Henry broke the silence. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Jack?” he asked.
“Sure, I’m sure! There’s nothing out here besides us!” replied Jack. “Let’s just find it.”
The two boys continued through the forest. Every once in a while they would find piles of rotting, damp wood. There were no birds, deer, or rodents. The only sign of life were the bugs squirming at their feet.
“More wood,” sighed Henry, slightly concerned. “Where do you think it is? We’ve looked everywhere! I’m going to be furious if this is another prank and not an actual dare.”
“Relax, Henry. We’re going to find it. Don’t be such a wimp.”
After walking for several miles, the boys came upon what looked like a walkway made of the same old wood. They followed it and slowly approached a tall, wooden house that looked unsturdy. It towered over them as they walked through the open front door.
Jack took charge. “You go upstairs; I’ll stay down. Make sure Nolan and Lucas aren’t here waiting to jump out and scare us. Then we’ll figure out where the bedroom is.”
Jack made his way around the ground floor. There were cobwebs everywhere. The walls had peepholes, and the floor felt unstable.
Even though they had left the front door ajar, the house was pitch black.
After searching around the ground floor, Jack descended to the basement. It was windowless and much darker there. He searched around and then entered what seemed to be a wine cellar with old, dusty bottles lining the walls. There was another door inside the cellar. As he reached for the doorknob, Jack was startled by what sounded like a shriek and then a sinister moan, followed by a loud thump that shook the floor above.
He bolted out of the cellar. Before he made it to the stairs, he heard a sigh from behind him. He slowly turned around through the dusty air, dreading whatever he might see. Jack froze as he made out the body of Henry. His friend’s face was bruised, and his skin was white and cracked.
“Jack. H-help.”
Jack was petrified. Movement felt impossible; his body was heavy. Should he help his friend or try to escape? Or was it already too late? His mind was racing; the house seemed to be closing in on him. His heart was beating so loudly that he didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind him until there were cold hands curling around his neck.
***
"You know,” Lucas munched on a chip, “BBQ Pringles are a lot better than this junk. I mean, who the heck likes Lays more than Pringles? It’s common knowledge. Tell your mom to get BBQ Pringles next time.”
Nolan nodded in agreement. He continued to toggle his controller as he played a racing game on his TV.
When the game ended, he turned to Lucas. “Let me address the elephant in the room: don’t you think this dare is a little much?”
“Maybe,” Lucas admitted.
He pleasantly recalled the time they had dared Jack and Henry to sleep in the trunk of Nolan’s dad's car together. That was one of his all-time favorite dares. The four boys had known each other since second grade. Since then, it had been a monthly tradition for Lucas and Nolan to propose a dare to Jack and Henry and vice-versa.
The dares had been silly at first: making prank phone calls or wearing a winter coat and hat to school in the spring. But over the years, the dares had gotten riskier and sometimes dangerous. Dares like sleeping in the bathroom had turned into dares like skipping school to spend the whole day in the backyard, or stealing gum from the drugstore.
And now, in eighth grade, they had come up with their most dangerous dare yet; they had dared Jack and Henry to locate and sleep in the bedroom of a dilapidated, old house they had discovered in the middle of the woods near their school.
The plan was that Nolan and Lucas would meet Jack and Henry at 9:00 the next morning at the edge of the woods. The rules of a dare were clear – if a dare wasn’t completed, then the two who failed would have to face a punishment chosen by the other two. No one had ever failed to complete a dare, but the boys had spent countless hours conceiving of possible punishments, the more humiliating and unreasonable the better. Over the years, the threats had included getting thrown into a public pool wearing a dress and running a mile in a hot dog costume.
All four of them were secretly starting to feel like the dares had taken a dark turn, and they all wanted to stop the game or at least revert to less serious dares, but no one wanted to be the first to speak out.
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Nolan and Lucas raced to the meeting place. At exactly 9:00 o’clock, Jack and Henry showed up.
“Dare complete,” said Jack. “Let’s go.”
Both Jack and Henry were grinning, but their smiles quickly crumpled into grimaces. They were staring vacantly, with bloodshot eyes. Their skin seemed pale and thin, almost like parchment. The air smelled stale, or maybe it was their breath.
Lucas frowned. “Sure, let’s head back to Nolan’s. We can debrief there. You look like you didn’t get much sleep.” He knew something was off, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it, and he didn’t want his friends to think he was making something out of nothing.
The boys entered Nolan’s house. “I’m going to go clean myself up in the bathroom,” said Jack. Henry followed him up the stairs.
Nolan turned to Lucas. “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know. They’re acting weird. That’s not like them. They’re usually happy and chatty after they complete a dare. And they look weird, too. Did the air smell weird, or was that just me?” Lucas was talking much faster than intended.
“That definitely wasn’t just you. Something’s out of whack,” replied Nolan. “I bet they’re just messing with us. We need to ...” Nolan was interrupted by the sound of walking on stairs.
Jack and Henry returned to the living room. They sat down slowly, stiffly, in unison as if nothing had just happened. Lucas and Nolan just stared at them in disbelief.
Lucas couldn’t hold his tongue. “Guys, um, are you okay?”
Jack and Henry gave Lucas foul, twisted grins. “We’re completely fine. Why do you ask?” Again, unison.
“Well, um, you guys just seem off.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Jack evenly. “But it’s time for your dare. You both have to do the exact same thing Henry and I just did. Find the house and sleep there. Tonight.” The two smiled contemptuously.
Lucas and Nolan both felt a chill go down their spines. The suspicion in their faces was impossible to hide. In six years, no one had turned down a dare. And they didn’t really have a choice; for sure, the punishment that Jack and Henry would come up with would be worse than the dare.
That night, they left the house. Their parents were unaware of the events that were happening. This terrified Nolan and Lucas, but they both wanted to get to the bottom of this. Jack and Henry were their best friends. They always had each others' backs. Whatever was going on, it had started right after they came out of the woods.
They cautiously entered the woods. Lucas started to sweat, something he often did when nervous or scared. Nolan and Lucas searched and searched until they finally came to a rickety wooden walkway that led to a house.
It was made of rotting wood that seemed unsturdy. This didn’t look like the house they had originally discovered, but maybe it was fear playing tricks on their minds. They scanned the scene. After a brief hesitation, they exchanged nervous glances, and entered the house.