Above the Ground

11- My Destiny as a Bad Cook

Allie's Pov:

"What happened?!"

"We got to the spot," I started. I was shaking from excitement. Joe held it in his hand, smiling uncontrollably. "But the shed wasn't there. It must've been bulldozed a long time ago. The foundation's still there, though."

"So...?"

"There was a shovel laying on the ground, so we thought—"

Joe leaned into my phone's mic and took over. "We thought we'd dig, and turns out there was something there."

"What? What is it?!"

"A laminated piece of paper."

"Stop being cryptic, just tell me what was on it!"

"An address."

"Where?"

"Lackley Drive. 5890."

"Meet there?"

"Absolutely."

"We'll be there in... as soon as we can."

I laughed. "Alright. Bye." The line clicked off.

"We'd better beat them."

"Joe, we've got like double the distance to cover as them."

"Oh, a full half a mile instead of a quarter mile? Besides, Ben's on crutches."

"He's off crutches, actually."

"Well, he's injured. We can totally beat them." His pace quickened to a fast walk. Then, when I caught up to his pace, he got quicker, until we were running.

We got to the house still panting. Daisy and Ben were nowhere in sight.

I had to admit, I was not thrilled to be here. I usually avoided this street altogether, and now I was facing the broken windows and sagging boards of the famed haunted house of this town, with nothing but a small lawn between us.

"Joe-"

"It'll be fun!"

"Joe, this place is creepy!"

"The address led here, we're going inside."

My heartbeat paced faster. I began to shiver. I didn't see why we had to go inside. "Couldn't we just... look at it?"

"What's the point in that? What if Mr. Banks' papers are in there, and we didn't go inside? We'd never find them!"

Around the corner of the block, Daisy and Ben appeared.

"Oh, thank goodness," I said as they got closer.

"Bruh, this place is way creepier in person," Ben said.

"There's loose floorboards in there! Ben can't go inside anyway. Why don't we just go home?" It was a valid case to me.

Daisy rolled her eyes.

"Oh, true," Joe said. Finally! Someone finally saw my point! "We'll yell if we get stuck."

"You're still going in?" I said, bewildered.

"We don't have broken bones."

"Keep Ben company, and, like Joe said, we'll yell if we need help." Daisy nodded, as if to convince me.

I couldn't believe this. They were still going in. They were actually going in.

I shook my head. Fools.

Joe's Pov:

Okay, even I was scared.

As soon as we walked through the creaking door, rats scurried across the floor, unperturbed by our presence. The whole place was dead silent, except for the few wind gusts or floorboards creaking under our steps. Several places in the wood floors were broken through, leading to an abyss I definitely did not want to explore. I was just hoping each step I took didn't take me falling through, too.