“Yo! Wake up!” Steven shouted sternly. Slowly I sat up in my bed and looked out my window. It was pitch black, but the digital clock on my bookshelf said it was 12:16am. I simply thought the clock was off so I pushed the button that lit up my wrist watch and looked at it. It said the same thing. My brother walked into my room with a puzzled expression on his face, “Something is seriously wrong. All the clocks around the entire neighborhood say it’s noon, but look outside.” He tried to sound calm, but I could tell he was disturbed by this strange occurrence. I was disturbed myself. This didn’t make any sense. How could the sun just disappear without a trace? “Does the calendar say anything about a solar eclipse for today?” I asked my brother. He walked into the kitchen and looked carefully at the calendar that was hanging on the wall. After a few moments he said, “No. Nothing of the sort. Today’s palette is blank.” I placed my hand on my chin and thought hard. All my life I’ve been a man of science. A solar eclipse was the only explanation I could think of, but that idea has just been shot down. Just what the h*** is going on? I wake up at noon, my usual time, and the sun is just gone?

I got out of bed, threw on a shirt and walked out of the front door. As the door shut the sound echoed for what seemed like five seconds. The porch light didn’t come on, but it was supposed to because it was motion activated. As I looked around the dark neighborhood I saw no lights on in any of the houses. I turned around and looked in my living room, same thing. No lights. My digital clock and wrist watch run off of batteries so I understood how they were working, but everything with direct connection to a power source wasn’t working. I heard the door open and then shut. My brother came out of the doorway and stood beside me. He didn’t speak, but I could feel the uneasy state of mind he was in. My brother and I were the only ones home. My mom and dad were at work. Mom delivered mail and Dad was a trucker for Montague Farms. “I bet Mom and Dad are flipping out right now. Well, at least Mom probably is. Dad is most likely just seriously confused. I don’t blame them.” I said quietly. A few minutes of nothing but dead silence between my brother and I and the entire neighborhood passed by. Finally Steven spoke up, “Let’s take a walk. Go grab a couple of flashlights from the top of the fridge.” I stumbled into the kitchen and searched above the fridge with my hands. Eventually I found two small LED flashlights and walked back outside. I handed Steven one of them and we both turned the cranks that were on their sides to charge them up. We stepped off the porch and turned the flashlights on. As I shone them into the woods I noticed what seemed to be hundreds of pairs of eyes reflecting the bright light. They seemed like they were staring at us as hard as they could. As quietly as I possibly could I said, “Hey. Look in the woods.” My voice was quivering and sounded weak. Steven shined his flashlight into the woods and looked around. “What am I supposed to see?” he said in a confused tone. “All of the eyes!” I said as I shone my light into the woods again. They were gone. Every single pair of eyes that I just saw was nowhere in sight. “…Nevermind.” I said in a confused and concerned tone. What in the world is going on? First the sun disappears. Now a swarm of demonic eyes that just vanishes in an instant?

We kept walking around the neighborhood for about an hour before we finally decided to turn back and head for home. On our way back we took the main road that ran through the center of the neighborhood. Every single house seemed like they were abandoned. The air was still and not one sound could be heard, except our footsteps on the pavement. Steven and I turned off our flashlights because we knew Piankatank Shores so well we could literally walk home blind. As we walked down the main road we heard a rustling sound in the forest nearby that startled us. I turned on my flashlight and pointed it into the woods where the sound came from. I searched thoroughly, but saw nothing. Now we were getting creeped out. The two of us started walking faster towards home. “Alex, are you getting just as freaked out as I am?” Steven asked quietly. “I think I’m more freaked out than you are.” I replied.

A few minutes later, we were finally home, though the trip seemed like it took hours. We arrived at the driveway and made our way to the front of the house. I approached the front door and reached out for the handle, but it wasn’t there. I felt around for the handle, but I discovered that the entire door was gone! “Steven, the door is gone.” I didn’t have to see to know that he had an extremely puzzled look in his face. It took him a few moments to respond but he eventually did. “Then just walk in.” he said calmly. “I would if I could Steven, but there’s a problem.” I said in a disturbed tone. “And that is?” he asked. “The whole house is gone.” I said as calmly as I possibly could. I never got the chance to hear his reaction. No sooner than I told him we heard an ear-piercing screech from the woods behind where the house used to be. Almost instantly after we heard the screech we heard what sounded like a stampede coming our way. On the main road we heard hundreds of pounding footsteps on the pavement that was steadily growing closer. Not even five seconds later the sounds of the stampede sounded like it was right in front of my yard. Then, as quickly as it came, the stampede went silent. We turned on our flashlights and pointed them at the road.

We saw absolutely nothing. As I looked forward I saw the beam of light from my brother’s flashlight drop. “Steven?” I called out. Silence was all I heard. I aimed my flashlight where he was standing, but he was gone. All I saw was his flashlight on the ground. There wasn’t even a footprint or anything in the grass. “Steven!? Steven where are you!?” I began frantically calling out and searching the area with my flashlight. He was nowhere to be seen. I dropped to the ground and hugged my knees. I began to cry quietly and hugged my knees. I guess I’m the next disappearance.