Welcome to the Boy scouts

 

“Well have a good week,” my father said while shaking my hand as my

camping gear remained scattered on the ground.

 

It was the first time I ever recall shaking my father's hand and I think

on some subconscious level, it marked a moment where I was no longer a

boy, but starting the process of becoming a man. But at that moment in

my life, I just wasn't ready for that stage. I saw my father walking back to

his truck and tried calming my nerves because it was going to be hard without him.

 

It was July of 2007 and I was 11-years-old and was spending my first

summer at Boy Scout summer camp in the American fork canyon.

 Along with five other boys, I had just crossed over from

a Cub Scouts pack that was run by mothers to a Boy Scout troop that was

run by fathers. Now along with the other five newest Boy Scouts, I went

from building pinewood derby cars and selling popcorn to going on 100

mile hikes, long canoe trips, and learning how to start a fire with out

matches.

 

I was very shy but ready to make friends; with short hair and striking good looks ;)

, I was nervous of the thought of spending a week in a foreign

place without my family. And I was even more cautious of the older,

mean looking high school boys I had just met who were already beginning

to surround and harass some of my friends like vultures on fresh

road kill during a hot summer day. It still amuses me how the older boys

were able to reassure the parents of the younger campers they would

keep an eye on their children. They would always act the part of the

caring older scout so well and even put on a fake smile as the parents

returned to their cars feeling confident there son was going to be

watched over by a mature older boy who had their best interest in mind.

 

 

But as I found myself nervous of the week that was about to start, I

did have my friend troy who I had just met a year before in my fifth

grade homeroom class at our elementary school.

 

While Troy and I had a lot in common such as our taste in music, school

activities, and sense of humor, I always enjoyed having Troy as a friend

because he was more talkative and confident than I was at that stage in

my life. And having a friend who was able to make friends with others

better than you could meant a lot to an 11-year-old who is just trying

to fit in with the crowd.

 

With our parents now gone and our brand new camping gear still on the

ground, Troy and I learned the tent we were going to be assigned

wouldn't be available until the next day when summer camp officially

began and the commissary would be open. Troy and I had arrived at scout

camp a day early just as the older boys had arrived following a 100

mile hike from our hometown which was a tradition in our Boy Scout

troop. But our scoutmaster at the time, a man named Jaren, who was a

tall, older man with thinning brown hair and dark glasses, offered to

stay in his son's tent so that Troy and I could use the scout masters

tent until we received ours the next day.

 

For most of the afternoon, Troy and I attempted to settle in to the

campground by exploring the woods around us. But most

importantly, we were trying to remain low on the radar from the older

boys especially Jon, a husky Irish farm boy with beady dark eyes who

had the reputation of being the ringleader when it came to hazing the

new younger scouts.

 

But as the evening approached and darkness began to fall over the

canyon, the wind also began to pick up and the air began

to seem a little less humid and more cooler as all of us new scouts sat

in a tent reading ghost stories out of a book.

 

“Well, it’s getting late,” Troy said to all of us. “It's time we call it a

night especially since it’s going to storm soon. Okay Ryan, lets head

back to our tent.”

 

As Troy and I walked out of the old army tent and began walking back to

the tent we were going to use for the night, we looked around the

campground which had become deserted. No longer were the scout fathers

 

and the older scouts present, but merely a dying fire was starting to

become extinguished from the raindrops that were beginning to fall from

the dark eerie looking sky. And with the wind beginning to pick up

speed, the canopies over the picnic tables began to flap loudly as the

strength of the poles holding them up remained in question.

Just then there was a bright light and a loud boom.

“Holy crap!” I said as Troy and we made a run for our tent. Suddenly we

felt as if we were in a fight for our lives as we dashed across the

dirt ground and leaped into our old army tent and tied the front down

as a way to keep out the rain.

Sitting on our beds, Troy and I reassured each other this storm would

quickly pass as all summer storms tend to do in Western Pennsylvania.

But as the minutes began to pass and we found ourselves on our metal

cots looking up at our tent that was shaking from the wind and rain

that kept on getting more intense, we both came to the conclusion that

something didn't seem right.

