The Old Barn on the Dirt Road

Three teenagers, George, Benjy, and Craig, walk down the same dirt road everyday after school. On this route, the Old Barn that they walk past is rumored to be haunted and nobody has stepped foot in there for 8 years. One day Craig stopped in front of it on the way back home from school. “Nope, we’re not doing it Craig, come on man.” George said. “Stop being scared, man! The rumors are just rumors… Do you believe everything that somebody tells you?” Craig exclaimed. “Look, Benjy isn’t scared,” Craig insisted. Benjy has a blank stare on his face. Benjy looks at George and then at Craig. He raises a subtle smirk on his face. “Yeah yeah see! I knew Benjy wasn’t scared.” cheered Craig. Craig is exuberating excitement now that he sees the look on Benjy’s face. “Today is the day! Let’s Gooo! Time to see if these rumors are true!” George gets a little angry, “But he didn’t even say anything!”. Craig starts to walk towards the Old Barn, “Should we wait until it’s night time? I feel like it’ll be a little bit better.” Benjy looks at Craig and says, “Yes''. Craig turns around surprised and hollers, “You heard it from the man himself, George. It’s going down tonight! Yeah!... Let's be back here at 8pm tonight sounds cool? Cool. Alright alright lets gooo!”. George releases a sigh, “This is a bad idea.” The three of them continue to walk down the dirt road and eventually go their separate ways once they get past the dirt road.

Later that night, they all arrive at the Old Barn. “I’m actually surprised you showed up George”, sarcastically expressed by Craig. “Yeah yeah. I just couldn’t let you do anything stupid by yourself.” replied George. “That’s what friends are for right”, Benjy reassured. “Are you calling me stupid Benjy?!” Craig yelled. “No… A Friend.” Benjy implied. “Everyone brought flashlights right?” asked George. “Ahh dang it I forgot. I’m such an idiot.” sighed Craig. “I knew you would do th-.”, George exclaimed. “Sike! Haha! Gotcha! I got it right here! Told you I’m not an idiot!”, shouted Craig. Benjy laughs a little bit. George releases a sigh, “Let’s just go.”

The three walk up to the old barn front door. The hinges are busted off so they push the door and walk in. They come to find out that the barn looks more like a house on the inside and has 2 stories. “Looks like somebody was living here? I guess?”, questioned George. “Maybe”, wondered Benjy. The three walk in slowly and fearfully. “Maybe there’s a little light somewhere.” speculated George. As the three are walking Craig sees a picture on the wall. It’s a picture of a man and woman. “Oh look at this… I think these are the people who lived here before.” Craig speculated. The other two walk over and look at the picture. After they look at it for a few seconds Benjy stares at it because he noticed something strange about it.

George finds an old rusted lamp. He attempts to turn it on but it sparks and doesn’t turn on. Benjy calmly blurted, “It moved!”. “What moved?” George hesitated to ask. “The picture... The eyes moved when you walked over that way.” Benjy explained. “Whaaat no way.” Craig contended. Craig runs over to the picture and looks for himself but it isn’t moving. “I’m out of here! See you guys later!” George cautioned. “Wait George. We’ve only been in here for like 5 minutes. Don't leave so soon… Oh wait, did you hear that?” George steps on an old creaking wood tile. Immediately after he does that a door screeches open in the distance. “Wait, what was that?” questioned Benjy. They all direct their flashlights towards the sound of the screeching door. “Alright I’ve seen enough! I’m leaving now!” squealed George. A mysterious voice in the distance quietly says, “Wait, don’t leave yet.” The three look around knowing that not any of them said that. Benjy starts to show a little sign of fear while Craig is still playing it cool. Craig joked, “Stop messing around Benjy. Haha. That was you… right? Benjy quickly replied, “No”. “S-so w-who was th-that?” stuttered George. The mysterious voice whispers, “You want to play catch with me?”. A red ball rolls out slowly from the opened door. The three look at each other, pause for a moment, then scream in terror while sprinting to the front door. They bust through the front door and all run a good distance away from the Old Barn. They are all out of breath. George screamed, “I knew this was a bad idea!”. “Yeah... I don’t know if I'll be able to sleep... for the rest of my life.” Craig stammered. “I think I peed my pants.” admitted Benjy. “Hey Benjy... remind me... to never ever listen to Craig again.” George swore. Benjy nods his head confirming “yes”. The three then walk their separate ways. Craig is surprisingly speechless and doesn’t defend himself.

THE END