A flash in the dark
Close your eyes baby, and hold my hand, because I’m about to scare you.
I was young and wild, the world had opened up for me and I was not afraid of anything. There wasn’t a darkness that I could not light up. Every friend I held dear was just like a brother, some could have been my twin.
Great ideas always seem to happen under the influence. The beer bottles melted by a raging fire, and the best of friends forged a circle of trust.
“There is a house; an old house in the town I grew up in, it’s falling apart. There are things in there that you cannot see, that you cannot fight.”
“Shut the fuck up with that shit”
“I think we should check it out, bring a camera and take a picture of all us in a haunted house”
“Sounds like fun to me”
“Let’s go right now, what are we waiting for?”
The dare was laid down; a decision had to be made. Man hood had to be proven at every opportunity.
Two hours of driving down a long lonely road, that winded like a snake that bit us every chance it got.
Thirty minutes down a dirt road that had not been used in years, and the old truck bounced over the ruts and bumps.
I don’t know who saw it first, but in the distance upon a small hill the old house stood crooked as if the moonlight was the only thing that held it up. A light tingle of fear enters my fingers knifing its way up my arm, making the hair stand on end.
We parked, jumped out of the old truck, and banded together like warriors about to take siege to a castle.
The steps creaked like the knees of an old man. The wood was rotted and buckled under my weight. The door had rotted off its hinges, and had fallen sideways to block our entrance. It was kicked and fell inwards with a crash, and the years of dust flew into the air.
Inside the house is a fuzzy memory. Every step was light, and someone else was inside with us, maybe something else was there as well. I could feel it, that sense of being watched, that terrible feeling of something bad about to happen, but to macho to say something, or do anything about it.
The tension was building; I heard it in the mouse voices of my friends. None of us wanted to be there any longer.
“Let’s just take the picture and get out of here”
The best idea we had yet. We gathered in the kitchen, and the camera was placed on a counter. We gathered around and I tried to smile for the picture, but my mouth would not form, my lips were frozen in place.
I was cold, shivering in the darkness. Huddled with my friends and wanting to just run from this horrible place as fast as I could.
The bright flash made me cringe; it blinded me for just a second. My sight returned quickly, quicker then that of my friends. Being color blind does have its advantages. At the moment my eyes adjusted quickly when a friend took a step, he couldn’t see at all, and he screamed as his leg fell threw the old wooden floor. I reached for him, but it was too late, and the blood from his leg was all over my hands.
I helped him up and one of the others helped him out of the house. The camera still stood on the counter, and I walked over to get it. It flashed and blinded me, I heard a crash, felt the wood begin to shutter beneath me. I had lost all sense of direction. I blinked hard trying to get my vision back. The air was thicker, and I could taste the dirt in mouth as I began to choke on it.
I could see in a blur through the darkness, the light danced off objects I was getting dizzy, and felt like puking. With a deep breath I regained my bearings and reached for the camera, it flashed again as I grabbed it. At that moment I felt something pull on my jacket hard and I resisted as fear took me.
“Come on man, we’re leaving”
The voice was soothing, but it wasn’t one I recognized. I felt a large hand take a hold of mine. It led me slowly to the front door and as the moon light hit my face I was able to see again.
I could see my friends over by the truck ripping up a shirt to wrap up a bloody leg.
I looked back and saw no one inside the house. I do not know who guided me out; I don’t think I will ever know.
But, I do have a picture.