BOOM! POW! CRACK!

Outside the storm continued to roar as trees around us were beginning to

fall and the bright lightening would light up the dark campground.

Moments later, Troy and I saw the picnic table canopies rip right out

the ground and become sucked into the deep woods by the raging wind.

Then we heard what we thought was the sound of a train.

“Let's get under our cots!” I shouted to Troy over the loud roars from

the wind and thunder. It might be a tornado!”

As Troy and I laid on the wood slate with our stomachs against the wood

and held on to the feet of our old metal cots (something in hindsight

might have been bad to do) we looked through the bottom gap that showed

us what was going on outside as our campground became ravished by the

storm.

While I was always quick to get afraid, I began to grow even more

terrified when I saw that Troy, who had a great deal of more confidence

than I did, looked scared out of his wits.

“Do you think we are going to die?” Troy asked me as our tent was slowly

being pulled from the ground and water was now slowly seeping in from

the ceiling and soaking our sleeping bags.

“I don't know. I think so.” I shouted back while trying to keep my head

down.

“Do you believe in God?” I asked Troy between the claps of thunder and

the bolts of lightning.

“Yeah, I do. I mean, you do, right?” he asked back.

“Yeah, Yeah I do!” I said looking over to Troy while the flashes of

Lightning reflected off Troy’s glasses. Looking back, our conversation

about life and death was pretty deep for two 11-year-old boys. Going

back and forth we discussed our love for our families, what it would

be like when we would get to heaven, and what God would look like.

But as Troy and I reassured each other of our friendship in what seemed

to be the final moment for the both of us at the time, the next thing I

can remember was the silence.

“Hey Ryan, are you awake,” Troy whispered as both of us somehow were

back on our cots. “Yeah, but my bed is soaked from the rain,” I

replied.

“Mine too,” Troy said. “All my clean clothes are soaked! Everything is

soaked!”

As I held my dying flashlight over our camping gear, we started to hear

buzzing that broke the silence following the storm.

Suddenly the buzz became a high-pitched sound as I felt something biting

my neck.

“There are mosquitoes in here!” I shouted while slapping my face.

Shinning my flashlight to the bottom of our ravished tent, we saw

Mosquitoes coming up from the wooden slates below us and were beginning

to feast on our skin.

“Ah man, this stinks,” I said. “Let's go tell the scoutmaster. We can't

camp in this tent!”

Walking over to the tent the scoutmaster was sleeping in, (which we

could identify from the loud snoring) Troy and I shook the corner of his

tent awaking him from his deep sleep.

“What is it boys,” he asked us from still inside the tent and in a

groggy voice.

“Our sleeping bags, our clean clothes, and even the clothes on us are

soaked! We can't sleep like this,” Troy said to him.

“Boys, go back to sleep,” he replied before starting to snore again.

Walking back to our tents, Troy and I got back in our water logged

sleeping bags and tried to sleep. However, we spent most of the night

Complaining to each other and regretting going camping in the first

place.

The next morning as we woke up and saw the bright summer sun and older

boys raising the canopies that were knocked down by the storm, we also

saw the assistant scoutmaster surveying the damage. With his US Marine

look complete with his camouflage pants, fireman's T-shirt, and a crew

cut hair style, Assistant Scoutmaster Charlie walked around the

campground surveying the damage while listening to his fire radio .

“Quite a storm last night,” he said to us as we stood drenched and

looking miserable.

“This was a pretty bad one. You two fellas got quite the introduction to Boy Scouts.

 Lot different than camping in Cub Scouts with your mothers,” he said.

“Yeah, we didn't think we were going to make it,” I replied.

“Well, you both did. And if you could handle that storm, you can handle

the rest of this week,” he said while brushing his mustache with his

fingertips.

“You're young men now. And welcome to the Boy Scouts,” he said smiling.

