When I was 15(m), I had a friend named Gerard. He was a little bit odd as he didn’t talk to anyone else other than me, but I thought nothing of it. We spent all our time together, playing video games, hanging out at the park, and biking around our neighborhood. A week or so before spring break, he told me his family was going on a trip to their lake house. His mom told him he could bring one friend and unsurprisingly he invited me. I was pretty excited at the opportunity as my family didn’t have much money and we rarely went on vacations. I asked my parents if I could go and it took some convincing, but eventually, they agreed.
After the slow week of school before the break, I was super excited for the trip. They picked me up from my house at 7am and we got on the road. It was a beautiful Saturday in April and the weather promised nothing but an amazing weekend. For some context about his family, he had a single mother (Helena), and a younger sister (Ray). We drove for a few hours and played many games like I spy and license plate bingo. At 11 we finally got to the house, which astonished a young me. It must’ve been 6000 square feet with giant windows from base to roof. Surrounded by perfectly manicured landscaping it seemed like a paradise in the middle of nowhere. The property was filled with breathtaking scenery and unmatched views of the lake and surrounding mountains. “I didn’t know your family had so much money,” I said to Tom, “What exactly does your mom do for a living?” Thinking back, it was kind of a rude question which would have explained his less than amused answer, “Don’t worry about it.”
We got out of the car and walked up to the door, meeting their gardener on the way, Mikey. “You must be Frank,” he said to me. There was something off about his tone. He seemed cheery but in an off putting way, like he was faking it. I thought nothing of it at the time and continued inside. Gerard gave me a short tour of the house and then took me down to the basement. He walked down a hallway and opened a door at the end, “This will be your room.” It had no lights, peeling paint on the walls, and was overall pretty creepy. I was a little surprised that he was having me sleep down there as we passed many empty bedrooms (including his) while upstairs. I almost said something but didn’t want to be rude.
“Dinner is at 7, you can hang around here or go to the lake, I will be in the study,” He said. I was shocked. He was seriously suggesting I hang out by myself while on a vacation HE invited me to. This was especially weird because he was always the clingy one in our friendship, making all our plans to hang out. “What are you going to do in the study?” I asked confusedly, thinking he was probably making a joke. “Don’t worry about it.” He said. I sat on my bed for a while looking at my phone. I debated calling my mom to pick me up but eventually decided not to.
After a while I decided to go upstairs to get something to eat. Excepting to find his mom and sister, I was a little surprised to find a seemingly empty house. I walked up more stairs (to the second level) to find a single light on in what I presumed was the study. I was about to walk in but I saw a sign reading “do not disturb”. I walked back down to the kitchen to get a snack, and was greeted by Mikey the gardener. “Can I make you something to eat?” He said, grinning in his fake-looking smile. “It’s ok, I replied. I don’t want to be a bother.” I went to the pantry to grab myself a bag of chips when all of a sudden, I felt something grab my the back of my shirt. A second hand clasped over my mouth and I turned around to see Mikey dragging me across the floor. He pulled me into a closet and shut the door quietly.
“We don’t have much time to talk, but I had to drag you in here because there are cameras everywhere. You can’t see them, but they’re there. You need to leave now, find a way out. Steal Helena’s car or just run.” He then opened the door promptly and thrust me out back into the kitchen. My entire body was shaking, the encounter scared the living shit out of me. I turned around to look back at Mikey but he was gone. I immediately ran upstairs to inform Gerard of everything that happened. I stormed through the study door to find him standing motionless looking out the window. “What the fuck!” I yelled, “Why did Mikey just throw me in the closet and tell me to leave?!” Gerard answered but didn’t turn around to look at me, “I don’t know anyone named Mikey.” “Your gardener?” I replied, Confused as ever. “Frank, I don’t have time for your shenanigans. We don’t have a gardener and I wish you wouldn’t storm in here unannounced. This is my private space.” He certainly wasn’t himself. He talked to me as if I was was a stranger, not his best friend.
I left the room and ran down the stairs. All of a sudden I felt my foot slip and fell I tumbled down the remaining 10 steps. Dazed and in pain, I looked up to see Mikey hovering over me. His smile disappeared and his eyes were now gaping at me. “LEAVE!” He screamed at me, spit spewing from his mouth. “I’m done with this shit,” I thought to myself. I ran through the kitchen and outside the door, not even bothering to shut it. I looked back to the house and my eyes wandered to the study window. Gerard was staring at me, but didn’t have any sort of expression on his face. I ran down the driveway and all the way down to the property’s gate. I scaled it and jumped over to the other side. After running at least a mile on the wooded road, I picked up my phone. Amazingly I had three bars. I called an Uber which was only five minutes away and waited hidden amongst the trees for it to arrive. After what felt like an hour, a black sedan pulled onto up to the road in front of me, and I slowly left my hiding spot. “Uber for Frank?” I asked. “Yes,” a voice replied. A woman’s voice. In fact I recognized the voice, it was Helena’s. Gerard’s younger sister than jumped out of the back seat car and pushed me inside. She then followed me in and put a gun to my head.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She asked sweetly. Fear and adrenaline coursing though my veins, I grabbed the gun and thrust it at Ray. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you people, but I want no part of this. Get out of the car and nobody gets hurt.” Helena and Ray slowly walked out onto the side of the road. They stared at me as I started the car and pulled away, grinning. Stomping on the gas, I drove down the secluded road, somewhat relieved albeit still pretty scared. Ten minutes passed and I figured I was in the clear. “Thanks for freeing me.” A voice whispered from the back seat. I looked in the rear view mirror to see Mikey, waving at me.
This was my first short story so I hope you guys liked it!