Bloody Skeleton Series #1 The Monster in the neighborhood

15-Level Up

Ned had offered to go.

Mikey didn't want to seem too relieved because he'd thought the one going would be him, but he couldn't hold that sigh of relief. He really tried.

Ned had been gone for almost thirty minutes now, but nobody had noticed yet.

A good sign.

Jake jammed his elbow into Mikey's side, hissing about Jerry and nodding to the side without looking.

'Don't be obvious,' he hissed harshly.

They were both working over two pieces of wood, trying to nail them together the way Mr Nelson had thought them. Harry was far in front, working with the grown-ups because he was the biggest and was probably better than them at it.

Mikey glanced to the side and nearly hammered his hand.

'He's looking at us!' he whispered to Jake. 'He's looking at us.'

'I know. He's been standing there for a while like a total weirdo, how can none of those guys see it?'

Mikey glanced again; his heart dropped.

'He's coming!'

Jerry shuffled through the chaos of his garage to them, looming over them in his worn jeans jackets and beat up boots.

'You boys need any help with that?' he asked.

Sometimes it was hard to know whether he was on to them or not. Mikey had to remind himself that the patch of vomit they'd left in the corner of his yard was gone. The grass there too.

The window had been closed up when they'd taken a look earlier, the grass trimmed, except where they'd thrown up.

The grass there had been uprooted and all that was there was a patch of soft dirt.

Jerry did know somebody had been snooping.

'Nah, we've got it Mr Jerry,' Jake answered swiftly.

'You sure? You've been on it for a while.'

'Nope, we're good. It's just two pieces of wood, how hard can it be for the two of us to handle, right Mikey?'

Mikey looked up at his name. Jerry was staring back like a statue. 'Yeah...' he muttered and faced the wood. They were almost done anyway.

'Yeah, weren't there supposed to be three of you?'

Jake looked up innocently. 'Yeah...Ned had to go. Like go go. He went just now.'

'Just now?' Mikey couldn't raise his head.

It felt like the force of Jerry's deep voice and hard eyes were keeping his head down.

'Uhh...yeah, just a minute ago. One of the person from there told him where to find the bathroom.'

Jerry's figure loomed for a moment longer before he moved, towards the house.

No! they couldn't let him get Ned. They needed to distract him. Mikey turned to Jake for ideas, and Jake looked just as panicked as him.

If Jerry got in and caught Ned...Mikey didn't even want to think about it.

Harry was busy with other neighbours and Bill from the hardware store, actually looking less sad.

Jerry entered his house and shut the door in Mikey's heart.

He and Jerry locked eyes and breathed, then they ran for the tiny window at the back.

Gone.

The window was still boarded up, and they couldn't hear anything even with their ears pressed to the ground and the grass pinching their chins.

'Oh my gosh!' Jake gasped, looking right behind Mikey.

Ned climbed down from a window, and gently closed it. Sweaty but smiling.

He gave them two thumbs up. 'Level passed.'