Chapter Two

   By the time we got home, I still hadn’t come up with an excuse, so I decided to go with the truth, sort of hoping my mom wouldn’t let me go.

   “Hey Mom,” I called out before she climbed the stairs to get into her pyjamas as I knew she would. “Patrick invited me to spend the night at Jack’s,” Of course I wouldn’t mention the abandoned house; I wasn’t stupid. “And I was wondering if I could go…?”

   Mom looked up at me. For a brief seconds, I remembered those times when I was just a little kid and my head barely reached her chest.

   “And you’d be missing you’re father’s birthday?” She asked. I couldn’t help but to notice a strange tone in her voice.

   “Yeah… But if you want me to I can stay,” I said, hastily.

   “No, no, no. It’s fine. You go. I was thinking about taking your father out for lunch anyways. I just hadn’t told you anything yet because I was afraid to leave you alone, after…” Her voice got lost midsentence.

   “Oh,” was all I could manage. My mom never mentioned Kate anymore. “Okay.”

 

   Having nothing left to say, I walked upstairs, to my bedroom. When I got there I called Patrick.

   “What’s up?” He answered on the other end of the line.

   “Hey!” I just talked to my mom and she said I can go. So it seems that I have no way out of this.” I was kind of upset about that, but I didn’t tell him.

   “Yeah?! That’s awesome! I’ll pick you up at nine thirty, okay?” He didn’t understand my sad tone.

   “Yeah, sure. Don’t be late! I know how you are when it comes to arriving on time.”

   “It’s not my fault, it’s the circumstances!” And with that, he hang up.

   I went packing my bag. I didn’t know what I was supposed to take, so I grabbed a t-shirt, a flashlight, a pen and notebook, and shoved everything into my backpack. Then, I walked downstairs to the kitchen, to get a bottle of water and some cookies. I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I sure knew that it’s always better when you have some food with you.

 

   Waiting until nine thirty was the worst part. I tried doing some homework, but who the hell does homework on a Friday? So I tried playing some videogames instead, but the all of them required two players in order for you the have the minimum of fun that I was looking for and I don’t think my dad was feeling like stopping watching basketball on TV and play with me, so I ended up turning my X-Box back off and simply lying on the bed.

   My blue ceiling had white stars painted on it " Katelyn’s mark. I’d meant to paint it, but I never got the nerve to do so.

   As the night got darker, I kept counting the stars on my own personal sky, over and over again, as though making sure they were all still there. That until the sound of a car honk came in through my opened window, making me jump.

   I looked at the clock on my bedside table " it was nine twenty-seven. Patrick must’ve really wanted to go to this abandoned house.

   Slowly, I picked up my backpack and made my way downstairs. There, I stopped to mumble a “See you,” into the living room and walked outside. Once there, I almost turned around and walked back inside " it wasn’t Patrick who was waiting for me, it was Sarah.

 

   For a moment, I just stood there, on the side of the road, looking at this red Toyota, while Sarah talked to someone on the phone. I couldn’t believe it! What the hell had happened to Patrick?!

   When she hung up, she gazed at me and shouted, “Are you coming or what?”

   I couldn’t afford to say something, or else, I might regret it, so I just climbed in.

 

   She was driving for ten minutes when I finally spoke. “What happened to Patrick?”

   “Jeez,” she said, “don’t get all too excited with me! He called me around nine ten or something, saying that he didn’t have any gas on his car so I offered to drive you both to Jack’s.” That was so Patrick.

   And so we drove. Neither Sarah nor I said any other word until we got to Patrick’s, and from there on, Patrick did all the talking.

   Finally, we arrived at Jack’s. Said boy was standing on the front door, waiting for us. When we joined him, he just said “Come on in.”

 

   Once inside, I noticed Lilly was missing. Just my luck. Of course she didn’t want her little sister to drive her to her boyfriend’s house. Don’t take me wrong though, I have nothing against Lilly; unless, of course, when it came to her blonde hair and her tanned skin that looked so much like her sister’s.

