Project: Cecil Town

Chapter 5

Zoey, Bert, and Sonny were shaken by the sound of the crash. Dennis and Jill came out of the alley way. They were disappointed and sad. The cars had their hoods lying next to the front wheels, and the tires had exploded. "All clear. Now how are we going to get back home now?" Dennis questioned. The other friends came out of the alley way. Like Dennis, they too were upset. The parents came out of the bank. They were shocked and nearly crying when they saw their cars. Mr. Binge walked up to his car. He saw his son and his friends. "What happened? Did you kids did this?" Mr. Binge asked them. "No sir, something brought them here." Bert answered. "You mean to say that you kids have seen a ghost?" Bert's dad rallied as he looked all over his car. "Yes dad. We also saw a ghost in the store. We got the footage on the gopro." Bert answered. The parents looked at each other. Do they believe the story?

After downloading the footage of the film onto his computer, Mr. Binge looked at the footage with the adults. "You were locked in the building?" Reggie's mom grilled them. The kids all shook their heads. "The building itself is slowly falling apart. I guess it wouldn't be a surprise if the door accidentally closed on them." Mr. Binge stated. "Maybe there was a gust of wind that closed the door on them." Bert's dad thought. "At least we could walk back to our hometown. It's only thirty miles away from here." Reggie's mom uttered, trying stay positive. The adults watched as the kids walked through the staff area of the store. Jill and Zoey's mom freaked out when they saw the squirrel scurrying in the store's walls, and past the wall. "I don't think it's safe to send the kids in a haunted building. I think they should stay at the camp site and work on their work from school." She said, feeling anxious. "Don't worry, I'm sure that Zoey, Jill, and Dennis know how to handle situations while they're in a group. Right Dennis?" Mr. Binge asked his son. "Yes dad, I'm not a baby. Besides, we didn't know that the store was haunted or not." He answered. "Yes, it was very fun going in that building. It felt like going through a haunted house." Jill said with a fake smile. "Yeah mom, we didn't know if this town is haunted or not. And besides, this is the most fun trip we have ever gone on. Please mom, could you let us stay with our friends and take a look another abandoned building tomorrow?" Zoey questioned, while chiming in. The twins' mother thought for a second. "Alright, but if you see another ghost, just scream very loud alright? We will join as fast as we can." Their mother advised. Mr. Binge continued to watch the gopro camera film with the adults. He was at the part where the kids have found a door in the back. Then the adults were freaked out by the "mannequin" that the kids saw. Dennis and his friends began to work on their schoolwork. They tried to ignore the gopro camera footage, but they felt a little freaked out by the screams that they made. Mr. Binge looked up from the laptop and shouted for Dennis to come. Dennis put down his schoolwork and went to walk with his dad. "We noticed the last part of the footage. What was the ghost all about?" He asked him. "Well, we thought it was a mannequin, but it turns out that it was scarier than that." Dennis replied.

"Don't worry about it. I think that it's just a ghost that's just haunting that building." Sonny said as he joined the conversation. "We won't go to that building again mom. Tomorrow, we could work on our homework and explore a different building." Jill offered, standing up for Dennis and Sonny. The parents huddled together. After one whole minute, Mr. Binge looked at them. "I suppose it's okay to let you kids explore another building. If you find that it is haunted though, make sure you run out of it and go back to the camp site." Mr. Binge ordered. Reggie's mother got up and looked at the tires. "Maybe, just maybe, I could get these tires fixed." She spoke. "How mom? There are no garages within a few feet from here. And besides, we need a tow truck to haul these cars out to the garage." "Well, I got to admit, this place has caught my attention. I already feel a little bit spooked about some of the buildings. I am sad to see that this town is abandoned. It might still be populated if nothing happened to it." Sonny's dad said not trying to shed a tear. Dennis and his dad got some pieces of wood to make a fire. Reggie and his mom got some piece of the old road pavement and made a fire circle out of it. Bert's dad brought a whole turkey for the whole group to eat. He carefully turned the turkey on top of the fire using a turnspit that was easy to pack inside a fireproof bag. Sonny's dad looked around him as if he felt that himself and the group was being watched by something. Sonny crawled into the tent. Dennis crept away from the fire and went to join him. He watched as Sonny sat down inside the tent. He felt a little bit sad. "Are you okay?" Dennis asked him. "Yeah, I'm just a little bit worried about my dad. He's been acting strange ever since we started to visit this place." "Supper's nearly ready!" Bert's dad shouted from outside. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure the next building we are going to check will not be as haunted as the old store we visited." Dennis said as he went to grab a plate of turkey meat. He got a plate of dark meat. Sonny came out of the tent to get his supper. The kids sat down next to their parents. The parents talked about what they saw in the bank. There were no coins or any money bills anywhere.

