We were sitting on my bed talking when the trap door flew open and Lance’s head pops up followed by Justin’s.
“What is up with people slapping me? Do you guys get a pleasure slapping me?” Justin asked turning toward Lance, then at Joey and I.
“I told you I was sorry.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Joey and I asked in unison. We looked at each other weirdly, then at Justin waiting for an answer.
“First of all you slapped me for joking with you,” pointing at me, “Then Lance slapped me when he rolled over just when I was about to yell in his ear.”
“Lance, how did you get wet?” I asked noticing his wet blonde hair.
“Justin poured ice cold water on my hair and face.”
Justin sat down next to Joey, “That explains it,” Joey threw up his hands hitting Justin. We all started laughing. Justin looked at him, “You meant to do that.”
“No, I didn’t,” Joey refused.
“Yeah you did.”
“You’re right, I did,” Joey smiled.
“I’m going to get you back,” Justin warned, “when you least expect it.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Chris came running up the steps all smiles, “All raise and hail King J.C. master of shaving cream,” Chris announced.
“Very funny, Chris, I’m laughing,” J.C. said coming up the steps picking his ears.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he crossed the room to where I was.
“Do I have anymore shaving cream in my ears?” I rose from the bed from beside Joey, “No.”
“Good.”
“I don’t even need to ask how Chris woke you up,” Lance said.
“Good, then I don’t need to explain.”
“What is this thing?” Chris pointed to a small opening in the side of the wall.
“It’s called a chute,” he looked at me questionably. “Remember when I told you this house is like 300 years old?” They all nodded their heads. “Well, back in the late 1700’s the rich people had these in their houses. So the slaves could put stuff in them and this little metal shelf would take it straight up to their master and they wouldn’t need to leave the kitchen.” They understood.
“Want to hear a story about this chute?” I asked moving beside it leaning on the wall. They eagerly nodded.
“There was this boy who used to live in this house,” I started. “He was spoiled, real spoiled, what he asked he got. The boy loved ice cream; especially strawberry he couldn’t stop eating it. This one day the shelf got jammed between the kitchen and his room. He reached and reached trying to get to the ice cream. My parents say he lost his balance, but I think he was pushed, either way he fell. When they found the boy it was hard to tell between the ice cream… and his face.”
“Ouch,” Joey rubbed his face.
“Who would’ve pushed him?” Justin asked.
“Whatever was in the room.”
“Like one of the slaves or something?” Lance suggested.
“Not necessarily.”
“What do you mean?” Joey asked.
“It doesn’t have to be human or alive at that matter to do perment damage.”’
“You expect us to believe that something unnatural…”
“Supernatural,” I corrected.
“Whatever could have pushed the boy?”
“I don’t expect you guys to believe in anything but I know for a fact that this house was old, and lived in before, before the boy was killed. People died in this house for unexplained reasons many times.”
“And may I ask how do you know that?” J.C. asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked into his ocean colored eyes, “After living in this house for 18 years I guess you could say they creep up on you.”
“Look whatever but there are no demons or ghosts or whatever you want to call them. They don’t exist,” Justin stated not really believing in what I just said. A cool breeze swept past us, even though there was no window open chilling us to the bone from our head to our toes.
I looked around worriedly finally landing at Justin, “I wish you wouldn’t have said that. By tomorrow morning you wish you hadn’t.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll know what I mean tomorrow. You are going to be so scared by tomorrow night, you’ll be scared to go to sleep,” I warned.
“How do you know how I’m going to feel tomorrow night?”
“Believe somebody who had past experience,” I told him.
“You had past experience?” he asked.
“You have now idea,” my eyes bored into Justin’s.
Joey looked at Justin then me, “You’re 18?” he asked changing the subject.
I looked at him, “I will be July 20th.”
“That’s in 3 weeks.”
“Yeah now can I please get showered?” I asked.
“We don’t care,” J.C. said.
“Need any help washing your back or something?” Joey asked a smiling, winking at me.
I moved toward my closet that was connected to my room and bathroom, “Joey, if I needed any help washing my back, I wouldn’t ask you.” I closed the bathroom door behind me. Joey stood in front of me with a bar of soap in his hand, “You sure? I’m all ready.”
Justin looked around the room from his seat on my plush chair, “Hey you guys, where is Joey?”
I swung open my door, “Joseph, out!”
I started pushing him out backwards, “Please,” he begged, “just one small peek, please?”
“No! Out!”
I slammed the door in his face. J.C. was on the floor rolling with laughter. I opened my door stepping out and placed my hand out, “Hand it over,” I instructed.
“Hand what over?”
“You know what, hand it over.” He put his head down and placed the soap in my hand. I smiled, “Thanks.” I slammed the door, again in his face. He stood there for a couple seconds before turning around to face his friends.
He shrugged, “I tried.”
“Don’t worry, Joe, everybody gets turned down,” Justin said.
copyright © 2001 AngelH