the mannequin man ☞ patd

i

Tonight, it's just a few college dudes getting together. No booze. No girls. No drugs. Just me and the guys.

We're enjoying ourselves. Movies, popcorn, soda, licorice—you name it. We're living like ten year olds at the age of 21. Everything is marvelous.

We're all in my dorm. Scattered around. Doing our own thing, but still having fun together. Spencer comes in from the kitchen, a big smile on his face. "I have an idea," he announces.

Everyone turns to him. We all know that whatever Spencer's idea is, it's probably enjoyable. It always is.

"Truth or dare?" he asks, holding up a bottle that used to contain beer.

"Hey, I thought we were agreeing on a boozeless night," I hear Jon say from the couch.

Spencer sighs and rolls his eyes. "I wasn't implying anything about drinking," he says. "I emptied this bottle in the sink so we can use it to spin."

"Hey, that's expensive beer," I say, furrowing my eyebrows as if I'm serious. We all know that I actually couldn't care less. Beer is beer, as gross as it is.

"Oh hush, Ryan," Spencer says, "this is just for the fun of the night."

With a chuckle, I walk to the middle of the room with Jon, Spencer, Dan, and Alex following behind. We form a circle, and Spencer places the bottle in the middle.

"I'll go first," he says, giving the bottle a good spin.

It's fun. We're having a good time. Telling embarrassing truths from our awkward stages in seventh grade and performing mischievous pranks on the people in the other dorms just because we were dared to.

The bottle lands on me for probably the fifth time tonight, and Jon has a sly smirk on his face. What's he got up his sleeve?

"Truth or dare, Ryan?" he asks me.

My voice is shaky as I answer. "Dare." I know it's a dumb choice, seeing as Jon's obviously planning on giving me a dare that will have me regretting life, but, hey, I'm here to have fun.

He clears his throat. "Spring break just started," he says, his smile not fading. We all mutter things about already knowing that and things about how he should get on with it. "Okay, I dare you to stay at the house at the end of Pine Road for a week."

Spencer gives Jon crazy eyes, along with Dan and Alex. "Come on, man," Spencer groans.

"The stories are all myths," Jon says, brushing everyone off. "Plus, Ryan's a guy. All the stories have been about girls."

Alex turns to me and says, "If you don't want to do this, you really don't have to."

I don't say anything because I have no clue what the heck they're talking about. I've never heard of any mythology or folkore about a house on Pine Road, wherever that is. "What?" is all I can think to say.

Dan has an uncomfortable look on his face. He motions for Jon to explain, but Jon insists that Dan does. "There's a crazy guy that lives there," he says. "Legend has it that everytime a girl from out of town goes to visit, they never come out again."

"Yeah, and basically Jon wants you to die there," Alex says with a death glare to Jonathan.

"He's not going to die there," Jon says. "It's all a myth."

All four of the guys' eyes turn to me as if to ask if I accept the dare or not. "Why not?" I shrug. "It could be fun." After I say that, it's only Jon and I that are smiling, and Spencer, Dan, and Alex frown and sigh and grumble.

What's the worst that could happen? It's just a couple of rumors.