While baby-sitting the new neighbors for the first time, Katie answered the phone … “Hello?” There was breathing only … very heavy breathing. “Who is this?” she said. But then the phone went dead.

Two minutes later the phone rang again, “He-he-hello?” There was light breathing, then a mysterious voice said “Stay in the light … stay in the light. That is the only thing that can save you.”

About 30 minutes later the lights flickered. The three children ran over to Katie and huddled around her. The lights suddenly flickered off … then Katie saw something moving … something dark and shadowy. The figure suddenly disappeared with something … something that she couldn’t quite make out.

Then the lights flickered back on. But one of the kids was gone! Katie tried as hard as she could to find him but she couldn’t.

The lights started flickering again, so Katie sprinted toward the children. But the lights went off before she could reach them. Then she heard a loud scream. She thought it was all a dream, that it couldn’t be real. But it was all too real. Then like a beacon of hope, the lights flicked back on.

Katie started sprinting to where the children were last. When she got there they were gone. She knew she was still in danger, but she had to find the children.

Out of nowhere a figure appeared in a dark corner. The lights dimmed and flickered then went out but the full moon showed through the window. The figure had a hockey mask on and was slowly edging closer. But Katie seemed frozen in time and couldn’t move. The figure got three feet away and stopped. The figure got three feet away and stopped.

The figure’s hand started glowing. Katie held her breath trying to force herself to move but she was still frozen. She could hear a humming noise then everything went dark — no more glowing, it was just pitch black.

She could still hear the breathing of the figure somewhere engulfed in the darkness. Then she heard a sucking noise coming form where the breathing had been coming from. But the breathing had stopped. Katie could hear a faint scream then she felt the life slowly draining from her — slowly, painfully draining.

Then the sucking stopped and Katie fell to the floor. She looked up to where the figure was last, but the figure was gone. Then she saw a shadow behind her cowering over her. It was the figure. The figure looked right at her, its eyes glowed and looked directly into hers. Then she was immediately possessed by an evil mutant called Syrup.

Syrup sucks the life out of you then changes you into a clone of himself. The clones will keep possessing humans until they take over the world. So, if the lights turn off, find a light and stay in it or you may find yourself face to face with Syrup.

And that is the story “The Figure in the Night.”

— Jackson Mercer is a fifth-grader at Hillcrest School.