I have no idea why I’m so terrified of a kid in a hoodie.
Tarick opens the door a little more, and he looks down at whoever had been knocking. His dark skin blanches, the color of his now damp flesh becomes almost as light as my complexion.
At this point, I know I’m seeing things.
I peek around the doorframe and Tarick’s shoulder to see the five-foot tall boy stare up through his hoodie at Tarick. His eyes lock onto Tarick’s. His oversized clothes look like they belong on someone two feet taller and a lot rounder. Baggy jeans sag around the kid’s bony legs, and the sweatshirt hides his hands. He pushes one sleeve up to reveal the whitest hand I’ve ever seen.
“May I enter to use the phone? I’m lost,” the boy asks, his voice demanding, yet soft and innocent.
He faces me and that’s when I see the solid black spheres that are his eyes. His pupils hide the white that should be there…somewhere. My hand grabs Tarick’s arm and squeezes to let him know to shut the door. My tongue feels so heavy in my mouth that it becomes difficult—no, impossible—to utter a single word.
As I’m staring at this bug-eyed boy, Tarick’s bicep hardens under my grip, and the side of the door softly cracks from his grasp. He can’t seem to look away from the alien-looking boy, and neither can I.
The hair on my arms stand up, and my heartbeat thrums in my ears like a sixteen piece percussion set. The monsters under the bed were nothing compared to the black orbs on this kid’s face. My mouth, legs, and arms betray me. My mind tells me to yell, shut the door, and run like hell, but my limbs feel like Jell-O. Time stands still, and the realization that I’m about to die invades me.
My best friend’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out. His hands start to shake again as his chin reluctantly dips once. Tarick just invited this monster in! The stranger no longer seems like a kid to me. He’s a predator.
I want to yell at Tarick to shut the door, but I can’t speak. My nails dig into Tarick’s arm in my attempt to pull him away. My legs back up against the couch and the kid pushes in, lowers his hood, and reveals a full head of shaggy blond hair. I expected this demon child to have horns. Instead, his greasy hair covers his ears and hangs just below his neck.
Tarick backs up and knocks me over the edge of the couch. I can’t control my body from tumbling backwards. My throat constricts to try to unleash a scream, but I’ve lost my voice.
The boy stands completely still, but Tarick falls to his knees, throws his face upwards, and his own unblinking eyes darken. My legs fly up into the air and my butt hits the tile floor. I begin to crawl backwards. This thing might have a pair of legs and arms, but I’m sure he’s not human at all, and he somehow has a mental grip on Tarick.
There’s no other way to explain what’s happening.
Drops of blood trickle out of Tarick's ears. He raises his hand to wipe the blood, and it smears across his face. He pulls his gaze from the boy and stares at his own bloody hand. He turns to look at me. His bottom lip quivers, and a ring of crimson spreads under the brown in his eyes. Tarick can’t speak either, but he mouths one word…Cally.
The evil being turns his attention to me, and as he does so, his blackness penetrates my head. “Stay.” My body immediately goes rigid, and my limbs become instantly paralyzed.
Why can’t I control my own body?
He turns toward Cally and my adrenaline pumps through my veins. My face turns hot. The pressure in my head, along with the ringing in my ears, subside just enough for me to command my body to move. My limbs obey, and as the demon boy approaches the bassinet, I slam into him.
We crash into the wall hard. My face is inches from his, and his deep black eyes grow wide. He’s just as surprised as I am at the violence of my hit.
Anger spreads on his face. Both of his hands strike my chest so hard that the air swooshes from my lungs. My feet leave the floor, and my whole body hurls backwards into the air. The sofa softens my fall, but my right leg smashes into the glass coffee table, shattering it.
Cally wails. The monster stands over her, and he licks his lips. “Too soon…maybe.”
The sight of this thing staring at Cally gets my heart pumping again, and I’m back on my feet. Even if I’m willing to die, there’s no way this creature’s going to take Tarick’s sister. My fists clench, and I’m ready to tear the bastard apart.
