“I dare you!”
Whenever Mikey said those words, trouble would follow.
He found mischief the way a compass finds north… sheer magnetism.
I used to consider him a leader (and I the follower), but his dares always put me in the front lines – where the danger was – while he hid in the shadows, shielded from harm.
On this particular day we were in the alley behind the old dilapidated house on Primrose Place. Someone lived in that house, but nobody knew who they were, or had ever seen them for that matter. No one went in… and no one came out.
Their mail went through a cobweb covered slot, next to the porch, and groceries were delivered weekly. Occasionally there’d be a parcel or two left on the front steps. We suspected that they retrieved these things late at night, while the rest of us were sleeping.
An attached garage abutted the alley, and Mikey noticed that a small window had been left open… just a wee bit.
He dared me to shimmy through and see what it looked like inside – and to text him a pic, of course, so that he could see too. Like I said, he was good about maintaining his own safety. But I was quite tiny, and Mikey was very large, so the logistics made sense.
Being the daredevil that I was, I climbed onto a trash bin and made my way in. Mikey helped, pushing my bottom half through when I started dangling at the waist (legs flailing).
The door to the living structure was ajar, and I was surprised to find it dark and empty inside. The windows were all covered, and the furnishings were minimal. It was hard to believe that someone actually lived there.
I took a few quick pics (being careful to disable the flash) and hurried back to the garage.
As I grabbed hold of the window, I caught sight of a second door, on the opposite wall. We had one very similar, that went to a basement, so I assumed that this one did the same.
For the sake of my own curiosity, I tried the knob. It didn’t budge, but I could hear a humming noise – some kind of machinery, perhaps – and a very odd sound that reminded me of a pulse. Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh.
I could only imagine the macabre activities that were going on down there. Was it a torture chamber? A place where satanic rituals were held? Maybe it was the secret lab of a mad scientist who performed grotesque experiments on unwilling patients.
My vivid imagination nearly traumatized me then and there, and my brand new iPhone slipped from my fingers. The screen shattered as it hit the concrete… and I heard what I thought were footsteps.
The gymnastics classes that my mom had forced me to go to finally paid off because I did a nose dive through the window and then somersaulted over the trash bin with absolute grace. (Did I mention that my dismount was superb?)
I jumped on my bike and hightailed it down the alley. When I finally found the guts to turn around… there was Mikey… pedaling right behind me with a shit eating grin.
TO BE CONTINUED
I needed a little break from the Alphabet, but I thought that I’d cover P with Primrose Place, the first part of a new story that I’m working on. I think this will be a fun one!
I may not use Q for the story, so I might alternate between the story and my Blogging through the Alphabet series for the time being. I’ve already gone faster than I’d anticipated… I can’t believe I’m already at Q and it’s only April!
Anyway, I can’t take credit for the image… it was a free photo that I simply edited for the sake of my story.
I think that’s all for now. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!
a sprinkle of faith 
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