A Bad Night for Billie Jean

Alright, alright... I began, clearing my throat and stoking the fire...

Randolph was the name. We'd crossed paths once in 8th grade; and a couple times again at the end of 12th. We were of the same class, but I was just a kid and he was... grown up somehow. It was rumored that he always kept a flame alight.

"Somekind of Signal...?" Winnie whispered, and we all thought it must be something underhand. But what? We scanned his folk's house in the distance.

"Has anyone seen it?" asked Robin, flipping the lamp abruptly. I looked out the window, three doors down. It was getting late, and I closed the sash without a sound.

"Must be 'round back," peered Toni, as Frances spat, "Dammit, why don't we just go and find out?"

Now there was no bowing out. All of us thought the guy---dressed in black with tinted glasses and perpetual noon-day shadow--- had some kind of secret pact.

Did we really want to find out? Tonight? There were seven of us and no excuse, so we took ourselves to task, suddenly aware of every leaf and twig like a death trap. Dark sweats, hoodies, and sneakers; we took one large flash and put the dog in back. Just in case. For all we knew, the creep could be a werewolf or other blood-hungry body.

It wasn't far, but the patter of our hearts and stifled breathes crippled whatever gun-ho might be had. There seemed to be fresh tracks to the porch... not quite "on" the path...

We craned our necks---joints cracking----to scan the upper windows, having always been most suspicious of the pseudo-Victorian tower atop. We waited and watched; Clocked each passing bat and tried to settle our nerves while waving away the stabs of mosquitoes and gnats.

It was dark. We didn't dare shine the flash, but suddenly to our horror the protective cloud cover lifted. Instantaneously, we were terrified to see our full length figures and lengthy shadows intruding into the yard, so blatantly marching out. A dog barked. Some lights in the downstairs parts flickered in and around. We had an impending fear of being found---a charge of trespassing would forever haunt us no doubt.

We were ready to convince each other that it was still possible to back out; that our shivering was not cowardice, only caused by the autumn evening damp; but then... we saw what it was really about... that flame, dark and suddenly out.

At first its evidence was just barely visible, a broad flash of pale light in the window tower... The apparition in slow motion turned around, looked fully down, cascading tresses... making direct eye contact. Like a zap. I met the startled sight of my sister, deathly white... Two brief screams rang out. She fell back into the darkness ... and I  

...I died from fright.