Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series

by Miranda Hardy

  “Shiitake!”

  My body aches to feed, but without any food nearby, the thought of taking another human’s life force is eating away at me. Maybe I could find a homeless guy around, somebody who won’t be missed.

  What the hell am I thinking?

  That’s just it. I’m not thinking. The hunger comes from deep within, and I can’t switch it off no matter what I try. I could easily go to someone’s house right now, and it’s easier for me than the other BEKs. I don’t need my prey’s permission, and that’s one secret I plan on keeping to myself.

  So in a way, that makes me even more dangerous than the BEKs.

  The warehouse holds nothing new for me to learn and only has bad memories, so I leave and head down the street. Before I realize where I am, an explosion of chatter bombards my head. The theater’s letting out, and a good thirty people pour out onto the street about fifty feet ahead of me. I’m about to turn and run away, but the energy draws me in.

  The thirst lingers, and I can’t shake it.

  Three girls head toward me, and all I want to do is pounce on one of them. I’m beyond starving, and I take deep breaths to try to push aside the hunger. But my mind shifts to the boys exiting the theater right behind the girls. There’s four of them, and one of them is my brother…Robby.

  4

  MARCUS

  MY FIRST INSTINCT is to run and give Buttface-Robby a bear hug, but I have to remind myself that I’m no longer…me. Robby’s heart would give out if I showed myself to him. My initial thirst for human essence is replaced by depression. This sucks.

  When I started senior year, I never would have thought I’d become a dropout freaky black-eyed monster. This stuff is made for movies, not real life.

  I find the tree line next to the sidewalk and take cover behind a needly-looking tree right before they turn towards my direction. Had I hidden myself one second later, Robby would have spotted me. I pull my hood forward over my head, thinking it’ll hide me, and then I remember my sunglasses.

  Now I’m sure to look like an old freaky child molester.

  I’m still new at this, but I do my best to read their minds. It takes several tries until I can finally hear what they’re saying. It’s pretty weird seeing their mouths move, yet their voices are clear as if they’re standing right next to me.

  “Are you sure he’ll do it?” one of his punk-friends ask.

  Robby hits him in the chest. “It’s a sure thing. He can’t say no to me this time.”

  His smug little smile irritates me…I want to slap it off his face. He always acts like a poser when surrounded by these idiots. How did Mom let him out anyway? Isn’t she mourning my death-disappearance or something? Doesn’t Robby even care? He’s out watching a movie with his idiot buddies while I’ve gone missing.

  How’s that for brotherly love?

  With my ever-growing curiosity, I push any tiny bit of thirsty energy aside. I wish there was some way I could get Robby to answer my questions in his head so I can get answers, but I can only read what he’s thinking right now…and that’s not a good thing.

  He’s headed to Tony’s house. This isn’t good.

  Shiitake!

  “Didn’t your brother tell him not to deal to you?” his wise-ass friend, Josh, asks. “I’m not so sure about this.”

  “Well, my brother isn’t around any longer, so that’s the point, now isn’t it?” Robby squashes his lips together.

  Anger boils inside of Robby’s head…anger directed right at me. He thinks I bailed on him. He won’t accept that I’m dead, like Mom thinks.

  Robby is actually being a Buttface right now.

  “Did you bring enough, Josh?”

  “Yeah, I got enough,” he says and continues to walk down the sidewalk toward the downtown market area where Tony lives.

  “We’ll meet you at the Tower then,” one of the other punks says. “No point in all of us going.”

  This other punk doesn’t want to go to Tony’s house out of fear of being caught, but he doesn’t want to look like a chicken-shit.

  “Fine,” Robby says. “Be there soon.”

  The two boys take off toward the woods where the Tower hides about a mile in. We always used to hang out there to drink and smoke-out in private. I haven’t been there in years. I guess it’s a middle school thing.

  I make sure to follow close enough to catch Robby’s thoughts, but far away enough to stay hidden.

