Ray's Lament: A Welcome to Dead House Prequel

Chapter #3 Making Friends

I spent the rest of the day at home, raking the dead leaves in the backyard. The sun had decided to stay out, hanging over my head like an oversized heat lamp. I could feel myself getting sunburned by the minute.

I stopped and took a second to wipe my sweaty forehead with my shirt. As I did so, the sun was covered by a mass of clouds, giving my body a feeling of relief. I went back to raking then.

It was around 4:30 in the afternoon now, almost time to head inside and wash up for dinner, when a breeze began to pick up. I groaned as it began to blow some of the leaves around, and started to chase after a few of them. But that's when I felt it. A pair of eyes on me, like I was being watched.

Turning around towards the beat up wooden fence that separated the backyard from the woods I scanned my surroundings.

"Hello?" I exerted.

No answer. Everything seemed to go still.

And then there was a rustling noise just beyond the fence. My head snapped to the spot where it was coming from and I spied something through the cracks of the boards. I couldn't tell who or what it was, all I knew was that something was there. Cautiously, I took a step closer.

"Whose there?" I called out.

The rustling stopped, and I could feel eyes on me again. The figure behind the fence stood stone still until I took another step towards it. When I did, whatever it was hit the fence and took off running in the opposite direction, thrashing through the brush into the woods. I ran to the fence and peered through the cracks to try and get a good look at who it was, but when I looked, they were nowhere in sight.

Weird, I thought. Maybe one of the neighborhood kids was playing a joke on me, people do that, right? I stared at the old beaten up fence hard until I heard my mom behind me.

"Ray honey, dinner." She informed.

"Coming." I responded, looking at the fence one more time before jogging inside.

After washing my face and hands, I joined my parents for dinner. Mom was just dishing out plates as I sat down in between them.

"So what did you do today, Ray?" Dad asked.

"I mostly raked leaves in the back. But I played catch for awhile earlier, until this dog came and stole my ball." I explained.

"Did you get it back?" Dad questioned.

"Yeah, after chasing the dog for two blocks. It dropped it right before it ran into the cemetery. That's when I met a few kids. Three boys my age." I continued.

"Oh good! What are their names? Are they nice?" Mom inquired.

"There's Jerry Franklin, George Carpenter, and Bill Gregory. They seem ok, kind of odd. But they invited me to play baseball with them and some others tomorrow at the school playground." I recalled.

"Well that's wonderful! You love baseball! I'm sure you'll become great friends with them!" Mom cooed.

"Yeah....hopefully." I nodded half-heartedly. I wouldn't deny that I wanted to make a few friends here, but....something about those boys just seemed....off...

Awhile after dinner that night, I stepped into the shower to wash off the grime of the day. After brushing my teeth I went to my room and climbed into bed. It felt nice to be in my own bed again, and not just a mattress. Before I could fall asleep though, a cold breeze hit me. I looked to see the plain window on the side of the room was open, a cool air blowing in. Getting up, I went over to the window and was about to shut it, when something caught my eye.