headphones to listen to any recordings, heavy duty flashlights, and last but not least a Ouija board.

“Oof, it's chilly out here.” Vanessa rubbed her shoulders up and down, her alternative goth outfit with a mini skirt, halter top, and fishnets no match for the cold October air.

“Here.” Bryce took off his hoodie and gave it to her.

Yazmine paid them no mind as she opened the camcorder and started filming. “Okay guys, let's do an intro. So here we are, at the haunted house where the Eye Ripper took the lives of four children long ago. People say you can see ghosts in the windows, and hear crying coming from inside at night.” She panned the camera across the property. “My team and I are going to be spending the night here and seeing if we can catch any evidence of paranormal activity.” She turned the camera on us. “Okay, introduce yourselves. You first, bestie.”

“Hi, Yaz’s followers, I'm Grace,” I smiled at her calling me her bestie and waved at the camera. I didn't really like being on camera but thankfully she switched to pointing it at Bryce next.

“I'm Tristan.”

“You don't need a fake name, you loser,” Yazmine joked, “next.”

“I'm Vanessa, but my friends call me Vee.” She flashed a peace sign.

“I'm Zack, and no one calls her that.” Zack laughed as Vanessa shoved him.

“I'm John, and let me tell you, peer pressure is one hell of a drug.” He smiled at the camera nonetheless.

“Alright, who wants to be the cameraman?” Yazmine asked. “I'm the host so I need to be front and center.”

“Meeee!” Vanessa skipped over and took the camera, making goofy faces obnoxiously close to the lens.

“Okay, but you gotta be serious about it.” Yazmine glared at her sternly “And who wants the audio recorder, and the notebook?”

“I'll take this.” Bryce snatched the notebook and pen from her. “Less work.”

“I'll be in charge of the audio recorder, I guess.” Zack stepped forward and took it. “Maybe we'll catch a ghost beatboxing or something.” He giggle-snorted at his lame joke.

“Here are the walkies.” Yazmine handed out one to each of us.

“Um, why do we have these?” I asked as I took mine. “Don't we have our phones?”

“Well, walkies are more official and cool looking,” Yazmine shrugged.

“In other words, you saw it on a TV show and wanted to copy it.” John said.

“We're not planning to separate, are we?” Zack asked slowly.

“I mean, we might get separated looking around for shit, unless you guys plan to be all up under me like babies or something.” Yazmine waved dismissively at him. “Look, just take the walkie, okay? Now get your sleeping bags.”

Like we were scolded children, we obeyed and grabbed our sleeping bags. Yazmine led the way into the house, Vanessa trailing close behind her with the camera.

“Oh, it's unlocked.” Yazmine said as she opened the front door. “Lucky for us.”

“Those ghost kids must be looking for some company!” Vanessa added in amusedly.

We all walked into the house, slowly and carefully, as if it might collapse over our heads. It was still fully furnished, the killer’s things were left just as they were. The front door opened to a hallway, on the left side a living room area, and on the right side the kitchen. The stairs were at the end of the hall, next to a small room with the laundry machines and a back door leading to the backyard. We followed Yazmine into the living room and slowly fanned out, Vanessa spinning in a circle to capture our surroundings on video. We could hear mice scuttling, and saw cockroaches hide from the beam of our flashlights.

“Wow, it looks almost like no one left, right?” Yazmine said to the camera. “Well, aside from all the nasty dust everywhere. Let's see what else is down here.” We took footage of the kitchen and other areas of the downstairs before moving upstairs. The stairs lead to a landing, connected to a hallway where a second bathroom, a closet, and at least three rooms were located. Yazmine opened each door and allowed Vanessa to record what lay within. Just regular rooms, the air inside stagnant and choked with dust. We temporarily stopped our exploration inside the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

“We didn't even need our sleeping bags!” Zack said as he threw himself onto the king sized bed. A cloud of dust puffed into the air and he coughed. “Shit…”

“Dude, that bed is gross.” Yazmine said with disgust. “Those covers haven't been washed in years.”

“And the killer was the last to sleep in it.” I reminded him anxiously.

“Ooh!” Vanessa jumped on the bed like a trampoline before lying down next to Zack, who blushed at being close to her. “I can't believe I'm lying where the Eye Ripper slept.”

“You guys are freaks.” Bryce shook his head. “So what now? I'm bored.”

