Black-Eyed Kids

FIVE

All the way to the Pecks, Britney looked left and right through the car windows, looking for the kids. They were nowhere in sight. Only little goblins and ghouls, guided by parents, walked along the sidewalks. She smiled, there was nothing spooky here.

When she pulled into the Pecks driveway and got out of the car, she looked around, again. No strange kids here, either. Then she looked over at Joyce's dark house. The curtains were drawn and her car was not in the driveway. Joyce either was not home or was hiding inside the house. She pictured Joyce sitting in an old dusty recliner, smoking cigarettes, and drinking gin with a gun on her lap; waiting for those strange kids to come around and knock on her door, a door she was not going to answer, no matter what.

Britney walked inside. Tina and Robert were dressed in their scrubs, ready to leave for work.

"Bob already took Tyler trick-or-treating, so you'll just need to pass out candy," Tina said, picking up her purse. "I've had several, but they should slow down after eight o'clock."

"Sounds good," Britney said, setting her overnight bag next to the couch. Then she had to ask, "Did you see any strange kids?"

"They're all strange, it's Halloween," Tina said, giving Tyler a kiss goodbye.

Britney smiled, deciding to drop the topic. She was probably worrying about nothing.

A superhero and a princess were walking to the front door as the Pecks were leaving. "Trick-or-treat," the children called. Britney put a chocolate bar in each orange bag, and then the kids left and went on to the next home. She closed and locked the door.

Tyler was at the dining room table with his sack of candy, its sugary content spread across the table.

"Want some candy, Brit?" Tyler asked. He held up a handful of candy corn.

Britney walked over and looked at Tyler's bounty. She watched as he sorted candy bars, popcorn balls, suckers, and bubblegum into piles, like a pirate counting his loot.

"You can have anything in this pile," Tyler said, pointing to a mound of candy corn, apples, and other things he did not want.

"Thanks, Tyler," she said, picking up a small red apple. After inspecting it for pins and needles, she bit into it. Moments later she said, "Tyler, I want to keep all the doors locked and the curtains closed tonight, okay?"

"Okay," Tyler answered, paying more attention to his candy than to what she just said.

Then the doorbell rang, and the muffled call of trick-or-treat was heard. Britney looked through the lace-paneled window beside the door; on the off chance those strange kids would be trick-or-treating. It was just normal kids. She opened the door and dropped candy bars into their bags.

The barrage of spooky and cartoonish youngsters slowed around eight o'clock until there was no more. Good, it was over, she thought. She turned off the outside light, locked the door, and then walked into the kitchen. The candy Tyler did not want still sat on the table; the rest was with him in his bedroom.

Trick-or-treating was over, no more costumed kids coming to the door; it was a good time to go to the bathroom. While she was in there, she heard the doorbell ring, and Tyler run to answer it. She finished what she was doing, faster than she wanted, and walked out to see whom Tyler was talking to. She picked up the candy bowl and walked to the door. The bowl slipped from her hands and fell to the floor, candy scattered across the floor when she saw the three strange kids standing there, looking down. An ominous feeling came over her, especially when she noticed they did not have candy bags.

"They want to use the phone," Tyler said, looking up at Britney.

Seeing the three kids up close made her feel like slamming the door in their faces and running. Instead, she would keep her composure, just in case there was nothing evil about them. She noticed the younger boy was the one that was in her backseat, yesterday. Coldness seemed to radiate from them, causing Britney to cross her arms for warmth. The two boys and one girl, were standing still with their arms at their sides and heads bowed down; she could not get a clear look at their faces. They acted more like robots, then children, she thought.