• Lloyd grumbles and groans a lot, but when it's time, he's up. We're heading up to my room to the window balcony when Lloyd says something that catches the attention of everyone.
    “If there is someone, or something down there...shouldn't we bring something to defend ourselves?” We all nod in agreement. It's highly doubtful, but if there is a body down there, or any traces of a murder, the culprit could still be nearby, and God knows that's not the kinda guy you want to piss off.
    So, I take them to the closet first. I pull out a bat, about the size of a small sword, and I humor myself swinging it around. I hand Lloyd a plunger, and neglect to hand Felicity anything. If this gets ugly, she doesn't need to be fighting. She's a girl. I'd feel horrible if anything happened, so me and Lloyd will just have to look out for her.
    We finish climbing the stairs to my room, and, eager as always, Lloyd's plunger is already raised defensively. I push my window open, my whole body shaking with a mixture of fear and anticipation, and crawl out quiet and nimble as a cat, offering a hand to help lead Lloyd and Felicity out. Lloyd ignores it, shoving it aside while he helps himself out. After he's beside me, Felicity smiles warmly, takes my hand, and graciously let's me help her. I turn a little pink.
    We're out on the balcony now. I look cautiously over the edge of it out onto the street. Nothing. Dead quiet. I look to the alley. Nothing. Silence all around. A blood red moon hung high in the sky, bright as ever.
    “Saxon...” I can practically hear Lloyd quaking with anger. “There's nothing out there. You better not have set all this up and had us come out here for no reason...”
    “No!” I interrupt him. “There's something down there, I can feel it. We just...we need to get a closer look. We have to climb down.” I already start to hoist myself over the railing, preparing to shuffle down the two stories to the ground below. I ignore my fears of falling and breaking any limbs. The feeling in my gut tells me I have to keep pursuing this, and I almost hear the voices from my dreams urging me onward too.
    Lloyd looks at me, aghast, and runs a hand over his short, well-groomed hair. “Are you nuts? If there is something down there you just want to go parading around for someone to jump us?” I'm already starting to climb down and I look up toward him, feeling a bit of angst and bravery rising in my stomach. “You sound scared Lloyd.” Felicity giggles at the notion. Lloyd turns red and crosses his arms.
    “I never said I didn't want to, I just said it was crazy. And crazy just-so-happens to be my middle name.” He lowers himself over the balcony and starts climbing down with me. I playfully nudge him. “Lloyd 'Crazy' Wells, huh?” He shoots me a dirty look and I shirk away from him. Felicity soon follows us down, though she goes at a slower, more cautious pace.
    Before long, we're all on the ground. Lloyd's clutching his plunger tightly. He's not taking any chances. Not that a plunger is going to stop anyone. But hey,if it makes him feel safer, so be it. He turns to me and smirks. “What now braniac?” I glance nervously around, my grip tightening on my baseball bat as sweat pools between my fingers.
    “There, in the alley, come on.” I take off and the other two follow me obediently. I feel important, like a leader. It makes me smile inside, despite the serious and dangerous situation we find ourselves in. We halt at the mouth of the alley, and peer inside into total darkness. Lloyd plants a hand over his face and sighs heavily.
    “You've done it again, Sherlock. There's nothing there. This whole Friday night's been a total and complete waste.” He threw his plunger down onto the ground. “I'm going back to the house. Come on Felicity.” He started walking away and nudged her to follow. I stand my ground looking back at the two of them. She looks at me with a concerned look on her face and hesitantly starts to follow Lloyd. I feel lower than I have in a long time. Maybe it all was just my imagination maybe I was wrong, and wasted everyone's time. Maybe...
    Suddenly, out from the darkness, two small, beady red lights flash on, and then a flame above them. It's small, but it's a flame, hardly enough to cover the top of a match it seems. Then it starts growing, and before long it's at least football-sized. I'm frozen, my voice and body trapped in standstill. I can still hear Lloyd grumbling and the footsteps of him and Felicity, but I can't call them and tell them to come see what I'm seeing. I'm sure now that this is real, not a mirage, hallucination, or dream. The light from the flame illuminates the alley slightly, dimly. And what I see makes my jaw drop, and my hand quiver and drop my bat.
    The red lights ARE eyes. Set into a small, wrinkled face that resembles a really thin pig, but with the snout cut off, leaving too holes ajar where it's nose should be. It has a thin, hunched, gangly body covered in what looks like soot, with arms that end in blood-stained claws. The flame is lit upon the top of it's head like hair, but more like a torch, as 3 black metallic horns cradle it from around the creatures skull. It's skin is the color of fresh blood. It's looking right at me.
    I finally regain my ability to scream, but before I can I feel a weight hit me. It's the creature, it's on my legs, dragging me backward into the darkness of the alley. I kick and squirm, but it holds firm. I manage to wail in one short burst.
    “Lloyd!”
    Lloyd and Felicity turn, and see my hand slip back into darkness, the bat rattling on the ground. I hear Felicity scream. At least, I think I do. I'm too busy screaming myself to tell the difference. As I'm kicking at the thing with my foot, I hear a shriek, and I'm sure I've landed a good hit on it. But seconds later, I cry out as I feel dagger-like teeth bury themselves into my leg. I've never felt such real, intense pain before in my life. I'm sure I'm doomed now, and give up fighting.
    Suddenly, there's a flash of light, and the grip on my legs loosens. I scramble away and feel the weight that was on me slump to the ground. I start to scream again but I feel a gloved hand muffle my mouth.