“Now?” A slow grin tugged the corners of Yazmine's lips. “Now, we try to make contact, and I know just the place to do it.”

We ended up in the basement. The stairs leading down were past a door in the kitchen. The steps creaked and groaned loudly under our weight. I pointed my flashlight around the dark room. There was empty space encircling a furnace in the center, but other than that it was mostly cluttered with boxes and piles of old junk and seemed like a regular basement. There was an adjacent, smaller room to the bigger one, where most of the junk was hoarded. Yazmine babbled about the Eye Ripper murders to the camera as we explored.

“This is the basement where Millie Jenkins, Peter Buschard, Sarah Miller, and William Crawford were tortured and then killed by Hank Stone, AKA the Eye Ripper.” Yazmine babbled like a reporter. “They were abducted from their neighborhoods in different areas around town, and he used chloroform to render them unconscious. When they woke up, they were bound and gagged. He would then force them to perform various brutal acts on one another, like-”

I tried my best to tune out her rambling, as I didn't want to imagine poor innocent kids being hurt in such a way. I tried to focus on observing the random objects around the room, highlighting things like a half empty cigarette pack and a cracked smartphone…

Wait, a phone… ?

“After he was through mutilating them, he took a knife and gouged their eyes out while they were still alive.” Yazmine continued as I bent down to pick up the phone, the others huddled close around her while I lingered in a junky corner. “Then, oddly enough, he wrote a letter confessing to his crimes and hanged himself in this very room. But before he did, he gouged his own eyes out, one of the most bizarre things about this case. Did he feel guilty? Did he want to feel what his victims felt?”

I turned the phone over in my hands. It wasn't as old as most of the other things in the house, in fact it seemed quite new aside from the dust and cracks. I tried to turn it on but, of course, an image of an empty battery flashed on screen.

“He probably would've never been caught if it weren't for him snitching on himself.” Vanessa said with an air of annoyance, as if she was actually upset he'd gotten caught.

“Bastard deserved to rot in jail for what he did.” John growled, his fists balled in the pockets of his varsity jacket. “I have a little sister and I can't imagine someone snatching her up like that and doing all these terrible things to her. He took the easy way out.”

“I believe that's the hook where the noose hung.” Yazmine pointed to a hook instilled in the ceiling. “And the kids' bodies were found in the wall and under the floor, which is why those floorboards are loose there.” She pointed to a section of the floor that seemed to jut up slightly. I hated to imagine a kid's lifeless body lying under there so I quickly looked away.

“You must've researched this case, too.” Vanessa replied, catching footage of everything the other girl pointed at.

“Well, duh.” Yazmine rolled her eyes. “Gotta do your research before you ghost hunt.”

“I've known this case for longer than any of you, so any questions anyone has I can answer them, Yaz isn't the only one who does her homework around here.” Vanessa almost sounded jealous that Yazmine was also knowledgeable on the case, but I had no idea why that could be.

“Hey guys, look at this.” Everyone's attention turned to me and I held the phone up. “Didn't this case happen in the 90’s? Before touchscreen? Why's someone's phone here?”

Vanessa came closer to me with the camera, filming the phone. “Ooh, what do we have here?”

“Clearly someone was in here before.” John said. “We should've known we wouldn't be the first to try this.”

“The screen still works, it's just dead, so I wonder why they didn't take it with them.” I bent down and picked up the half empty pack of cigarettes. “And look, who smokes half a pack and just leaves it?” Admittedly, I was a teen smoker, Yazmine had gotten me into it, so I knew all about savoring every last sweet stick of tobacco until they were gone, especially as a broke highschooler.

“Give those here.” Bryce snatched the cigarettes from me and immediately lit one up with a lighter from his jeans pocket. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. Yazmine had gotten the habit from him.

“Guys, who cares about all that,” Yazmine sighed, “let's set up the Ouija.”

We sat with our legs crossed around the Ouija board, watching as Yazmine lit four red candles and placed them at each corner. We placed our hands on top of one another, touching the planchette simultaneously. Vanessa had set up the camera on a nearby box to film us.

“Okay,” Yazmine took a deep breath, “Can the ghosts of Sarah Miller, Peter Buschard, William Crawford, and Millie Jenkins hear us?”

