by Adam Dark
“That was a long time ago. And we don’t even know if it’s true,” I said.
“We both know it is. But that’s beside the point. The point is that it’s not abandoned and he’s back,” Nico said.
“It sounds like you have a crush on this guy,” I said.
That got me a second and much harder nudge in the side.
“Besides, it’s not about that,” Nico said.
“Mhm. What’s it about then?”
“I want to thank him,” Nico said.
I was not expecting that either. Nico was just full of surprises today.
“Thank him? For what?” I asked.
“He saved my life.”
“You’re really going to stick with that? He was trying to kidnap us, not save us,” I said.
Nico was shaking his head before I finished my sentence.
“You didn’t see what I saw,” Nico said. “He wasn’t trying to hurt us. Actually, I don’t know what he wanted but it wasn’t that.”
“I don’t know…” I said.
Nico turned to face me.
“Then why did he let us go? If he wanted to cause us harm, why do that? Why not kidnap us when we were trampling on his property, or in his house, or in his shed? Why not get us then when no one was around and we had no place to run?”
“I don’t know…”
“Why grab me when I was falling? Why not let me fall to my death? And why give me a rope if he wanted to catch us?”
“I don’t know, alright. Maybe you’re right and he’s not a murdering psychopath that killed his wife and child,” I said.
“You now that’s just a myth,” Nico said.
“Yeah, and so was the haunted house part, and you see how that turned out,” I said.
Nico was grinning.
“What are you smiling about?” I asked.
“You want to go just as much as I do,” he said.
“No, I don’t. You’re out of your mind. I almost died today from heatstroke for God’s sake! Why would I want to tempt death again?”
“Yeah, how are you feeling anyway?” Nico asked.
“Oh, so now you care?”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not going,” I said.
“I’ll see you at eleven,” Nico said.
I shook my head.
“I’m not going.”
13
“I’m going to kill you for this,” I said. “If we don’t die tonight, then I’ll be the one who does it.”
Nico had the biggest grin spread across his cheeks.
“I knew you’d come around,” Nico said.
“You kind of left me no choice. What kind of a friend would I be if I let you go up to die by yourself? Someone’s got to look after your back. You sure as heck aren’t doing it,” I said.
“Just admit it, you’re just as curious to know his story as I am,” Nico said.
It was the truth, but I wouldn’t tell him that. Going back to the mansion was the last thing I wanted to do—definitely the dumbest. How I had made it to twelve-years-old with Nico as my friend was a miracle in its own right. If things continued on the course we were following, neither one of us would see eighteen.
Heck, we might not even see tomorrow depending on how this night went. We crept along the side of the house, ensuring not to pass under the street lamps. We stuck to the shadows until we were two streets away.
The guys were all waiting on their bikes when we got there.
“Pay up!” Henry said when we were walking up.
Ian cursed under his breath and handed Henry some money.
“They were betting on whether you’d show or not,” Nico said.
“Yeah, and you just cost me $20! Do you know how long it took me to earn that?” Ian said.
“Guess you better get back to mowing lawns then,” Henry said.
“Thanks, guys. What friends you all are,” I said.
Max and Peter were the only ones that didn’t seem amused. Max’s face seemed to always be in a perpetual state of paralysis and paleness. His knuckles were white just from squeezing his handle bars.
Peter didn’t look any better, but he had an excuse for his paleness. I was actually more surprised to see him than I was Max.
“Are you up for this?” I asked when I got closer to Peter.
He nodded.
“You only live once, right?” he asked.
He tried to reassure himself that he was doing the right thing and that this would be fun, but I could tell his respiratory issues were flaring. His breath came out in wheezes.
“If you start to feel faint, just let me know. I’ll take you back home. We’ll go slow,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Ian and Henry were still arguing about the money.
“Statistically there was a 70-30 chance that he’d show,” Henry was saying.
“How’s that?” Ian asked.
“Well, he owed Nico. That automatically ups the percentage in the favor of him going,” Henry said.
“So he was guilt-tripped into coming, is that what you’re saying?” Ian asked.
“The numbers don’t lie. You have to take into account all erroneous factors when making a hypothesis,” Henry said.
Ian waved him off.
“Enough with your statistics! You know it’s an unfair advantage,” Ian said.
“I use the weapons I’ve been given,” Henry said.
It was awkward hearing the two of them debate. It was like a college professor having a debate with a three-year-old. There was just no point. Equally weird was hearing Henry talk about weapons. He wasn’t a fighter. Far from it. He used his intellect to bypass arguments, fights, or unpleasant situations.
Ian was the opposite. Other than Nico, Ian wouldn’t back down from a fight. They were also the athletic ones of the bunch, but I’m not sure how much this played a part in their personalities.
“I’ll get my money back,” Ian said.
Henry rolled up the twenty-dollar bill and stuffed it into his pocket. I couldn’t help but notice his pants were rolled up past his ankles and his shirt looked like it was two sizes too small. Henry was skinny, but not that small.
“Let’s get moving,” Nico said.
