They walked in silence along the sidewalk up to the entrance of the dark house. There was no gate.
Adam looked at the house and remembered Jake's older brother, Chris, telling him that it was an abandoned house because there was a murder case involving the original owners killing six of their own children while they were sleeping. Once the police came, the community banded together to force the original owners to move out. They soon left, leaving a creepy looking house behind. A few home buyers came around to look at it after investors furnished it up to a decent standard, but nobody wanted to buy it. They all said that they felt uncomfortable in the house. And now it was abandoned and an eye-sore for the community.
Adam could not believe that Jake was forcing Peter to go and knock on the front door of this house.
"Okay, let's do this. The camera is on and I don't have much battery left," said Jake. He looked at Peter and said, "C'mon now, I'll be right here. Just go and knock on the door."
Peter looked at the house. It suddenly dawned on him that it might not be a good idea to knock on the front door.
"What are you waiting for, idiot? The battery won't last."
Peter looked at Adam for encouragement.
Jake gave Adam a little shove on the back, nearly causing Adam to trip over his own feet. "Go with him. Nobody's there," he said to Adam.
Adam regained his footing and balled up his fist. He turned around and saw that Jake was pointing the camera at him. This was his sick game – bullying others to do his bidding.
"Adam?" whispered Peter.
Adam wanted to punch Jake, but Peter needed him more. He turned around and joined Peter as they walked towards the steps of the front porch. Jake followed a short distance behind them. The light of the camera lit the way for them.
Peter stopped in front of the steps, uncertain.
"Well, go on," whispered Jake.
Peter looked at the camera before ascending the steps up to the porch. He stood there and looked at the door for a few seconds. Suddenly, he walked up to the door and stood in front of it, his hand poised to knock on it.
Adam and Jake held their breath, surprised at Peter's surge of courage.
Peter gave two, quick knocks before turning around to run towards Jake and Adam. He pushed them out of the way as he ran right past them. Both Jake and Adam suddenly came out of their state of shock and bolted after him. They followed him as Peter skidded around the property wall of the next door house. They reached him and joined him as they watched the front door of the scary house to see what would happen. It remained close.
Half a minute later, they lost interest and came to the conclusion that they survived the ordeal. They could now show their friends at school that they knocked on the door of the scary house and they survived it. They had it on camera. Jake was already boasting about it.
"This is why you don't mess with us. We're crazy, y'all. We're crazy," he said into the camera.
Adam heaved a sigh of relief and patted Peter on the shoulder a good couple of times.
"You're brave, Pete. You're brave."
Peter smiled without making much fuss about it.
"I'm going to post this as soon as I get home," said Jake into the camera. He pointed it at Peter and said, "Man, this dude right here, he's the man. He's my pal, Peter."
Peter's face lit up. He could not believe his luck. He had finally earned Jake's respect.
"C'mon, say you're a bad boy to the people," said Jake to Peter as he put his arm around his shoulder.
Peter beamed and said, "I'm a bad boy, whoo-hoo. Yeah, you don't wanna mess with me. I'm a bad boy."
Jake laughed.
Adam found it funny too, although, it did make him a little uneasy. He knew what Jake was capable of.
Just then, the front door of the abandoned house slowly opened up.
Their laughter died down and they stared at the front door. They could not see anyone in the doorway and they were not going to take that chance. They quickly ducked behind the wall and remained as quiet as possible.