   I sat on Jack’s couch. After a while, Patrick sat beside me.

   “Circumstances, huh?” I said, rather offensively.

   “Chill out, man! It’s not like it’s my fault that my parents don’t give me money for gas.”

   “If you needed money you could’ve just asked.”

   “And owe you one for all eternity? No way.”

   “You’re such a brat, Hale.”

   Thankfully, there was a knock on the door then, and when Jack opened it, Lilly was waiting for us outside. I thought ‘if we really had to go, we better just get done with it already’. The sooner we got there, the sooner we’d be back.

 

   Jack was the first one to leave the house. I could see him greeting Lilly with a passionate kiss and a hug. God, did I not miss Katelyn!

   After we all decided who was going with whom, we got into two different cars and drove for about five minutes into the woods. Then, Jack instructed us all to stop and get out of the cars.

   “The ground makes it difficult to drive from here on, so we’ll have to walk.” His voice was weird, sort of mysterious, but I followed him anyways.

   The woods were dark and cold, so cold it made me wish I’d brought a jacket. There was also this tension that filled the air. No one spoke. If that was because they were all scared or simply because they didn’t have anything to say, I did not know.

 

   Was I particularly scared, you might be wondering, though. Not really. It always comes to a point in the day, when all I want is to sleep, even if that meant nightmares. At least then I could see her, be with her, if I was on a good night.

   “You okay there?” That was Sarah. Strangely, she hadn’t caught her hair up in a ponytail that night and suddenly I felt the urge to ask her if she’d been thinking about Katelyn too; if she missed her as much as I did. She probably did, or else she wouldn’t be so mad at me.

   Instead, I said, “Yeah sure.”

   Sarah eyed me, her hazel eyes almost black in the dimness. Only a minute later did I realise that for the first time since Kate’s death, I had not replied with my usual, “Not really, Sarah, not really.”

   “Is that so,” she asked, for once not sounding mean but sort of… hopeful.

   I hesitated before I answered.

   “I don’t know, Sarah,” I said honestly, “I guess being somewhere she’s never been to, helps.” And for this one time, not since Kate, but since forever, I felt like someone was really listening. Not just hearing my words, but actually absorbing them.

   Only then, as I looked at her as the girl that she was, shy but determined, did I realise that we’d both stop walking and that the others were far ahead. I dug out my flashlight out of my backpack.

   “We should get going,” I said.

   Sarah too looked at the others, now just distinguishable because of Jack’s flashlight. “Yeah.”

 

   When we caught up with the others, Jack was telling the story of how he had found the abandoned house. Apparently, when he was younger, his dad used to take him hunting. So, a week ago, he (Jack) was on a hunt for some animals or whatever and just came across it.

   The story sounded a little doubtful, but I kept quiet about it. I didn’t know Jack well enough to know if I could argue with him or not.

   When the story was over, everyone kept silent so we could hear all those sound in the forest. I had no idea what said sounds were, but I had a feeling I didn’t want to find out either.

   Suddenly, Jack stopped. “It’s here.”

   Standing behind Patrick, I couldn’t see what was in front of us, since he’s taller than me and it was pitch black. However, once Patrick moved, I just couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing.

 

   This abandoned house, as Jack and therefore the others had put it, wasn’t a house, but a whole, full sized mansion.

   It was three in floors high and easily the size of our lacrosse field at school " and we quite a big field. The walls were black and the floor was completely destroyed, having lost most of its roof, but none of that turned the house any less magnificent.

   “Scared?” Patrick said, punching my back with such force that I almost fell face first on the floor. Yet gladly, I was used to Patrick’s punches, no matter how unstable the ground beneath us was.

   “Amazed,” I replied, walking past the others and taking the lead.

Author's Note

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(Also, once again, Italics is Cris. Normal is Is.)