We waited in tense silence. John and Bryce seemed bored, with John staring into space and Bryce chewing gum. Vanessa was very immersed and waited with bated breath, same as Zack. I felt that nothing was going to happen. After all, I didn't believe in ghosts. All those videos on the internet were staged, today's technology was advanced enough to fake such things and I had never had an experience myself.

“Is anyone there?” Yazmine asked again impatiently. “Anyone at all? Give us a sign.”

The candle flames went out in perfect unison. We jumped, startled, but managed to keep our hands on the planchette. Thankfully, we had at least two of our flashlights lying on the floor pointing at us as an extra source of illumination for the camera.

“That was a breeze or something.” Bryce assured himself more than anyone else.

“Yeah…” Was all John could say.

“In the basement…?” Vanessa squeaked.

“They went out at the same time…” Zack marveled.

“You're so easily entertained,” Bryce scoffed, prompting John to give him a warning elbow jab in his side.

“Oh my God, I caught that on camera.” Yazmine gushed.

“We caught it on camera.” Vanessa corrected her. “Ask something else.”

“Who are you?” Yazmine asked.

Slowly, the planchette moved under our hands. We all broke into disbelieving laughter and jeers.

“Oh, stop shitting me, that's gotta be one of you!” Bryce laughed.

“Yeah, someone's moving it,” I agreed.

“S…A…R…” Yazmine muttered, as our eyes followed the planchette. “A…H…”

“Okay, which one of you goofs spelled Sarah?” Zack asked, giving us each an accusing glare. It seemed he didn't find it as funny as us.

“Wasn't me,” I said.

“You said that pretty quick,” Bryce raised an eyebrow at me, “it was definitely you.”

“No, it wasn't!” I snapped. “You're the one accusing people right off the bat! Maybe it was you?!”

“Ooh, and she's defensive,” Vanessa snickered, “she's definitely guilty.”

Yazmine defended me just as I opened my mouth to retort. “Hey, guys, if she said she didn't do it, then she didn't do it.”

“Then who did?” Zack asked coldly.

“I believe our little ghost friend Sarah Miller did it.” Yazmine smiled. “Isn't that right, Sarah? Give us a yes or a no.”

The planchette slid over to the word YES at the corner of the board, and this time rather than laughing we all scoffed and snorted, our amusement waning into irritation.

“This is getting old.” I said. “I'm sure it'll be great for your little channel, though.”

Yazmine frowned at my tone, it came out much ruder than I intended. I couldn't help it, I was starting to get super tense in this situation. I regretted even coming. Everything about the house, from the moment we crossed the threshold, felt wrong. The feeling worsened the longer we stayed.

“Okay, Sarah, tell us why you're still here.” Yazmine resumed her interrogation of the spirit as we all shifted restlessly in our spots on the dirty floor.

The planchette, quicker this time, moved to spell out another word.

“Looking?” I was the first to piece it together.

“Looking for what?” Vanessa asked, looking at the air all around us. It seemed she had started to believe the ghost was real. “Sarah, what are you looking for?”

“Um, I'm supposed to be asking the quest-” Yazmine cut herself off with a gasp as the planchette furiously zipped from letter to letter across the board, my hand nearly slipped off it went so fast. I tried to feel who was moving it but it wasn't possible. Our hands all seemed to be limply riding the triangular piece of wood.

The planchette spelled out a four letter word.

“Eyes?” John said in confusion.

“Eyes,” Zack looked beyond unsettled, “it said eyes! It did!”

“Whoever's doing that could at least be clever.” Bryce rolled his eyes. “‘Eyes’? Seriously? At least be original.”

Zack's breathing became shallow as the planchette started moving again, without anyone asking any questions.

‘F-I-’

Zack jumped up from the Ouija board, and his hand removing from the planchette made it cease all movement.

“Hey, it stopped when he got up, that means it was him!” Bryce pointed at the shivering and sweaty boy.

“No, it stopped because you're not supposed to let go until you end the game properly!” Yazmine admonished.

“Stop blaming Zack,” John warned.

Zack shook his head and ran upstairs without another word. Vanessa giggled,
“Where is he going?”

“Ugh, you guys are seriously fucking this up,” Yazmine complained.

I turned to her, “Are you serious? You're the one who begged us to come out here!”

“Right!” John backed me up. “You got your footage, now let's get the hell out of this creepy basement.”

“Okay, okay, jeez.” Yazmine stood up, and we all followed suit. “Let's go set up our sleeping bags, you big babies.”

