The Dare! (Ep. 1, Pt. 2)

It’s been two months since anyone has seen or heard from Bobby Miller. His name will come up in a conversation or two every now and again, but Jenny still wonders whatever happened to him. Guess all the stories about that house are true—once you go in, you don’t come out. Well, no matter how the stories go, Bobby did go into the house and what Jenny does not realize, is that this is not the only time Bobby had gone in and not come out.

Jenny walked up to Mike at the Grill ’N Chill and tapped him on the shoulder. “Yeah, yeah,” Mike said as he turned around. “Oh, Jenny. Hey.”

“Hey Mike, let’s talk shall we,” Jenny said as she passed by Mike while walking over to a booth and sat down.

“Sure,” Mike said as he followed her and sat down. “Ok, what’s up?”

“I’ve been thinking… about Bobby. And I can’t shake the idea of what happened to him. Let’s go out to the house and look around inside.” Jenny said.

“Ok, I’m game. When do you want to go?” Mike said.

“Right now,” Jenny replied.

Both went out to the house to see if they could find any trace of Bobby. They took their phones, flashlights on just in case, and all the courage they could muster up. When they arrived at the house, it was just sitting there all alone. Jenny and Mike both slowly walked up the driveway and once they reached the stairs, they started walking up with each step cracking under their feet. Once they got close to the front door, a sudden rush of wind came through the porch blowing past Jenny and Mike with a whoosh sound.

“What’s wrong Mike?” Jenny asked while feeling a chill go down her arms and legs. She could feel her hair stand out on end.

“Did you feel that rush of wind? Before that, I thought I heard something.” Mike said as he turned and looked at Jenny.

“Well yeah, that rush of wind felt somewhat cold, even though it is warm out here. That was strange indeed,” Jenny said while grabbing onto the back of Mike’s arm.

“You still want to go inside and check stuff out?” Mike asked as he reached for the doorknob and grasped it tightly. As he turned it to the right, it made a creaking noise from not being used.

“Yes, let’s go,” Jenny said as she stepped forward toward the front door not sure of what she and Mike may find on the other side. She sighed and went ahead all while trying to keep her nerves in check.

Mike and Jenny walked forward through the front door of the house. It was dark and felt unusually cool. The whole atmosphere of the house just had an uneasy and creepy feeling to it. As they walked through the rooms downstairs, they found nothing of interest.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Mike said to Jenny.

“Okay. I’m nervous. Okay, I’m kind of scared actually,” Jenny said.

“Yeah, me too,” Mike replied as they both started up the stairs to the second story. The paint was peeling off the walls in places, and cobwebs hung from the corners. There were old landscape pictures that hung up on the walls and pieces of the ceiling that had collapsed from age and weather erosion. As Mike and Jenny reached the top of the stairs, they went into the first room and looked around; nothing much in there but dirt and dust.

The next few rooms were the same as the first, except for maybe an old chair or dresser with a mirror that sat close to the wall. The green and yellow striped wallpaper was peeling off the wall showing a light blue color underneath.

“Should we check the closet, Mike?” Jenny said as she stopped in front of the closet door and pointed her finger.

“Well why not, we have looked about everywhere else,” Mike replied as he grabbed the doorknob and turned it. Mike pulled on the door, but it wouldn’t open. He stopped and looked at Jenny, then he looked at the door frame itself and noticed something so strange. He turned to Jenny with his mouth open and eyes as big as saucers.

“Why are you looking like that Mike?” Jenny asked.

“Jenny, look at the door frame, it has been nailed shut and there is a hole in the door like a bullet hole,” Mike said as he scratched his head. Jenny saw the nails and was silent.

“Why? I don’t understand,” she said.

Mike looked around the room and found a hammer over in the corner of the room. He went and pulled out every nail he could find. Once the last nail was free from the door frame the closet door popped open just a little bit leaving a crack of darkness.

“Holy cow, that is crazy,” Jenny said as she stepped back a step. Mike slowly opened the door and they both gasped for air and jumped back from the door. Everything was silent for a few minutes except for the sound of their heartbeats racing. What was in the closet was unbelievable; it was a skeleton that was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall with its legs drawn up. There was a hole in the front of the skull that Mike thought could have been from a bullet, but he wasn’t sure.

“Let’s call the police on this,” Mike said to Jenny as they ran downstairs and outside of the house.

Once they called the police, it didn’t take long for them to arrive on the scene. The police questioned Jenny and Mike about why they were there and what all happened. While the coroner was collecting the skeleton from the upper story closet, a note was found and given to the policeman in charge.

“Officer, what happens now?” Jenny asked.

“Well ma’am, the skeleton will be sent off for testing to determine the cause of death. If there is no more information that you can give us right now then you can leave, but don’t leave town in case we need to get back up with you,” The Officer said while getting into his patrol car and closing the door.

“Thank you, Officer,” Mike said as he put his arm around Jenny, then took her to his car. Mike took Jenny home and reassured her that the skeleton mystery would be solved and there is no guarantee that the skeleton was Bobby Miller. Once Mike made sure that Jenny was safely in her house, he went home too.

A few weeks had passed, and the identity of the skeleton was revealed, that it was indeed Bobby Miller and he had died from a single gunshot wound to the head. The note that was found had been apparently written as a suicide note, but upon further investigation, it was found that Bobby had been murdered by his father. Once the father had been discovered two towns away, he was arrested for the murder of his own son. Although the father claimed it was an accident, he was found guilty of shooting Bobby in the head. The father said when he was on trial that he freaked out and didn’t know what to do, so he put Bobby’s lifeless body in the closet and nailed the door closed. Soon after, he moved from the house to another town, so he could try to forget what happened.

Jenny was fast asleep in her bed when a noise woke her up. As she opened her eyes, she was startled by the sight of Bobby Miller standing at the end of her bed.

“Bobby is that you?” Jenny asked in a nervous voice.

“Hi, Jenny. Yes, it is me. I have to tell you something,” Bobby said in a soft voice.

“Well ok, what is it?” Jenny said as she sat up and pulled the covers up close to her.

“I just wanted to say thank you. You never gave up on me,” Bobby said with a smile as a warm bright light surrounded him like he was glowing.

“You’re…” Jenny started to say as the light around Bobby grew a little brighter. Before she could say anything else, Bobby was gone. It was like he just softly faded away into a beautiful white light. Somehow Jenny didn’t feel sad, but relieved. As she laid back down in her bed, she pulled the covers up close to her neck, a smile came across her face and she whispered, “You’re welcome Bobby.”

Just want to make this note

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Also, this story, which is within the Episodes of the Strange book, can be found on Amazon in paperback and kindle forms.