The Road Home Exp. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7
Hear the birds chirping away the day, singing their same old songs, yet each one, in its own way unique. It was just my regular route home from school that takes me through several neighborhoods. Smell the freshly cut lawn of Mr. Greens house that he cuts twelve times a day; since he retired he has not had much to do lately, with the recent death of his wife, and his children are away at college. Moving on, keep walking; putting one foot in front of the other to get to my destination; walking to my plain ordinary house with the red roof and dead grass. Beads of salty sour sweat obscure my vision until I wipe them away with the back of my hand. I should’ve kept that extra milk I got in lunch today; could’ve come in handy about now.
After a long day of school, learning so much my head hurts, all I want to do is sit on a couch and let it all melt away. I walk about another block or so when I arrive at the Montgomery’s house. They’re usually a quite bunch, all except their annoying pit bull Eric. He barks non-stop, and he is mean to kids; it got so bad that they have to keep him on an unbreakable-chain in the backyard. Every day when I walk by I can hear the incisive barking, and when he sees me, the rattle of the iron bonds that hold him prisoner. Today is no different; same barking; same heat, but when I round the corner I hear no chains. I do not think much of it until I am knocked to the ground with such force-such a surprise to me that I let out a brief yelp, and I groan when my body collides with the pavement. This can mean only one thing: either I have just been mugged in the suburbs, or Eric is off his chain. I am guessing the second one because I have never been mugged in the suburbs.

I get up and cautiously look around, nothing in site. I’m beginning to believe that I just tripped or something when Whack! There it is again. This time I here a snarl coming inches from my face. I’m too scared to look up, but fear what will happen if I do not. Dark, muddy-brown, mangled fur covers the sun. I see those angry eyes staring at me; two light-brown balls of fire. I can’t get up. The combination of the pain from the impact of the dog colliding with my legs, and the fear coursing through my veins kept me frozen in a state of shock. Through sheer willpower, I commanded my legs to stand up, and to my surprise, Eric was rolled over onto his back with his tongue guiding a steady stream of drool to form a clear disgusting puddle. He looked almost playful but I didn’t want to take any chances, so I slowly backed up. He got up, his four furry legs propelling the small dog down the road, fast as a jet engine, no doubt to terrorize some other small child.
I breathed an uneasy sigh of relief to calm my shot nerves. At this point I was shaking quite violently . I picked myself up and continued down the road. Now at this point it is important to explain that I live actually a great distance from the school, so I usually cut through the rich suburbs. I past a few houses and I was almost home. The last house I have to pass by is creepy, by any standard. Even in the gleaming light of the late afternoon the sight of this house chills me to my very core. Most days I sprint past without so much as glancing at it, but today, because of that whole business with Eric, I crooned my head to steal a sideways glance at the house and time froze. I’m not going to go into great detail, all I will tell you is that this house looks like it had been abandoned somewhere in the late revolutionary war period.it. The house probably was beige or some sort of green, but in its present condition the house was a depressing gray with peeling paint and patches of rust. The rest of the house was really a wretched sight- with the rusted-rotted gutters barely clinging to the last remaining shreds of the roof that remained. Most windows were boarded up or just falling apart, creating a place spiders and their webs call home. The grass and its yellow patches guided the broken stone walkway to the door. I don’t know if it was because it was in such terrible shape, or the fact that it terrified the living Christian out of me; but whatever the reason I couldn’t stop staring at it; it had a bewitching spell to it; like some horror that you couldn’t look away from.
Finally my trance was shattered by the sound of approaching barking, I immediately knew it was, you guessed right, Eric. He had acted playful before but I didn’t want to take any chances. I started toward the gate, which I failed to notice had a padlock on it. The gate, too high to jump, not easy to climb- I was trapped! I looked around, the sound of barking getting ever closer. With no remaining choices, I started up to the door of the house. My body numb and mind on fire while I gripped the brass door handle. An empty house, easy in and out I thought to myself. In a single motion I flung the door open and darted inside, closing the door behind me. I guess I was still in shock, I could no believe I had actually gone inside that house. It had an odd smell to it, and all I wanted to do was get out before my heart exploded, so I started down the hallway, not bothering to take in the sights. Then everything stopped when I heard a noise upstairs that sounded like footsteps.
I froze. I made my breathing as quite as I could and removed my shoes. No one is supposed to live here. I made for a nearby closet until I could get everything sorted out. The closet filled with what felt life pillows and something cold, I couldn’t tell what it was because it was so dark. Suddenly a ghastly voice echoed down the empty hallway: “who is in MY HOUSE!!!” I tell you, if I could have, I would have soiled my pants right then and there. I waited a few minutes, no more sounds. The combination of being in the dark, in the creepy house, and the creepy voices was terrifying. I could not take it any longer; I flung open the door and made a break for the front door. I opened that as fast as I could and bust through a screen door that was in my way. I tell you, I have never run so fast in my entire life. My sneakers sloshed across the wet lawn. My clothes had gotten soaked from the sprinklers but I didn’t care. I heard a voice coming from the house- “Come Back!” but I didn’t stop to see what it was. I was already a few houses away so I turned to look back at the creepy house, but the minute I did I slipped on some gravel and down I went. I got up and kept running. My arm was all cut up and bloody from the fall but there was no time for pain. I cringed and kept running. Soon enough I could see my house a ways down the dirt road. It was not too great looking but I called it home. My father’s car was already in the driveway so he must already be home. I ran inside and washed up my cuts; that’s when I finally realized I didn’t have my backpack on. I wondered where it could be, but I didn’t dare go back to the haunted house. At least I was home; at least I was safe at home. As I started out of the bathroom, I wondered where everyone was.
“Mom?” No answer.
“Mom!” there was still no answer. I started getting anxious, very anxious and sleepy. There was this weird smell in the air that I didn’t notice until now.
“Mom?” I choked out. The air was burning my eyes and I couldn’t breath right.
“Help, anyone!” I was so tired I couldn’t stand. I fell to my knees; tears blurred my vision. I felt so weak, as if life was slipping away into a dream. I fell over onto my side and laid there for what seemed like forever. As I drifted off to sleep and blackness replaced my world, I heard a single faint voice: “Don’t worry, it won’t be long now.”