Sarah and I lock eyes. She knows he and I have been dancing around something that resembles flirtation for months. He has that bad-boy energy I can’t help but be drawn to. My mother would be so proud.
Sarah’s body finally gives, and she stumbles into me, knocking us both on our asses. I look over at her, dead leaves entwined in her hair and dirt slashed across her pale freckled cheek. Laughing, we help each other up.
“Why didn’t you just open the gate?” Matty asks, pushing it open and staring at us with a smirk.
“That would have been too easy,” Sarah retorts.
If I’ve been hung up on Kyle all these months, Sarah has the same affliction with Matty. Her cheeks tinge pink as she pushes her short strands behind her ears. He walks over to her and rubs the smudge away with his thumb.
Her eyes catch mine for a second, and I give her a thumbs-up while pulling out my pocket-sized camera I’d found in the library. I snap the moment between them with a flash. A soft glow emanates from the digitized screen, showing Sarah’s wide smile and Matty’s face obscured by shadow.
Kyle snakes his arm around my middle, and my body warms. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
His breath, spiked with beer and pot, hits my senses. No wonder why it took them forever to get up here. They must have taken a few hits after issuing me their stupid truth or dare.
But a deep, ugly part inside of me is desperate to fit in with them. To feel a sense of belonging with these misfits, these rebels I’ve found myself apart of.
My own family has deemed me unlovable. Rejecting me for wanting something different. Shocked I could even question them and their faith. So, maybe I’m going a little harder on proving that I’m willing to do whatever my friends dare me to.Even if that means traipsing around a haunted house in the dark.
Goose bumps prickle my skin as I take in the dilapidated structure. Broken shutters slap the siding as the wind whips past us. This place looks like it’s seconds away from folding in on itself, leaving nothing but a splintered pile of rotted wood and crumbling brick in its wake.
“Boo!” Ace screams in my ear, causing Kyle and me to break apart.
I shove him. “Asshole.” I snap his picture, capturing his penetrating stare.
He gives me a crooked grin, letting me know he’s not the least bit sorry.
Sticking my tongue out at him, I pocket my camera. He puts his hands in his pockets, fixing me with an unsettling stare. His icy blue eyes bore into me, as if he could see straight into my brain, picking apart my deepest, darkest thoughts. Kids are always coming up with outlandish rumors about him. But, to me, he’s just Kyle’s creepy younger brother. Always there. Always watching.
“We should just stay here and not go back,” Kyle whispers, his stubble tickling my ear as he yanks me back toward his strong chest.
“Yeah, they’d find us in no time and drag us back. Drug us up and beat us senseless.” Matty scoffs, shaking his head. “There’s nothing out there for miles. Nothing but bears.”
Ace nods, looking off into the dark woods, as if he’s contemplating the risk of running.
I don’t blame him. This place we’ve been taken to is a living hell. Each day, we’re stuck in a loop of torture, grasping for the chance to get back home. That is, if our parents would have us. If the people in charge believe they’ve made us anew as perfect little disciples, just like them.
My own parents live in the closest town to here. Kingston feeds the school its rotten, morally corrupt employees since it’s one of the only large businesses around. The town might even be worse than the school since they’re all so completely fine with how we’re treated. Thinking we deserve it somehow.
I shiver, glancing around at the house I’m supposed to go in for this dare. “This is a bad idea.”
“Nah, don’t chicken out on us now.” Kyle tugs my hand, and I follow.
Being this close to him is giving my heart a bigger workout than climbing up this hill. It patters and flips with each morsel of his attention.
“You ready for this?”
I nod, although my stomach flips in fear this time. The floorboards creak beneath my fur-lined boots as I step onto the rotting porch.
“Don’t die!” Sarah yells out.
I turn to see my friends all lined up, watching me, laughing at her comment, waiting for my next move. My eyes snag on Ace’s as he stands off to the side. We hold each other’s gaze, and the look he gives me sends a shiver over my already chilled skin.
“Bach, bach, bach, bach!” Matty croaks out in an annoying but convincing chicken noise.
“I’m going, I’m going!”
As my feet cross the threshold, two of the guys squeal a fake high-pitched scream, startling me.
