Sunshine is... confused. She's sitting on her trampoline, dark gray clouds rolling over her head. The wind swaying branches back and forth nearby drenches her in an icy calmness. She isn't sure how to feel, not after... well, y'know. That.

So. Nolan. LeMaster, or, maybe LeMaster. She doesn't even know anymore. It's all just really weird.

First of all, Nolan had been struggling with something the days prior — he'd hesitated explaining everything about his past, and Sunshine is determined to figure it out. On top of that, it seemed like Nolan knew LeMaster. Seriously? What's that all about?

Shit. Don't even get her started on the whole gun thing.

She supposes she's less stressed because— well, no one was really hurt. Sure, Nolan had put a few bullets in demon(?) LeMaster, but then he'd literally jumped from his place on the floor and acted insane. Shouting things at her, trying to destroy her...

Ugh. Maybe Nolan's been right about all of this. Sunshine's starting to believe she's a Luiseach. Starting to believe that there's actually a— don't laugh— paranormal war going on. That has to be it. Seriously.

And on top of that, both LeMaster and Nolan had just— poof! Disappeared! Wonderful. Amazing. Now Sunshine's left with no answers and absolutely no one to help her. Her mother's still shaken up about the whole thing, granted, but Nolan's expertise in the field does help. Now... well. She feels just as alone as she did when Kat was possessed.

Maybe it didn't happen. That would be, well, nice. A drug trip. Maybe Nolan drugged the camera, too. That would be better than believing all of this shit.

Even worse, she hasn't been able to get a hold of Nolan since. It's... it's weird, she doesn't like it, and she needs some fucking answers.

There's only one lead she has to follow. Better now than never, right...?
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Sunshine arrives at the warehouse. She's bored, tired of thinking, and honestly needs something to give her a little action in her life. It looks the same, dull and lifeless, but it seems like people are actually working here.

Still. There's nothing going on, and no clue of any stray cars Sunshine might need to chase.

Yeah. Bad clue. This place sucks.
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Uncle Tommy's here.

So, apparently, he's— upset about something? She's not quite sure, but sits down on the couch anyway, facing Kat and her not-uncle.

"What are you doing?" Kat groans.

"Nothing," Sunshine says.

"Uh. Camera in your hand? Having a conversation? Family?" She waves her hand between she and Uncle Tommy.

Speaking of. "Grown up... time?" he tries.

Kat drops her arms and glares at him. "Grown up time? It— it involves Sunshine, she has to be a part of this."

"Okay." He sighs and looks at Sunshine, frowning. "It's just— I don't know a lot about this stuff, okay?"

"Neither do we!" Kat insists.

"Well, you're the ones that keep inviting it into your house!"

"We did no inviting—"

He leans forward. "Like, you busted out the Ouija Board back—"

"We never even did the Ouija Board and stuff happened." Kat nods, staring at him. "It is all coming to her." She points at Sunshine. "It— it's all her."

Uncle Tommy scoffs. "Coming to her, like the boyfriend?" He shoots an accusatory glance toward Sunshine.

"He's not my boyfriend," she groans, disgusted at the mere idea of that.

"Yes! Exactly like that," Kat nods. "It shows up on our door, we didn't invite—"

"And showing up with a gun?!" he exclaims, dumbfounded. "And shooting some guy?"

Kat's voice grows quieter. "We did not know he was gonna bring a gun, that was— it was just supposed to be the paranormal expert, he was supposed to stop by—" She waves her hands, "we had no idea it was going to be LeMaster— this is not— we're not asking for this and you know it!"

"After everything that you've gone through already, why are you not putting a stop to this?" he asks.

"How would you like me to stop it?" her mother counters.

"I don't—" His hands fall.

"Tommy, Seriously."

"I don't know!"

"Tell me. Tell me how you think we can stop this. I'd love to hear your suggestion."

He turns his head to look outside, the drizzle of rain pattering against the sliding glass doors.

"Maybe..." Uncle Tommy slumps, blinking slowly. "I don't know, nothing seems to happen when I'm here, maybe I just need to hang out a lot more." He sassily inclines his head.

"Oh, you're— mmm." Kat looks at the camera. "Tommy's gonna protect us."