“Someone’s in a hurry,” Ian said. “Afraid that you’ll come to your senses and realize you’re just as scared as Max?”
I thought Nico was going to punch Ian, but instead, he kept moving.
“We’ll see who’s scared once we get up there,” Nico said. “I let my actions do the talking.”
Ian frowned but that got him to shut his mouth. Nico and I hopped on our bikes. We all pedaled down the street and veered to the back of the neighborhood. At one point we went off-road and used the utility path by the drainage ditch to bypass the constable.
If he saw us out past curfew, we’d be screwed. Once we had safely gone around him, we got back on the street. Unlike the night before, we kept pedaling up the long driveway. Nico seemed to increase his speed as we approached the lot.
“Slow down! You’re leaving the others behind,” I said.
“They can catch up,” Nico said.
“What’s the hurry?” I asked.
But he ignored me and pedaled even faster. I slowed my speed to wait for the others to catch up. Peter brought up the rear. He was at least two hundred meters behind us. I stopped at the entrance to the driveway to wait for him.
By the time he reached me, he looked like he was about to keel over and collapse. His face was covered in sweat and his eyes weak.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He slid to a halt and leaned his head against the handle bars. His chest rose and fell in rapid succession. After he had taken about twenty quick gulps of air, not a single one seeming to do much to calm his heart rate, he said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just need to catch my breath is all.”
“Are you sure that you’re up for this?” I asked. “Your condition—"
“I’m fine,” Peter snapped sudd
enly.
There was fire in his eyes for a split second, then it was gone. I had never seen Peter get angry.
I didn’t say anything until he was ready.
“Alright, I’m good,” he said.
Max had fallen behind and was standing near the entrance. Ian and Henry were somewhere up ahead, and Nico was probably at the house by now.
“You didn’t have to wait for us,” I said to Max.
“It’s okay.”
He looked to Peter.
“How are you feeling?” Max asked.
I knew Max cared, but it was also his crutch. The reality was that he didn’t want to bike up the long, dark driveway by himself. Who could blame him?
The lone streetlamp in this section of the neighborhood was fifty feet away. Its dim light was the only source of illumination at this point. The driveway was a shadow among shadows. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to go up it at this point. That’s not right. I knew I didn’t, but Nico had left me no choice.
A debt was a debt, and if I turned back now, I’d look like a coward. Maybe I was. And part of me didn’t care what they thought of me. If it meant I was still alive, then so be it. But I couldn’t abandon Peter or Max. The two boys were the weakest of the bunch.
One refused to admit that he needed help due to his crazy health complications, and the other, well, just didn’t want to admit that he was scared of everything.
I swiveled my bike to face the driveway. The tall concrete walls on either side began the outline of the start of the one hundred and fifty acres of untapped land. As far as I knew, no one had ventured into it for years. Other than stupid adolescents like us who had a death wish.
Some did it out of sheer rebellion. Others as a dare or to prove they weren’t chicken. And a few, like me, did it because they were just plain stupid. That’s the only excuse I could give myself that made any sense.
Sticking up for friends, paying a life-debt, or being supportive wouldn’t cut it. Every part of my being knew I should turn around right now, go back home, crawl into my bed, and forget this night ever existed. But there I stayed.
I was an immovable obstacle, unable to move forward or backward. It was Max—of the darnedest of people—who made the first move. Albeit, his bike most likely accidentally shifted forward, but the squeak of his tire was all I needed. I was moving before I knew what I was doing, and the two of them right behind me.
The air grew colder the moment my body crossed the threshold of where the street and the driveway met. I told myself this was just my mind playing tricks on me and the self-fulfilling prophecy at work, nothing else.
But even though I knew this, a part of me—however small—wondered if maybe, just maybe there was more to this dark, gut-wrenching nausea coursing in my stomach. The tall reeds on either side did not sway this night as they did the night prior. The stillness was so palpable that the air literally felt heavier, as if we were biking through a thick sheet of melted wax.
My legs strained to pedal up the steep slope. My lungs labored and sweat poured down my spine. If I was struggling this much, I knew Peter was dying. I glanced back to check on him every few seconds to ensure he hadn’t passed out and toppled over.
To my surprise, every time, he looked unperturbed. The same went for Max. Neither one looked as though they were straining beyond the normal wear and tear of biking up a hill. In fact, they almost looked as though they were coasting.
I pushed this curiosity aside and accounted for it with the fact that I had been on the water all day, in the hot sun, hand climbed a cliff, nearly died, and was severely dehydrated. My body was running on fumes at this point. That was the reason for my dragging. Nothing else.
This assuaged my anxiety as we drew closer to the top of the hill. Henry and Ian were still arguing when we arrived. Nico was nowhere in sight.
“Hey guys! Where’s Nico?” I asked.
Henry looked at me as if I had somehow interrupted a very important conversation. Ian on the other hand seemed to thank me with his eyes. Henry must have been going on one of his tangents again and burning Ian’s ear off with senseless information.