 

 

another free post- ok so im going to write about getting a summer job. So far i have applied to direct communications and to home depot and to good earth but i haven't heard back from any of them which really sucks. I hate how we live in such competitive time. It makes it really hard to find a job. I really need a job because i need to save mine for college and if i don't get one soon all of the positions are going to be filled then I'm going to cry myself to sleep. so in conclusion getting a summer job sucks a lot. Plus im already stressed from homework and trying to graduate and applying for colleges. Plus finding housing sucks too. not that anyone who reads this will care.

beginning post-

ok so this is the start of my creative non fiction and it really sucks. I was bored writing it and its really bad but i needed credit for this beginning post. I will probably do something completely different later. don't judge me.



Creative non-fiction. For my creative non fiction peace I'm going to write about the time i was got lost in the circus. One day when i came home from school my parents told me that we were going up to  the delta center to watch the circus. I was incredibly fascinated by the idea. I had always heard about what happens at a circus but had never actually been to one. I pictured in my head what it looked like and i I'm imagined lots of animals doing tricks and jumping through hoops. I always pictured acrobats doing incredible things like riding a uni cycle across a tight rope. What i found out later was pretty similar but i also saw some pretty different things than what i had imagined in my head. After my family got in our brand new mini-van we made are way to the delta center. On the way my two older brothers Matt and Aaron debated on whether we would see someone be shot out of a canon while my younger sister Mallory kept quiet and put in her headphones to listen to music. when we arrived we all ran to the delta center and that's when the smell hit me. It came like a vast deadly wave and was almost thick enough to were i swear i could taste it. It smelt like a mixture of manure, b.o, and burnt hair. It was absolutely disgusting. I was instantly turned of to the idea of going to the circus and wanted to get back in the car leave. I probably would have too if i hadn't seen a man running around on fire. when i look back on this experience i think it was planned and they were practicing for some sort of trick but I'm still not sure. I ran over to see if i could find the burning man but he ran out of sight and i couldn't see him. Basically that is how i got lost. Because when i turned around my family was gone. After searching for about five minutes with no luck at finding them i decided just to go sit in a chair and watch the practice performances. I walked down to the bottom row of chairs and sat down to watch. What i saw was pretty spectacular.

The Haunted Maple

“There are no such things as ghosts.” Ryan announced to his group of friends. They had just been talking about the old Maple Mansion. It was a huge creepy building that resided in the center of town. The local myth was that someone had died in there and now their ghost haunted the place or some sort of mischief like that. Isn’t that how all of those stories begin?

            “Dude you don’t even know. Have you ever actually tried to spend the night in that place?” Oh yes of course, spending the night in the old Maple Mansion. It was the ultimate local dare for anyone living in the area.

            “That place is not haunted.” Ryan’s friend Troy had joined the group. “My brother spent the night there. He said it was creepy but nothing special.” Ryan smirked looking back at the group in confidence.

            “There are no such things as ghosts.” The rest of the group just stood quietly still doubting his claim.

            “Hi guys what’s up?” Now Shay had joined the group. She was a shorter brown haired girl with a ton of makeup although she made it look good. She was also Ryan’s girlfriend. Troy was the one to answer.

            “These fools think Maple mansion is haunted!” he pointed accusingly at the group minus Ryan.

            “It is!” They all chimed in at once. Shay raised her eyebrows in unbelief.

            “Really guys? There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Ryan nodded in acceptance. No girl of his was going to believe in something as stupid as ghosts!

            “All right then, why don’t we make a little bet?” Brigham came forward out of the group an expression of surety on his face. “If you guys can spend the whole night in that mansion and come out of it honestly pledging that there are still no such things as ghosts, then…” he searched around for a viable wager. Before he could decide Ryan interrupted, “Then you guys got to run through the school naked!” Brigham looked uneasy at the stakes as well as the other “believers”.

            “What’s the matter? Afraid we’re right and you guys are pansies?!” It sounded like Troy was definitely in on the bet. The group looked back and forth at each other before Brigham spoke up again.

            “Fine, and if we are right then you three have got to do the same!” The guys just smiled staring at Shay.

            “Guys, what the heck?” Ryan knew what they were thinking and he didn’t like it. Shay just grabbed Ryan’s arm before yelling out at the group.

            “Bring it!” The others became a little nervous at her confidence but Brigham just shook it off.

