Skateboards and Slipknot

I think back in time on the daily bases. The smallest thing can spark a memory of something or someone that changed my life in different ways. One of which was a dear friend of mine named Bob. Bob and I had grown up in relatively similar ways. We were two faces of the same coin and as we grew up, it was apparent that our lives crossed paths in order to help support each other. Even though distance keeps us from seeing each other often, he was and always will be a big part of my life. Even now as adults with busy lives and tackling obstacles, we still find time to reach out and check on each other. He will always be the first friend that became family.

My typical friend group is rather small, those that are close to me I view as family since those select few are held in such high regards. However Bob was different. Like I mentioned, our lives mirrored each others in many ways, and our families were actually fairly close. The harder times got, the more Bob and I stuck up for each other. That being said there are a plethora of stories of great times I have had with him. However there is one that sticks out from the rest in an interesting way.

A quick back story, Bob and I used to live around the block from each other so seeing him and his family was never an issue when we were young. His family being comprised of his mother and younger twin brothers and mine consisting of my mother and younger sister made summers a blast since they had an underground pool and all the best video games. We would make it a point to play Pokemon during the weekdays and would have BBQ's on the weekends. However towards our 7th grade year of school, his family made the choice to move to Delaware due to many reasons but as sad as this event was, it never changed our friendship with each other.

I used to visit his place in Delaware occasionally when the summers came around and during this time got into skateboarding as well as heavy metal and metalcore music, one band that stood out to us was Slipknot which is still one of my favorite bands to this day. Being the age we were, we were limited to what we could do since we did not have cars and wherever we went, we either were dropped off or walked. However during one of our outings, Bob decided to show me something I would never forget. Not only was it one of the most off the wall places I had ever seen at the time, but we got a few scares and laughs from it as well. Keep in mind, we were about 12 or 13 years old.

Bob and some of his friends had discovered an abandoned barn not to far from where he had lived. This said barn was part of an old farm that looked like it hadn't been inhabited for close to a decade or two (at the time). Creepy wasn't the word to describe it but intriguing is a much closer word for it. The barn in itself was a redish color and was tilted in a manner that it seemed as it was about to collapse. There was a silo on one side of the barn and a massive amount of overgrown field just sitting in front of the property. Walking up to this barn was a little tough since there was no walkway but once we were there it was quite captivating.

The barn itself was huge and seemed to house many different animals in its hay day. The first floor had contained what seemed to be a small living area for people as well as a door that lead to what could of been the feeding and bathing area for horses and cows. Still full of dirt and equipment, for a city boy like me it was rather interesting. The silo had protruded from the far left side of the barn and appeared to be wrapped in barbed wire so no one can climb the ladder, which didn't stop Bob and a few friends from climbing it. I hate heights so I decided to live vicariously through them. Next on the list of things to see was the second floor.

Towards the front and back ends of the barn were staircases upstairs. At first I was concerned however after scaling those stairs, I saw one of the most amazing makeshift paintball stadiums I had ever seen. The space was cleared out completely and had custom built obstacles and ledges all over. Paint splats filled the walls, floors and windows and it seemed out of this world. We didn't get to play a match or shoot paintballs at each other but it was a cool sight to see. However the real treat was yet to come. After we left the barn, One of Bob's friends had asked if we wanted to check out another house that was on the property.

At first I was all for the adventure, however after seeing the building itself I began to feel a sense of unease. Off the beaten path behind the barn was a break in a patch of woods almost as if there was a walkway up hill into this brush of trees at one time in the past. The walkway was filled with broken steps and weeds and hadn't been touched in years. As we walked up the walk way and through this brush of trees, we notice what looks to be an abandoned five story home full of holes, broken windows, a roof that was falling apart and chipping yellow paint on the exterior. As we came around the front of the house, there was a huge hole in the front wall of the house to which you could either climb in the basement or jump into the foyer of the house.

Bob and his buddies climbed into the basement and quickly detailed what they saw when they jumped down. Candles attached to the floor with what they claimed to be some sort of ceremonial shrine of worship which we thought was some sort of radical devil worship sanctuary. Needless to say no one could pay me enough to go down there so I had decided to jump over the whole and enter the front door of the house. As I entered, I saw another massive hole in the middle of the foyer where I could see Bob and the others. This hole cut off access to the other rooms on the first floor but from where I was standing I could definitely see boarded up windows and things wrapped in very old sheets.

To my right was the staircase that led up stairs and due to the first floor lacking access to any of the rooms, I made the choice to scale upwards and check out the second floor. As I walked up the staircase, I could hear loud creeks and shifting boards under my feet. There were missing stairs and dust everywhere. As I got to the second floor, I saw more empty rooms with sheet wrapped furniture but the door ways were either blocked or locked. I continued up to the third floor and noticed that the door at the top of the staircase was broken and in splinters and the floor leading to the 4th floor set of stairs had fallen through.

In addition, down the hallway looked to be a room that looked completely destroyed. Windows were blown out with a massive bird sitting on the edge of the window which had looked similar to a vulture perching in a tree. Luckily it was far enough away to were it didn't feel threatened so I wasn't scared of it completely. At that very moment, one Bobs buddies had managed to sneak up behind me and slammed his foot on the floor, scaring the life out of me and forcing the bird to fly out the window.

As I was trying to collect myself I began to laugh along with Bob and the others however we had decided to leave quick as the sun was beginning to set and we didn't want to run the risk of running into anyone or getting in trouble for being out to late. It was a memory that I will never forget and it also gave me something cool to tell people once I got home. Bob and I made it back to his place that night where we ate and then spent some time playing videogames and skating out front of his place.

In closing, I want to thank Bob for not just including me in his insane activities, but for also helping me through the worst times in my early life. Being a victim of kids being kids at a young age, Bob was someone that never saw me as anything other than his brother. His family was always welcoming and as we proceed into the future, I am relieved to know that he and I are still present in each others lives. I hope he sees this and gets a chuckle from the memories of not just this story, but all the other memories we have made up till now. Much love brother and thank you for everything!