The Boy and the Fire

Chapter 1: The Boy

There was a boy who lived on the corner of 19th street and Willow road.
He was a strange boy who rarley went outside or even looked out of his bedroom window. Nobody really knew him well. He was tall, skinny, and always wore a black jacket. Thats all anyone knows. The people of Lakewood always talked about him. I, too, have always wondered who he was, and why he never came out of his house. Until the day he opened his door.

January 17, 1986
I just moved in to Lakewood and I have a strange feeling about this place. It is very empty and the houses are old and pale. My mom says that there is a boy my age across the street from our house, and I should go introduce myself. I don't know if I should, though. His house seems very...empty. It's a little creepy. I think I'll stay in my house today.

January 30, 1986

My parents and I went over to the boy's house to introduce ourselves. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. We brought over cookies that my mom made as a gift, too. As we walked across the empty street, a chill went up by spine. I shivered slightly and kept walking up to the door. It seemed like an hour until we got there. When we approached the door, my dad knocked on the door and we waited. Nobody answered. There was an old Ford pick-up truck in the driveway. Someone had to be home. He knocked again, but this time louder. Still, nobody answered. So, we left the cookies on the doorstep and left. As we were walking back to the house, I turned and the cookies were gone, and one of the windows had opened. I kept my thoughts to myself and kept walking.

February 8, 1986

I came home from my new school, Lakewood Middle, on my bike. I ride to and from school on it every day. As I was riding home, I saw a boy walking to a house. As I got closer, the boy just dissapeared! I froze in shock and just stared at the spot where the boy last stood. After a good ten minutes, I slowly started to ride back to my house. I still said nothing to my parents, but I won't sleep tonight

February 22, 1986

I went to the library today and did some random research on the history of Lakewood. I mean, I want to know about the place I am living in. So I went and found some books about Lakewood. So I searched through all of the books I found and they all said the same stuff. "Lakewood is an old city founded by bla bla bla in 1802 and bla bla bla." But the last book was a little bit different. It had a weird symbol on the front. It looked little like fire. So I opened it, and the first thing it said was, " Historical Tragedies in Lakewood." I obviously got interested and started reading. Then, I saw why the symbol looked like fire. The page was titled, "The Fire of 19th Street." "Oh boy, here we go," I thought, and I read it. Here it is; " The fire of 19th street took place in 1835. The Colden family had moved in a month ago, on June 26, 1835, when a random fire burst up into flame and killed the entire family instantly. After the fire was put out, the people of the city searched the house for anyone who was inside. The only problem was that the Colden family's bodies had mysteriously disappeared. The house was rebuilt in 1837, and now has no trace of the fire ever taking place." I stared at the page of words, re-reading the page over and over. Then, I made a connection.