"I'm gonna protect you," he nods.

Sunshine raises a dubious brow and snorts. "Well, Tommy will be here to protect us."
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Sunshine has this weird feeling in her belly. It's a deep, gut-twisting intuition, like she knows today is the day for something weird or insane to happen. Great. Another day in the life of Sunshine Girl...

And, wow. As she's in the middle of spewing these thoughts to her camera, there's a heavy knock on the door.

She furrows her brows and stands slowly. "It is," she mutters, walking toward the door and peering through the small glass window. Her breath hitches when she sees a familiar, tall teen wearing a black leather jacket. "No freaking way."

Sunshine opens the door. "Nolan," she calls. His head is bent down, like he's looking at his shoes, and he mutters something as he stumbles inside. She grits her teeth. God, what now? "Come in," she mumbles sarcastically, shutting the front door.

He walks past her and avoids the camera, which is weird, because Nolan always loves being the center of attention. "Nolan— Nolan!" He slowly makes his way into the kitchen, back to her. "I've been worried about you." Her tone is slightly relieved.

"Nolan—" Sunshine's breath hitches when he turns to look at her. Nolan's eyes are pure black. He winks and disappears behind the wall. "Nolan!" She follows him into the kitchen and to the base of the stairs, staggering when he isn't there. What the hell...?

There's another heavy knock on the door and her heart leaps into her throat. "What....? What now?" She makes her way to the front door and stops. "Nolan?"

There he is, standing there again with his head bent. "Nolan," she says, growing slightly annoyed. What's happening? "What is going on?"

"I'm so tired," he mutters as he walks past her again.

"What are you—" She pauses when she sees her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Kat asks, tone less than friendly.

Nolan glances at Kat and veers into the kitchen, the same way he had earlier.

"What is going on?" Sunshine asks again, growing slightly nervous. This isn't normal.

"Nolan," Kat stresses. "Nolan." Her breath hitches when he turns to the both of them, pitch black filling up his eyes. He winks again and disappears behind the wall.

"Nolan..." Sunshine desperately follows him, but when she gets to the stairs.... he isn't there. "He's gone again."

"What do you mean again?" Kat asks.

Sunshine sighs. "He's already done this once."

"Done what?"

"Go out and... come back, and..." She groans. "He just— he knocked, and then he did it again."

Kat presses her brows together. "Well— how is he, how is he doing that?"

"I don't know!"

She places a hand on her forehead. "I don't understand.."

Another heavy knock on the door.

Kat looks at her daughter, eyes wide. "Is that him?"

"He's back," she nods. Sunshine rushes to the door and swings it open, looking up at him. "Nolan. Can you talk to me this time? Can you—"

"I'm so tired," he mutters again, walking past both women.

"Nolan!" she attempts.

He turns to them, black eyes and all, winks, and disappears behind the wall again.

"What, what?" Kat stammers.

"I don't know!"

"Go try to talk to him!" Her mother points toward the kitchen.

Sunshine sighs and follows where Black-Eyed Nolan presumably went for the third time, and, oh. Go figure. He isn't there.

"Where is he going?" Kat peers up the stairs, shaking.

"I don't know..." Sunshine mumbles.

They both look at the door, but Nolan isn't standing there.

"How many times did he do it?" Kat asks.

"That's three." Sunshine nears the front door. "Nolan..?" He's not there.

"And he never talked to you?" her mother presses.

"Not really." She looks through the window and over the porch, but... it's empty. "He's not there."

Well. That wasn't weird or anything.
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She's so confused about what's going on with Nolan. She read about this thing called a Residual Haunting, where a ghost does a thing over and over and over again— they just repeat themselves.

Is Nolan... a ghost...?

Has he been a ghost this whole time?

God. She doesn't know.

Luckily, she receives a letter in the mail the next day.

Sunshine sits with her mother on the couch and opens the paper, raising a brow. "It's kind of an odd one," she grunts, turning the camera over to face the words. "Not like all the fan ones..."

Sunshine clears her throat, beginning to read.

'Dear Ms. Sunshine.

I have recently—'

Kat gasps. "Dear Ms. Sunshine."

She rolls her eyes. "Yep."

