leave this place

“Today’s the day, right, Lauren?”

I looked expectantly at my friend sitting next to me on the school bus, who was scribbling away in a small black notebook. She looked up and me and nodded her head enthusiastically, the two neatly tied puffs of curly hair on her head bobbing along with it.

“Right. I have our plan all ready right here.”

I peeked over her shoulder at the notebook to see a bird’s-eye sketch of our little suburban neighborhood.

“I drew out a map for us. Here’s where our bus stop is, and here’s the abandoned house. If we take a shortcut here...” Lauren explained, marking a path in bright red pen as she spoke, “...we should be able to make it there with about 15 minutes to explore before we have to be home in time for when our parents get back from work.” Her lips curled into a smug grin and she chuckled. “They won’t even know we were gone!”

“Perfect,” I said just as our bus slowed to a halt. Lauren held the little black book close to her while we exited the bus and headed down the sidewalk towards our destination.

“How long do you think this place has been abandoned?” I wondered aloud. “It’s been empty for as long as I’ve lived around here.”

“Same. Must be a long time, then,” Lauren replied, continuing to lead the way.

“Do you think someone died there?” I said jokingly. “I bet it’s suuuuper haunted. That’s why nobody wants to move in.”

Lauren scoffed. “You’ve been watching too many horror movies, Hailey.”

“Come on!” I nudged her with my elbow. “Imagine if I got something creepy on video. We could be the next internet sensations!”

“Internet personalities do make good money nowadays. Whether it’s haunted or not, I can get some content for my blog. Now, the house should be right around this corner...”

Soon enough, we had made it to the abandoned house. The grass was overgrown and a much duller shade compared to the chemically-neon green lawns it was sandwiched between. The house itself had thick vines growing up its mossy brick sides, with a season’s worth of leaves covering the roof and porch. Aside from the lack of upkeep, I was surprised at how well the house itself had stood the test of time; it was almost as if someone could walk out at any minute.

I pulled up my sleeves and tied my shoulder-length hair in a ponytail before heading up to the front door, Lauren now following behind me. I set a timer for 15 minutes on my phone and kept it at the ready to record any paranormal encounters.

“Well, let’s do this,” I announced just before trying the front door knob.

“Hailey, wait, you can’t just-”

Lauren was cut off by the loud creaking of the opening door. The inside of the house was pitch black, save for some sporadic rays of light from whatever windows weren’t too obstructed by overgrowth.

“No way,” she finished, mouth agape. “I wasn’t expecting this to be that easy…do you think someone’s already inside?”

“Only one way to find out!” I declared before marching right in, using my phone’s flashlight to see inside. Lauren stayed close behind, prepping a page in her little black notebook to write down our observations.

“Hello?” I called out as I walked into the house, passing through the living room. My flashlight illuminated an antique-looking paisley couch with matching chairs. The furniture was worn, spotted with stains and discoloration. A glance at the side of the couch revealed several deep cuts in the fabric that almost looked like claw marks. “Whoever lived here must have had pets or something,” I said as I snapped a photo. Lauren just grunted in agreement, focused on writing down all the details of our adventure in her notebook.

Suddenly, a loud thud could be heard from behind us. “What was that?” Lauren gasped as we turned towards the sound. I opened my camera app and hit record.

The front door had shut on its own.

“That’s...not good.” My confident facade began to fade. Lauren ran up to the door and tried the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Lauren repeated, beginning to panic. “We can’t get out. What do we do now?!”

I took a deep breath and composed myself. “Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a back entrance somewhere. Worst case scenario, we can go out a window-”

My gaze was met with a pair of yellow eyes that pierced through the darkness of the house. A gust of cool air blew past us, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. A disembodied voice echoed through the house.

Leave this place.

There went my composure.

With a screech, Lauren and I grasped onto each other and scrambled away from the haunting yellow eyes and into a nearby room, slamming the door shut behind us.

“What the hell just happened?” Lauren whispered to me aggressively. “And how do you plan on getting us out of here?!”

“Me? You’re the one who makes all the plans in that little book of yours!” I sighed in exasperation, trying to calm myself down again. “Whatever, we just need to find a way out. Let’s look around.” With that, we both got out our flashlights and began investigating the room for an exit.

Moments later, Lauren sheepishly called out to me, her voice wavering with uncertainty. “Hey...Hailey?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Come look at this.”

“That doesn’t look like an exit…”

I walked over to the dusty old coffee table beside where Lauren was standing. Upon the table was a black suitcase, opened to reveal stacks of cash.

“Holy crap...how much is in there?” I watched as Lauren counted aloud.

“18...19...20. Thousand.” We stared wide-eyed at each other for a moment.

“We’re taking it,” I decided.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Hailey?” Lauren replied cautiously. “We don’t know who that belongs to, or why it’s here-”

“You think we’re just gonna leave that much money alone? No way!” I lowered the lid of the suitcase, clasping it shut and tucking it under my arm.

Leave. This. Place.

Yellow eyes met ours yet again, this time right in front of our faces where the suitcase had been.

We screamed in unison and ran back the way we came, heading towards the front door. Miraculously, the doorknob worked this time. We stumbled out into the bright outdoors, slamming the front door shut behind us and hurrying out into the sidewalk.

After we had caught our breath, I glanced over at Lauren. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Let’s go home.”

We walked in silence for a few moments as we collected our thoughts.

“What are we even gonna do with all this money?” Lauren asked.

“Pay for like, two semesters of college.”

“Hey, maybe the money we make from those videos you took will cover the rest!”

Lauren and I laughed as we walked down the sidewalk on our way home.

We didn’t notice the black cat with piercing yellow eyes following behind us.