Double Dare

Everybody has done dares, usually to impress friends or not to seem cowardly, but how far will you go when a dare scares you to the bone?

Double Dare

 

You have not just been dared, you have been double-dared, you have to do it. There is no way of backing out without appearing to be a wimp in front of your friends.

You are expected to go into that creepy empty house at the end of the street, the one that has been abandoned ever since that hermit who lived there dies six years ago.

You find yourself walking up the garden path, it’s almost as if somebody else is controlling your movements, because you certainly do not want to do this. Observing the overgrown grass and filthy windows, you reach the back door, the door handle is cold to the touch, your hand stays on it as you pluck up the courage to turn it.

3….2….1…..turn. The door is stiff and heavy, but it opens nevertheless. You must go in and spend one minute inside to complete your dare.

The smell hits you, it’s hard to describe, it just smells stale just as you would expect.

“Come on Nick. You have to go right inside”

The voice of Steven one of your friends hits you as a reminder of what is expected.

You take a deep breath and almost choke on it. In you go.

The house is dark, predictably there is no electricity, so no light, you pull out your phone and open the torch feature, the light it provides is not great but it is enough. Your legs are jelly, you have to force yourself to move forwards, into the kitchen. Nothing in here of interest, moving on into the living room, it is freezing cold, so much colder than the kitchen, almost colder than it is outside. Did you just hear a floorboard creak upstairs? You stay stock still listening closely, silence.

“30 SECONDS LEFT” bellowed Steven.

His voice makes you very nearly jump out of your skin. It also makes you miss another more audible creaking sound on the landing at the top of the stairs.

There isn’t much to see, old newspapers and books scattered around, a couple of coffee cups on the table, nothing out of the ordinary.

You most certainly heard it that time, the creaking of a floorboard followed by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. You are rooted to the spot, you want to run, but your legs have turned to jelly again. You can now hear wheezing, almost as if somebody is struggling for breath. Your fear has turned your insides ice cold. You have about ten seconds left before you complete your dare. That can go to hell though, no way are you hanging about to find out what’s going on, you turn and run back through the kitchen, down the garden path, straight passed your friends, failing to observe their laughing and teasing. You run so fast that your feet barely touch the ground.

You stop outside your house and sit on the wall panting, trying to catch your breath. What the hell had just happened? Was it real?  A trick of some sort?

It transpired that it was all a set up. One of your friends Martin had went into the house about 10 minutes before you arrived, with the intention of scaring the hell out of you, and ultimately causing you to fail your dare. Mission accomplished. You are annoyed at your friends for doing this, for being so devious, however, after being slagged and teased all morning at school you eventually see the funny side. You will see Martin after lunch, as you are in the same English class.

Martin did not show up for class, he was off sick. It transpires that he was at home all weekend with a stomach infection. The plan had been made on the Friday at school, nobody had double checked with him to make sure he was still up for doing it, everybody had just assumed.

You are left with one question �" if Martin wasn’t at the house on Saturday night, then who was?