Maple and 42nd StreetIn a dimly lit bedroom, a teenage boy types furiously at his computer. The rhythmic strumming of the keys being the only audible sound. As his fingers come to an abrupt halt, he rotates his head toward the door. Silence enters the room as his ears strain to catch the slightest creek. Convinced that no one is there, he resumes his melodic clicking:
I just can’t get over the eerie feeling that I got stepping inside the house. As if there was another presence hidden among the abandoned knick-knacks. Someone or something was spying in on us that day. I could have sworn that
I even heard whispering. I don’t know what it means, but I intend to find out.
Thump...thump, one of his parents was climbing up the stairs. He quickly closes his journal entry and pulls up another assignment. The door opens.
“Doug, time to eat Honey”
“Seriously Mom. Honey for dinner again. Isn‘t that a bit strange?”
“Yeah, yeah. It was funnier the first hundred times. Would you finish up and come down please?”
“Alright, I’ll be just a minute longer.”
“You’ve already been up here for hours. What on earth could be taking so long?”
“I’m finished with my book report. I just want to check it for errors.”
“Ender’s Game. I thought you did a report on that book last year. Don’t tell me that you’re reusing an old paper!”
Realizing his mistake, Doug quickly comes up with a solution. “Oh, thanks Mom I almost forgot.” he deletes the word Game and replaces it with Shadow. “This is actually the fifth book of the series.”
“Very clever. You’re getting better at masking your dishonesty. It may work on your father, but I can still read your expressions. Just promise me that you won’t cheat.”
“I promise. I have never cheated on a paper before.”
“Well, now you speak the truth. Only...that means that some other devious act is going on here. Douglas Harris, what are you up to!”
“Nothing! Can’t a man just have his privacy!?”
“Hmmm so defensive. Okay, I’ll leave you alone. But be down in three minutes or I’ll let your father eat your food. You know how he loves my meatloaf.”
“Fine.” As bizarre as it sounded, this was a legitimate threat. “I’ll be down in two.”
His mother leaves and he shuts down his computer. He needed the two minutes to come up with a new way to approach his parents. He had already tried paranoia and scare tactics. Perhaps tonight he’ll go for the usual parental soft spot. Pity. The trouble was, Doug’s parents were acting very unusual at the moment. Everybody knew about the house on Maple and 42nd street. Everybody, that is, except for Doug’s parents. At least they pretended not to worry about the strange disappearances. “It’s all just a big misunderstanding.” His mother would say. Followed by his father “I don’t care what allegedly happened there. For a price like that I’m not going to change my mind.” Maybe this new approach will strike some sense into them.
“But mom, I won’t know anybody in the new neighborhood. You know that I don’t make friends easily. Can’t we just stay here?”
“We can’t stay here. It’s not that you can’t make friends, you just choose not to. Anyway, we’ll still be the same distance away from Eddie. On top of that we’ll be closer to school, which means that the buses will come fifteen minutes later. More time to sleep in.” She definitely knows how to cater to my needs. Thought Doug. I can’t give up now.
“Mom, you know something strange went on there. How can you just look the other way!?”
“It’s all just a...”
“Big misunderstanding, I know.“ There was no sense in arguing. They had been having the same conversation at dinner every night for two weeks. What Doug needed was hard evidence. Something that even his parents couldn’t ignore. If only he knew where to start.
The Cover Up
The next morning, Doug went for a walk with a head full of mush. He was up all night trying to come up with a game plan. A fool proof way to obtain the evidence that he so desperately needed. He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. After an entire night of wrenching his brain, all he had written was Consult with Eddie. Pathetic, but at least it was a start. Eddie was the man with a million ideas. Certainly he would have the answer.
“I’ve got nothin’ man, sorry.”
“You’ve got nothin'. What do you mean you’ve got nothin’! You’re the man with a million frickin' ideas for cryin’ out loud!" Screamed Doug.
"I said I was sorry! Ever since you told me that your parents wanted to move there I've been working at it. There just isn't any explanation for what happened. One day the house was full of people, and then a week later not a soul was left. The police and FBI were there for over a month last year. If they didn't find anything, what makes you think that three days of a couple of 15 year old kids snooping around will amount to anything?"
