On October 21, 2011, Sunshine receives a video that spurs inspiration to take this journey.

A man and a woman are in a car, flitting and giggling with each other— definitely boyfriend and girlfriend. They playfully fight for the camera and Boyfriend grips it, trying to snatch it away from Girlfriend. They don't see the small child dressed in a black and blue uniform behind the car.

"What the hell?" Boyfriend spits when he sees the child standing next to Girlfriend's window. She turns, wide-eyed, and flinches when the child knocks on the glass.

Girlfriend rolls down the window. "Are you okay?" She checks the child over for any signs of harm, and doesn't notice the pure blackness swallowing its eyes.

"Can I have a ride to my mother's house, please? He's worried." It looks between both adults.

Boyfriend shakes his head. "Kid, what are you doin' out here, do you know what time it is?"

It lifts its brows. "I need a ride to my mother's house. He's very worried, and he's expecting me."

"Turn that off." The woman bats at the camera until Boyfriend shuffles away, stuffing it into the seat. When they look up, the child is gone.

"Hold on, I want to make sure he's not—" Boyfriend checks behind the car with the camera, eyeing the side mirrors.

Girlfriend narrows her eyes. "No, seriously, let's go."

"That was the weirdest.." Boyfriend runs a hand through his hair. "What the hell?"

"Yeah, the kid's weird, let's get out of here!"

"Hold on—"

Girlfriend screams. Boyfriend jumps and whips around to see the child banging on his windows with both fists raises. "I want a ride to my mom's house!" it demands.

"What is he doing?" Girlfriend panics.

"What the hell?" Boyfriend doesn't move.

"Start the car, let's go!"

"Hold on, hold on—" The child continues screaming endlessly until its nails begin to scratch the glass, head twisting and spinning unnaturally. Boyfriend and Girlfriend scream, and the video cuts.

So, the whole thing is pretty crazy. The fact that it's real documented footage of Black-Eyed Kids (or BEKs for short) is even scarier. Did Sunshine mentions she absolutely loves this urban legend? Yep, it's her favorite one. She's totally obsessed.

Sunshine's decided she wants to go on this crazy, cool adventure that's gonna be so exciting, and they're gonna make a movie about it (hence the whole fundraising thing from earlier), and— yeah. She's really excited.

Another clip she's received shows a hooded BEK knocking on the front door of a house. A man opens it and smiles, pointing her in a direction. It's hard to tell without audio, but he eventually lets the BEK in.

Anything else happens off-screen, but when the BEK steps outside once more and glances up at the camera, its eyes are pure black.

Someone has to get to the bottom of all of this, and that someone— well. That someone is Sunshine. And— her mom, and Nolan, and the handy-dandy film crew she's hired.

First thing on the list of movie making— meet the cast.

Kat.

"Let's meet my mom," Sunshine says, whirling around to face her mother.

Kat passes by her and sits on a black chair, opening her laptop. "Meet me? I'm pretty sure you already know me, sweetie."

Sunshine rolls her eyes. "No, I meant— the viewers, Mom." She points at the camera that she's not carrying for once in her life.

"Oh." Kat snickers. "You're assuming somebody's actually going to watch your film. Could just... be you're talking to an empty room."

Sunshine laughs sarcastically. "Ha-ha, thanks, that was nice, mom."

She nods. "Very supportive." Kat pauses and eyes the cameraman. "That's gonna take some getting used to, huh?"

Sunshine raises her brows. "What?"

"Just, the—" Kat wiggles her index finger toward the crew. "Guys and the big camera, I mean, usually it's just.." She leans forward and motions to Sunshine. "You with the... little flip cam. Now I've got, like, men in my house."

Sunshine makes a face.

"Bald guy with the camera and... oddly enough, his equally bald sound guy— did you get a shot of them?"

She smiles, the idea coming to mind. "No, I haven't, but that is a super idea." She uses her small camera to show the two men and pauses when Kat begins walking off. "No, Mom, I wanted to talk to you!"

"About what?" Kat grins playfully and strides past her. "Talk about shoes?"

"No, not shoes."

"That's a change.."

She looks at the camera. "I do... really love shoes, but, no, I wanted to talk to you about the journey? Our journey?"

Kat sits back down on the chair and Sunshine leans across from her on the footrest. "The journey..?"

"Where we go and find the Black-Eyed Kids and..?" Sunshine turns and closes the laptop. "Talk to Tom Waters, you know?"

"Are we still doing that?" Kat asks, surprised.

