From A-Z, and Everything in Between

Shadows' Playground

WARNING: This story gets very graphic. If you are sensitive to violence, gore, and/or death please DO NOT READ. Thank you, and please enjoy.

It was very windy that day. Leaves rustled vigorously amongst branches that swayed dangerously and threatened to snap right off. A couple of shutters that hadn't been properly closed slammed against the windows of houses. Despite all this noise, the area seemed eerily quiet. There were no signs of life here. No people on the sidewalk, no birds in the sky, not even bugs humming amidst the summer heat. Only four teenagers standing on the side of the road brought some semblance of life to this place.

    "I still don't think this is a good idea," Soraru said, his arms crossed over his chest.

    "Come on, we've already come all the way here. Let's just go in and check it out for like ten minutes, then we can leave," Sakata said.

    Soraru glanced over at the house they were all standing in front of. It was pretty big, with two stories and a large yard separating it from the street. It probably would've been beautiful too if it wasn't covered in vines and mildew. Had they come here ten or twenty years ago, whenever this house was last inhabited, it surely would have been a more appealing sight.

    "How do you know we can even get in there? Don't they usually lock abandoned houses?" Soraru asked.

    "It'll be fine, we'll just find some other way in if the door is locked," Urata waved his concerns away airily.

    "Wait, don't tell me you're actually going to break into this place?" Soraru said, disbelief clear in his voice.

    Urata waved offhandedly again, a gesture meant to tell Soraru to relax. He and Sakata started towards the house, talking excitedly amongst themselves. Soraru was incredulous. He turned to Mafumafu, who hadn't said much for a while. He was hoping Mafumafu would side with him and agree that this was a terrible idea, but Soraru found the albino fumbling around with a small handheld camera. Mafumafu lifted the camera to his face and pointed it at Soraru with a smile.

    "Say hi, Soraru-san," Mafumafu said.

    "What are you doing?" Soraru asked. He wasn't sure if he was bewildered or just exasperated.

    "I'm going to record our adventure. I wanna try making one of those cool documentary type things," Mafumafu replied.

    "Is this another one of your weird school projects?" Soraru said flatly.

    Mafumafu puffed out his cheeks and lowered his camera. "They're not weird."

    "The last time you made a video, you just went around town following stray cats with a camera all day. And then you showed up at my house at nine o' clock at night crying about how one of the cats scratched you," Soraru said.

    "I went through all that pain and I only got a B on my project," Mafumafu muttered.

    "What class was that video for anyway?" Soraru asked.

    "Biology, of course," Mafumafu answered matter-of-factly.

    Soraru gave him a confused look. "What kind of-"

    "Soraru-kun, Mafu-kun, are you coming?" Urata suddenly called out to them.

    He and Sakata were already on the front porch. Sakata was waving them over impatiently, obviously eager to check out the house. Mafumafu hurried over to the two, tucking his camera securely into his pocket, but Soraru hesitated. It wasn't like he was necessarily scared of this place, something about it just didn't feel right. They weren't supposed to be here. Abandoned houses were locked up for a reason, after all. Eventually, though, Soraru sighed and followed after his friends. He wasn't going to just stand out here and wait for them to have their fun.