The 4 leaf clover club

This is how I remember the story as I read it in the local newspaper. I was twelve at the time and wished it had happen to me and my friends. My mother kept the article on our fridge’s door for a while because she always says that nothing ever happens in this town.

The sky is darkening by the minutes, they have to shout to hear themselves as the wind is picking up.

“You sure it’s in there?” shout Sarah to her best friends.

“I don’t know, but we have to find out!”says Matt looking at the two other friends standing over their bicycle in front of the abandoned house.

“Yeah we have to find out!” says Andy.

The clouds are so thick and dark, it seems the sun set earlier today, but it’s only 6 pm on a September day.

“We have to do this fast, before it rains, my dad is going to kill me if I get my new running shoes all wet and dirty, they are my school shoes.”shouts Zak.

The house stands isolated at the edge of a small wood, miles away from its closest neighbor. Well away from Creek Town, population 3000, now 2999. It has long been the center of legends and goosebump camping stories. But lately it’s back in the school stories. It’s known, the teens go there to do stuff on the weekends, the neighbor of the cousin’s brother in my classroom said that nobody should go there, they even say it's haunted. Matt and his friends want to know if the stories are true.

“Who wants to go first?” asks Zak.

“Uh uh, not me!” says Andy The youngest of them all. At 12 he’s the youngest by almost a year.

“We all do this together, or we don’t do it.” says Sarah.

“Okay! Fair enough.” says Matt.

They all get off their bikes at the same time, except for Andy. He’s afraid to go in there after all the bad things he heard about this house.

“Come on Andy!” says Zak.

“It’s okay Andy, we’re doing it together.” says Sarah.

Still hesitant, Andy puts his bike on the ground next to the others. Lightning lights up the sky sporadically. The clouds are so thick and dark it’s only a matter of time before the rain falls on Creek Town. Thunder is louder and louder. Creek Town lies in the middle of flat land, no mountains for miles around. So, when it rains, it’s violent. There is always the possibility of tornadoes. The wind is picking up and small branches and leaves are being blown sideways.

The four friends stand in front of the broken door.

“This is it guys!” Matt shouts. “This is the real thing now.”

Zak pushes aside what’s left of the door just when a thunder clap hits near the house, the bang is so loud the four of them jumped.

“Aaahhhh!” Andy screams and runs back to his bike.

“Andy, come back! It’s only thunder!” Sarah shouts, rolling her eyes.

“Let’s go, if not together, then nothing!”says Zak as he walk back to his bike.

Matt and Sarah look at each other, shrug and follow the two others to their bikes.

“Okay, let’s move out.” Matt says as rain begins to fall.

The four friends ride their bicycles as fast as they can through the storm. At one point they enter and pause in an old train tunnel, waiting out the storm.

“Why did you run?” Matt asks Andy.

“He was afraid!” says Zak.

“No, the rain started and I have to get home before the storm.”

“We all jumped when we heard the thunder, it’s okay!”says Sarah.

“I wasn’t afraid!” Zak boasts.

“Oh yeah, you jumped higher than all of us,” says Matt.

They take advantage of the storm slowing down to ride to town.

“Okay Let’s go!” says Matt.

Matt is not the leader but they generally follow what he says. They get to the bridge that crosses the creek where they all go separate ways.

“Stop!” says Sarah as she stops her banana seat bike on a dime. The three others almost run into each other.

“What are you doing?” says Zak.

“Yeah what are you doing?” says Andy.

“Why did you stop short like that?”asks Matt.

“Yeah why did you stop?” Asks Andy.

“Because we need to plan. I say we go back tomorrow!” says Sarah. “But we don’t tell anybody we’re going back tomorrow.”

“Right Andy, we tell no one.”say Zak.

“Yeah, sure I won’t tell!”say Andy.

“He will!”says all the friends at the same time.

“No.”say Andy

“Okay, we have to find out if it’s true.” says Matt.