Sunshine flicks her arm out toward the crew. Obviously! "Yes, that's why the film crew's here!"

Kat raises a brow. "Honey, I'd hardly call them a film—" She bends her fingers to make air quotes, "—crew. It's just two dudes."

Yep, these guys are gonna absolutely hate the both of them when this whole filming thing is over.

Sunshine blinks slowly. "Okay, yes, but they were all I could afford, no offense, guys."

"So the journey."

"The journey."

"Have you explained the journey to your viewers?"

She tilts her head forward. "You mean the empty room?"

Kat laughs and Sunshine sassily swings her head. "Honey, I'm sure somebody's gonna watch your film— at least I will watch your film!"

"Oh, that's very sweet, thanks, that's... so nice," Sunshine says sarcastically. "I feel like there's gonna be five minutes of rambling of me just da-da da-da da-da-da, and nobody's gonna wanna watch that."

"Well, nobody would wanna watch that."

"Thank you," Sunshine sighs.

"Do you want me to help you?"

"Yes."

Kat looks at the camera. "Okay, this is my seventeen-year old daughter. She wants to go find something that doesn't exist, all because she got a creepy letter from an equally creepy man who says he has information about Black-Eyed Kids, or BEKs for short. But really, I think it was just a ploy to meet her."

Sunshine shrugs. "Okay, yes, I've been obsessed with Black-Eyed Kids for a very long time, and yes, I did a creepy letter from a... very creepy man, uh, but uh— we're gonna kick this off by going to Portland, Oregon, which is coincidentally a hot spot for BEKs, and also where Tom Waters lives..." She squints. "Anyways, we're gonna talk to him and— it's a perfect plan, really. It is."

Her mother smirks. "Good job, Sunshine. Now go and tell 'em something interesting or you're gonna lose them."

"I am very interesting, thank you," she says, placing a hand to her chest, "I am awesome."

"Cute, you're cute." Kat tries to brush her hair out of her face.

Sunshine smacks her hands away. "Okay, leave it alone."

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When Nolan arrives at the house, they get comfortable in the office again, sitting in chairs next to each other.

"So," Sunshine introduces, "This is my friend, Nolan."

He's wearing a cloth black jacket for once, what a surprise, with a black collared shirt underneath. His hair is slicked back and he's making weird faces at the camera, like he's some kind of dangerous bad boy. Nolan definitely isn't. He nods with a smirk. "Hi," Nolan says in a low voice.

She raises her brows at him. "What are you doing?"

He doesn't look away from the camera, still smirking, but tilts his head closer to her. "What?"

"Your face, what are you doing?" Sunshine crosses her arms across her long-sleeved blue shirt.

"I'm not doing anything with my face—"

"Yes you are, you're totally mugging for the camera."

"I am—" His smirk drops and he pushes his brows together defensively, "not mugging for the camera." Nolan looks at her. "What?"

"Yes you are. If you're trying to make yourself look more attractive, then it's totally not working."

He moves his lips but no sound comes out for a moment. "W— well I mean, it's.. it's a movie, right?" He motions toward the camera and swings side-to-side in his chair. "We gotta—" He flicks his head and smirks again. "Gussy up a bit."

Who the hell says gussy up?

Sunshine rolls her eyes. "It's not seduce and destroy, Tom Cruise, okay? If you're not gonna be yourself, I'm kicking you out."

He continues smiling, or smirking, or whatever weird 'sexy' face he's making. "You think I look like Tom Cruise?"

Oh, lord. Help her. "No," she grunts, looking up in annoyance. "I don't, okay? Just— shut up, can we start over?"

Nolan drops his gussy and looks into the camera, clearly devastated he can't pretend to be cool.

They begin again.

"This is my friend Nolan." She points a thumb at him.

He smiles. "Hi."

Nolan looks over at Sunshine for approval and she nods, going on. "He, uh. He's been on tons of paranormal adventures with me before—"

Nolan smirks for real, because oh, he's important, huh?

"—um, uh, he's usually the bad influence but.. yeah."

He looks confused for a moment. "I'm not a bad influence."

She silently nods at the camera.

Nolan dramatically leans back and looks to the side. "I'm a rogue. I think outside the box, I... encourage you guys to consider options that you might otherwise find—" He scrunches his nose. "Unsanitary."

"Okay," Sunshine interrupts, quirking her eyebrows, "well whatever you call it, you're usually the one that gets us in trouble."