"A week later?"
"What?"
"I thought that the Kensingtons disappeared overnight."
"That was what the official story said, but the neighbors remember differently. They can't be sure, but they thought that the strange buzzing started about a week prior to the house being completely empty. If they weren't so nosey, they probably wouldn't have noticed. The average person would have written it off as a busy family. The kids probably off to summer camp. The dad on some kind of business trip. The mom relaxing inside with an empty house."
"Buzzing?"
"Oh come on. You can't tell me that you haven't heard it. I mean, you were actually inside the house. I could even faintly hear it from the vacant lot across the street.”
“Oh that buzzing sound. Yeah, of course I heard that.” Doug didn’t have the slightest idea what Eddie was talking about, but that didn’t seem to matter at the moment. “So why didn’t the neighbors report to the police about it early on?”
“They did, but nobody believed them. Apparently they call the cops at least once a month for bogus stuff. You know “The kid’s won’t stay off of my lawn!” or “The Reese’s cat pooped on my newspaper again!” No one gave them the time of day. Even the FBI wrote them off as delusional.”
“So why did they eventually go and check it out?”
“I guess some new guy was answering phones and sent out a patrol car. They were really ticked off when they realized what house it was, until they saw the blood.”
“What blood?! I never heard anything about blood!”
“That’s because there wasn’t any, but the one officer swore up and down that he saw blood dripping off of the ceiling from the front window. Weird right?”
“Yeah. Well what else happened?”
“Nothing really. When no evidence was found they turned the house over to the state and put it on the market. I don’t think that anybody would have bought it, not even your parents. It’s just too bad that your dad’s shop burned down.”
“I know. Now it’s the only house in a 2000 mile radius that we can afford.”
“Maybe we can raise some money to get you into something else.”
“My parents would never take handouts. Too prideful.”
“So what do we do now?”
“There’s only one thing to do. We have to keep a close watch on that house. We’re going to camp out at the empty lot across the street.”
“Our parents won’t let us do that.”
“Eddie, tell your mom and dad that you’ll be at my house and I’ll tell mine that I’ll be over at yours. What’s the worst that could happen?”
I even heard whispering. I don’t know what it means, but I intend to find out.
Thump...thump, one of his parents was climbing up the stairs. He quickly closes his journal entry and pulls up another assignment. The door opens.
“Doug, time to eat Honey”
“Seriously Mom. Honey for dinner again. Isn‘t that a bit strange?”
“Yeah, yeah. It was funnier the first hundred times. Would you finish up and come down please?”
“Alright, I’ll be just a minute longer.”
“You’ve already been up here for hours. What on earth could be taking so long?”
“I’m finished with my book report. I just want to check it for errors.”
“Ender’s Game. I thought you did a report on that book last year. Don’t tell me that you’re reusing an old paper!”
Realizing his mistake, Doug quickly comes up with a solution. “Oh, thanks Mom I almost forgot.” he deletes the word Game and replaces it with Shadow. “This is actually the fifth book of the series.”
“Very clever. You’re getting better at masking your dishonesty. It may work on your father, but I can still read your expressions. Just promise me that you won’t cheat.”
“I promise. I have never cheated on a paper before.”
“Well, now you speak the truth. Only...that means that some other devious act is going on here. Douglas Harris, what are you up to!”
“Nothing! Can’t a man just have his privacy!?”
“Hmmm so defensive. Okay, I’ll leave you alone. But be down in three minutes or I’ll let your father eat your food. You know how he loves my meatloaf.”
“Fine.” As bizarre as it sounded, this was a legitimate threat. “I’ll be down in two.”
His mother leaves and he shuts down his computer. He needed the two minutes to come up with a new way to approach his parents. He had already tried paranoia and scare tactics. Perhaps tonight he’ll go for the usual parental soft spot. Pity. The trouble was, Doug’s parents were acting very unusual at the moment. Everybody knew about the house on Maple and 42nd street. Everybody, that is, except for Doug’s parents. At least they pretended not to worry about the strange disappearances. “It’s all just a big misunderstanding.” His mother would say. Followed by his father “I don’t care what allegedly happened there. For a price like that I’m not going to change my mind.” Maybe this new approach will strike some sense into them.
