Abandoned Exploring,
Hello there Reddit users, before we start if you haven’t read Anna’s story yet. I highly advise you too, or else you might be sorta confused as to what’s going on. For the Reddit users who have followed this far and do know what’s going on. [Catch up here.](https://redd.it/aseiq5)
I bet you were probably wondering how I got ahold of Anna’s laptop well I thought maybe it would be better to tell you how in full detail. Then I’ll explain how my and Anna’s journeys are similar. This is still all so crazy to me, but I guess you learn to live with it.
It all started when I was at my best friend Treasure’s home/restaurant we were hanging out with our friends Max and Reece, when Treasure’s uncle Randall walked up to us he seemed quizzical about something while staring at Reece.
Treasure and Reece were having their usual quarrel about something weird or obscene. While Max and I were forced to listen in discomfort and annoyance as per usual.
“What’s a damn pickle got to do with anything, you fat idiot!” screamed an angry Treasure as she pushed back her curly afro hair behind her left ear with her chocolate-colored hand.
“I have every right to speak on the injustice of pickle juice left in every hamburger I ever bought from Wendy’s.” said an equally angry and dramatic Reece as he shoved pieces of hamburger into his mouth letting some chewed bits fall from his lips as he spoke.
I grimaced at the sight and nodded towards Treasure’s uncle in acknowledgment he smiled at me and Max and then set down a free plate of smoking hot pizza. I instantly grabbed the slice beating my other friends to the pizza. Reece sneered at me like I stole his first wife, and Max just said “Ah! man, I wanted that one.” Treasure’s glare stayed stuck on Reece’s sweaty pimple stained face never wavering.
I began to nibble on my slice of pizza as Max beside me pulled out a sandwich that looked more like two slices of wet bread stuffed with mayonnaise, he too began to eat though he chomped away at the liquid sandwich with annoyance clear on his face. Randall came back with a second slice of hot piping pizza on a plate and he set it down in front of Treasure.
“I need to feed my plants if I want them to grow. Correct Treasure?” He smiled down at Treasure and she looked at him with a smug smile “correct uncle.” She looked at Reece with a pointed expression “at least someone gets it.”
Reece raises a skeptical eyebrow in response “‘It’ tastes absolutely horrid, nothing can overcome my love for chicken and steak.” he said staring off into space with a dazed faraway kind of look.
Treasure slapped him upside the head “calm down you act like meat is your future wife or something.”
I heard Max whisper “might as well be, my golly.” I smirk at his use of the word golly and I instantly try to focus back on Reece and Treasure’s odd conversation about pickles.
“If you ate fewer vegetables you would have more room for human decency, so far I have only ever have seen the animal in you, you dumb bit-“ Treasure clocked him in the side of his head, with so much anger on her delicate face that I almost forgot that the being sitting before me was Treasure and not satan himself. I may have even heard Max gasp a little beside me in response to her anger.
In a deeply insulted and demanding voice Treasure spoke again. “How dare you try and call me such a horrid name, I will have your goddamn head if you ever actually call me that name. Got it.” Her expression was dead set serious, I almost felt like a vortex was going to shoot out of her mouth and swallow Reece fully up into nothingness. Reeces expression was shocked and terrified, I mean honestly who wouldn’t be, I was, and I wasn’t even the one getting yelled at.
He rebutted his remark and murmured a quick “ugh, umm .. sorry” in almost a whisper too low to be heard by anyone, not in his mere proximity. Wow. That must have taken a lot of courage on his part to admit his wronging’s to someone he hates. Prideful bastard.
Wait, does he hate Treasure? I mean they’re always arguing and making fun of each other, and she’s always very much physical but in an extremely painful way, usually beating him with her fists and slapping him upside his head. Their relationship is odd, I shake my head at my thoughts, and I slowly dive back into the conversation with a topic that somehow turned from pickles to exploring.
“Yeah, I went there once with that nerd Jimmy, it was totally cool with all of the dirt and grime glowering on the walls it looked like a movie horror set. Jimmy being the dumbass he is, tripped over a rat the size of a cat and busted his big ugly nose on a moldy wooden table before we left. Brother, I’m telling you I was laughing for days after.” Said a smirking Reece gently prodding his left elbow into the side of Max’s side.
