The night was closing in and the boys hot on its trail. This was the moment. Finally.
As they approached the seemingly pleasant house - the sunlight dimming more and more - Ryan thought back to their earlier conversation with Father Thomas:
He shivered at the thought of inviting anything paranormal or supernatural.
Darkness blanketed the boys and the house, whose windows glowed like firey eyes. Ryan paused with growing fear, “u-uh Shane, I think we should -“; cutting him off, shane spoke loudly at the home:
Ryan stared, baffled at his friend’s outburst.
“Come on, Ryan. Can’t quit before you start!” Shane patted his smaller friend on the back and swiftly moved foward toward the house. Ryan, with a new sense of courage, followed suit.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Shane yawns, “welp, we’ve walked around an empty house for hours with nothing to show for it.”
Ryan nodded with an ambivalent sigh. He couldn’t quite grasp the mix of relief and disappointment he felt. Ryan wanted to find something, but also didn’t want to find anything.
The night was almost over and the boys were empty handed. Shane turns to Ryan and says:
At that moment, the house shook tremendously. The chandelier above them chimed throughout the house, giving life to the previously unbothered home. Ryan’s odd mixture of relief and disappointment turned into immense fear and dread.
“Why’d you have to go and insult them??”
Shane laughed, “It’s probably just the house settling! No big deal. It’s an old house.”
Soon after Shane’s comment, the house slowly stopped moving and stillness coated air.
“Yeah maybe you’re right,” Ryan exhaled deeply, unaware he had been holding his breathe the whole time.
Then, ever so quietly, a whisper blew by Ryan’s ear. He stiffened. The hairs on the nape of his neck standing straight. “Did you hear that?”
Shane shrugged, “hear what?”
Ryan listened, hard, trying to hear what the whisper was saying.
“One of us” “Him” “One of us”
Ryan’s fear began to escalate ever further, “Do you seriously not hear that? ‘Him’???? ‘One of us’?????”
Shane rolled his eyes nonchalantly, “Okay, let’s say I do hear it. How about I tell them to knock it off?”
In a loud and authoritative voice, Shane exclaimed, “Aye, you demon! Knock it off or I’ll shut you up myself!” :
At that moment, the house went into complete silence. No whispers or even a small tremble. As if on que, sunlight began to stream into the windows of the old home.
Ryan sighed, this time with nothing but relief, “let’s get out of here.”
The boys left the home, Ryan more in a hurry than Shane.
As they walked back to their van, Ryan looked at Shane, “Hey, how did you do that back there?”
“Do what?” Shane replied, a glint in his eye.
“Your voice. How did you do that with your voice? And your eyes. I swear they were bright yellow.”
Shane side-glanced at his tiny friend, a grin curling over his face,
“I thought I told you. I used to do ventriloquism so I can do a lot of different voices. A walk in the park for me. And it was dark Ryan. The mind can play tricks on ya.”
Ryan pondered, but not for long as the van came in sight and Ryan hopped into it with a quickness.
Shane slithered in and buckled up.
‘Next time,’ Shane thought, ‘I’ll tone it down a bit.’
