RIIINNNGGGGG!  The bell rang to conclude the school week.  As Gabe and his friends, Josh and David, were leaving school, they noticed that there were more missing kids signs up all around town.  While they were walking they were startled with a sudden, “BOO!” They jumped in fear but soon realized that it was Gabe’s sister Gina.

“You can’t be doing that!” said Gabe.

“Yeah, haven’t you seen all of the missing kids posters around town!” yelled David.

“Guys relax, it was just a joke.” laughed Gina.

As the four made it inside they wondered what to do over the weekend. They talked for hours trying to figure out what to do.  Out of nowhere, Gabe brought up something he heard earlier in the week.

“I heard screams coming from the house on the corner.” Gabe said with a nervous voice.

“Really? I thought I was the only one to hear them!” said Gina.

As they kept talking about the sounds they heard from the house Josh brought up an idea.

“Why don’t we go explore the house?” he asked.  “We might find clues to what’s going on in the town with the missing kids.”

“Noooo way man!” Gina said.

The house hasn’t had an owner in many years.  This has led many to believe that something strange goes on inside the house but no one dares to enter it.  After hours of trying to find things to do the kids came up with nothing.  

“Maybe we should go explore the house guys, we might find the truth to what’s going on with the missing kids,” suggested David.

They all just stared at each other with a blank face.  Finally the silence broke.

“I don’t know about that man,” said Gabe. “What if we get into trouble or find out the truth of what’s happening to these kids there?”

“We can use our phones to call 911 if anything happens,” David explained.

“Ok fine we can go check it out,” murmured Gabe.

As they packed flashlights, and gloves to protect their hands, Josh made a suggestion.

“Maybe we should bring stuff to defend ourselves just in case we find something.”

“Well since we don’t know what’s in there, I agree,” said Josh.

“We shouldn’t even go.” Gina said to the group. “What if something happens?”

Gabe looked at Gina.

“Hey Gina, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Gabe said to her.

“I’m just nervous,” she replied, “I’m going to come, I just have to prepare myself.”

Josh and Gabe grabbed a crowbar from the garage, and David had his pocket knife.  Gina felt left out so she grabbed a hammer from her dad's tool box and tucked it away in her backpack.

“Come on, let's go,” said Gabe.

As the night came, they made their way to the house.

“Make sure you guys are quiet,” explained Gabe, “We don’t want to wake up the neighborhood.”

They made it to the house.  They crept to the back and found a loose board on the window.

“Man this place is a wreck,” David said, “All of these broken windows with boards, there’s barely anything left of the outside.”

“Hand me the crow bar,” whispered Josh.

As the board came off the window, there was a big enough space for the group to enter through, everyone turned their heads in disgust.  The smell was like they were in a dumpster. 

“Everyone turn on your flashlights,” Gabe said, “Everyone stay close and don’t go off alone.”

While exploring around the main level of the house Gina noticed something.

“Hey guys,” she whispered, “There’s a red spot on the ground.”

Everyone was still.

“It looks old and dried up,” David said.

All of a sudden they heard a creak coming from upstairs.

“We should go,” said Gina.

The boys all looked at each other and shook their heads.  As they went to the bottom of the steps, they all shined their flashlights to the top, there was nothing.  

“Come on, let’s go up,” whispered Gabe.

“Wait, what if someone is up there?” Gina said nervously.

“We are armed and there’s four of us, we’ll be fine,” Gabe told her.

The crew followed, there were two ways to go, left and right. 

“Let’s split up,” Josh suggested.

“No way man,” David said back, “This is how bad stuff happens in horror movies.”

“This isn’t a horror movie, stop acting like a chicken and come with me, Gabe and Gina you guys go that way,” Josh said.

Looking disappointed, David went with Josh.

“Wait!” Gabe whispered loudly, “Give me the crowbar, you guys have David’s knife.”

As Gabe and Gina made it to the first door down the hallway, they looked at each other.

“I’m scared,” cried Gina.

“It’s ok, I’m here to protect you,” Gabe said while trying to calm her down.

As Gabe opened the door, Gina shined her light in but saw nothing.  All of a sudden all they heard were loud footsteps coming at them.

“Who is it!” Gabe shouted, “I have a weapon.”

As the footsteps came closer Gabe raised the crowbar up, he was ready to swing. Then all of a sudden he heard the voice.

“Don’t swing!” Josh cried out, “Someone took David!”

“What?” asked Gabe, “Who?”

“We walked in one of the doors and saw body bags,” Josh explained, “Then we saw a tall guy in the corner of the room and we ran, we ran as fast as we could but David fell, I tried to go back but the guy was getting closer.”

“Where did they go?” asked Gabe.

“I heard the man going down the steps after I ran off.” Josh said.

They gathered themselves and got ready to make the trip downstairs.  As they made it down, they stayed close together and looked around.  They saw nothing.

“Call 911!” Gabe said.

“Why didn’t we think of that earlier,” Gina said back.

“What if David is in trouble now!” Josh said to them, “We have to keep looking after you call.”

As the group turned the corner, they saw the basement door open.  They all shined their lights down but saw nothing but the floor.  

“Call 911 Gina,” Gabe and Josh said.

“Okay,” she said with no hesitation

“We have to go down,” Gabe whispered.

Each step came with a creak.  Once they made it to the bottom they saw bags, each bag had red stuff on them and that’s when everything clicked.

“This is where the killer takes the kids,” whispered Gabe, “No one expected him to come here.”

They heard a murmur come from behind a curtain. They ran in with the crowbar ready to swing but saw David sitting there with half of his fingers on the ground.  They took the gag out of his mouth.

“Where did he go?” Josh questioned.

“He ran somewhere down here,” David said with tears running down his face.

All of a sudden they heard footsteps running on the floor above. Everyone froze.

“What do we do?” asked Gina.

“We stay put,” said Gabe.

  They heard the basement door open again.  Footsteps started hitting the stairs, as the group stared at the curtain waiting for something to happen they heard the steps hit the basement floor.  As Gabe took a closer look at the curtain he saw a shadow figure through it and he swung his crowbar like Jackie Robinson swung his bat, and connected with the killer's head. 

Gabe shouted, “Come on! Let’s go now!”

David grabbed his fingers, and everyone ran. They hurried their way to the window they entered and climbed out one by one.  As Josh was crawling out, his foot was grabbed.  

“Help!” he shouted

Gabe shoved the crowbar into the window and hit the killer again.  Once everyone was out, they all noticed a figure coming out of the house, it was the killer again.  As he came closer, everyone could hear the sound of sirens coming around the corner.

“Run!” Josh yelled.

They ran to the car and as policemen came out they shot the killer where he stood.

“Are you guys ok?” the policemen asked.

“We are, but he’s not,” Gabe said while pointing at David.

David was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital.

“Are we going to tell our parents what happened tonight,” Josh asked.

“We have to,” Gina said.  

Once the kids made it home, they had one last suggestion.

“Let’s just go to sleep guys,” Gabe suggested to the others.

“Yeah, tonight was not a night I want to remember,” Gina added.