"Though the bank vaults were open, there was nothing inside of them. I guess the people who lived here, picked all of their money up and moved to a different town. There wasn't anything on the floor except for a few specs of dust." Mr. Binge said as he ate his turkey meat. The turkey meat everybody ate was served with a side of a piece of buttered bread. "There was nothing haunted about the bank, it just seems abandoned." Sonny's dad remarked as he ate a piece from his slice of bread. "Though your dad mentioned to me that there is a garage in town someplace, is that true?" Reggie's mom asked Dennis. "Yes, that's true. I did remember that there is a bus that was parked there. That is where the one YouTuber came here and got surrounded by ghosts. I am starting to think that this ghost town is really haunted." Dennis answered. "Don't worry, the building you've visited might have been haunted. However, that doesn't mean that the rest of the town is haunted." Mr. Binge said before eating his white turkey meat. Bert's dad also brought gravy along. All it needs is to be heated up near a fire. The sauce was on Mr. Binge's lips as he ate. While they ate, somebody watched them from behind one of the abandoned buildings. Mayor Harold was hiding in the alley way watching the group eat. He was also smiling to. "So, during the afternoon, does anybody want to visit an abandoned building on Trevor road?" Mr. Binge asked the group. The kids were excited and shouted hurray. The parents on the other hand were not overly excited but they said yes anyway. "There is an old toy store next to the abandoned public library on that road. All we have to do is move the camp site to that area. But the kids must finish two pages of schoolwork before we go." The kids and adults all got a packed dessert each thanks to Reggie's mom. They were small slice of cakes that could be found at any gas station. Dennis got to eat a rice Krispy square.

Sonny's dad stood up "I'm going to go for a short walk. I won't be long." He said excusing himself from the group. He then got to walk around the fountain. Dennis looked at him while eating the last of his dessert. He was staring down the each of the streets. When Sonny's dad got back, Dennis stood up from where he was sitting next to the campfire. "Excuse me sir, I notice that you are interested in Cecil Town. Have you been here before if you don't mind me asking?" He queried, sounding polite. Sonny's dad chuckled. "Well, I remember that my dad once lived here when he was your age. He told me how he used to play with his friends racing around the town fountain and enjoyed coming to school here. Then of course they moved to a different town just a few months before the town was abandoned." He spoke. "Dad, you didn't tell me that!" Sonny shouted as he got up from sitting on the ground too. "Why didn't you tell me the story when I was a kid?" "Because then I would fear that you would want to go out and find it yourself." Sonny's dad responded with a phony smile. He then yawned and said "Well, I'm getting a little tired here. So, I think I will go take a nap in the tent. Don't forget to change into your pajamas before lights out okay son?" "Yes dad." Sonny answered with a smile as well. He then went into one of the tents. "Did you see that?" Sonny asked. "See what?" Dennis asked. "The look on my dad's face when he just lied to us?" "Lied? What are you talking about?" Dennis demanded, trying not to sound confused. "I'm telling you Dennis; something is strange about this place." "You mean that the whole town is haunted? I can believe you. Besides, we were chased by a ghost that scared us half to death." Dennis replied. "I'm serious Dennis. We should fix up the tires and leave the town asap." Sonny said. "Sonny get a grip. We have not figured out what happened to this town long ago. I bet the public library will have the answers that we're looking for." Dennis told him, sounding confident. "Speak for yourself. I hope that the library is not as haunted as the store we were in." And when he finish saying those words, Sonny went to change into his pajamas. Dennis looked around him. The abandoned town was quiet, too quiet. There was a gust of wind that whistled in the air. Dennis though it sounds that someone was screaming for a second. He then went into his father's tent and changed into his pajamas.