  He’s thinking about Mom. He wonders what will happen if Mom catches him in the middle of his lie. He’s supposed to be staying at Josh’s house, and vice versa. He’s hoping her sleeping pills will keep her at bay…the pills she’s needed since I disappeared. He thinks I’m a selfish ass. Getting high is his way of getting back at me.

  Shiitake! He does care, and I’m the cause of this stupid quest of his. If Tony sells to him, I’m going to be pissed…beyond pissed.

  Tony’s shack comes into sight, and Robby and Josh both get really nervous. Robby doesn’t want Josh to think he’s a wimp, so he puffs out his chest and smiles as if he’s excited when he’s really scared shiitakeless. Josh is about to crap in his pants.

  It takes all of my power not to jump out from the trees and pound them both right now.

  Robby knocks on the door, and I hear Tony sigh inside of his stupid head about having to stop his movie to answer the door.

  “Wait a second!” Tony yells and he goes to his bar to grab his gun, tucking it in his shorts. I never knew he had a friggin’ gun. I always thought he was a laid-back doper. What an idiot I was.

  Tony cracks open the door and looks down at my brother. “What do you want?”

  Robby temporarily loses his voice, fumbling inside his head for what to say. He finally comes up with, “We want to buy.”

  “Who the f…hey wait, aren’t you Marcus’s little brother?” Tony asks as he opens the door a little wider.

  I’m relieved that Tony had recognized Robby. Now maybe he’ll tell him to go home. That relief passes quickly.

  “Yeah, I am,” Robby says. “And I’m here to buy.”

  “Sorry to hear about your brother, man. He was cool,” Tony says.

  “Yeah, I know.” Robby’s hoping they have enough money. He has no idea how much weed costs. “He was no good anyway.”

  “So, you’re here to buy, huh?” Tony studies Josh for a split second before scanning the street down the block. “I normally don’t sell to newbies, but since your brother is no longer a client of mine, I have an opening.”

  Damn it to hell! I want to run right there and yank his friggin’ head off his shoulders.

  “Come on in,” Tony says.

  The boys follow him in. Tony locks the door, but that won’t stop me. I should just go and rip the damn door right off the hinges. Get all Captain America on his ass and barge right in there to stop this stupidity right now.

  But I can’t reveal myself to Robby like this. He can never know about me. The realization that I’ll never be normal again becomes more and more apparent with each passing second.

  Even with the door closed, I can still sense what’s going on inside that shack as if I was inside there with them.

  “What are you boys looking for?” Tony asks. “Let me guess…you need some weed, and maybe some Molly?”

  Molly? My ASSSS!

  “Whatever you got. Do you got beer?” Robby asks.

  Buttface has no idea that Molly is friggin’ ecstasy.

  I hit myself in the head. I’m beyond pissed, and the disappointment I have for Robby right now is overwhelming. He was supposed to be the “good one.” I’m the messed-up one. What the hell is he trying to prove?

  Tony knows these two idiots don’t know what the hell they’re doing. “Do you boys got the cash?”

  Josh digs a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and hands it over, immediately regretting this decision. He had saved that money for a long time and was hoping to get a new Xbox with it. Now he’s just crapping it away.

&nb
sp; “Nice. I can hook you up.” Tony leaves the room, heading to where he keeps his stash in the bedroom. He returns immediately, but makes a detour for the kitchen. “All I got is a six-pack, boys, but that’ll have to do for now. Next time, tell me when you’ll be around and I’ll buy more.”

  Tony puts the beer in a double bag. “You caught me on a good day, my friends. Your hundred bucks goes a long way with me. Here’s your six pack of beer, an ounce of weed – which is good enough for about sixty joints, some roller papers, and two Mollys.”

  He hands Josh the bag of beer, and the poor kid wants to hand it to Robby and run away.

  “Now, before you leave here, I’ll give you the same warning I give all my valuable clients. You get caught, none of this comes back on me or I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” Tony grabs the back of Robby’s neck and pulls him forward a little too hard. “Understand?”

  “Yeah, we understand,” Josh says, and Robby shakes his head.

