AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“See, Alex?” Danielle said. “I told you, Jess is always down for some fun.”
Trepidation prickled up my back, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. Everything felt wrong. But I’d be damned if I was going to let them intimidate me.
“All right.” Alex nodded. “Let’s go have some fun.”
The air was cold as it whipped through my hair and it wasn’t long until I was shivering. I didn’t know where we were going, but we were barreling down a dark road at midnight huddled in the bed of Nate’s lifted truck. Danielle and Alex were in the cab with Nate, while Veronica, Candace, and Matthew sat in the back with me. Nate was blasting the radio but otherwise we were silent,tension resting over us like a poisonous cloud.
As Nate took a few more turns, my nervousness rose. I recognized this dirt road, pot-holed and barely wide enough for his truck to pass. Low-hanging branches from massive black walnut trees whipped the truck’s cab as we slowed, the suspension creaking with every bump and dip.
I knew where we were going.
The Reed residence was set back from the road with a large dirt yard. The chain-link fence was old and bent in places, but a new gate guarded the driveway, secured with a chain and padlock. Large trees flanked the house, which was a monstrosity built of dark wood with a wraparound porch. It would have been a beautiful home if it had ever been cared for, but Manson’s parents had never been capable or willing to do so.
“Doesn’t Manson’s mom live here alone?” I said, my voice barely a whisper. Last I’d known, Manson had been living with his social worker’s family, the Peters, while his mom lived here and his dad went MIA again. Nate turned off the radio and drove slowly along the road, past the front gate toward the far side of the property.
“She died,” Matthew said, and the declaration made my heart lurch. I’d never even known the woman, only that she was usually intoxicated and rarely left the house. “She left this place to Manson, and that freak hasn’t done shit with it. Whole place should be burned to the ground.”
There was a large metal-sided garage on the far side of the property, illuminated by floodlights around its exterior. A mural had been graffitied on the wall that faced the road, depicting the boys’ four cars surrounded by swirls of neon colors. That certainly wasn’t something Manson’s parents would have created. Then who had painted it? One of the boys?
Nate stopped the trunk and turned off the engine. I blinked rapidly in confusion as everyone began to climb out of the truck.“Uh, what are we doing?”
“Having fun,” Danielle said, hanging off of Nate’s side, looking as though her drinks had finally caught up with her. Nate was carrying a massive pair of bolt cutters, and Alex had a hammer, along with an unpleasant smile on his face.
“They’ve actually started calling this placeLosers’ Garage,” Mathew said, laughing under his breath. “Like they’re fucking proud of it.”
Panic drenched me in a cold wave as Nate used the bolt cutters to snip through the fence. This wasn’t merely a prank, this was literally breaking and entering.
“Don’t they have dogs?” Matthew whispered as he slipped through the fence ahead of me.
“Dogs?” I said. “There are dogs here?” I hung back, but Candace grabbed my arm before she crouched to squeeze through the fence and pulled me with her.
“Shut the hell up,” Alex hissed. “I don’t give a fuck if they’ve got trained elephants on the property.”
We crept along the interior of the fence, everyone staying low. This was truly unhinged. There was no way in hell we should be here.
I should have turned around. But it was like watching my own train wreck, as if some part of me had already accepted that something awful was going to happen.
We reached the side of the garage. A camera was aimed at the door there, illuminated by an overhead light, and Nate followed its trail of wires to a small gray box. More tangled wires and circuit breakers were within, and Danielle said, “Do you know which ones to cut?”
“Nope,” Nate said, before he swung the bolt cutters like a baseball bat and smashed the breakers. The flood lights flickered and went out, plunging us into near total darkness. Nate kept going, cutting through the wires with reckless determination.
“Guys, this is really —”
Alex tapped my arm, cutting me off as he jabbed his finger at a shovel leaned up against the garage. “Grab that,” he said, and I lifted it gingerly. “If something comes yapping at you, hit it.”
I wasn’t going to hit a dog, no way in hell. I’d sooner let them bite me than try to hurt them, but maybe the wooden handle could at least serve as a barricade if I was attacked.
If I was attacked.God, this was fucked. This was so fucked.
Nate slammed his massive foot against the door, busting it open. An alarm screeched and the lights popped on, despite Nate’s best efforts to cut off the electricity. I stood rooted in the doorway, the shovel in my hands, as the others rushed inside. It was spacious, with a stairway to my right leading to an upper level, but they were only interested in the cars. The Mustang, the El Camino, the Nissan, the blue Subaru — and against the far wall, a familiar Ford Bronco on massive tires.
The sound of shattering glass fell harshly on my ears as Matthew slammed a brick through the front windshield of the Mustang. Alex whooped excitedly as he brought his hammer down on the El Camino’s hood, and Veronica swung a metal pole she’d found into the passenger window. Nate was busting out the Subaru’s windows with his bolt cutters and Danielle was laughing as she dragged her keys down the side of the 350Z.
What the hell was I doing here? What was Idoing?
Distantly, I could hear dogs barking. The alarms were so painfully loud I couldn’t think.
Veronica leaned into the broken window of the El Camino and spat on the seat, grinning at me all the while. “Not the first time I’ve gotten a little drool on these seats.”