The black-eyed boy glides towards me like a ghost floating on air. My limbs release the built up tension, and I’m unable to tear my gaze from his eerie stare. My head pounds again. The ringing returns, immediately followed by a loud buzzing. The sound grows louder the closer he gets to me, and the agony in my head overpowers me.
I fall to my knees. A swarm of bees invade my brain; they multiply and begin to sting me from the inside out. The pressure builds up just behind my eyeballs and releases with a pop, and a wet substance slides down my cheek. I’m sure that my head has literally exploded, but I’m unable to scream.
Is Cally safe?
Tarick is still on his knees, looking up at the ceiling like he’s in some kind of trance. I still can’t even manage to say one word. My throat strains, and my ears pick up an eerie silence as the buzzing dissipates. I’m so dizzy that I fall over, and a thin layer of static blankets my eyesight.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the black-eyed monster come towards me with one had raised in the air. My last thought is of Cally and Tarick and how I had failed to protect them. The creature’s pale fingers float towards my temple, and with the touch of cold flesh, the finality of darkness surrounds me.
2
MAVERICK
SOMETHING COLD TOUCHES my face. It brushes my chin and glides upward, like it’s wiping crumbs away from my cheek. The blurry haze fades as my eyes blink it away, and a renewed terror grips me. A pair of black holes stare down at me. My head smashes into something as I attempt to back away. The sharp pain above my neck gives way to rapid throbbing that matches my hyper-fast heartbeat.
The taste of blood forms in my mouth, and I spit it out.
“Not real. This is not real.” It’s no good. The pain in my wrists tells me otherwise. Ropes bind my hands to something above me, and the numbness gives way to a stinging sensation.
The noisy bees return to my brain. Instead of an entire hive swarming, it’s like there’s only ten of them buzzing around. A pale, blond, black-eyed girl leans against a wall of old wooden planks a few feet away. She tilts her head and her gaze bores into me.
“Wh…wh…who?” My voice increases an octave. A million questions form in my mind, but my clouded head jumbles the words into unintelligible gibberish.
She smiles and pats her chest, like she's answering my question, but no words escape her mouth. Blood covers her hands—dried blood—and the memory of the hand brushing my face snaps into my brain. It’s my blood on her hands.
Her dark eyes, identical to the stranger that had forced his way into Tarick’s house, return my stare. No, wait…Tarick actually let that creature in. The fog starts to lift and my memories return. How could I forget the big black eyes? As if she knows her weird face freaks me out, she backs away.
“What are you?” I ask her.
My bravery returns, and I struggle against the ropes strangling my wrists.
Her attempt at friendliness, if that’s what her smile means to be, fades and she moves toward me. Her mostly normal looking face droops. Although her hair color and pale skin are identical to the other black-eyed kid, she appears older. Smeared dirt stains her gray sweatshirt and sweatpants. If her face wasn’t so clean and her hair straight and untangled, I’d think she’d belong in a homeless shelter.
I cringe and try to scoot back further, but pipes block my way. The ropes wrap around the plumbing under a sink. She takes another step forward and moves her crimson-stained hand closer to my face.
“Ssstay away!” My wrists feel like they catch fire as I pull hard, but they don’t budge.
She stops her approach, thank God.
There
’s only darkness beyond the barely lit space. The single lit bulb dangles from the ceiling above the girl. Insects fly all around it. Cement block poles hold up the wooden walls. Although I see nothing in the distance, rain pounds the roof and the musty scent of wet earth fills the room.
How did I get here? Wasn’t I just at Tarick’s house?
“Where are my friends? Where’s Tarick? Where’s Cally?”
The girl turns toward the barn's entrance and then twirls her straight blonde hair around her pale finger. She bites down on her bottom lip. Once she stops twisting her hair, she takes yet another step forward. The swarm of bees in my head returns with a vengeance.
I struggle again. “Stop!”
Fear takes root, as if it’s slowly eating away at my soul. None of this makes sense and my instincts yell at me to run, but these ropes won’t budge. I try yanking down hard, but it’s no good. The buzzing in my brain eases when she retreats and keeps her distance.