            “All right then it’s a bet! Tomorrow night you guys are sleeping in Maple Mansion. You’ve got to be there before dark and you have to spend the night until daybreak!”

            “Sounds good to me” Shay replied looking back from Ryan to Troy.

            “Yeah we’re in too,” They announced! Just then the bell rang and school was out. With that the group split making their way towards home. Shay went with Ryan hand in hand to his car. Now that the bet was set Ryan was actually starting to get a little nervous. Of course he knew that there were no such things as ghosts but that mansion was definitely scary looking and spending the night definitely did not sound appealing.

            “Hey you are you kind of scared?” Shay asked once they had gotten on the road. Ryan just smirked with pride.

            “No! This will be easy.”

            “Oh,” Shay said uneasily. “Well I’m actually a little nervous.” Ryan sighed in relief

            “Me too! It’s not like it’s actually…haunted but that house is creepy right?” Shay nodded in agreement.

            “At least we don’t have to do it alone.” She said smiling.

            “Yeah that will be nice. Troy will be there too so if anything this is will be a party.” They both laughed at the thought of a party in the old Maple Mansion. As Ryan pulled up to Shay’s house he noticed a shattered window in the front. A part from that details her house was the perfect picture with tan shutters and brick red rock formations in the front. Her dad had always kept up on the yard to making sure that everything was perfectly trimmed. Although today the grass seemed a little overgrown; something very odd for someone as OCD as Shay’s dad.

            “What happened to the window?” Ryan asked curiously. Shay glanced over to see what he was talking about.

            “Oh, yeah I broke that accidently.”

            “How was that an accident?” He asked. Ryan stared at her awkwardly while waiting for a reply.

            “OK it was more like an accident that didn’t need to happen. I was practicing my swing and it went right through the window.” That made sense considering Shay was on the varsity golf team; a sport that Ryan never did understand.

            “Right…well maybe you should swing facing the other way next time.” He said teasing her.

            “Shut up!” she said back in a kidding manner. “I wasn’t anywhere close to here! I didn’t know the wind would take it this far.”

            “Whatever,” Ryan exclaimed smiling. “I’ve got to get home so I’ll pick you up tomorrow for school?”

            “Yes you will,” she said. After a quick kiss goodbye Shay ran up the porch and through the front door. After making sure had made it inside, Ryan put his car into gear and drove home.

            The next morning Ryan picked up Shay from her house who instantly went back to sleeping in the passenger seat as usual. On the way to school he was beginning to become increasingly nervous about the upcoming night. Every class went by much faster than usual and as the last bell rang Ryan prepared himself for the confrontation with his friends. As we walked outside towards his car, he noticed that everyone who was involved with the bet had crowded around it.

            “Sup guys,” They all turned to look at him. Apparently Ryan had interrupted a very deep conversation, or were they plotting something? Ryan gave them a suspicious look before Shay latched onto his arm snuggling close to him.

            “You ready for this?!” she exclaimed excitedly! Ryan just gave her a worried grin. Troy stepped up behind him giving him a hard smack on the back.

            “Don’t tell me you’re scared!” Ryan turned to look at him.

            “Why would I be scared? It’s just a house and there are three of us!”

            “You need to start heading over there if you’re going to make it before sun down.” Brigham said. Ryan looked up at the sky seeing that it was already beginning to dim. Why did fall nights always have to get dark so soon? He nodded in agreement. The other boys all got into their cars and lined up behind Ryan’s who was driving Troy and Shay as well. Although it only had two seats the drive to Maple Mansion was short and five minutes later, the group found themselves parked along the curb outside the building.

            It seemed even creepier then Ryan remembered. It was a three-story building including the basement. Although Ryan had never actually been inside of it, he could only imagine what lay behind the thrashed old doors. All but a couple of windows on the top floor had been shattered. The ones that remained were glazed over by years of hard water. The color was faded brownish gray and the front was covered in dead vines of what Ryan thought used to be grapes. The whole place seemed like it was close to collapsing held up only by the rotting pillars that had been placed so long ago. Troy and Shay grabbed their sleeping pads and immediately ran for the door all the while calling out which room was theirs. Although they would probably all end up sleeping together.