'I have recently discovered your videos on YouTube and I wanted to let you know that I, too, have a fascination with Black-Eyed Kids, or Black-Eyed People. I have done a ton—

"A lot, sorry."

'A ton of research on the subject ever since a good friend of mine disappeared after having an encounter with one of these creatures. I think you should come to Portland, Oregon and let me explain to you what it is that we're dealing with here. All the best,

Tom Waters.'

"Huh," Kat tuts. "Portland's close."

Sunshine raises her brows. "Ish."

"Why does he think, though, that you..."

"Are the one to talk.. to..?" Sunshine trails off.

Kat frowns. "You haven't done that much about Black-Eyed Kids, you just said you really liked the.."

"The legend."

"The legend," Kat confirms, "or, whatever."

"I don't know." Sunshine bites her nail, contemplating.

"What do you think you're gonna do?"

She pauses. "Maybe I'll write it back, see what he has to say."

Kat nods. "It's a start."

Sunshine looks at the camera. "Let's— let's find out what's goin' on with Tom Waters, you guys. Do that first."

"He called you Ms. Sunshine."

"I'm gonna call him Mr. Tom Waters, then."

Kat snorts. "Good plan."
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Uh. Okay, so, after all of her little YouTube followers' protests, Sunshine and Kat are back at Nolan's grandma's house. Haha... great... memories here..

"I'm terrified," Kat mumbles.

"Here we go," Sunshine quips.

They exit the car and make their way over the lawn, night sky blanketing the world in darkness.

"I kinda wish we'd been here during the day," Kat muses.

"A little earlier?"

Kat smiles at the lights dotting the pathway. "Look how inviting her house is now."

"It is a little cuter," Sunshine nods.

Her mother groans. "I really hate this, a lot."

"Oh my gosh, stop complaining."

"Oh, suddenly you're all brave?"

"No," Sunshine insists as they step on the porch.

"Wait, are you gonna introduce us, or..?"

Sunshine shoots a glare. "No, you are."

"Oh. Okay."

She leans forward and knocks on the familiar glass door, looking inside the house. It looks the exact same, except now there are actual lights on.

An older woman with a gray jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans walks to the door. She opens the door and curiously peers back at them with a rounded face and soft eyes, glasses perched on top. Her hair is light brown and short, not reaching past her ears. "Hello?" she asks politely. "Can I help you?"

Kat doesn't say anything, so it looks like Sunshine'll have to be the one doing the introducing. "Uh, hi," she stammers, thinking of what she should say. Does his grandma even know Nolan's missing? "Um, I'm Sunshine, and this is... my mom... Kat.." She motions awkwardly toward Mom.

Nolan's grandma takes her glasses off and tilts her head. "Hello."

"Yeah, uh—" Sunshine bites her lip. "Have you seen Nolan? Any... where..?"

Grandma appears to be confused. "Nolan?" she says softly. "I don't— I don't know anyone named Nolan."

"What," Sunshine blurts. Um. Excuse me? Huh? Que? "He's your... grandson..?"

The woman raises her brows. "I don't have any grandsons. I think you're... mistaken, you must have the wrong house, perhaps you wanted to—" She motions to the right. "Talk to the lady next door."

Kat finally says something. "Have you— have you been in Cabo recently?"

Now grandma is even more confused. "Mexico?"

"Never mind," Kat mutters, then louder— "I'm sorry, thank you. Sorry."

"Thank you," Sunshine nods, turning away with her mother, "for your time."

"Sorry, girls," grandma calls, "I wish I could help."

"Oh, it's all right, thank you," Kat says. "Sorry." When they're farther away from the house and near the car, Kat rounds on her daughter. "What the hell just happened?"

Sunshine is literally freaking out. She's not delusional, and neither is her mother, because that was literally the house they'd spent half the night in. Holy mother of Jesus. Had they snuck into some grandma's house with ghost Nolan?

"Nolan kept saying he lived there," Sunshine splutters, laughing anxiously and sort of stupefied, "we ate that lady's Cheeto's."

"That is the right house," Kat whisper-yells. "What is going on?"

"I don't know."

Fucking hell.

i laughed so hard when sunshine said, "we ate that lady's cheeto's," i'm still giggling just writing about it i. wow this was a fun chapter to write