"As Patricia rolled her eyes, Dave stared at her, trying to discern whether she'd been lying. 'So... That stuff about the sleepwalking. Was that... True?' 'Oh yeah,' Carlos said, shaking his head. 'Whole town seems to be coming down with it.' He paused. 'You're not scared of the dark, are you?" What feeling does the author create by ending the story with this question? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

The feeling the author creates by ending the story with this question is: eeriness and uneasiness.

Explanation:

In "Nighttime in Texas," the neighborhood where Carlos lives has been afflicted by a strange trend. Most of the residents have suddenly started sleepwalking. Dave, the main character, finds out about it when he travels to visit Carlos for spring break. However, he is revealed the fact in the most strange manner.

He arrives at Carlos' at around midnight, unaware of the curfew imposed by the police due to the strange happenings. Carlos does not seem to be home. Out of the blue, Patricia appears. She seems friendly and kind at first, and she is the one who tells Dave about it all. All of a sudden, Carlos also appears, driving his car and claiming he had had a flat tire and so on. He then says he and Patricia are in love - it is worth noticing that Patricia is in her nightgown and slippers. Right before Carlos showed up, once he had heard the story, Dave was already scared:

“Pretty weird, right?” Patricia said. Dave took a moment to form a response.“Yeah, yeah,” he finally managed. “I mean, that’s really crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like that!” After a pause, he continued, “So do you think Carlos—I mean, do you think he’s one of the . . . afflicted?”

Now that his friend has appeared and confirmed the whole thing, asking him the eerie question "You're not scared of the dark, are you?", Dave most likely feels even more afraid. If Patricia wasn't lying, are they both sleepwalking now? If they are - and if they are able to act as if they are not -, what are they capable of doing? Do they hurt people? Can they hurt Dave? Will Dave begin to sleepwalk as well? The final question leaves us feeling uneasy .

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

im not sure about this one