I trailed at the back of the group as we ascended the basement stairs, casting a nervous glance over my shoulder at the darkness. For a split second, I swear I saw a shadow shift, and I shone my flashlight at the wall where I thought I'd seen it. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but that didn't stop me from hurrying up the stairs. It had to be my imagination, there was no way I saw the faint silhouette of a small body moving deeper into the darkness.

We decided to camp in the living room. This way, if we all decided to high tail it to the car, the front door was not far away. We pushed the old fashioned looking sofas against the wall, and scooted the cobwebbed coffee table out of the way, making space in the center of the wooden floor. Zack, not saying a word to anybody, quickly unrolled his sleeping bag, slipped inside, and tried to go to sleep. The rest of us, however, were wide awake, and since it felt better to be out of that basement, we were all chatting and laughing as Vanessa filmed us.

“Look at us, spending Halloween Eve in a creepy haunted house.” Yazmine stared each one of us in the eyes with an approving grin that made my heart feel warm. “We're such badasses. We're different from other kids that probably looked around for five minutes and dipped, we're staying the night. We got balls of steel.”

Everyone except Zack agreed wholeheartedly with smiles of pride on their faces, including me. I had to confess, it felt good to be praised by Yazmine, and I did indeed feel cool for daring to do such a thing. Also, I had kept the smartphone I found with me, and currently had it plugged up to a fully charged, portable power bank I brought in case my own phone ran out of battery. There was a good chance I wouldn't be able to get in because of a passcode, but I wanted to try anyway.

“Did you get anything on your recorder, Zack?” Vanessa asked, poking him.

“I didn't check,” Zack grumbled, “let me sleep.”

“Give it here.” She urged. He all but tossed the audio recorder at her and she grabbed it and plugged in the headphones.

“Let me see that camera.” I said, feeling bold. “I wanna see if you caught my good side.” She tossed the camera to me. I ended the current recording and started to review the footage. I shot her a glare as she snickered and muttered a sarcastic response about my ‘good side’ or lack thereof to be specific. I’d never done anything to Vanessa but she always liked antagonizing me.

“Babe, did you write any notes down?” Yazmine asked Bryce.

“Huh?” He was half listening as he lit up another cigarette.

“Give the notepad here.” Yazmine sighed as she realized he'd simply scribbled a game of tic tac toe on the paper. “Whatever.”

Several minutes of quiet discussion passed, then Vanessa gasped, attracting everyone's attention. “Hold up, I think Zack actually caught something!” Zack raised himself up, alarmed.

We gathered around as she replayed the part of interest. It was when we had just figured out the planchette spelled the word ‘eyes.’ Everyone's voice echoed to us.

“Eyes?” John’s voice uttered from the recorder.

A rushed out, slightly garbled whisper sounded out right after, and then Zack's voice.

“Eyes, it said eyes! It did!”

“Wait, can you rewind it and slow it down?” I asked. Vanessa nodded, and pressed a couple of buttons.

“Eyes?”

“Can I have them?”

“Eyes, it said eyes! It did!”

“It said ‘can I have them’!” John leaped backwards and pointed at the recorder.

“Have what?” Yazmine wondered, frowning.

“Our eyes.” Zack's voice, even-toned like the calm before the storm, had everyone's gaze on his clammy face. “It's asking for our eyes.”

“It sounded like something else!” Bryce shouted. “It didn't say that!”

“It sounded clear to me…” Vanessa muttered, staring down at the recorder. There was a beat of silence as we all processed this.

“Grace…anything on the footage?” Yazmine asked finally, and everyone's eyes fell on me. I scrambled to replay the most recent video of our time in the basement and everyone crowded around me to watch over my shoulder.

Everything seemed normal, until the candle flames went out, and something in the far right corner of the frame moved in the darkness.

“The fuck is that!” Zack cried.

“Rewind it!” Vanessa commanded. “Then pause.”

I did, and when I paused at just the right moment, we all squinted and made out a thin, pale arm, in the process of slipping back into the shadows away from the reach of the flashlight beam. It was as if some person, with milky white skin, had quickly and silently stepped out of frame. We all looked at each other.

“Let's get the hell out of here.” I whispered.

