No rest for trouble

Chapter 12

Marxes and Grace got out of the old house safely. They both went towards the old garage. The police officer oversaw the crashed car getting carried away on the tow truck. The officer offered to help the driver of the car get back home. They drove him down the dirt alleyway. Marxes and Grace dived into the tall blades of grass. They watched as the police car drove down the dirt alleyway. The driver was in the back of the car. Grace and Marxes waited until the police cruiser were out of sight. The sound of the car's tires became quieter by the minute. Grace and Marxes moved out from their hiding places in the backyard and dashed for the garage. They both went inside and grabbed their scooters. There was the sound of a police car siren. Marxes and Grace made a run back to the abandoned house. They both went back to the dusty living room. The police cruiser pulled next to the condemned house with the abandoned backyard. Marxes and Grace looked at the doorway entrance to the living room.

A police officer climbed over the rotten fence. He marched through the tall grass. The beam of light from the flashlight swept through the backyard. The officer wondered how bad of a state the house was in. He went to stand in the doorway. He looked at the dining room. The flashlight shined at the ceiling. Bats came down from the ceiling. They flapped their wings furiously. They flew at the officer. He ran out of the house and went to his cruiser. The bats were not interested in the police officer. They flew into the night in search of food. Grace and Marxes ran out of the living room. They ran away from the bats and went to the front entrance. Marxes nearly fell through the weak rotting boards on the way. A board broke. Marxes almost got his foot stuck in the wood. He got himself standing again with a little help from Grace. They both ran into the small room next to the front door. There was a rocking chair. One of its legs is starting to break off. All it needs is one person to sit on the chair and it will gave way. There were some old boards that creaked above them. Marxes and Grace thought that they should hide, since they feel that the police officer will be back to look for them. Suddenly, there was the sound of boards falling apart from the ceiling. Dust scattered everywhere. The old wooden boards made a pile between the room with the front door and the hallway. The dust settled after one minute. Marxes and Grace had the top of their T-shirts protecting them of the dust. They also closed their eyes. Marxes wave his hand in front of him. The waving hand blew the dust away. Marxes and Grace saw that the way into the house was blocked. The pile of rubble made it impossible to go into the other rooms of the house. After the dust was cleared up a little, Marxes and Grace could see a hole in the ceiling. This hole was showing a little bit of the second floor. Marxes shined the flashlight from his camera app into the hole. The beam of light showed a light fixture that was completely covered with dust. Then there was a portrait with the frame being covered with dust on the sides. The inside edges of the portrait have a little bit of dust. There was a smaller portrait on the left side of the big portrait. It was a small spider web that hung from the bottom. There was a big cobweb blocking the entire hallway on the second floor. Grace looked away when she saw five small spiders crawling on the giant cobweb.

There was the sound of footsteps that came from the backdoor. Marxes turned off the flashlight app. The police officer came into the house wearing a gas mask. The floorboards that he walked over creaked with every step. He went to inspect the dining room. The whole dining room table was covered in a large layer of dust. The police officer went to inspect the kitchen. His foot went through the kitchen floor. The police officer had a difficult time pulling out his foot. The officer decided to lean on the kitchen counters. The old rotting floorboards creaked louder. There were no kitchen appliances in the room. There was an old drawer that was pulled out from its original spot. The pieces that were used to make it, were lying on the floor. Two of the pieces appeared to have been ripped from the drawer itself. One piece of the drawer had a big spot of mold on it. It was hard to figure out where it came from originally. There were three spots where the drawer could have come from. There were dark areas make up where the drawers used to be. A cockroach came out from one of the empty drawer spaces. It scuttled along. The police officer went to look in the next room. It was the living room. He noticed that somebody had been in this room. Some of the dust on the old wooden was pushed aside. It looked like two people had made a trail towards the piece of furniture. There was not as much dust on the sheets that covered the chair and the sofa. Marxes and Grace felt that they should be running outside of the house. The police officer took one step into the room. There was a loud creak that followed. Marxes shuffled his footsteps along with the creaking sound.

