Earlier, some elderly neighbors had visited and kindly advised him, “Elijah, why’d you pick that up? Be a good boy—don’t keep old junk. Go toss it away.”
Elijah tilted his head. Toss it?
Thud!
He stomped on it—flattening the ball instantly.
It had been bouncing around annoyingly. Problem solved.
The elderly neighbors exchanged bewildered glances.
“Wasn’t that ball supposed to be indestructible?”
“Yeah, I remember people saying that. And wasn’t it kind of... creepy?”
“They say anyone who tries to step on it always ends up falling. Haven’t we all heard weird noises at night? I bet it was that thing.”
“But the house has been empty—how could it make noise? Never mind, let’s stop talking about this. It’s getting dark soon, and we don’t want to scare Elijah.”
Scare him?
Elijah, lookin
