“Stay here,” JD told Lynn as he got up and put on his pants. He grabbed his 9mm from his nightstand and headed out of the bedroom door. JD slowly walked through the hall to the front room. He found himself looking at a brick and a shattered window.


JD looked out of the window to see something horrifying. 


He saw about ten people standing horizontally in his yard in a straight line. They were all wearing masks: five wore donkey masks, and five wore elephant masks. They just sat there staring at him, still as statues. 


JD walked outside and stood before his door, gun in hand. The people standing there did not move.


“Who are ya’ll?” JD yelled. He got no answer.

“Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream,” the crowd sang out in unison. Over and over again, they repeated the same part of the song in a monotonously creepy song.


“Lynn!” JD yelled loudly. 


Lynn came hurrying to find JD. Once outside, she was horrified at what she saw.


“What’s going on?” Lynn asked.


“I don’t know. They won’t stop singing. This has to be Luther’s doing. How does he know where we live?” He asked.


The people took a step forward, still singing. 


JD cocked his gun. “Go call the police,” he told Lynn.


Lynn hurriedly went to call 9-1-1. 


JD pointed his gun at the singing bunch.


His phone rang again.


“Listen up you dumb piece of shit. You’ve gone too far,” JD said into the phone, not allowing Luther to speak.


“Hahahahaaaa. Angry today, aren’t we? Don’t worry, Jerry. They won’t hurt you…unless I tell them to. Consider this your final warning. Join The Upright. Can’t you hear them calling your name? Follow the leader,” Luther said as he hung up the phone.


The power went out in the entire neighborhood. 


“Lynn! Lynn, where are you?” JD returned to the house, using the flashlight on his phone for light. 


“I’m in the bedroom!” Lynn yelled back.


JD went into the bedroom and hugged Lynn. “You ok?”


“Yeah. I’m just freaked out. What the hell was that? It’s like we’re in a book or something. This can’t be happening. The police are on their way,” she said.


The lights came back on. JD got up and went to check outside.


The Upright were all gone. “So not one neighbor came outside during all of this? As nosey as these damn people are,” he said to himself. 


Two squad cars arrived at their home.


“You folks alright?” an officer asked.


“We’re alive,” JD responded.


“Is it just you two? I saw the lights looked to be out as we were driving into the neighborhood,” the officer said.


“Thank God you guys saw that. So maybe my story won’t seem as crazy.” JD walked them into his house to show them the glass and brick on the floor. “We’re in the bedroom, and we hear the glass break. I grab my gun, and I see what’s going on. At least ten people are standing still like statues at the edge of my yard and just standing there. I can’t see their faces because they all have masks on. They start singing Row, row, row your boat over and over again.”


“Like the nursery rhyme?” another officer asks.


“Yes,” JD replied.


“You have to use that thing? Is it clean?” the officer asked. JD was unaware that he still had his gun in his hand.


“Oh shoot! Nah, I didn’t use it, but I have the permit, and it’s licensed and registered in my name. You can run it,” JD said. 


“I believe you. You’ve had a long night. Don’t worry about it. Unfortunately, it’s too late to get this hole in your window fixed. You’ll have to worry about that in the morning, but my partner and I will be here to watch, just as a precaution. I doubt whoever these people were are coming back tonight, anyway. So you folks can sleep peacefully tonight,” the officer said. 


“Oh, thank you so much!” Lynn exclaimed. 


“Yea, no man. We really appreciate this,” JD said, shaking his hand.


“No problem. We're just doing our jobs. I’m Officer Somera, Josh Somera. My partner here is Officer Michaels. These two will be heading home for the night, but they are Officers Cruz and Thomas,” Officer Somera introduced everyone.


JD and Lynn went back into the house.


The officers went back to their cars and talked a bit.


“This has that lunatic Luther written all over it,” Somera told the other officers.