FLAPPING IN THE BREEZE

I have no idea who made the first dare, but somehow or other my friend Jimmy and I ended up right outside of the Parker house. It’s haunted. Everyone knows that. That’s why nobody goes near it. But there we were, right on the porch.

Jimmy pointed at the door. “Try the knob, Sammy.”

“You try it,” I said.

I was hoping he’d chicken out. Then we could both go home.

I spun as I heard a flapping sound. “Ghost!” I shouted.

Jimmy dropped into a crouch. “Where?”

I pointed toward the flapping, ready to make a run for safety. But then, I realized there was a ragged old flag on a pole that slanted up from the corner of the house, to the right of the porch. I could feel the breeze on my face. And I could feel my face flush as I watched the flag.

“Never mind,” I said.

“Don’t do stuff like that,” Jimmy said.

“Sorry.”

“If you want to make up for it, try the door,” he said.

There was no way I could back out now. And I figured I owed him one for scaring him. I reached out. Please be locked, I thought over and over. I put my fingers on the knob. It was rough and rusty. I turned it. It didn’t budge. “Locked,” I said.

“I guess we’re not going inside,” Jimmy said.

“Guess not. But you can’t say we didn’t try.” I could feel my muscles relax. I hadn’t even realized how tense I was. And then, like an idiot, I turned the knob the other way.

That worked.

I glanced over at Jimmy, hoping he’d already walked far enough away that he hadn’t heard the raspy sound of the latch sliding free. I could tell from his face that he’d noticed. There was no way I could pretend it hadn’t happened.

I pushed the door open, hoping it wouldn’t creak.

It was silent. I think that was even worse.

“Now what?” Jimmy asked.

“We go in. We walk around. And then we go home with proof,” I said, holding up my phone.

“We’ll be the coolest kids in school,” Jimmy said.

That thought gave me enough courage to walk inside. I tapped the flashlight icon on my phone and scanned the room. Except for a lot of dust, it could be any house.

“They say two brothers lived here,” Jimmy said. “They were always fighting with each other. One day, things got violent.”

“I know. I heard the same stories you did,” I said. There were all sorts of versions. None of them ended happily for the brothers.

I’d reached the stairs. I knew I’d have to go up to the second floor. That’s where they said the brothers had died. But I didn’t have to go up first.

I pointed up the stairs. “I opened the door. It’s your turn.”

“But…” Jimmy didn’t seem to be able to come up with a good argument against this. He lifted one foot and put it on the first step like he was afraid it would collapse beneath him. He paused, then took another step.

Almost finished, I told myself as I followed him up. We would walk down the hall, peek into the rooms, and then get out as fast as we could. And I’d probably have nightmares for a month or two. But it would be over.

We had just reached the top step when the screams pierced the air.

I screamed back as I spun and saw someone running down the hall from the left. It was a kid swinging a baseball bat.

Jimmy grabbed my arm and pointed to the other end of the hall. Another kid was rushing at us wearing a hockey mask and waving a hockey stick.

Without thinking, I threw my phone at the kid on my left, as hard as I could. My jaw dropped as the phone sailed right through him and smacked against the wall.

“Ghosts!” Jimmy screamed.

We turned to run.

Our feet got tangled as we both tried to step onto the same spot.

We tumbled down the stairs and crashed to the floor. I tried to stand, but the wind was knocked out of me. I pulled myself away from the stairs with my hands, then looked back.

The ghosts were coming down the stairs.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jimmy said. “I’ll bet they can’t come outside.”

I got to my feet and headed for the door, which we’d left open. I couldn’t wait to get outside and leave the ghosts behind. Everyone knows they can’t leave the place they are haunting. “Phew…” I said as I stepped onto the porch. “That was close.”

“I thought we were dead,” Jimmy said.

I jumped as the flag flapped again, real hard. I spun toward it and stared. This time, there was no breeze, but the flag flapped hard, like it was trying to break free of the pole.

“Don’t tell me everything is haunted, now,” I said. I could picture things coming to life and startling me all the way home.

Jimmy didn’t answer. He was staring across the lawn. “Sammy…” he said, pointing at a skinny birch tree near the street.

I looked. The tree was bent against a strong wind. I looked all around. A piece of litter tumbled down the street, skittering like it was fleeing from a monster. The grass rippled. The flag flapped even harder.

There was a strong wind.

But I couldn’t feel it. I held my hand out. “It feels calm,” I said.

“Dead calm,” Jimmy said.

“We can’t feel the wind,” I said.

Jimmy poked himself in the shoulder. “We can’t feel anything,” he said.

We tried to leave the porch, but we couldn’t.

I looked back inside, and saw myself at the bottom of the steps. Jimmy was on the floor next to me.

“Why’d you run?” the kid with the bat asked. “We just wanted to play.”

“Sorry about screaming. We got excited,” the kid with the hockey stick said. “Hardly anybody ever comes to visit. And most of them run away from us.”

It looked like the Parker house had gotten two more ghosts.

Outside, the flag drooped as the breeze died back down.