“Cool story bro,” said Max in a monotone uncaring voice, but I found Treasure’s evil smirk that slowly curled onto her face to be far more interesting. Oh god, What now, is she going to try and one-up his dumb story or something?
“Your way uglier than Jimmy, you’re only upset that he’s smarter than you, plus you’re a little scared baby, which is why I don’t believe that you can explore anything that isn’t a plate of lasagna.” Reece stares at her with an ugly sneer “Want to bet, Treasure of the grass.” I quirked an eyebrow at the strange nicknames being tossed around.
“Hell to the yeah, you ugly bag of pimple juice, as a matter of fact, I do.” She raises her eyebrows in an elegant and illuding display of evil. Max snorts finding amusement in the weird situation. Just then Randall walks back over from cleaning a table and he sits down in an empty chair beside our table.
“Man, kids I wonder what this town is turning into.”
He shakes his head and then rakes his hand through his sweaty curly hair, slightly messing up the round shape of his afro. We all turn to him intrigued by what he may be alluding to.
Max flips his hair to the side like the emo that he is and asks in a monotone voice “What do you mean Mr. Randall?”
I know that’s probably a weird way to refer to someone by using Mr. and then their first name instead of their last but it came naturally to us. Randall was Treasure’s true uncle, but to all of us, he was our uncle and sorta friend too. The guy was hardworking and too ‘cool for school’ if you get my drift, and it’s quite easy not to get my drift, what I’m trying to say is that he is a very kind and nice person. If we needed help with anything, he was our guy.
I nod my head to Max’s question asking along with him “Yeah what do you mean?”
“What I mean is that we have been getting lots of missing people cases and spontaneous deaths recently around here, did you hear about the Men in Black epidemic?”
Me and my friend’s all smirk at each other and nod our heads to him, yeah we were aware of that strange epidemic metaphorically speaking.
Randall’s hand wipes down his sweaty face as he closes his eyes with a sigh “Ugh, yeah I should have guessed you little weirdos would know.”
He opened his eyes and smirked at us fondly before his smirk dropped from his face again. He sighed, putting me instantly more on edge for the conversation ahead.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt to tell you guys another story time, one of my own this time, it freaked me out at the time that it happened. Almost a week ago when I was driving down that old dirt road off the beaten path by where Elco lives, I passed by an abandoned house. At least I always thought that rundown place was abandoned. I saw a shadow running around in there, and I could have sworn that I saw someone standing by the treeline dressed in all black. As soon as I saw It I was out of there, I was most definitely not sticking around. Now that I think better of it, that was probably just some squatters trying to live for free in there, but I can’t help but believe that the man dressed in black was a part of those Men in Black guys.”
We all stare at each other, man this must have shaken him up he looks nervous just to share this with us as if he were potentially putting us in danger. He silently gets up and walks toward an incoming customer. I look back down at my hands on the red table top.
“I think we can find out now.” I look up at Treasure’s face she seemed smug. “Figure what out?” Grumbled Max still staring down at his hands, allowing his long straight black hair to fall onto his face, making him look like a brooding pile of hopeless depression.
Treasure looked at Max with an expression of extreme unrequited love before her face quickly fixed itself back into a smug smile. I was shocked, I mean I already knew about her humongous crush and borderline obsession with Max, but I mean dang, how could anyone’s emotions fluctuate that fast? She’s probably glad that I’m the only one that saw that strange expression directed at my best friend and not Reece. He would have for sure called her out on it as soon as he saw the love obsession she had carved into her expressions.
“We go and explore that house that uncle was talking about and I win my bet with grease face over here.” Said Treasure in a factual tone pointing her thumb at Reece who finally looked like he was coming out of his thoughts.
“Shut your horse mouth grass eater.” Said Reece seeming angry all of a sudden.
Max spoke in a tone of disinterest “These insults keep getting weirder and weirder every day.” I snorted a bit and smiled at his plain statement of truth.