He ponders for a moment then smiles. "Yes, I am the one that gets you in trouble, and I think that's why I'm perfect for the adventure."

She grudgingly claps her hands. "I have to agree."

Nolan excitedly jumps up, grinning. "So, let's go catch some BEKs!

Sunshine sighs. "You're really— too excited right now."

He continues smiling. "I'm not too excited, I'm the perfect amount of excited! I'm gonna talk to one—"

Sunshine giggles.

"—find out what it thinks and feels."

"You're gonna— you're gonna talk to one?" she laughs dubiously.

"Yeah."

"When I showed you the footage you freaked out, you said you would never talk to one—"

He shakes his head, clearly lying. "No I did not."

"—you should've seen your face, it was—" She motions to the camera. "Just show it, just show the footage, it's so funny."

Nolan's eyes widen. "No, no no no no, don't—"

The clip cuts to the camera dude slowly pushing open the door to see Nolan sitting in the chair in front of the computer, Sunshine leaning in another desk chair next to him.

"No, no, no, it's not safe, go." He shakes his head at the screen, like these people can hear him. Okay. Sunshine notices the camera man and giggles. "No, stop talking about it, just get out of here. Oh, god." Girlfriend screams. "They're gonna die."

"Hm?"

"They're gonna die!" He tenses up when the BEK bangs on the window. "Ah!" Nolan points at the child, amazed. "He has no iris whatsoever!"

The video of the BEK ends. "Sunshine, wha—?! No, no, no, we're not going anywhere near any of those things—" Nolan points to the floor. "We're gonna stay here, away from them—"

"It's okay, it's okay, Nolan—" she wheezes.

"No." He leans back, very serious, and crosses his legs. "It's not okay."

"—I'll protect you."

"You can't protect me, nobody can, there ha—" He turns his head to the camera man and stops talking, spinning back to Sunshine. His jaw clenches and he nods slowly. "I'm gonna— well. Okay, so, when we go, I'm gonna make sure that you're okay, I'm gonna keep you safe. And, uh, what we should do is we should, um— definitely investigate fully and, uh, make sure that all of the... your— your mom, your mom's coming as well, right?"

Sunshine rolls her eyes. "She'll be there."

"Good, just because—" Nolan tries to appear relaxed but clearly isn't. "Uh, to make sure that the number of—"

"Just shut up, Nolan," she snickers playfully.

Back in real time, Sunshine giggles, not noticing the glare from Nolan.

"Okay, well I had a different memory of that," he tries, face blank.

"No," Sunshine laughs, shaking her head.

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All four of them— Uncle Tommy, Sunshine, Nolan, and Kat— are gathered in the backyard, where it's overcast, ready to... do what, exactly? Well, first.

"You should probably introduce Uncle Tommy," Kat motions.

"Oh, yeah. This is Uncle Tommy." She points at him.

"Hi," he greets with a smile.

"I meant... who he is," Kat explains. "Not— not his name."

"Oh. Uh." Sunshine thinks for a second. "He's not really my uncle, yeah, he's just.. the closest thing I have other than that woman to, uh, family."

Kat and Tommy laugh, Nolan subtly smiling along. He's about two heads taller than Sunshine, though, and she really doesn't appreciate him stealing her thunder. Rude.

Well. He's the tallest out of all of them, actually. Did she mention he also has his black leather jacket back on? Yep. Awesome.

"What a sad day," Kat jokes.

Tommy smiles and crosses his arms. "We're a good family."

Nolan looks around in boredom.

"So," Sunshine claps, "get ready for this adventure, you guys ready?"

Kat and Tommy nod.

"Mmm," Nolan shrugs, acting disinterested even though Sunshine knows he isn't. Ugh. Weirdo.

"What do you mean adventure?" Tommy asks, frowning.

Sunshine glares at him.

"Well, we told you," her mother says, inclining her head.

"What, shoe shopping?"

"No." She laughs. "That would just be a Saturday. No, remember, we're gonna go help Sunshine... make the movie about the BEKs..? Gonna go talk to the guy in Portland? Ringing any bells?"

"I totally thought you were joking about that."

Sunshine leans her head back. Really?

"If I was gonna joke, it would be about something else, not that. No. We're gonna do this." Kat nods at her daughter. "It'll be great. So.."

"Okay." Tommy shrugs. "I'm on board."

"All right."

"I— I do wanna say, though, for the record—" He makes a face. "I think shopping would be more fun."

Sunshine rolls her eyes.