            “Better hurry in get in there before you lose the bet!” Brigham exclaimed. Ryan shot him a look before finally getting drug in by Shay.

            “Come on Ryan it will be fun!” Reluctantly Ryan subsided allowing himself to be dragged up the creaking steps and into the god-forsaken Maple Mansion. He was able to sneak one last glance at the setting sun and the guys before having the door slammed behind him by Troy.

            Once inside Ryan took a minute to observe the never before seen internal structure of the infamous mansion. Most of the stairs leading up to the top floor had given in leaving two fractured boards in their place. The wood on the inside had lost most of its color looking much like the external parts of the house. It was pretty much exactly how one would picture a haunted house. Suddenly there was a scream. Ryan’s heart raced as he ran into the next room to rescue Shay. It had only been five minutes and he had already almost soiled his jeans. He ran into the room to find Shay on her butt an uncomfortable expression on her face.

            “My reflection…” she began, “it scared the crap out of me.” Ryan laughed uneasily and helped her to her feet. The room they were in seemed to be some giant family room of some sort. Completely surrounding the perimeter were old exotic looking mirrors. Surprisingly none of them had even a crack in the glass.

            “How old do you think these are?” Ryan asked as he touched the glass of the mirror.

            “I don’t know.” Shay answered quickly and Ryan could hear a little panic in her voice. “Can we please go check out a different part of the house?” Ryan nodded and slowly stepped followed her out of the room.

            “Guys come check this out!” Troy had found a way to the top floor. “Look!” he exclaimed as he pulled on a rope tied to the banister. It led to the top of the ceiling in the center of the mansion entrance and attached to an ancient looking chandelier. Although not impressive in size it was made from the oddest materials including what looked to be like some sort of chrome colored metal. There were no actual light bulbs on it and the whole thing was just an accident waiting to happen.

            “Troy get down from there,” Shay explained. Ever since the mirrors Ryan noticed that she was becoming increasingly more nervous.

            “What’s wrong with you?” Troy asked accusingly. Shay shot him a menacing glance before walking off into the next room with her arms crossed.

            The last of daylight had gone leaving what seemed to be the darkest night of Ryan’s life. There was no moon out and no light from the stars would make it into the house this night. The three friends had found a room on the main floor farther back in the house. It was a smaller room and had the least amount of creepy unusual possessions. The only thing was a tall standing cabinet that was locked. Troy had tried to break into it earlier to no avail.

The three of them had been cuddled together not speaking a word. Troy had actually been able to fall asleep while Ryan and Shay sat scrunched up against the wall not even daring to blink. The sounds of the night had begun to mess with Ryan’s mind. The constant creaking of the house was enough to drive anyone insane. A giant Maple Tree continued to blow back and forth in the wind occasionally scraping up against the side of the house. Hardly an hour had passed since dark and already Ryan was scared out of his mind. His mind was racing as he brainstormed ideas to pass the time. He could sing maybe? Maybe he could get the others to go exploring with him and make it more of a fun thing? It was helpless. There was no way he thought he would get out of this unscarred. Just then Shay grabbed a hold of his arm.

“Did you hear that?” she whispered frantically. Ryan listened carefully but heard nothing.

“Heard what?” he asked. Shay waved her hand silencing him.

“Listen!” Again Ryan waited and listened praying to god that she was just crazy. Just then he heard it; fast footsteps racing across the floor above them. Ryan’s heart skipped several beats.

“It was probably just mice.” He whispered back frantically. Suddenly there was a faint but shrill squeal coming from upstairs. Both Ryan and Shay dropped to the ground huddling as close as possible. After a couple more steps all noise in the house stopped. Both he and Shay lifted their heads curiously listening for any evidence of an uninvited guest. After what seemed like hours (but was in fact minutes) Shay finally dared to break the silence.

“Ryan we have to go see what that sound was.” Ryan shook his head.

“Screw that!” he replied.

“Come on! We made the bet that there were no ghosts. What are we if we can’t even go and see if it was really what we thought it was?” Ryan thought about it for a moment before finally deciding to wake up Troy.