“We go tomorrow guy’s, were going to show Treasure of the grass who is boss.” Reece said snarkily as he stared at both me and Max individually he then cleaned nonexistent dust off of his jacket top, like he was some sorta ‘boss’ as he put it. I rolled my eyes in time with Max. He on the other hand spoke his disinterest out loud in a bored tone “Whatever”.
We started packing up our uneaten food and throwing away scraps and trash that we didn’t want nor need. When we were finished we said our goodbyes to Randall and walk out of the small restaurant heading in a random direction to do nothing for the rest of the day but talk about random garbage as usual.
I split off from my friends later on in the day after the sun went down and I headed back to my house leaving our old hang-out spot in a huge empty parking lot. Needless to say, my walk back was horrible my head started killing me the second I split off from them, and I almost passed out from the insane amount of pressure being applied to my poor skull. Or at least it felt like pressure on my skull it was most likely my brain moving in my head though. Luckily I held it together and made my way back to my house without anything severely crazy happening. Sure I stumbled a lot and I probably looked like a lost stupid zombie walking around but I was just relieved to have made it back to my house alive.
My annoying little brother answered the door for me staring me down as I walked into the house, he asked in his annoying cry baby voice. “Where have you been all day, Mom would be pissed if she knew you weren’t watching me.” I roll my eyes in annoyance at him.
“Well, Bobby I figured that you knew how to live while I was gone. I have been staying home alone since I was six what makes you so special is that you get to be watched at six. You’re the supposed genius of the family after all.” He looks like he was seething at my words.
“Shut up! I know I’m smart but I still hate being left alone, just because I skipped two grades shouldn’t mean anything.”
I roll my eyes at him I find myself doing that a lot when he’s around. “I was out with friends, I guess I could bring them here next time since you seem to want that so bad,” I growl back at him. He slams his hand on the table, seeming to be throwing a fit. Oh yeah, that’s right. He’s used to getting what he wants.
“You stupid prick, I don’t want that fat pig Reece in our fridge eating all of our food. Max is super depressing and he brings down the life in the house. I have no issues with the girl, but you, I hate you.” I squint my eyes at him and whisper “You little devil.”
He comes over to me and then suddenly he grabs the collar of my shirt and he brings my face close to his forcing me to stare him in the eyes. I push him away and I throw his flimsy little hands off of my shirt but he somehow keeps putting me back into the same annoying position.
“Have you been doing drugs!!?” Screech’s the annoying kid. He’s analyzing me, I push him back again and he finally lets me go. “No, of course not.” He didn’t seem convinced. “Why do your pupils look like that?”
I realized that my light baby blue eyes gave away my pupils, this is when I wished that I was born with dark brown eyes. I can’t tell him the truth. Shit, I can’t tell anyone the truth. Crud ..um ok, think… Think, man how much I wish that I could just suddenly turn into Jimmy Neutron and have a brain blast moment. The only moment I have is of awkward stupid panic. I quickly try to squash my panic and I say the first thing that comes to my mind. Which was a bad idea because there was only stupid in my mind.
“Pickle juice?’ I say in an almost asking tone before I catch myself. “Umm.. I mean my stupid friend Reece decided to be funny and toss pickle juice into my eyes. They’ve been feeling weird all day ever since, guess I didn’t know it had an actual effect on me to the degree of pupil dilation.” He looks like my resolve isn’t too overly unbelievable and shakes his head and then he pets my head like I’m an animal or something then he says “oh ok, I got you.”
I slap his hand away from me and Walk up to my room. I shut my door behind me and I collapse onto my bed the second my head hits the pillow I fall asleep as usual.
The next day, I woke up to my stupid brother slapping me with pillows. “Bro, go away,” I yell at him frustrated.
He grabs the ugly pillow my mom bought me for Christmas, which was merely decoration, and horrible decoration at that. He slapped me some more. So, I kicked the little brat off my bed. “Would, you go away, and stop hitting me!”
He got up from the ground seeming kind of frazzled he unwrinkled his shirt, and gave me one of his iconic stoic devil glares.
