Hailey & The NoEnd House

The NoEnd House

"Are we there yet!?" I called out to Marcus, feeling exasperated. "What did you even wanna show me?"

Marcus was several yards ahead of us. He couldn't seem to wait to get to the destination, wherever it was. He turned back and yelled, "Hold on! We're almost there!"

"You're gonna love this, Hailey! It's so cool!" Tommy said, only a few steps ahead of me, unlike Marcus. His enthusiasm was kind of annoying.

I highly doubt whatever they had to show me was anywhere near "cool".

We were walking down this empty road, on the sidewalk, surrounded by trees and . . . nothing else. But it was a nice day out. Bright sky, with a light breeze. It was the kind of day that made you wanna go out and do something, just to be a part of it. Marcus and Tommy had come to my house earlier today, demanding that they show me something. They said it was, to be exact "really creepy and awesome!".

I didn't believe that.

I sighed as I trudged along. Nothing Marcus or Tommy ever showed me was "awesome". Maybe creepy, but never awesome. It was usually something lame like the time they showed me a beehive they found, in the woods, or the time they took me to an abandoned old shack, which would've been cool, if it wasn't locked and barred up with no way to get in. But, at least they gave me a reason to leave the house. That was a blessing. There were times where I just had to get away from my family.

I lived in a nice two-story house with my mom and brother. We weren't rich, but our lives were better than most. My brother, Johnathan, was nine years old and he was the biggest pain you could imagine. My mother, Harriet, was hard-working and she did her best to take care of us alone, but I could almost never agree with the way she saw things. We were too different. I loved my family, but sometimes they gave me headaches.

But I guess that's the same for everyone.

"Here it is!" Marcus shouted in triumph, looking at something that we couldn't see, through an opening in the trees. Tommy and I ran to catch up to him and once we reached his side, I saw what they were trying to show me.

It was this huge house - or mansion more like. Like some haunted house you'd see in the movies, except cleaner and not beat up. Kinda like the "before" of a haunted house. Before the murders and ghosts showed up that would eventually lead to the "after" product. A house that was filthy, abandoned, and avoided by everyone like it had a disease. There was a long, narrow walkway leading to the front door. The house was painted a sort of dark purple. We walked up until we were close to the house, but not too close. There was nothing neccessarily scary-looking about it, but, strangely, just looking at it gave me a shiver up my spine. I didn't know what it was, but something about this house didn't feel right. They were right, it was creepy.

But I didn't see the "awesome" part yet.

"Pretty creepy, huh?" Tommy said. I was staring intently at the house, studying it, but I knew they were both eagerly waiting for my reaction.

I just shrugged. It was really creepy, but they didn't need to know that. "Kinda."

Tommy frowned, slightly dissapointed. Tommy Lee was a short, chubby kid with dark brown eyes and short black hair. He was soft. The kid could hardly defend himself, and that was frustrating because people bullied him a lot about his size, eating habits and, sometimes, even his race. It was mine and Marcus's job to defend him.

But I never took it easy on him, or treated him with extra kindness just because he was sensitive. That was bullshit. I was waiting for him to break out of that soft shell, and to help, I treated him like I would treat anybody else. And I'm not a very "kind" person, I guess you could say. It was a tough world and he couldn't afford to be so delicate. I was waiting for him to stop being so dependant and toughen up. It hasn't happened yet, but it will.