Someplace Else
Isaac sits alone in his bedroom. The window is open, and a gentle breeze rolls through, rustling the pages of a comic book lying open on his bed. The walls are covered in posters of various sci-fi and fantasy movies. A desk in the corner holds a stack of books, a GameLad with various cartridges scattered about, and some action figures. He sits cross-legged on the bedroom floor, sorting through a collection of Creeps-N-Cryptids trading cards. He seems engrossed and is smiling to himself, clearly enjoying the task.
Isaac stops and leans back. Thinking about what him and his friends are going to do this summer. Games? Movies? Fight off hordes of zombies? Or just more of the same?
He thinks he remembers Kim saying something about going to Hawaii or something on a trip which would suck because he wants all of them together.
His thoughts loop in and cycle nonstop over and over again. Until they’re interrupted by a loud BANG!
He jolts knocking over a stack of cards. The sound came from his outside wall. He goes over and leans out the window to investigate.
What sort of interloper would interrupt such an important part of his day?
His good friend David is standing in the grass grinning ear to ear and tossing a football up and down in his hand.
“Is your doorbell broken or something?” He asks jokingly.
The doorbell is most certainly not broken.
Isaac shouts back, “You know knocking would’ve like, worked better!”
Isaac, now angry, leans farther out of the window, shaking his fist and yelling down at David for throwing the ball at the house. His face is tight with frustration.
One hand grips the window sill for support while the other gestures wildly as he shouts.
His grip slips.
Isaac now lies tangled in the bushes along the side of his house. The branches are thick and cushioned his fall, but they twist around him awkwardly.
David walks over toward him, dragging the two bikes along the grass. He’s still wearing a wide, unapologetic grin.
Isaac exhales and stares annoyed.
“So uhh…where are we going, by the way?”
David leans closer, peering down at him.
“Well, the girls said they found an abandoned super haunted building by Wolf Creek bro,” he says. “But they didn’t want to go in without us. So this’ll be a classic brains meets brawn scenario!”
Isaac’s eyes narrow, confused by what was just said. After a moment, he decides it’s best not to question it.
He stands, brushing himself off, then flexes dramatically.
“You’re the brains, then!”
They come to a stop at a rusted fence.
Beyond it stands a large, abandoned building, looming and forgotten. It looks like it might have once been a school of sorts. Wide and imposing, with ivy creeping up its crumbling walls and broken windows staring back like empty eyes.
The forest presses in all around. Tall trees cast long, dark shadows across the ground, deepening the building’s eerie, ominous presence.
David is the first to climb over the rusted fence, swinging himself over with zero hesitation and Ashley is quick to follow, barely slowing down as she makes her way over.
Isaac and Kim climb up after them, but they both pause at the top. They sit there silently staring toward the building ahead, their chests filled with unease.
“Is it true what they say about it?” Kim asks quietly.
“About the monsters?” Isaac says. “The ghosts? Or the janitor that died there?”
Kim stiffens. Her grip tightens.
“Someone died here?”
Isaac stammers, his words stumbling over each other as he scrambles to reassure her.
“Oh!, well?, um, that’s just some rumor I heard! It’s nothing. Totally nothing.”
Kim looks at him.
“Promise?”
They both hop down from the fence and start toward the front of the building.
“I promise.”
All four of them stand at the front of the building now. David saunters forward and kicks at the door violently, metal rattling loudly against the frame, the sound echoing across the woods.
“Damn thing’s rusted to hell and back!”
Ashley watches from the side, arms crossed, a small laugh escaping her.
“Any day now, captain.”
David stops. He straightens up, clearly annoyed.
“You know what?” He points at the door.
“You try.”
Ashley grabs the door handle and yanks at it, twisting and pulling with her entire body. The metal groans loudly but doesn’t give an inch.
David steps back, watching the whole thing and enjoying the spectacle.
Ashley tries again. Harder and harder. She tugs and twists wildly, growing more and more infuriated with every attempt.
David bursts out laughing, his cackling echoing off the building’s walls.
Ashley whirls around on him.
“WHAT was that, doofus?”
The two immediately start squabbling, voices overlapping in a cacophony of anger and frustration.
However, while they’re distracted, Isaac quietly moves over to the other side of the double doors, twists the handle and bumps it once with his shoulder.
The door pops open.
They stand there, gazing into what was once a school, now hollow and abandoned. Barely any light reaches more than a few feet past the entryway, swallowed quickly by shadow.
Cobwebs cling to every corner, stretching out as if waiting to trap whatever might still wander inside. Broken glass and smashed lockers litter the hallways, as though something had torn through the building in a violent rampage long ago.
The lockers that remain sealed are caked in rust, frozen in place as if time itself decided they should never open again.
They step inside slowly, moving like cautious animals in an unfamiliar place.
“I really, really, really didn’t expect it to be this dark,” Ashley whispers.
“What?” David says. “You expected the lights to still be on?”
“Urk!”
David grunts as Ashley smacks him in the stomach.
“My bad…” he mutters.
Suddenly, a beam of light cuts through the darkness.
Kim’s flashlight clicks on, catching the others off guard before the relief sets in. Shadows scurry back as the narrow beam sweeps across the hall, giving shape to what the darkness had been hiding.
“I always try to be prepared,” she says flatly.
“Now, lead the way,” Isaac says, gesturing forward. “Our ever reliable prepper.”
Kim hesitates for just a moment, then steps forward with a smile, the beam of her flashlight cutting into the darkness.
The group follows behind her, moving deeper into the derelict building, the shadows closing in as they go.