“What if it’s true?” Asks Zak.

“Well, we’re going to find out if it’s true.” replied Matt.

“Okay, see you guys tomorrow!” says Sarah.

The next morning the four friends get together at the usual point at the bridge. Zak’s bike is leaning on the bridge guardrail, but he’s not there.

“You were here first?” Matt says, looking at Sarah.

“His bike was already here when I arrived!”Sarah says, pointing at the bike.

“Zaaaaak! Zaaaaak, We need to go back to the house!” Scream Andy without holding back.

“Andy!” says Sarah.

“Down here guys!” Zak’s voice comes from under the bridge.

They all let go of their bikes and run to the side. Zak is squatting on the creek shore.

“What are you doing down there?” Asks Matt.

“Come down quick!” says Zak looking up at his loyal friends.

The four of them gather around a dead crow floating in a calm little bay of the creek.

“Is it dead?” Asks Andy.

“No he’s just sleeping.”says Sarah.

“Of course he’s dead.”says Zak.

“He couldn’t be more dead then this!”says Matt.

Every one of them look at Matt as his explanation doesn’t explain much.

“Look!” Sarah says pointing in the creek’s direction at the same time. There’s 2 more birds floating down the creek.

“That’s weird!”says Zak.

“Yeah that’s weird.” says Andy.

“We should go up the creek to see what’s going on.” says Matt.

“Yeah!” Andy replies.

“We need to go back to the old house first, we have to find out if it’s real!” Sarah reminds them.

“Yeah!” says Andy.

The three other friends look at him for a few seconds.

“What?” says Andy.

“Nothing! Forget it.” says Matt.

“Let’s go to the house and then we check out these crows!” says Zak.

The four friends get back on their bikes and ride in the direction of the abandoned house.

They pause and stared at the front of the house. Just the look of it, gives them the creeps.

“I hate this house.” says Andy.

“We have to know. Let’s do it for everyone in this town.” says Matt.

The four drop their bikes on the ground and walk toward the broken door.

“Andy! You’re good?” Asks Sarah.

“Yeah Andy, are you okay?” says Zak.

“Yeah I’m okay, you’re the one who’s afraid, Zak!” says Andy.

“No way!” says Zak.

“Okay guy’s, Let’s go!” says Matt.

“Yeah, Let’s go.” says Andy.

Sarah lets her friends go in while she’s holding the door with one hand. The smell of rotten wood and wet carpet fills the air in this old and dark house. Water is still dripping from the ceiling from yesterday’s storm. The four of them walk carefully as their eyes adjust to the gloom. The floor creaks under the weight of their footsteps.

“We should have brought a flashlight with us!” says Zak.

Slowly they walk through the living room into the short hallway. There are two doors, one on either side. They can only open the door on the right a few inches. The ceiling has collapsed, blocking the door. Scared and nervous they open the other door.

In the room there’s a broken desk and blankets, it’s obvious someone slept in here a while ago. There’s a stain going from the wall, all the way to the floor.

“What is that?” asks Sarah her feet stop moving and her hand is pointing at the stain on the floor near the blankets.

“I don’t know!” says Matt.

“Yeah I don’t know.” says Andy.

“Maybe it’s blood.”Zak says, looking at Andy.

“It’s hard to say in the dark like this.” says Matt.

“Wait guys, I have my flashlight.” says Andy as he pulls a small flashlight from his jeans pocket.

“What! You had a flashlight all this time?” says Matt.

“Give me that!” says Zak.

Andy gives it to Zak who gives it to Matt. He points the flashlight at the stain and pushes the button. The little circle of light shows a brownish stain. maybe there is a little red in it.

“I think it’s blood.” says Zak.

“Maybe not!” says Sarah.

“If it’s not blood I don’t know what it could be.” says Matt.

Andy asks to have his flashlight back, so Matt gives it back. Andy’s getting closer and closer to the wall.

