Too dark.
And quiet.
The only noises are the ones my friends are making from outside and from my own footsteps. Idiots. If they keep it up, they’re going to get us caught.
It might be worth it for this one night of freedom, though. I’ve forgotten what it felt like to just be. Without the imposing rules and regulations of Kingston breathing down my neck, I could do whatever I wanted. Even if that is playing this stupid game of truth or dare.
My mission is to go into every room of this supposedly haunted house and come back out. I raise my camera to document the first room. A once lavish living space, now home to various spiders and peeling wallpaper, lay before me. A flash goes off as I press the button, making my heart jump.
Fuck. Maybe I’m more scared than I realize, since I just about shit myself. And from my own camera’s flash. Shaking my head, I make quick work of the other rooms. This place is expansive, and clearly being swallowed up by the surrounding forest. Thefloorboards creak under my weight and I send up a silent prayer to not fall through.
I imagine what this place must have looked like back when people lived here and can’t help but feel a little sad that it’s ended up becoming so worn and broken. Believing in ghosts is beyond my comprehension, but in a place like this, I can see it. I can see how someone would think a spirit could cling to a decaying home full of long-gone memories.
“Boo!”
I let out a blood curdling scream, until I realize it’s just Sarah.
“You bitch. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“You’re taking forever and it’s getting boring out there.” She shrugs. “Woah. Look at this!” She kicks at a trunk covered in dust. “Do you think there’s a dead body in there?”
“You’re so morbid.”
“I call it like I see it. I bet you ten dollars, that it’s the bones of old Mrs. Wentworth. They never could find her body.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “Come on, let’s go.”
“No way. I’m seeing what’s in here.”
The latch opens easily from rot and age. We both peer into the dark container and find it filled to the brim with old dresses.
Sarah grabs the top one and holds it against herself. Dust rises with it and I snap a picture of her mid twirl. She has that ‘it’ girl thing that I desperately wish I could emulate. A devil may care energy that I feel I only pretend to have. Having friends like this is so new to me. At home, my mother always sheltered me. Homeschool was her school of choice until she felt she could no longer handle my “attitude” and had me whisked away to Kingston Prep, where I fell in with the people I now call my friends.
It feels good, but confusing. Like one wrong decision could end it all.
“I think this could fit me.” Sarah says, tugging her existing clothes off and wiggling into the old dress.
She’s right it fits her like a glove.
“Can you zip me?” I do and step back to admire my work, only when I do, my foot goes through the floor.
Wood scrapes against my leg, past my jeans, hard enough to draw blood. “Fuck.” I cry out with tears in my eyes. It fucking stings.
“Here, let me help you.” Sarah grabs under my armpit and helps to yank me out of the hole my foot has made.
“We should get out of here. Oh, shit. I think I bled on your dress.” I can’t see how injured I am in this light, so I move closer to the window, trying to make out if I need to wrap my leg up or not. The meager moonlight is doing nothing to help me see better, though.
“I’m not going back.” Sarah declares, chin up.
“What? Of course, you are. What else are you going to do? There’s nothing close by.” The town is too far, and they’d call on us immediately. Nosey shits. I lean my weight against the wall, looking out the window.
Sarah is saying something, but I’m too busy looking out the window noticing the sudden unwelcome appearance of the school guards.
We are so fucked.
“Shut up.” I say to Sarah, backing away from the broken windows.
“What, why?”