“Mom told me! To come up here and to get your lazy butt up. Breakfast is ready and you overslept AGAIN! And would you turn off your annoying alarm clock?”
Suddenly I heard Prince EA talking in the background. That would be my alarm clock, I mean come on, it’s always better to be spoken to in poetry every morning. It gets me out of my bad mood.
I hit the alarm off button on my phone, then I look back at my angry little brother, who looked at me like I was the stupidest person he had ever met. I waved my hand at him gesturing to the door. “Ok, I’m up, now get out.”
He rolls his eyes and stumps his way to the door closing it as he leaves. I lie back down and close my eyes, trying to get a feel for how my head was behaving this morning. I didn’t have a migraine yet, so I was happy. I relaxed into the bed for a couple more seconds before I opened my eyes. Time to get ready for the shitty day that I was about to have, No doubt.
I got up and walked over to my attached bathroom and got ready for a Thursday of Middle school. When I finally made it downstairs to my kitchen, my mother awaited me she looked upset just as my little brother did right next to her. They both crossed their arms and had on that ‘I wish this kid was never born’ face. If only there was one day when my family didn’t hate me. I sat down, and my mom raised her hand at that, acting as if I had just committed treason.
“What do you think you’re doing.”
“I was about to eat breakfast.” She shook her head at me like she couldn’t believe what I was saying.
“Look at the time Danny, it’s time to go. I’m not going to work late today, and you’re not going to school late got it? Now put on your jacket and get in the car.” I do look at the time and I realize that she’s right, it’s thirty minutes past the time I should have been down. I look at her guilty as usual. I whisper a soft “oh, oh man, I’m sorry ma.” She points to the door. I get up and sigh grabbing an apple as me and my annoying little brother leaves outside to the car. As soon as I get in he mumbles “I told you so.”
I almost want to punch him for that, but he was right I did it every day after all. Mom gets in the car five minutes later carrying a briefcase and a lavender purse. She starts up the car and we drive down the street heading towards me and Bobby’s school area.
“Danny, why were you late today?” Asked my mom.
I looked at her suddenly feeling drowsy “I overslept.”
“Oh, is that so.” She faked surprise “what? Do you mean like you do every day? You know I have two jobs to work and I’m a single mother, right? Danny, you need to get your eternal clock set to the right time, and stop falling asleep so late.”
“Yeah” whispered Bobby smirking at me mischievously.
“I’m not trying to be harsh, but you need to wake up on time, to eat on time, your a growing boy. Plus I’m sure you hate getting tardies just as much as the next guy.”
I nod my head to her words and I slowly zone out. Man, sometimes I feel like I’m just a burden to everyone, even my friends. If only I could find a way to get out of everyone else’s way. My little brother grins at something my mom says. He mouths the word “loser” to me. Then again sometimes I also wish I was an only child. I glare at him, then my mom pulls up to a curb stopping in front of the gates of hell, I mean school. She looks at me and ruffles my hair with her hand. “Have a good day at school.”
I nod my head to her, and I get out of the car. She drives off towards Bobby’s elementary school down the street. I don’t understand why the little brat can’t walk. I turned around and walked up the stairs and sit next to a column waiting for my strange friends to come and join me. I got bored after five minutes of waiting, so I pulled out some art supplies and placed them on the ground next to me, I brought out my handy sketch book. I smiled in contentment as I pushed through the pages filled with art to a blank page. I thought of a small idea for a second and started to trace a person. After I was done with the outline I went on to sketch a building behind the person. Then I blanked out as I let my hands do as they pleased with the sketch My mind was Faraway but my pencil in hand and wrestling paper was physical.
I started thinking of running on a never-ending treadmill, that I had named life. Thousands of people came up to the side of me on the treadmill. They all told me to stay on that treadmill, no matter what. Don’t question the treadmill I did as I was told I mean I didn’t know anything else besides the treadmill, I was born on the damn thing, and I grew up on the damn thing. Every person around me had their on treadmill. They ran with all their might some were slower, but you could tell they were still trying. The fast ones went down after a while, they slowly went slower and slower until they stopped altogether. The people who hadn’t gone any slower or any faster lasted forever, they never lost their balance of medium speed. The people trying the most went down the quickest. A lot of people quit, there they lie on their treadmill unmoving I was unmotivated but inconspicuous, I was a medium rider I was going to make it, how couldn’t I, I was determined after all.
