Friends

Friends

The three friends wandered further that day than they usually did. It was warm and sunny; the new spring leaves almost calling them into the woods. When they found the path they automatically followed it, eager to explore on such a lovely day. Coming to a stone wall was practically like finding a treasure! They’d never seen it before; it must go someplace. By the time they found the broken down house they were in high gear.

What was left of the house looked very unsafe, yet going in or not was not even discussed. It was a given after coming this far. They were as careful as three ten-year-olds could remember to be. Oddly feeling the need to whisper, they kibitzed back and forth as they snuck up to where there would have been a front door, now just a hole in the wall.

Inside there was dust and dirt everywhere, broken furniture, broken glass, empty holes that used to be windows. It looked like the house had had a hard life even before it’s former occupants left. The kids loved it. They immediately began trying to scare one another with monsters under the floor, frightening stories involving the former owners and their terrible fate. Eventually, making up a story together to tell their friends about seeing a ghost here. They could bring others here, and then they would be the brave ones! Tired yet excited, they finally wandered home.

“That was fun,” Andy said to his mother, standing on the front porch.

“It was,” she answered looking down at her son. “It’s really nice for you to see other kids. I hope they do come back.”

The two went back through the empty doorway. “You know,” she added, “you would have been their age, if we had lived.”