She paces back and forth, no longer intent on coming near me.
“Answer me, damnit! Where are my friends?”
Confusion, and then a sympathetic look, spreads on her face. She stops to look at me and tilts her head again. Her black eyes won’t stop staring at me, and now I know what it’s like to be a caged animal at the zoo. She swoops forward and bends down to pull at the ropes. I swallow my panic. What is she doing?
She doesn’t seem to hold the same power over me that the black-eyed boy had. I'm able to squirm away from her. She quits yanking and slides her cold hand down my cheek. She smiles, and goose bumps form on my arms.
A shiver passes through me. My brain shakes itself of the cobwebs and the buzz dissolves. My thoughts turn razor sharp.
Where is the black-eyed boy? Tarick must be prisoner elsewhere. I’m desperate to get out of here and find Tarick and Cally.
She shakes her head and mumbles something incomprehensible. Is it another language, or is she completely doped up? If a certain drug can mess up your eyes like that…that’s something to stay clear of. There’s no color, no eyeballs, just blackness. My instincts tell me it’s not drug induced, and the best thing to do is stay far away. She pulls at the rope again, and it comes undone. My arms fall and I slump forward to the ground.
I’m free.
The cold cement floor feels good to my numb limbs, but I manage to push myself up. Other than my arms and legs feeling like they’re being poked by pins and needles, I seem to be relatively okay.
Instead of attacking me, the girl moves to the open door of the pole barn with such absolute silence, I’m freaked out. Either she’s a ghost or she’s a ninja. She points into the rainy darkness beyond the open doorway.
She’s letting me go?
I’m not going to give her the chance to change her mind. The downpour pelts my body when I run outside. I trip over a bump in the cement, and my sore limbs meet the dirt, along with half of my left cheek. My hands find the muddy earth before my face becomes wedged into the soft mush. Bits of mud splash into my open mouth. I reach out and my hand finds something that feels like a dead dog or horse.
Through the heavy rain, I stare at the mud-covered form. It takes several seconds for my brain to finally register what I’m looking at. It’s a body…Tarick’s bloody face half pressed into the mud, one bloodshot eye staring blankly at me. A cockroach races across his forehead.
“Tarick!”
Maybe he’s just unconscious.
“Oh God! Oh God!”
I wrap my arms around him and cradle him. His body slips from my grasp and collapses back into the mud.
He’s gone.
The black-eyed girl kneels next to me, a blank expression plastered on her face.
I almost shove her away, but I’m afraid to touch her. “Stay away from me!”
Tarick lies in the mud. A cry builds from the depths of my belly and erupts out of my lips.
She opens her mouth and screeches like a dying cat. The sound jolts me backwards, and my instincts kick in. I fumble as I rise, and then I turn and run.
Massive rain drops pound me and mix with my tears. With each pump of my legs, the guilt builds inside of me. I should turn around and get Tarick, but fear drives me to run away instead.
The ground becomes mushy under my flip-flops; the mud threatens to swallow my feet. My toes clutch the rubber straps to keep them from flying off, and I finally reach the grass next to the dirt road.
Even from fifty yards away, I can still see the strange girl standing at the edge of the pole barn. She lingers over Tarick’s body. She looks up at me and waves her hand like she’s saying goodbye after a friendly visit.
Astid. My name's Astid. A female voice rings loud in my mind, as if the volume of the television has reached maximum volume.
What was that?
In a mad panic, I swivel around and take off again. As I’m running, I can’t shake the image of Tarick’s hollow eyes. I want to turn back, but I just can’t. Remorse spreads into my stomach, its acid touching my tongue. The urge to throw up becomes too strong, and the vomit flows over into the dirt. The retching makes my eyes feel as if they’re going to pop out of my skull. My stomach continues to pump even though there’s nothing left to spew.
My lungs twinge, and my breath increases in short spurts before I force my legs to move again. Running next to the mud path keeps me free of the trees. The buzz in my head fades the more distance I put between myself and that freaky girl. When the light of the barn’s solitary light bulb no longer shines behind me, the bees disappear from my head altogether.