I felt myself smile subconsciously then I saw a shadow of someone sitting beside me, casting onto my paper, next to the column, instantly snapping me back into reality. “What are you drawing dude?”
“Yeah, and why are smiling like that? What kind of dirty joke did you hear?” Said a girl’s voice.
I looked up from my sketch to see Max sitting beside me he was analyzing my drawing over my shoulder. Farther to the left stood Treasure looking at me in confusion, beside her was Reece eating a hamburger he was way more interested in the hamburger than our conversation.
Max spoke up beside me in his monotone voice “Bro, that’s cool. How did you do that…. Ther-there’s so much detail.”
I looked back down at my sketch, I had drawn it in a daze so I didn’t remember what it looked like. It was exactly what I was daydreaming about. There was a soldier-like man running on a treadmill, around him stood many people on treadmill’s some falling and some curled up in fetal positions at the end of their treadmills. Behind the many people on treadmills was a huge-looking building that read ‘hell’ on the front of it. A sign stood near the building written in quotations it read “Don’t question it.” Wow when did that all get there? I shrugged at Max’s question and put my art stuff away. Treasure and Reece started up an argument about beef vs vegetables. While Max told me about a new game he bought. I listened to both parties contently feeling happy, as we all walked to each other’s separate locker’s we collected our belongings and went to our classroom that we all shared together for our 1st period.
Three periods later, I was already about to rip out my hair. I had taken two tests 1st period, one was a surprise that I hadn’t studied for, which meant definite failure. The other period I had a huge migraine implode on me causing me not to take any notes or really even listen to anything the teacher said. In the third period, I had accidentally made a fool of myself by tripping over someone’s backpack and I knocked over my desk in the process finally lunchtime arrived.
My friend’s all met up at the lunch line waiting for god knows what to be put onto our styrofoam plates. After getting the wet hot dogs and a watered-down cup of tea, I sat next to my friends at our usual hangout spot out in the back of our school away from the prying eyes of others. There was one single table back there. It was beaten down and had gashes and a small knife hole in it, from Treasure, but it was still a pretty useable table.
I was drawing in my sketchbook as Max talked to his mother on his phone beside me. Reece and Treasure were having an argument about how much money it costs to own a pet. I have no idea how they got there from talking about grease sweat. To be honest I wasn’t really paying attention. My sketch was taking my full attention, it was of the girl I had developed a crush on. I couldn’t stop myself from drawing her and writing her name over and over I was in love, and probably way over my head.
“Martha, you didn’t give me money. No, you didn’t, how? because it would be with me if you did. No, I’m not lying. I-I no.. would you stop talking over me? Listen! Stop talking over me. Martha why would I even need to lie, there’s no purpose. What no, I’m not buying drugs! I’m way more responsible than that Martha ask Cole he knows. He’s your husband ask him not me. Yeah, okay, okay that’s how I’ll prove it then ask him.” Max said desperately.
The one-sided conversation that I was hearing was starting to sound just like me and my mom arguing. Though I knew that it wasn’t the same for Max and Martha because Max was adopted. He once told me that he loved his adopted parents, and he knew that they loved him. What he hated the most was when they would argue or when they seemed like they didn’t trust him. Max was probably the most trustable guy I ever met, that could be biased seeing as he is my best friend and has been for a long time. I knew Max before I even knew Treasure or Reece Max stood up for me back in second grade against that asshole Drake. I never knew why he had a distaste for me, but I was just glad to have found a friend in Max, and I still am.
I smiled over at Max arguing with his mom on the phone before going back to my sketching.
