“Liz, I can’t— What is that? It smells awful,” I said as I took a quick step back, stumbling over the tree root again.

Her eyes widened and she hurried forward, grabbing my elbow. At first, I thought she was doing it to steady me, but then she tugged at my arm.

“Come on, just a few more steps.” Her voice was insistent, her grip firm.

“What? No. Stop, please. You’re hurting me.” I could practically feel the bruise already beginning to form.

“One more step,” she said again, gripping my arm so hard I thought it was going to pull out of the socket.

I tried to move away, to jerk my arm from her grasp and run back home, but I couldn’t. She was too strong. Before I knew it, she’d shoved me, and I fell down, down toward the gaping black hole in the earth. I landed face-first in the dirt pit, about six feet below the grass. My head barely stuck out, and I grabbed for the grass around me, scrambling to try to lift myself out of the hole as I stood on my tiptoes.

Liz stood at the edge of the pit, a small smile on her face. She took a step back as I grabbed furiously for her.

“Is this a joke? What the fuck, Liz? Help! Give me a hand! I can’t get out,” I said as I clawed at the earth around me. My feet slipped on the moist dirt. I thrust my hand upward, my fingers waggling, reaching out for my friend.

But she only stepped back again. Her eyes met mine, like two black holes without any humanity behind them—without any Liz there. Then, her face changed further, melting into a rubbery mask of open, weeping, infected sores, red eyes, and a mouth full of black, rotting teeth.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered with a laugh. Then her face went back to normal before she turned and headed toward her house.

“No! Come back!”

She didn’t stop, and I shouted some more, but my voice was hoarse and didn’t carry very far. It dissipated in the wind like a puffy white dandelion seed. I clawed at the earth around me, but it fell into the pit, dropping at my feet. The stench was overwhelming, although I didn’t have time to be bothered by it. Terror washed over my body and my breath quickened as I realized I was trapped.

At my feet, the dirt seemed to move. It was like the earth had opened up, and the more I tried to get any kind of leverage to hoist myself up, the more I sank down.

I screamed again. “Liz, get out here and help me! What the hell is wrong with you?” but my words were drowned out by the Kowalskis’ air-conditioning unit turning on with a loud metal clanking noise.