Sunshine hates furries.

Basically, anything in costumes.

Mascots count.
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They're standing over the boardwalk as Kat shares Sunshine's forgotten childhood memories with her.

Sunshine loves sea food, so they're going to eat at Local Ocean Seafoods. Kat also teases her daughter while she's choking on her food.

That's nice.

(Why's she laughing so hard again?)

Oh, right. That furry thing is still freaking her out.
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Sunshine and her mother are standing in the midst of a clutter of trees, overlooking the sandy beach and the ocean. Behind them, a lighthouse towers over the trees. Which is, supposedly, haunted.

Not a secret place, but still creepy enough.

Once they near the building, they realize the lighthouse is actually pretty tiny. They have to walk through the front of an old house with too much space and too little furniture. There's a doll in a crib to the side and Sunshine gets out of there as quickly as possible.

They slip in and out of a few different rooms, scanning over all the information and making their way farther and farther up. They can see the ocean out of the windows and it's honestly, just, wonderful.

And they haven't even been to the actual lighthouse!

The duo shuffles up the long, winding stairs while tiny rooms pass by their sides. They read up a little on the people that have died here, then decide to go to the basement. A man dressed in a tan uniform stands before several books and trinkets about the lighthouse, nodding at those that pass by.

"A long time ago," the man begins, shifting the green cap on his head, "way back when there was no electricity or TV or video games or anything like that, this lighthouse was abandoned and.. there was no lighthouse anymore. Over the years it kinda got older and older and fell in to ruin. It looked terrible — falling apart."

He leans back. "Way back then, there was a strange ship that came in to town one day, in the harbor down here. Out of the ship came two people — the very handsome captain of the ship, and his teenage daughter. The father talked to some of the local people and said that Muriel needed to stay here because he had to take his ship down to coast. He set his daughter up in a boarding house — or, otherwise known as a hotel of sorts — and said he'd be back very soon."

The man sighs and shakes his head. "Well, that soon turned in to a week, two weeks, and then a couple of months. Muriel had become acquainted with some of the local folks in town, and they decided that they'd have a picnic and come up to the lighthouse. They got the key because it was, of course, all locked up, and they walked around the lighthouse, having their picnic, and decided to go in to check things out."

He tilts his head. "They went in the lighthouse, which was really kinda spooky; there were cobwebs all over the place and no one had been in there for years and years. So they're walking around and exploring and they find this strange passageway up the top. They looked down and thought it went all the way down to the ocean. Kinda strange, maybe pirates or something. Who knows?

They decided they'd leave and all left, and Muriel said she — she forgot her hankerchief, which was kind of an heirloom, very special because her father had given it to her. She ran up and, and one of the boys she was kind of attracted to offered to accompany her, but she said, 'Oh, no, it'll just be a minute,' and she ran on up there and, meanwhile, the group had gone down to their buggy. Then, they heard these — these terrible screams, 'Help me! Help me!' They rushed up there and loe and behold, the door was locked.

They finally managed to jimmy it, got in, and those steps that you walked up — they found blood drops all down the stairs. And at the top, they found a bloody hankerchief. They reported it later on to the local officials, and they searched and searched, couldn't find Muriel. But you know what? It's said that at night — when it's dark and kind of rainy, almost like today — some people say they can see Muriel, walking around, trying to get out."

The story shakes Sunshine, but then she realizes she's in a gift shop. The story can't be real. Obviously. That's dumb. Just a ploy for money.

The story ends and she and her mother go back upstairs to where the rooms are. Kat is excited and turns the camera to Sunshine. "Okay, so now, for the last, like, five minutes there's been tons of people up here. Right now there's like nobody.. so.." She looks at her daughter, who's standing still, face serious and green eyes flicking around the bedroom. "Do you feel anything?"

Sunshine nods and squints her eyes, almost like she's in pain. "It does feel a little different when everybody leaves, huh.." Kat notes. "Not bad though, huh?"

"No. Just different."

"Very different."

"You don't feel alone."

"Yeah..! Well, now of course there's people downstairs, but.." Her mother sighs. "Very odd."

They keep walking around, looking in glass containers, examining the black and white pictures of the landscape and former homeowners. "Look at the old people who lived here. I love it."

Sunshine turns around to make a witty comment to her mother, then realizes she's gone. "Mom?" She looks confused as the camera faces her. "Mom left. Okay.." Sunshine almost looks a little annoyed. "I'll go find her."