"I don't think people make movies about shopping."

"Well, they should—!"

"Okay!" Sunshine exclaims. "Okay, guys, stop. We're going to Portland, we're going to capture BEKs on film, okay?"

Kat weighs her leg. "'Kay, then why are we out in the backyard?"

"It's so cold," Tommy complains.

"It is, okay?" Sunshine sighs. "Now.... it's well-documented that.. BEKs are— fast. So."

"So?" her mother hints.

"We have to be fast too."

Nolan scrunches his nose and tucks his hands in his pockets. "We don't have to be fast." He clicks his tongue. "We just have to be slightly faster than the slowest person."

Tommy laughs and Nolan glances at him, smiling.

"Why are you looking at me?" Tommy asks, grin dropping.

Nolan looks neutral again and turns away.

"So what's your plan?" Kat asks.

She shrugs. "We're gonna run."

"What?"

Tommy giggles again. "Seriously?"

"To the fence and back. Okay, line up, c'mon." No one moves. "Line up."

"You want us to run to the fence," Tommy says incredulously.

"Line up."

Once they're all in order— Nolan, Tommy, Sunshine, and Kat— Nolan says, "All right everybody, limber up." Huh? He stretches his legs and leans forward. Tommy crouches and opens his thighs each squat in some weird stretch. "You don't wanna pull a thigh muscle the day before—"

Kat looks over at the boys. "Are you guys really gonna run?"

"Yes!" Sunshine exclaims. She moves into position and ignores Oscar barking in the yard. "Ready? Set—"

"Go!" Nolan screams, beginning to run just a step behind Tommy.

"No!" Sunshine whines, jogging next to her mother.

Kat screams. "I'm wearin' the wrong shoes!"

"We could go shopping for them!" Tommy yells back.

They all run by the crew, looking like fucking idiots. Wonderful first impression.

Everyone touches the fence and begins to run back. Nolan sprints in the front, Sunshine close behind. Tommy is third and Kat is... well. You guessed.

They end the— race?— and Tommy leans over, breathing heavily. Kat slings an arm around his back. "You killed Uncle Tommy."

"He's fine, oh my gosh," Sunshine snorts. "You're over-exaggerating."

Nolan slumps on the side, out of breath.

"Yeah, it really sucked a lot— yeah, exaggerate, yeah, I never do that." She looks into the camera. "I don't run."

"Okay." Sunshine says.

"Ever!"

"Okay."

Nolan stuffs his hands back in his pockets. "Oh you'll run, Kat," he speaks dramatically.

"What?" She rounds on him, throwing her arms in the air.

"When the BEKs are after you and me and Sunshine, you'll run."

Sunshine raises her brows. "I can't believe you just used her first name."

"This is so stupid," Kat growls, "BEKs do not exist, and here we are, making fools of ourselves for a film that no one's gonna see! Because you got some weird idea—"

Tommy turns on Nolan. "You know what's gonna happen, what's gonna happen is you're gonna go, and I'm gonna get eaten—"

Sunshine raises her arms, stupefied. "No one's gonna see it, what are you talking about?"

Tommy and Nolan continue arguing, but Sunshine isn't done. She's not gonna let her mother just walk off again.

"This is really important to me," she says, following Kat, "and you're like— scrunching up my dream, you're like throwin it up into a ball and you're, like—" Her voice becomes high and mocking, "I don't care about anything you have to say, Sunshine, I don't even really care about you—"

Kat whips around, annoyed. "Yeah, that's exactly how I sound—"

The camera crew turns back toward Nolan and Tommy.

"Hey, look, I've got my own reservations about this, okay? We can't quit before we even go."

Tommy crosses his arms, ignoring Sunshine and Kat's yelling. "You know what we need to do, is we need to find somebody else to add to our adventure pack."

Nolan stares at him, furrowed brows unmoving. "Okay," he says, "uhh..."

"Y'know, somebody that's, like, crippled or something."

Nolan's eyes widen. "Jesus!" he exclaims dramatically, looking Tommy up and down. "What?"

"What? If it's survival of the fittest, I want somebody less fit than me along with us!"

"What? No! No, no no no, no— no cripple— well." Nolan pauses, then resumes his defending. "No, we couldn't— we wouldn't even be able to find one!"

Tommy raises his brows. "Craigslist?"

Well. The start to their journey is just beautiful, ain't it?

the ending of this chapter was so funny i love this movie but i really don't remember that much from it so. yeet!!!