Though there was this strange mystery around Max that I could never figure out. As long as I’ve known him, he has always had a missing pinky finger. It was scary when I first met him, to see a kid’s hand with a missing body part, but now I’m used to it. Every time I tried to ask him about it, he always shrugged me off. Whatever happened, I think that it might’ve changed his life forever.
I tuned into the other argument going on between my other two friends.
“How would it be the same Treasure of the grass? No one would like Looney Tunes if they talked all the time. Tom and Jerry are the same in that way.”
“I’m just saying grease bag maybe that’s why you’re so dumb you watch too much Tom and Jerry. I heard that the show was made for kids.” Said Treasure snarky as ever, as she dug through her SpongeBob lunch box in search of a carrot. When she found one she pulled it out and ate it like a candy stick.
“What are you implying?” Snarled Reece, as he bawled his fist up in anger.
“That you’re a naive kid.”
“Naive, how so?”
“Did you ever get that free boat cruise you were looking forward to last week, or how about that chain letter email about that alleged escaped murder? Do you even remember when that guy dressed in a totally ‘not bought off of Amazon’ police officer suit ran up to us and told us to run before ‘they’ got to us? You ran two miles, surprisingly, screaming about how all the chicken in the world couldn’t save you now. You even left the KFC bucket with us. Two minutes later another guy came out from behind a tree holding a camera and said “that was the best reaction yet” in the douchiest voice ever, as they high-fived each other and ran off somewhere. Now, do you get what I mean?”
Reece stared at Treasure like he was lost. “What! How is any of that naive?”
I rolled my eyes and went back to sketching. Obviously, if Reece didn’t get Treasure’s argument he was never going to understand it you don’t blindly listen to the internet about a free cruise ship, instead putting a virus on your device. You don’t believe everything you hear on a chain letter email, because they’re fucking chain letter emails. Possibly the dumbest thing is believing anyone because they’re wearing a sorta professional-looking suit. The damn guy still had the tag on the shirt, he was wearing vans and khaki pants, he didn’t even carry a walkie-talkie or anything for that matter. Yeah, I saw Treasures point, Reece was a lost cause. He always had been, and he’ll always probably be.
Then I started to think of when I first met them. Subconsciously I heard Max end his one-sided conversation, before laughing at a blushing Reece who was stuttering his way through a sentence. I smiled at their actions as my thoughts wondered back to when I met them.
I remember, Reece and Treasure were expressively talking about something weird or strange, on the other side of the schoolyard. when a group of kids walked past them, and right over to me. I was sitting alone waiting for Max to arrive at school, it was the early morning before school even started. I was aware of my surroundings, just the poem that I was writing was more interesting. I looked up as a casted shadow came over my paper. I was sitting on a railing, probably not the safest of spots now that I think about it.
There were probably a group of ten kids in front of me they stared at me like I was prey, which in this case I was. The douche before me pushed me backward Knocking me straight off the railing onto my back, I had accidentally dropped my pencil and notebook as I crashed onto the not-so-soft ground. When I sat up my head was killing me, and I heard the stupid kids reading my poem out loud. “Deadly devil is in the small opening of my cabinet. How do I make it go away? How do I shut that cabinet?” Before he could make fun of my stupid writing anymore he was suddenly on the floor and Treasure was in front of him holding my book. The guy cried like the wimp I knew he was and curled up on the ground.
My vision was still extremely blurry, and I could hear but it sounded muffled slightly. I heard someone walk up to me and ask something. I couldn’t make out what it was because my hearing faded out subtly. When I looked up at the round chubby face with curly red hair I had come to know as Reece I finally heard what he was saying. “Kid are you okay? Oh, man! Can you even hear me? Wait! Holy hell what is that? Treasure! Treasure! Get your butt over here! He’s bleeding.”
Treasure ran over to us, her beautiful curly hair swaying in the wind as she ran. “Oh, crud. He is? Oh man, what do we do!?”
Then suddenly I hear the familiar monotone voice that I knew too well “what is happening?” It was Max, he looked slightly flustered like he had just come from doing the mile. Treasure turned to Max and said, “Do you know this kid.” He shook his head quickly “Yeah, his name is Danny. What’s going on? Why is he bleeding out of his ears?” OUT OF HIS EARS?!! Wait WAS I BLEEDING OUT MY EARS??!!