“Troy get up!” Ryan nudged his friend in the back.

“What?!” Troy exclaimed. Ryan meant to tell Troy to shut up but was interrupted by footsteps. The three teens stared in horror at the ceiling above them following with their eyes the location of the sounds. Troy’s gaze turned to Ryan’s and Shay’s before he jumped to his feet. He grabbed a flashlight and headed off in the direction of the footsteps. Shay followed close behind and Ryan frantically struggled to get out of his sleeping bag.

“Guys wait!” he called out scared to death of being alone. Finally he freed his feet and ran in the direction of Troy and Shay. He stopped in the main entrance frantically calling out to them. Where had they gone? Once again Ryan heard the footsteps followed by more footsteps. They were already up stairs! He raced up the stairs avoiding the broken steps. Just as he reached the top Ryan heard a loud crash followed by a scream!

“Shay!” he yelled. Ryan sprinted down the hall running head first into Brigham!

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed. Brigham looked terrified.

“Ryan I was going to try and scare all of you! I messed up though! Shay fell through the floor!” Ryan’s eyes widened once he realized the seriousness of the situation.

“Where is she? Let’s go hurry!” Ryan followed Brigham into the room at the end of the hall. Troy was crouched next to a hole in the floor.

“Shay! Shay you all right?” No response. “Crap!” Troy exclaimed. Ryan peaked carefully over the hole. Down on the main floor lay Shay and from what he could make out her arm looked pretty mangled. She was obviously unconscious.

“What did you do?!” Both Ryan and Troy turned towards Brigham angrily!

“I-I just wanted to scare you guys! I’m sorry! I didn’t know the floor would give!”

“I’ll go see if I can find the room she’s in!” Troy shouted, already on his way down the hall. Ryan turned back to Brigham.

“You’re the only other one with a flash light. Stay here and talk to Shay if she wakes up!” Brigham just nodded and Ryan was quickly racing after Troy. He found him against the wall on the far side of the main entrance.

“This is the room she’s in!” he announced. “I can’t find a door anywhere!” Ryan searched the wall despite Troy’s warning.

“I brought a little hatchet with me earlier!” Troy exclaimed. “It’s in my sleeping bag go grab it!” Ryan headed off to the room where they had been trying to sleep. He searched through the bag and felt panic swell up in his chest. Would they be able to get to Shay? He couldn’t bear to lose her! Especially not like this! Ryan pulled the hatchet out racing back to Troy. Troy shined the flashlight on him allowing Ryan to get a good look at the hatchet.

“No way is this thing going to get through that wall!” Ryan exclaimed. Just then there was a crash and Brigham could be heard yelling out for them. Both of the boys raced up the stairs as fast as they could. The idiot had stood to close to the edge and had made the whole bigger. He was hanging on to the side frantically beckoning them to help him. Ryan lay out on his stomach inching forward to Brigham careful not to break through the floor himself.

“Imma go break that cabinet!” Troy announced. There might be something we can use to get through the wall!” With that Troy left the room his footsteps could be heard as he clumsily fumbled down the stairs.

“What were you thinking?!” Ryan exclaimed as he pulled Brigham back onto the safety of the floor. Brigham couldn’t complete his sentence as he continued to stutter obviously traumatized from the experience. Finally he was able to gather the wits needed to scream out, “There is someone else down there!” Ryan’s eyes widened. He dared to peak over the edge while yelling for Shay to wake up. She was gone! Ryan turned back towards Brigham scared out of his mind.

“Who?!” he yelled, “what did you see?!” Brigham was still shaking.

“A s-shadow of a m-man.” Ryan left Brigham with his flashlight and sprinted back down to the main floor. Hopefully Troy had found something useful to use as a weapon in that cabinet! Ryan reached the bedroom and found that Troy had successfully opened the cabinet. Inside there were two rusty axes as well as an old revolver. Troy’s flashlight was on the ground but Troy himself was nowhere in sight.