The officer stopped. He thought that he heard something else creak inside the house. "Is anybody here?" He shouted. Marxes and Grace did not say a word. He went to check the rest of the house. He noticed the pile of rubble. Suddenly, a part of the upstairs floor started to give away. It dragged a section of cobweb along with it. The piece of floor landed behind the police officer. He turned around and saw the broken piece of floor. He shined his flashlight up into the hole. He saw the giant cobweb wall. The officer felt a little grossed out by just simply looking at the cobweb. The officer wanted to look in the entrance way of the house. Instead, he went to the upstairs floor. His footsteps creaked along the stairs. He stepped on the edges of the stairs. Grace and Marxes moved a little bit closer to the front door. Suddenly, there was a loud crack. Part of the stairs that went to the second floor have given way. The officer was stuck in the staircase that was falling apart. Grace slid across the floor to the doorknob. She slowly reached for it. Grace jiggled the door knob a little, and the door was open. It rusty hinges creaked. "Hey, who's there?" The officer shouted. "Stay right where you are whoever you are!" He struggled to climbed out of the hole in the old staircase. Marxes and Grace went outside. A part of rotting floors slowly broke apart. But it didn't snap. They ran out of the house and slammed the front door behind them. There was some dust that came off the ceiling of the entrance way. Grace and Marxes looked down the two sections of street. It was quiet and empty. They both rode their scooters and used the flashlight apps from their phone to see where they were going. They rode on the sidewalk nearby to the condemned house. The friends talked about where they should go next. Marxes and Grace both voted to go to the skate park. They both rolled to the road that was on the right side of where they were. Marxes took the lead. He pushed his scooter with his foot pounding against the ground with all of his might. Marxes and Grace rolled across the street. There was a car that was driving into the street the sidewalk they were on was parallel to and was going the opposite direction.

The two friends managed to reach the other sidewalk that went parallel to the street they wanted to use. The officer meanwhile struggled to get his other foot out of the hole in the stairway. He carefully moved along the wall of the stairwell and got back to the main floor safely. He shined his flashlight in a small hole between the pile of rubble and the entrance way. There was nobody there, but the ceilings looked a little bit cleaner than the rest of the ceilings of the house. "The villains who broke into the convenience store must have been here." He told himself. He took out his notepad and started to make some notes. He also walked out of the house. The officer didn't bother to look at the rest of the house. He eventually went into the backyard and went back to his police cruiser. Marxes and Grace were gliding along the sidewalk. However, the undead creature was not far away. He was angry at Grace and Marxes. He pulled out one of the cellphones that he has. The cellphone showed a picture. The monster looked at the phone. Marxes and Grace rode on their scooters until they have arrived at the skate park. They both got out of their scooters and started to stroll. Marxes and Grace soon stopped at a picnic bench in the middle of the park. Marxes and Grace sat down. They felt exhausted. Grace looked at the time on her phone. It was ten minutes after midnight. Marxes and Grace opened their backpacks. The undead creature was now in a big hurry. He jumped on the roofs of cars that were going in the opposite direction to the cars who were going in the same direction that the undead creature was going in. He left a stench behind as he jumped from car to car. Marxes and Grace took out the sandwiches they stole. The undead monster jumped on the roofs of houses. The people who slept peacefully through the night, were not awakened by the sound of an alarm clock, but by a somewhat strong smell of the stench left behind by the undead monster. The smelly creature picked up the pace so that he could find Marxes and Grace. Grace and Marxes enjoyed eating the sandwiches. "Now this is really good. I would want to get one of these sandwiches myself." Grace told Marxes. "See I told you. That's why I never pack a sandwich. This is really good stuff. I buy it all with my allowance. The lunch doesn't cost my parents a nickel." Marxes said as he took a bite. "Well you do get your allowance money from them, so technically..."