  Robby wants to pee his pants right now, but that’ll ruin his reputation…a new reputation he wants to have with all the cool kids.

  Cool kids, my ass.

  “Good, then we have a deal.” Tony hands Robby another small paper bag. “Enjoy.”

  Robby doesn’t even know how to roll a joint.

  “Hey!” Tony points to the bag in Robby’s hand. “Just because you’re Marcus’ brother and all, and because I don’t want to see good customers end up dead, don’t do the Mollys after drinking the beer. Not a good mix.”

  Robby wants to ask what a Molly is, but he doesn’t want to look stupid. “Got it.”

  “Take it before or during a party, and you will have the time of your lives, my friends.” Tony is hoping the ecstasy wasn’t laced with…strychnine.

  And what the hell is strychnine?

  “Bye boys.” Tony opens the door for them. “Good doing business with you.”

  He’s happy that he has a replacement for my lack of buying the last month or so. I had been smokin’ it up less and less lately. I didn’t want to tell Tony that I was thinking about giving that stuff up, because I wasn’t completely sure that I was going to really go clean.

  I guess I didn’t want to go through my senior year being known as the town stoner anymore.

  Robby and Josh hurry down the street toward the woods.

  “Told you!” Robby says to Josh. “I knew he would do it.”

  “Yeah,” Josh says, but he’s still regretting it.

  Robby still intends to go through with this. He’s doing it to spite me. Shiitake!

  The guilt rips at me like my heart is being torn apart piece by piece.

  Once the boys get to the woods, they slow their pace since they are out of sight now. Little do they know that the woods can be a very dangerous place for wannabes with stash.

  I need to do something. I need to scare the living shiitake out of them. He’s going to regret ever doing this. It’s the only way to keep Robby from getting wasted while keeping my identity a secret.

  The other two punks are in the woods, waiting for them. Shanard—that’s his damn name—the idiot with the spiky hair, says, “It’s about time. I was beginning to think you were chickening out.”

  Ah, that little poser had secretly hoped they would have backed out.

  The fourth boy seems indifferent. He could care less what’s going on at this point. He’s obviously done a bit of weed in the past. Where does my brother get these loser friends? I thought he hung out with the gamer nerds or something. Makes me think I didn’t really know Buttface well at all.

  “Well, let’s get this party started then,” Shanard says, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s see it.”

  Robby shows them the weed, pills, and beer.

  “Score!” Shanard says. “Give me one of those.”

  They start in on the beer and I need to act quickly otherwise they will all be wasted in no time. The fourth kid, who I don’t know, starts rolling the weed in the papers.

  I inch closer, and their nervous chatter and carrying on stops. I know that the feeling of dread will hit them as soon as I approach. I start invading their heads with fearsome thoughts of creatures roaming the woods, which I didn’t know I could actually do until just then.

  I think of every scary movie I ever saw, and I project their images and the feeling of absolute terror into their idiotic little brains.

  The boys stop talking and start looking around. I can feel their human energy beckoning me. Pushing that urge to the background, I concentrate on their terror instead. I want to scare them, not suck them dry.

  I run through the woods like a madman and rattle every branch and bush I come across, making it sound like a monster is heading toward them.

  “What the…” Josh shoots up to his feet first, and the others follow suit.

  That’s when I let out the most ear-shattering scream I have ever heard. It sounds like a dying cat mixed with a lion’s roar. I can’t believe that this is coming out of my mouth.

  Robby drops his beer and actually pees his pants. He backs away so the others can’t see.

  They scatter as fast as their feet can take them, leaving the beer and drugs behind.

  Mission accomplished, but my anger doesn’t subside. What’s to stop this from happening when I’m not around? Damn that Tony. I made him promise to never sell to Robby.

  There’s only one way to ensure this doesn’t happen anymore. I need to do something I didn’t want to do.

  I need to make a kill.

