[Fiction] Dear Posse No. 7: Eyes of the Sun

I’m working on a serial fiction project. Each segment will be published here and on Patreon. It is available in full to Patreon supporters:

Dear Posse,

I followed them, those shadow children. Brad was hesitant, but loyalty won over fear. We walked deeper into the woods, past the glowing wisteria. The trees seemed to bend toward us as we moved, their branches brushing against my skin like fingers.

The children’s laughter grew louder, a symphony of joy and terror intertwined. They led us to an old clearing where the twilight doesn’t dare to touch the ground. In the center, a pond mirrored the dusky sky, but the stars were all wrong.

They weren’t stars. They were eyes. The eyes of the sun and the eclipse itself. They watched me, unblinking and accusing.

“Why did you bring me here?” I whispered.

The children, now clearly visible, were covered in a fine layer of dust that sparkled under the eerie light. “To see,” they chimed in unison, “to understand.”

Understand what? That I’m still part of this world? That I’m as much a spectator as I am a culprit?

Brad whimpered, tugging at the leg of my jeans. It was time to go, but those eyes, they followed us back home.