SOMEWHERE BEHIND BLACK EYES Part 1

Somewhere behind black eyes... Kali quickened her pace, Chucks smoothly and silently hitting the pavement. Someone or something was following her. She didn't know if it was human or not. She could not decipher what she had seen two blocks away in her seventeen years. It was autumn. The leaves were crunching under her feet. She walked out of the building onto the cement. 

It was a Sunday, so the small town was tranquil. Almost like a ghost town except for the two kids standing fifteen feet from her in the shadows. They were wearing dark clothes and seemed to be watching her. She felt uneasy but tried not to pay attention too much or even care; it had been a long day. She had completed her shift and then was asked by her boss to return later in the evening because the new girl didn't show up. She couldn't remember for sure, but she thought she heard the boss say the girl's name was Lily. Nonetheless, the shift had to be filled. Instead of working the whole next shift, her boss took over the first half of the second shift, and Kali was to freshen up, rest, and return for the last half. She was un thrilled, but it meant more money on her paycheck to eventually bounce out of this town and move somewhere else. Where? She hadn't decided yet.

Kali glanced behind her as she rounded the corner going left. She had two blocks to go, and she could go inside, get a shower and crawl into her bed, nice and snug, until the next day when she had to return to the same routine. She, without thinking, professed her frustration, "Ugh!"She dipped into her messenger bag to rummage around for her apartment keys. Her fingers touched and scanned many of the inventories of her belongings. Tissues, lip gloss, wallet, and cell phone lit up the inside of the bag. She pulled it out after halting to a stop, then used it as a make-shift flashlight and scanned it over her things. Kali found her keys. The jingling sound made her feel safer than a few seconds ago. She was getting her bearings. 

She heard a "popping" sound from down the block about ten feet ahead of her.Appearing there were the two kids she thought she had left behind her four blocks ago. Odd. Kali tried to wrap around her mind what they would be doing this time of night. This was a semi-suburban neighborhood. They didn't move. They didn't even lookup. They were both wearing dark clothing. The taller one was wearing a hoodie and very baggy jeans. The younger one, who didn't appear to be any older than six years, had a dress on, which didn't look like it suited her form. 

Her hair was unkempt and dark. The evening air blew her hair around her face, making her look like a ghost instead of a real little girl. Faster than her mind could process, all the street lights lining both sides, like light switches being flicked off, popped off down the street. Everything was deafening silence for seconds. Then a crackling, static noise electrified the air around her. Kali had 5 feet or so to get to her gate, and she wanted to run, but her chucks wouldn't lift off the ground. She could not move. Her brain felt the effects of the static as if it was the source of energy, the only source of energy her processes could function on. It made her dizzy then she felt as if she would pass out. Blood trickled out of her nose. What is happening? She was immobile. She couldn't move. She wiped the red liquid seeping out of her nostrils and stared at the sanguine in disbelief.Kali doubled over and then fell to the pavement. She hit her head on the concrete with a sickening thud, and then there was darkness. Contents of her bag fell out and scattered on the ground as her cell phone skidded three feet from her, knocking it up against the curb with a sharp crack. Through the screen, rippled lightning-like breaks.A shadow fell across it shortly after that. The thirteen-year-old, Brandone al Suhail's eyes lit only the fading brightness emanating. Before it died, the draining cell phone as the energy from the lithium battery was stolen by him, never to be returned or charged again. Brandon al Suhail's pitch black voids for eyes scanned and fell onto his partner in crime. She grinned, and her black eyes played over the unmoving form of Kali's body. Kiilsae al Suhail sent Brandone al Suhail an unflinching message. The words were not spoken in their language, though; it was felt through the night as all the streetlights on the blocks within a ten-foot radius, one by one just as they had shut off,, turned back on." Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop" sparked down the street. The well-lit streets should have awoken one of the residents, but all were tight, snug in their beds as if a warm chimney fire during Christmas kept them. The usual unwavering beams from the street lights flickered. From then on, they never worked quite the same.Kiilsae al Suhail spoke to her 'other's static was laced through the words of their native language. "Is it time to play with our food?" Brandon al Suhail's response was to turn his back to her and the still form of Kali, then stroll up the street. It was growing light out on this dimension, and it was time to retreat to their own again, as they did every Earth morn.Kiilsae al Suhail stepped in time to follow. Her black hair swept across her eyes as she moped down the street behind Brandon. Their sustenance was steadily going low. One lithium cell battery was not going to be enough to feed them. They couldn't draw from Kali. She was more useless to them than her battery was. They would have to go out and hunt in this dimension soon. This time, the big game, the ones humans referred to as adults.