“If you had minimized your draft, you wouldn’t have expended as much energy coming up the hill. That’s why you’re out of breath,” Henry finished saying.
“Whatever,” Ian said. “I still beat you.”
Ian was always trying to compete with someone. And ironically, he always chose one of the least athletic but most intelligent of the bunch. And even funnier, Henry won more times than not from sheer wit.
He was a living testament that it wasn’t always the bravest or the strongest who won, but the one who adapted the best and used their head.
Right about now, my chest and muscles were wishing I had overheard Henry’s spiel about low-drag and energy conservation. It might have saved me exhaustion I now felt.
I drew in several breaths before I could finally speak without gasping.
“Where’s Nico?” I repeated.
“He was right there,” Ian said.
Both he and Henry looked over their shoulder to where Nico should have been but found only his bike laid on the grass and loose, pebbled drive.
“Well…he was right here,” Ian said.
“Nico!” Ian shouted.
“Shut up!” I chastised.
“What? I thought you wanted to find him?” Ian asked.
My eyes darted up to the mansion.
“I do. Just keep your voices down. We don’t want him to know we’re here,” I said.
Ian’s eyebrows raised, and Henry shuffled uncomfortably on his seat. He wasn’t the worst of the bunch, we had Max for that, but he also knew the facts or ratios to just about every situation. No doubt, he was running the numbers in his head right now.
And judging from the creases in his forehead and his quivering lip as his eyes darted back and forth in thought, I’d say the numbers were not adding up in our favor.
I let out a sigh.
“Help me find Nico,” I said.
“He’s up there,” Max said from behind me.
I shifted my bike around and nearly smacked his leg with my metal gears.
“Jeez, Max! Could you have stopped any closer?” I grunted.
“Sorry,” Max said.
He had stopped his bike right up against my calf. Any closer and he would have peeled the skin off. I walked my bike a foot away.
“Where is he?” I asked, more annoyed than I should have been.
Max pointed up the hill. I followed his outstretched hand to the lithe figure on the porch.
“Idiot!” I muttered and jumped off my bike. The springs smacked into the pebbled drive with a loud crash, but by this time, I didn’t care.
I stormed up the path. Nico was peering through one of the windows when I walked up.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?” I asked.
My voice was above a whisper. Nico continued to walk up and down the porch, making the most ruckus he could make.
“There’s no one here,” he said, intentionally louder than he needed to.
“Come on guys! Come on up,” he yelled through the yard.
I could have killed him myself and buried him in the field of tall grass where no one would ever find him. Nico must have caught wind of my mood.
He hopped off the porch.
“Lighten up, Ben. We’re just having a little fun. Live a little,” Nico said.
“I did that this morning, or don’t you remember what happened?” I asked.
Nico rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Don’t start back up on that again,” Nico said.
“Start back up on what?” Ian asked.
He and the other three boys had joined us. All of our bikes were huddled in a pile of metal and tires sixty feet away.
“Nothing,” I said.
“No, go ahead and tell them,” Nico said. “If it’s such a big deal to you, they deserve to know.”
“Know what?” Max a
sked.
He had his body squeezed in the middle of Henry and Ian. It was his instinctive posture. He looked like he was going to croak. And that was saying something compared to how Henry appeared at this very moment.
The fluctuating weather from hot and cold was not good for his asthma. He had his inhaler pressed firmly in his mouth.
“It’s nothing,” I repeated.
“You and I know it’s nothing! You keep making such a big fuss over it,” Nico said.
“What are the two of you talking about?” Ian asked.
I rolled my eyes. Nico threw his hands into the air and paced in front of the porch.
“I’ll tell them if you don’t,” Nico said.
All of my friends’ eyes fell on me.
“It’s nothing. Nico and I were out on the lake earlier today,” I said.
“We came to the mansion,” Nico blurted out.
“You what?” Max asked. “Why would you do that?”
“We didn’t intend to,” I said. “It just sort of happened.”
“How could you just sort of happen upon this place?” Henry asked. “The chances of that happening are—”
“Enough with your probabilities!” Ian said.
There was an awkward silence. None of us spoke.
“My mother took my sister and I to the lake this morning. Nico had stayed the night so he came with us. Well, we docked up against the shore for lunch. Nico and I went investigating, and well…”
“We wound up here,” Nico said.
“And?” Ian asked.
“That’s it,” Nico said.
He and I exchanged glances.
“That’s it?” Ian repeated, but to me this time.
“Yeah. When we saw the house, we went back,” I said.
“You guys are fools. Why would you come up here by yourself?” Ian asked.
“Look who’s talking,” Nico said. “You’re standing here now.”
Ian opened his mouth to retaliate but had nothing to say.
“Anyway, it’s not a big deal. The house was empty,” I said.
I didn’t know why I was lying to my friends, but it just sort of came out before I knew what I was saying.
“Well, right then. So what’s the big fuss?” Ian asked.
Max was looking right at me. I think he knew there was something I wasn’t saying. He just didn’t know what.