Long story short Treasure ran to find a yard duty to help me get to the nurses. While Reece freaked out, Max sat beside me trying to help me to not freak out too. He was extremely calming, but Reece wasn’t helping.
The nurse carted over a wheelchair and got me on it with the help of Max and Treasure, Reece was still no help. We got to the nurse’s office where she cleaned my ears of blood, gave me an ice bag to put on my head, and for the rest of the day I resided there. Treasure, Reece, and Max all stayed in there talking to me until class started and we quickly got to know each other. They came back and hung out with me during lunch. Then after school, they hung out with me until I was picked up by my mom I smiled fondly at the memory.
I tuned back into the conversation “well I mean why not.” Exclaimed Max in a dull voice.
Treasure looked at him with surprise, while Reece shook his head smirking. A small smile started to form on Max’s usually plain face as the statement seemed to sink into Treasure. She looked away and rolled her eyes. “No one likes a pig.” Yeah, I had no idea what the conversation was about, and I was super lost. Reece started to giggle and Max even laughed a little I sighed, just as the bell rang.
Treasure got up seeming miffed off “whatever.” She said as she strolled away with her backpack and SpongeBob lunch box. I raised a single eyebrow. I heard a random outburst from beside me “Wait! What! I always wondered how you did that eyebrow thing.”
I looked at Reece who was looking right back at me intrigued. Max stood up and walked away taking his food and backpack with him, dumping the food in the dumpster. He laughed a little as he walked back over taking Treasure’s leftover salad then he pointed at me. “Dude, I’m pretty sure I saw you practicing that in the mirror one day.”
Then he walked away dumping her salad in the trash as he laughed. Reece snorted and looked at me with honest eyes “I should’ve known.” I snorted at his response and we all three went our separate ways after we were done packing up, we walked back to the school. Today wasn’t getting any better.
Later on in the day, I found my day getting worse just like I knew it would. There we were, walking up to this creepy luminous broken down building in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere. While Treasure and Reece argued over who was going to win the stupid bet. Max walked beside me rolling his eyes every once in a while at something obscene that they would say. I was kind of feeling off from the vibe I was getting from the building. My sketchy meter was going way high we stopped on the dirt path looking up at the building.
“Um, dude are you sure this is where Randall saw the man in black” I heard Max nervously ask beside me. “Yep, I’m sure.” Answered an overly confident Treasure.
“Oh, bro this place is so cool.” Said Reece almost too excited. I walked forward and I heard them begin to trail after me.
“Well, would you look at Danny being a man?” Treasure mumbled Max smirked my way in response. I smiled back and looked at the slowly upcoming abandoned building. This was going to be a catastrophe, to deal with, I was sure.
We made it up to the front of the building in silence. That in itself was shocking considering silence was hard to achieve when Reece and Treasure were near each other. There was a front door that looked busted open. Max pushed the door off of the heng watching it fall to the ground, we both looked at each other for a couple of seconds, before walking into the building.
The place was trashed, and the walls looked beaten to hell with spray-painted graffiti everywhere, that the eye could see. I could hear leaking pipes and an almost whispering sound not too far off in the distance. That freaked me out, I made nervous eye contact with all of my friends. They each had their own nervous expressions. Reece looked at the roof and made this weird noise, that brought a random snort out of me, on accident.
Treasure looked at him like she could slap him and folded her hands around her waist asking “And what was that noise for?”
Reece pointed to the roof. We all looked up and all of us made our own sounds of awe. The roof was beautiful. On it was a hand-painted picture of a mermaid in a pond or lake maybe? I brought out my phone and started to take pictures. My friends did the same. Max grabbed me and Treasure and brought us in front of the staircase that led up, I was confused about what he was doing before he simply said “Photography” and I understood.