That launched everyone into action. We rolled up our bags and ensured we had everything we needed. Vanessa insisted on carrying the camera and filming, rather than placing it back in the duffel bag, and we were all too concerned with leaving to care. We rushed out to John's car, John already having the keys jingling in his hand. We threw our shit in the trunk and piled into the seats, packed like sardines. Breathing heavily and anxiously peering out the windows at the dark night, we waited for John to start the car. He twisted the key, and the engine spurred to life with a deep purr like some majestic beast came to save us from this nightmare.

Then it sputtered back out.

“Huh?” John tried again, and again, and again. It sounded like the engine wouldn't turn over. “The fuck!”

“Didn't you say you got this piece of shit checked out?!” Bryce hollered.

“Yeah! I did!” John shouted back. “It was working just fine on the way here!”

“Oh, God.” I muttered, sitting in the middle seat and looking up at the house through the windshield.

My breath caught in my throat.

Someone was standing in the upstairs window…watching us. A young boy, with skin whiter than the moon and his eyes covered in shadow to the point they looked like they were completely black. My mouth fell open, and my heart skipped a beat.

“You okay?” Yazmine tapped me, a look of concern on her face. I looked at her, then looked back. The boy was gone. I wanted to believe I had imagined it, but after what we experienced so far, I knew that wasn't true.

“I just wanna go.” I whimpered.

“Looks like we're not going anywhere.” Vanessa boredly replied, looking out the window with her cheek resting in her palm. I wondered how she could be so calm, but maybe it was a facade so she wouldn't lose her shit.

Zack buried his face in his hands silently as John banged his fist angrily against the steering wheel. Bryce ran his fingers stressfully through his hair and Yazmine chewed her manicured fingernails into jagged bits. Finally, after endless attempts at starting the car, John defeatedly leaned his head against the steering wheel.

“Look, I know it sucks, but we can still walk.” I broke the silence, putting my hand on his shoulder.

Bryce looked at me from the passenger side seat, “Walk all the way back? That'll take an hour or two!”

“What choice do we have?” I hissed.

“I'm calling my brother.” Zack took his phone out of his pants pocket and opened his calling app. “He can pick us up.”

“Perfect!” Bryce slumped down in his seat, relieved.

“He'll totally give us shit for being here but fuck it.” Zack nodded as he pressed the call button over his brother's contact. “He might even think I'm pranking him, so I'm gonna put it on speaker so you guys can verify my story.”

The phone rang as we allowed the tension to ooze out of our bodies, anticipating our rescue. It stopped ringing and subtle breathing could be heard from the speakers.

“Hey, man, we need some help-” Zack began.

“The bad man stole our eyes.” The eerie voice of a child whispered, and we all froze like deer in headlights as we heard it. “The bad man stole our eyes and now we can't leave. Please help us.”

Zack started to hyperventilate as he dropped the phone at his feet. Vanessa looked panicked as she desperately told him, “Your brother's just playing a prank! Tell him to come get us!” Zack shook his head vigorously, his breathing getting more and more out of control.

“What the fuck was that…” Bryce muttered, frozen in his seat.

“Zack, calm down, Jesus!” Yazmine rubbed his arm.

“I'm calling my mom.” I quickly said, taking out my own phone and dialing her number, making sure to put it on speaker. “She'll be pissed but it's better than waiting out here another moment.” The phone rang and rang until finally the soothing voice of the woman who gave birth to me answered.

“Hello?” My mom said, making everyone in the car let out a breath they likely didn't know they were holding.

“Mom, please come get us, we're on 52 Magnolia Way, at that creepy abandoned house,” I begged.

“I'm coming right away!” My mom replied hastily. “Just tell the children to wait for me!”

“Okay, I- wait, children? You mean Yaz and the gang?” I asked.

“No, the children! I want to be there when they rip your eyes from your sockets, you filthy diseased bitch!” My mom's voice screeched, crescendoing into an unrecognizable unearthly howl, before the call suddenly dropped.

“What the hell type of drug is your mom on?!” John stared at me with wide eyes.

“That- that wasn't my mom!” I gaped at the screen as I held my phone with trembling hands. Then I noticed something – in the top right corner of the screen, a symbol caught my eye.

Three empty bars.

‘No Signal.’

“There's no fucking bars!” I cried, tears spilling down my cheeks. “We don't even have a signal!” They all scrambled to check their own phones, and the blue glow of their screens illuminated their horrified expressions.

“So…who did you call…” Yazmine said slowly.

“The spirits are toying with us.” Vanessa replied gravely, turning the camera towards Yazmine. “Isn’t it obvious they want us to help them move on?”