“Be careful Andy!” says Sarah.

“Yeah be careful Andy!” Zak says as he looks at Matt.

As Andy looks closer, a lightning and the thunder made them all jump. The flash from the lighting shows the redness of the stain floor.

“It’s blood for sure.” screams Andy.

In a second he’s out of the room running down the hallway.

“Andy! Wait!” Mat shouts.

The rotten floor gives in under the weight of Andy’s running and he falls in three feet of water in the basement. The basement held the water of years of rain.

“Careful you don’t want to fall in too!” says Matt.

“Andy !” Shouts Sarah.

“Get me out of here.” Andy shouts back.

“With your flashlight look for the staircase.” says Zak.

“Okay, but—”

“But what?” Asks Matt.

“I dropped it.” says Andy.

“Okay, can you walk or swim to the stairs?” asks Sarah.

“Yeah, I can walk.”

“We’re going to find the stairs too.”

“Guys?”

“Yeah Andy!” says Zak.

“Don’t leave me here!”

“We won’t leave you alone” says Sarah.

“Hurry up guys! It’s cold!” says Andy.

“We’ll meet you at the stairs.”

The three of them in the hallway carefully pass to the other side of the new giant hole in the floor.

“Eh! Guys?” says Andy.

“Yeah .” says Sarah.

“I found the stairs.”

“We’re coming!” says Zak.

“But there’s a problem with the stairs.” says Andy.

“What problem.” Matt asks.

“There are no stairs.” says Andy.

Just when Andy tells them about the problem, the friendly squad gets to another hole in the floor where the stairs are supposed to be.

“Matt, how are we going to get him out?” asks Sarah.

“I don’t know”

“There’s a lower floor on the other side.”

“And?” Zak says.

“I’m going to jump on it.” says Matt.

“And?” asks Zak.

“And I’m going to pull him out.”

“That’ll never work!” says Sarah.

“Yeah it will!” says Matt as he takes two steps back. He takes three steps forward and jumps as high as he can. He lands on the staircase landing and one foot goes through the floor.

“Are you okay?” asks Zak

“Yeah I’m good!” replied Matt.

“Yeah he’s okay!” says Andy.

Matt lies down on the floor and reaches down toward Andy..

“Grab my arm.” says Matt.

Andy grabs Matt’s arms who tries to pull Andy out of the basement.

“Aaaaahh, something touched me, get me out.”screams Andy.

“I’m trying.” says Matt with difficulty as he’s pulling all his strength.

“Something grabbed my leg.” Scream Andy.

“Get him out Matt.” says Sarah.

“I’m coming to help you hold on.”says Zak.

“Where are you going?” asks Sarah.

“I’m gonna jump to help Matt.”

Matt is holding on to Andy, as Zak jumps onto the floor where Matt is. Zak grabs Andy’s other arm and pulls him up with Matt while Andy is still screaming for his life.

“What touched you?”asks Matt as they all regain their breath sitting on the floor.

“I don’t know!” sobs Andy.

“Maybe nothing touched you?” says Zak.

“No, believe me something touched me, something is down there.” says Andy.

The four friends are calming down when they see it. Something definitely touched Andy on his leg.

“There!” says Matt as he points at the water.

A corpse floated and probably moved when Andy stirred the water when he fell in. They can only see the back of the guy because he’s floating on his stomach. The four friends stare silently, as if frozen. It is the first time they see a dead body. They don’t know who he is but inside they all feel bad for the guy. Even if someone might say he was a thief, rumors even say he was a killer. They were sad, sad that he died like that. Alone in an abandoned house.

They all went to the police station. The story about a dead corpse in the house turned out to be true. The cops said it's was probably a drifter on the run. The four friends were considered heroes, the population of Creek Town called them the 4 leaf clover club.

Andy never got grounded by his father for flooding his new running shoes.

Seeing the floating corpse made them forget about the dead crows, until…