I held Treasure’s waist and she put her hand around my arm and we stopped in time acting as if we were leading our way up the stairs. Max came around at all angles taking pictures of us and the architecture around us. He took Treasure and asked her to sit on the staircase and to stare off to the side like she was thinking about something. She did what he asked as he went around her taking pictures of her and the stairs. Max was acting like a professional photographer, maybe he wants to be one when he grows up.
Reece took pictures of the graffiti that he found either funny or awesome and sent them to his Instagram story. I walked around the photo shoot taking place, and the dumbass with a camera. Then I found an old balled-up cloth on the ground. The cloth looked old and muddy with specks of a dry dark brown liquid covering it It grossed me out and made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I walked over to it and just stared at it for a bit. Then I looked over to the next room this room faced the street, if Randall had seen anyone in here, they would most likely have to have been in this big spacious room.
Oddly enough few items were left in the room. A small pack of hay sat not too far away and a huge old school computer sat on top of an old beat down looking desk. I walked over to the laptop, or I guess really it’s a desktop. When I moved the mouse beside the desktop I was surprised to see the desktop light up. Damn this dinosaur still worked I was amazed and interested. How? I don’t know but I have to check it out I saw a Wheeling cart not too far away in the next room and got the brightest idea ever, some might say it was so bright it was could change lives.
“Hey, guys look what I just found!” I yelled over to my friends in the other room I heard them slowly walk over and stop in the doorway of the room I was in. Max walked over to me and stared at the desktop. “Woah, it works.” I shook my head at him, he looked at me and smirked that’s when I knew we both had gotten the same idea. I pointed to the Wheeling cart in the other room. He looked at me and nodded before putting his phone in his pocket and jogging over to the Wheeling cart.
Reece seemed more interested in the graffiti still taking pictures, as Treasure walked around the room actually exploring the place. I looked back at the desktop hearing a Wheeling cart heading my way. The screen went from the logo to the ‘password needed’ page “damn it” I mumbled. It needs a password. “What?” Asked Max now standing beside me. “It needs a password.”
He waved his hand like that wasn’t care. “Go to any hacker they could help you. The thing is ancient you’d be a horrible hacker if you couldn’t crack this thing.” I nodded to his words, he was right. Randall could help. Either he or Tim from school, the kid loved hacking into things then again I also heard that he gives a bidding price for his work. I would try my luck anyways, who knows maybe I would get lucky.
“Help me load this thing into the cart.” We nodded at each other and got to work. He unhooked a wire from the walls that I hadn’t realized was there and together we moved it into the Wheeling cart.
After we were done I felt like I had lifted the biggest weight on the weight lifting rack possible. I sighed from the pain in my arms, rubbing my left elbow, from the strain of the lift. My arms felt like mush; just then I heard a loud crash, in the building. It sounded like a window had just been broken. Everyone stopped what they were doing Treasure and Reece each looked at each other and then at me and Max in question. I heard the Faraway sound of footsteps walking around. We all got the point, then. I grabbed the Wheeling cart and whisper yelled “run!” Reece was out of there before I could finish saying the word, Treasure was curled up next to Max and together they ran out not too far behind Reece.
I was the last to go dragging the loud scrapping cart behind me. That was definitely drawing attention.
I suddenly heard loud footsteps as if the person had started to run, and they were running in my direction, fast. I was halfway through the front door when I heard a door swing open in the back of the house. That got me moving even faster.
Me and my friend’s made it to a clearing not too far away from the house, we hid behind a huge tree with surrounding bushes engulfing us. I watched as a man dressed in an all-black suit ran out of the building, then suddenly three more ran out, then five, then I stopped counting as swarms of men in Black ran from the supposedly decrepit place. Each one of them ran to the clearing and into the woods, they all seemed to be on a mission of sorts, running with purpose. Me, Max, Reece, and Treasure each looked at each other in horror at the odd scene taking place before us.
After a while, they stopped running from the building I wondered if it was okay to leave, now. We all did as we slowly made our way out of the woods as quietly as possible. We haven’t spoken of this day since, I think it may have scared us each in a way, the bet was cut and no one won nor lost. Which I was okay with, and I now had an old desktop to worry about. That was the only thing that was good about the entire experience. One hundred percent would not do this again.