The grassy path crosses at a bigger dirt road. I pick up the pace. My tears sting my eyes, making it tough to focus on the road. This monsoon isn’t helping.
But wait...what if the boy-monster is here? My new found fear drives me to push harder. I have to stay aware of my surroundings and keep an eye out for the black-eyed demon.
Where’s the police when you need them?
A bright gleam peeks through the treetops, and my stride quickens. The street light is a welcome sight, but the speeding truck that flies by on the paved road makes my heart leap with utter joy. The road looks familiar. My mind begins to clear finally.
Okay, now I know where I am. My breathing slows down, and my brain finally snaps into reality.
Sort of.
When I was tied up with that creepy girl, I could have sworn I was on the other side of the world. But I was just a couple miles from home. In fact, that old unfinished pole barn has been there as long as I can remember, but I never paid much attention to it before.
The truck’s taillights become less visible in the distance and not another vehicle is in sight. Since my brain isn’t foggy, I check my pants for my phone. I need to call the cops and get a whole SWAT team to take down the black-eyed duo. My phone’s not there.
Shivering from the chill of the rain, running the last two miles to my development just about kills me, and I curse the fact we had moved so far from town. Not one car goes by me on my trek. Each second that passes means that Tarick’s body remains in that mud, all by himself. My chest aches, and I hold back more tears that want to burst free.
Although it isn’t much further, my limbs feel as if I’ve run for hours. The street lights increase in number the closer I get to my subdivision. I keep running on the grass, near the foliage. The pain in my body radiates and demands that I quit, but I push forward.
My thoughts go over the night’s events, over and over, but the image of Tarick’s face in the mud haunts me. What am I going to say to his parents? That black-eyed aliens killed him? Oh God! And what about Cally? She’s just a baby.
Unbelievably, I speed up. Please. Let the baby be okay.
If I hadn’t seen the demon-boy for myself, I’d believe he only existed in the mind of Stephen King…and that evil sister, Astid—worse than a blood splattered Carrie. Astid. That’s her name, right? Or was my brain going crazy from the strange bees buzzing in my head. She did let me go, but she’s still one of them.
They will both pay for what they’ve done.
Finally, the sign for Bella Terra comes into view. The storm has died down, but it’s still raining a little. A flashing patrol car zooms by, and the cop ignores my waves and pleas to stop. I pick up a rock and hurl it at the squad car, hoping to get his attention. But he’s around the corner before the rock hits the pavement.
“Damnit!”
My footsteps slow as my brain tries to process the scene in the neighborhood. Mom stands outside our house and greets the officer after he gets out of his car. All the neighbors linger outside of their homes; some of them wander toward my house.
A hand grabs my shoulder, and my heart nearly leaps out of my chest. The moment I hear my own hideous scream, I’m immediately ashamed.
“Mav, what’s your problem?”
Marcus, the neighborhood doper, sports a sideways grin and backs away from me.
“What’s going on, man?” He jerks his head in the direction of my house. “Boy, you is dirty.” He looks me up and down. “Your eyes are redder than mine. What you been up to?”
“Maverick!” Mom shrieks and runs toward me, followed by the cop and Tarick’s parents.
Mom collides into me and hugs me more tightly than she ever has before. She squeezes me so hard that it pushes the air from my lungs. “Oh, thank God! Thank God you’re alright.”
My body stiffens. “Mom, I’m fine. I…”
“Where's Tarick?” his mom asks. She approaches us and scans the road behind me for signs of her son. Cally clings to her hip, and my relief overwhelms me.
I collect myself before I try to answer her. “He’s...” Tears cloud my vision.
His mother’s slim, sweet face looks hopeful, and I can’t tell her what happened. All of that guilt hits me hard. I should have stayed with Tarick.
I’m such a coward.
Everyone’s staring at me, waiting for my reply. My mom’s grip on my shoulders tighten.
“He’s dead,” I whisper. “They killed him.”
Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series Page 2