“You're still recording?!” Yazmine glared at her.

“So what?” Vanessa shrugged. “Might as well, we're going to want a record of all this when we get out of here. Not like I'm hurting anyone.”

“This can't be happening… this can't be happening…” Zack started rocking back and forth.

“Fuck it, we walk then.” Bryce burst out the car.

“Hey, wait up, man.” John called after him as he left from his seat, too. Everyone else except Zack left the car to join Bryce, who was speed walking down the street.

“We have to stick together!” Yazmine angrily stormed up to him and impeded his path, pushing at his chest. “You're just gonna dip out like that without even making sure I'm with you?”

“You have legs.” Bryce walked around her.

“Wait, we can't leave Zack!” John stopped in his tracks as he remembered his new friend.

“Why isn't that loser following us anyways?” Bryce shot back.

“Don't call him that!” John shoved Bryce and went back to the car. When Bryce saw that Vanessa, Yazmine, and I were going to wait for them, he groaned loudly and let his hands fall limp at his sides. He didn't want to go on his own but he didn't want to wait up either, it seemed.

I watched, biting my thumb nail, as John opened the back seat door and leaned in. We could hear him talking to Zack.

“Come on, man, we gotta go. Do you really wanna stay here?”

Bryce rolled his eyes. Vanessa pointed the camera at the scene and narrated, “John is convincing Zack to leave with us… even though if he were in his right mind he'd do that anyway.”

“Cut it out!” Yazmine pushed at the camera. “This isn't a movie!”

“Hey, be easy with her.” Bryce scolded. Yazmine looked shocked at him.

“Hey, it's her camera, if she wants to break it by knocking it out my hand, it's no skin off my ass,” Vanessa spat, turning the lens to Yazmine, who appeared to be fuming.

Finally, Zack clambered out of the car and briskly and wordlessly walked past us, John following after him.

“Finally!” Bryce took the lead, and we all began walking down the road, which forked into three different roads with the middle one being the way we came, until we were flanked on both sides by trees.

“How long until we get there?” I asked.

“Like I said, probably an hour or so, but that's just getting back into town,” Bryce answered from ahead of me.

“Is there a bus that runs this late?” Yazmine asked.

“I think so,” John replied. “We can catch it back to my house and I'll try and use my dad's car to drop y'all off at home. Hopefully he won't notice… Hopefully.”

We seemed to walk endlessly, in silence at that. Not just your regular silence, but dead silence, there were no owls hooting, no crickets or cicadas singing, even the cool breeze that had shaken the leaves earlier was gone. It was just the sound of our clothes rustling and our footsteps hitting the pavement. I looked around us, the trees were like dark sentinels silently observing the road. We pointed our flashlights ahead, walking single file at the side of the road.

“Maybe we'll pass a car and we can hitch a ride back.” I suggested just to break the silence.

“If said car can seat all six of us, I don't see why not.” Yazmine shrugged.

“Does anyone notice how…quiet it is?” Vanessa asked.

“Shut. Up.” Zack told her without even looking at her.

Some time passed in silence, and my bony legs felt just about ready to give out.

“We've been walking for fucking ages, I know for a fact we should've been there by now.” Bryce howled in frustration, stopping and looking ahead.

“Wait, there's something up there,” I said, squinting my eyes at the faint silhouette of distant buildings looming in the darkness.

“Oh God,” Zack covered his face.

“No, I mean, there's buildings! Bryce was right, and it didn't take too long at all!” I squealed with excitement as I burst into a sprint.

“Wait up!” John said as the others soon followed suit, breaking into a run themselves to keep up with me. Our flashlight beams bounced wildly.

Yazmine held my hand as we ran and smiled at me. I smiled back, we were both elated to be getting home, as far as possible from the dreaded Eye Ripper house.

Except… except that's not what happened. It's not what happened at all.

We slowed down as we got closer to the buildings, a pit of dread opening up in our stomachs as we slowly realized.

“Wait…” I said, gasping for breath.

“Is… is that… ?” Bryce asked, panting.

“Oh fuck!” Vanessa cried.

When we got close enough for our flashlight beams to reach the place, it dawned on us that the buildings were the abandoned houses of that unfinished suburb, including the one we had just run from.

We walked in a straight line for nearly two hours and came back to 52 Magnolia Way.