“Troy!” Ryan yelled out. “Where are you?!” Ryan grabbed a hold of one of the axes and the flashlight before running back into the entrance. He stopped dead in his tracks and found Brigham standing struck with terror in the middle of the room.

“Dude! what are you doing?!” A sudden creak directed Ryan’s gaze up to the top floor. A dark shadow could be seen next to the chandelier rope.

“BRIGHAM!” Ryan screamed and watched in horror as the chandelier dropped smashing Brigham taking him through the floor down into the basement. Ryan jumped back like ten feet with his back smashed up against the wall closest to him. He had begun to hyperventilate. He could not believe what he had just seen. He directed the light of his flashlight up at the shadowy figure but it was gone.

“What the hell is happening?!” Ryan yelled out! Just then Ryan could hear Troy whispering at him. Ryan shone his light over at Troy who seemed to be hiding on the other side of the stairs beckoning for him to come over. Ryan didn’t think he just ran instinctively over to Troy. He crouched down next to him as they spoke in hushed but frantic tones.

“What just happened?” Troy exclaimed!

“Brigham's dead!” Ryan was breathing heavily and about ready to throw up. Troy actually did. While dealing with this Ryan continued to go on.

“There is someone else here!” He whispered.

“I know,” Troy explained.” I was on my way up when I heard Brigham tell you. I thought you were the one he was talking about that’s why I hid when you ran down the stairs!” Just then there was a loud boom followed by several shattering windows coming from the top floor.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Troy ran towards the door. Ryan followed close behind stopping him at the door.

“We aren’t leaving without Shay!” Troy grabbed and pulled on the door yanking on it several times but to no avail.

“We are freakin locked in here!” Then there were footsteps. Both Ryan and Troy looked up to see the shadow moving slowly across the hallway towards the stairs. Both of the boys had no time to think. Both instinctively ran both in separate directions. Ryan ran in to the bedroom. He needed to get the revolver! He shined the flashlight into the cabinet but the gun was gone. Ryan turned swiftly around half expecting to find the ghost man right behind him. No one stood there. Any minute he expected the man to come through the door with the gun. Ryan just stood frozen with fear unable to do anything but await his fate. Then he heard Troy’s scream followed by a thud. Ryan ran out of the room and found Troy sprawled out on the floor in the main entrance. He couldn’t keep it in any longer. Ryan let it all out throwing up all over the area in front of him. Just then there was a loud scream followed by several loud shattering noises. Shay was in the mirror room! Ryan raced into the room only to find broken glass everywhere. He searched the room with the flashlight but did not see Shay anywhere. The tears began to flow. Ryan looked down at the shattered mirrors. He shined his light on one of the larger shards and froze in horror. Slowly he looked up, too scared to not look at the abomination before him. There on the platform sat Shay. A horrifying joint mangled Shay. Her feet hung off the platform swinging back and forth and she was grinning from ear to ear. Ryan was stunned with fear and had not even noticed the footsteps behind him. He felt the breathe of the shadow on the back of his neck. Shay leaned in closer revealing the true seriousness of her injuries.

“HIYA, RY!” she exclaimed cheerfully! Ryan’s death was quick but not silent. The revolver lifted up to his back swiftly ending his life. The shadow grabbed a hold of the corpse as Shay scrambled down onto the floor. Walking over to the shadow she grabbed a hold of his hand.

“Let’s go home daddy!” The two personages left the room dragging the body behind. If anyone had been around they would have heard the giggle of Shay.

“I knew there were no such things as ghosts.”

Alternate beginning;

Ryan stood looking over a gaping black hole. In the hole was the twisted body of his girl friend. Tears began to well up in his eyes as crouched to get a better view of her. Her body was mangled and he knew that she was indeed dead. How can this be happening, He thought. Just an hour ago he was with he friends daring each other to sleep in the maple mansion and now shay was dead…

Alternate #2:

Ryan new there was no such thing as ghosts. Although the thought did little to comfort him considering he was lying in a pool of his own blood. I wonder if I will ever get to see my friends again. He thought. He could hear the creepy giggles of his once dead girl friend echoing down the hall. As the room started to fade around him he thought back to how all of this had started…