  5

  MARCUS

  TONY’S SHACK REMINDS me of a tin sardine can. A blue tarp covers his roof because he’s too lazy to fix the leaks. He once mentioned getting disability checks to help pay for stuff, but I never figured out what exactly his disability was. He had said that the dealing supplemented his income, but as far as I knew, he used his profits for his own drug use. He’s a bad dealer. A good dealer wouldn’t be hooked on half the shiitake he’s on.

  He sits in front of the TV watching some crime show. Now that is funny. Do all criminals watch crime shows? Maybe he’s trying to learn all the tricks to stay one-step ahead of the cops.

  Creeping toward his dirty window, I see him munching on a bag of chips. Uneasiness hits him like a bolt of lightning as soon as I get close. He looks over his shoulder and then toward the door. He can’t see me through the window, but I see him. Tony might be aware of a creepy feeling coming over him, but he won’t be able to stop what’s coming to him.

  That’s right, you jerk. Someone bad is staring at you, loser. Got that sinking feeling? Yup. That’s me.

  So, I’m judging him a bit harshly, considering I’m a soul-sucking demon from hell now.

  Tony’s emotions are whacked, and his anxiety creeps through his body like the drugs he had just taken recently. Even Mollys won’t make him happy about me, no mistaking that.

  I walk to the front door, sunglasses in place hiding my huge black eyes, and knock three times…slowly. That even sounded creepy to me, but I’m actually the freaky monster lurking in the shadows.

  He gets up and the pure fear replaces the dread that he’d felt a second ago. As much as I hate to admit this, I enjoy that feeling of him being scared. He reaches for his gun, but curses that his hands are shaking.

  The fact that he’s got a pistol makes me hesitate, but I have to remind myself of the new powers I have. His gun will be useless against me.

  “Wwho is it?” Tony asks, not getting too close to the front door.

  “Tony, open the damn door. It’s me…Marcus.”

  “Sorry, closed for the night,” he says. He’s wondering if I’m actually a ghost coming to haunt him for selling to my brother.

  Tony had assumed I was dead, too…killed by the devil-worshipping cult. He’s high from the Molly he put on his tongue, and he’s not thinking straight. Hell, he never thought straight to begin with.

  Screw this. I kick the door open, snapping the doorframe in the process and putting a huge crack where my foot
had struck the wood. I barge into his stinky shack and come face to face with the idiot.

  I slam what’s left of his door behind me, sending a loud boom that shakes the entire house. Pieces of the ceiling popcorn rain down, which makes me think of snow. I always wondered what snow looked like.

  Tony fumbles with the gun and drops it to the floor. He bends down to pick it up but doesn’t make it before my foot kicks it away. He backs up, hitting the off-white, yellowish bare wall behind him.

  “Shit, Marcus! Are you a ghost, man? I’m sorry about your bro!”

  He can’t remember my brother’s name. He’s having a hard time putting together any thought at all in that hazy mind of his. It’s a jumble of drugs, fog, fear, and confusion. Now he’s thinking either this is a bad trip of a nightmare from all his drug use, or his Molly was laced with some bad stuff.

  “As much as I’d like to be a ghost, I’m far worse. You sold to my friggin’ brother, even after I made you promise to never do that. You made a big mistake, Tony.”

  I take off my glasses and stare at him.

  His eyes widen, and his head begins to ache with the buzzing of bees. I force my will into his brain, and my anger and thirst drive the agony into his entire being. I could just as easily take over his thoughts and have him under my control, but making him scream like a girl is more fun.

  “Sssorrry, man, I’ll never do again…” he stammers, and then his mouth fails him. He can’t utter another word with the paralyzing terror gripping every muscle in his body.

  All that I’m thinking now is how hungry I am, and pizza won’t satisfy my appetite. It’s his energy I want. It’s his essence and life that will stop the hunger. I’ve felt this way before, watching Cadence consume Mrs. Ashe, but this need is far worse.

  “I know,” I say and take a step toward him.

  I penetrate his mind and feel his will bend to me so easily, much easier than I expected it to. He puts up no fight. He’s weak, and now he’s totally mine.