She exits the house, to where she finds Kat standing farther along the brick pavement, quickly leaving the lighthouse. "Mom. Mom!" she calls, running after her.

"We gotta go," her mother says, wasting no time as she rushes to the car.

"Why?" Sunshine asks, confused. Kat begins running. "Mom. Mom! Could you quit that?"

The sprinkles of rain pelt down on Sunshine's face as she jogs after her mother. This is really freaking her out. "Just come on!" Kat says impatiently.

"Okay, it's not... safe to run down brick!" Sunshine breathes out, brows creasing. "Mom!"

"I think I saw your dad!" she says in a hushed tone, turning around and staring at her daughter.

"What?" Sunshine stands still, shock numbing her mind. Kat continues sprinting so she runs afternoon her mother. "Mom!"

They reach the car and Sunshine quickly slips in to the passenger seat. "Mom, I want to talk about it."

"Talk about what?" Kat's voice is clipped.

"Um, dad? Being, there?" She reaches for the seatbelt as the engine rumbles. "And, in — in there? Mom!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"Well, I do!"

"I don't wanna — I especially don't wanna talk about it on camera!" Kat glares at the screen.

Sunshine groans.
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So, they're back at the haunted hotel. Sunshine is sitting on the bed, back to the wall. She sighs and scratches her head, looking at the camera. "Mom just stepped out of the room for a second to go get DVDs so we can watch a movie. So I'm gonna take this... thirty seconds or something.. to go ahead and tell you about my dad — bring you up to speed on as much as I know, which isn't much."

Sunshine sighs and frowns. "They broke up when I was really young, and Mom never really told me why or, or how it happened, so she doesn't really talk about. I've kind of just learned to deal with that. We don't talk about it and.. it's just kind of something that is, there. It's like the big white elephant in the room. But. Y'know. I get used to it."

She turns the camera off before her mother walks back in.
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"Mom, have you ever noticed how that picture right there looks like a black-eyed kid?"

Kat sighs in the black leather chair and looks up at the photo hanging beside her.

"Seriously though!" Sunshine continues, examining the painted picture of the little girl. She has dark eyes and is wearing a white dress with black liner.

"Okay, it kind of does," her mother agrees, breathing out.

"It does!"

Kat laughs. "You are obsessed with that."

"I am not..!"

"Have you ever — ever told everybody about it?" Kat shifts in her chair and stares at her daughter. "All your Sunshine people?"

"So, do you guys know what black-eyed kids are?" she asks the camera, sitting back on the bed.

"I guess you haven't," her mother snorts. "Here, let me hold — I'll hold it, you tell them."

"Oh." Sunshine grunts and lets Kat take control of the screen. "Okay, so, black-eyed kids. You're gonna learn about it, right now. It's like my favorite.. new, paranormal-ly thing."

"Is it new though?"

"Well it's not — it's new to me." She shrugs. "But, it's about these people — witnesses, let's say — who have experienced this phenomenon where... these kids knock on their door, and ask them.."

"Like for help, right?"

"For help, kind of, yeah. And then, they — the kids, according to the witnesses — appear to be much more.. I guess, mature?" She waves her arms. "Than, your normal kids for that age. And very demanding? Like, if they don't get it, they get really upset."

"They like ask to come in or something."

"Yeah, they'll be like, 'Can I come in,' and it's like, really —"

"They're insistent."

"Why they're called black-eyed kids is because they have no.." Sunshine motions toward her eyes. "Their eyes — their eyes are like, completely black. They have no iris or anything."

"It's so weird.. so it's not 'cause they like the black-eyes peas?"

"No." She smirks. "So, yeah, and the witnesses reported feeling things of like danger, being afraid, not wanting to let the kids in — and there's even cases of people that — the person that opened the door has gone missing. Like, later, or had been dead." Sunshine makes a face. "Been dead. Murdered."

"Been dead. I been dead." Her mother talks all gangster-like.

"So, uh, yeah, I think it's really cool and I'm kind of friggin fascinated with it right now."

"What if you saw a black-eyed kid?"

She thinks. "I'd probably ask them some questions."

"Are they ghosts, or demons, or..?"

"They're..."

Kat turns before she can answer and shows the painting again. "That is what it looks like."

"It looks like a black-eyed kid!"

"That's pretty much Children of the Corn right there."

"Aaaaah," Sunshine says in a mock scream.

"Look at all the stuff that we learned."

"I know."

"Sunshine is not a black-eyed kid."

we got like 2 more chapters of part 2 yeet