The Chair in the Middle of the Room - Part III

The Chair in the Middle of the Room

Part III

Written by Cassia Sherrill

The clock turned quickly to 9:45pm. James stared at the clock, wishing it would turn back in time. I don’t want to do this. His stomach made a funny noise as if it knew that he was about to encounter weird and terrifying things.

He slung the backpack that he had been clutching in his hand for the last thirty minutes over his shoulder and gently pushed his window open. Before the sun had gone completely dark, he had slid his dad’s ladder near his window to allow for a smooth escape, and lucky for him, his parents hadn’t noticed or suspected a thing. Sneaking off in the middle of the night was not exactly his normal routine.

He made his way out the window, and James made a last glance around his room. His eyes quickly found the empty notebook where he had ripped the warning he didn’t remember from. His heart rate quickened, but he willed himself down the remainder of the ladder. Once he was on the ground, he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants as he grabbed his bike and made his way towards Gomer Street.

Gomer Street was only a few blocks from all of the guys, but James was the first to show up. He was always the more punctual one out of the group so it was only natural that despite his hesitation that he arrived first. 9:57pm and still no sign of the other three. Once it hits 10, I am out of here. I don’t even want to be doing this in the first place. His anxious hand was fiddling with the balled up piece of paper he had now pulled from the backpack. His anxiety was tormenting him, and he was about to let it get the better of him and turn back when he heard another bike approaching.

Before he could turn around, he heard Ethan say, “Well, well. Surprised to see you so prompt to this party.”

Will and Q were both approaching from opposite ends of the neighborhood. Q yelled, “Yo, guys, I was so close to getting caught!”

James quickly hushed Q.

“No wonder, dude!” Will whispered, “You are loud as crap.”

Q was glaring at Will and was about to retaliate when Ethan spoke up. “Everyone hush! If we are going to pull this off, we are all going to have to shut up and be quiet. Otherwise, someone will hear us, and somehow our parents will find out! And we will be through. That’s just how these things work.”

“Yeah whatever!” Q said in a very loud whisper. He wasn’t exactly the kid known for being quiet. “What’s the plan?”

“Alright, well we are going to bike over to the house which is about five blocks up, and we will enter the house from there. Once inside, James is going to point us to the areas of the house where he remembers something happening. You wrote it all down, right?”

Still fidgeting with the balled paper, James nodded.

“Good. That will be our guidelines in case anything starts to go south. His nightmares should help us know what we are about to face.”

“So, uh, Ethan, I am no chicken or anything, but what exactly are we going in there to figure out?” Will inquired with a whiter look to his face than normal.

“Listen, boys, no need to be scared. One, we know what is going to happen because of James’ nightmares, and two, there’s nobody in the house. When mom’s team investigated, they caution taped the area just for precaution so nobody should be in there.”

James softly interjected, “Just because there is caution tape doesn’t mean nobody is in there…”

“Sure, but it’s highly unlikely. Once we are in, we will break up into teams of two.”

“You think it’s smart for us to actually split up?” Q questioned.

“Yeah, why not? James and I will investigate the front part of the house where the chair is, and you two will investigate the bedroom and back bathroom areas.”

Q and Will nod, and James clutched his tight ball of paper.

“We will find a hiding spot in those areas and stake out for a few hours to see what happens and what comes along.”

“What?” James aggressively interjected. “What do you mean we are going to ‘stake out’ for a couple hours?”

“We are going to wait for the perp to show themselves. They have to turn up eventually, right?”

“Are you kidding?” James' anger started to rise. “You pulled us all out here just to hang out in that abandoned house for a while? You literally have no plan other than that?”

“What’s wrong with staking out for a few hours to see if anyone shows up?”

“You don’t think a ‘perp’ is going to notice a bunch of kids just hiding out in his house? Also, how long are you planning to wait exactly? I sure as heck am not spending the night in that house!”

Q said, “Yeah bro, it is a school night.”

“If my mom finds out I even left, I will be grounded for like a year. So I would be grounded for the rest of my days if she finds out I’m out all night!” Will mentioned.

“Also, I’m just not trying to die…” Q mumbled.

“Fine, fine!” Ethan said as he paced for a few moments. “How about this? We go into the house with our same set up as before with our split teams and areas. We grab any evidence we can see and write down anything we see out of the ordinary.”

“Hasn’t the cops already done all of that?” Q asked with raised eyebrows.

Ethan responded with an exacerbated, “Well, yes! But it’s different with us.”

“How?” Will asked.

“Because we have a secret weapon!”

“A secret weapon?” Will hesitantly questioned.

“Yes!” Ethan said as he pointed as James.

“How am I a secret weapon? It’s just nightmares, dude!” James questioned.

“Will you guys just trust me? The moment any of you feel scared we will pull out, I promise. But until then, let’s get in there and see what we can find, okay?”

The three guys looked at each other and then back at Ethan. “Fine, let’s just see what happens!” Will said as he grabbed his bike.

“Awesome! I think we will find something, guys. I can feel it!”

All of the guys mount their bikes, and as they are about to peddle off, James looked directly into Ethan’s eyes, “You know this place is bad news, right? I don’t think this is a place we should be just messing around in. What are you trying to prove anyway?”

Ethan looked directly back at him and said, “And what are you trying to hide from?” He kicked his bike stand up and started to peddle in the direction of the house.

James shoved the piece of paper into his pocket as he started peddling in the same direction as the rest of the guys.