“But mom, I won’t know anybody in the new neighborhood. You know that I don’t make friends easily. Can’t we just stay here?”
“We can’t stay here. It’s not that you can’t make friends, you just choose not to. Anyway, we’ll still be the same distance away from Eddie. On top of that we’ll be closer to school, which means that the buses will come fifteen minutes later. More time to sleep in.” She definitely knows how to cater to my needs. Thought Doug. I can’t give up now.
“Mom, you know something strange went on there. How can you just look the other way!?”
“It’s all just a...”
“Big misunderstanding, I know.“ There was no sense in arguing. They had been having the same conversation at dinner every night for two weeks. What Doug needed was hard evidence. Something that even his parents couldn’t ignore. If only he knew where to start.
The Cover Up
The next morning, Doug went for a walk with a head full of mush. He was up all night trying to come up with a game plan. A fool proof way to obtain the evidence that he so desperately needed. He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. After an entire night of wrenching his brain, all he had written was Consult with Eddie. Pathetic, but at least it was a start. Eddie was the man with a million ideas. Certainly he would have the answer.
“I’ve got nothin’ man, sorry.”
“You’ve got nothin'. What do you mean you’ve got nothin’! You’re the man with a million frickin' ideas for cryin’ out loud!" Screamed Doug.
"I said I was sorry! Ever since you told me that your parents wanted to move there I've been working at it. There just isn't any explanation for what happened. One day the house was full of people, and then a week later not a soul was left. The police and FBI were there for over a month last year. If they didn't find anything, what makes you think that three days of a couple of 15 year old kids snooping around will amount to anything?"
"A week later?"
"What?"
"I thought that the Kensingtons disappeared overnight."
"That was what the official story said, but the neighbors remember differently. They can't be sure, but they thought that the strange buzzing started about a week prior to the house being completely empty. If they weren't so nosey, they probably wouldn't have noticed. The average person would have written it off as a busy family. The kids probably off to summer camp. The dad on some kind of business trip. The mom relaxing inside with an empty house."
"Buzzing?"
"Oh come on. You can't tell me that you haven't heard it. I mean, you were actually inside the house. I could even faintly hear it from the vacant lot across the street.”
“Oh that buzzing sound. Yeah, of course I heard that.” Doug didn’t have the slightest idea what Eddie was talking about, but that didn’t seem to matter at the moment. “So why didn’t the neighbors report to the police about it early on?”
“They did, but nobody believed them. Apparently they call the cops at least once a month for bogus stuff. You know “The kid’s won’t stay off of my lawn!” or “The Reese’s cat pooped on my newspaper again!” No one gave them the time of day. Even the FBI wrote them off as delusional.”
“So why did they eventually go and check it out?”
“I guess some new guy was answering phones and sent out a patrol car. They were really ticked off when they realized what house it was, until they saw the blood.”
“What blood?! I never heard anything about blood!”
“That’s because there wasn’t any, but the one officer swore up and down that he saw blood dripping off of the ceiling from the front window. Weird right?”
“Yeah. Well what else happened?”
“Nothing really. When no evidence was found they turned the house over to the state and put it on the market. I don’t think that anybody would have bought it, not even your parents. It’s just too bad that your dad’s shop burned down.”
“I know. Now it’s the only house in a 2000 mile radius that we can afford.”
“Maybe we can raise some money to get you into something else.”
“My parents would never take handouts. Too prideful.”
“So what do we do now?”
“There’s only one thing to do. We have to keep a close watch on that house. We’re going to camp out at the empty lot across the street.”
“Our parents won’t let us do that.”
“Eddie, tell your mom and dad that you’ll be at my house and I’ll tell mine that I’ll be over at yours. What’s the worst that could happen?”
So I leave it up to anybody who reads this post. Where should I go from here? What should be the main story line? I'll continue to work on it myself, but any feedback would be great.
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