You chicken?

“You chicken?”

Rue raised her cup and took a long sip of whatever chemical was lurking within. She was only seventeen, but she was disturbingly familiar with Budlights and ‘Whink Pitney,’ as her friends called it. Always had the tip of a long neck in her mouth.

“Nah. I’m not chicken,” Rue swallowed. “But that dare is for kids. Give me something else. God.”

Shea and Nina giggled while Brian scratched the back of his neck. The rest of the crew were nowhere to be seen. Alex had taken the other two boys — Rue couldn’t remember their names — in search of something a little stronger than alcohol half an hour before, but still hadn’t returned. She figured they'd probably gone and crashed at one of their homes. And Zaf and Ava were still liplocked in the closet, having gone so far beyond their seven minutes that the rest had started a new game of Truth or Dare without them. 

Brian hesitated and then smiled. When he looked back up at Rue, his eyes wouldn’t meet hers. Instead, they crawled along the base of her neck, from collarbone to collarbone. They climbed the spirals of her hair to the top of her scalp, inching their way down from her hairline to the bridge of her nose before dropping onto her cupid’s bow. Suddenly, his eyes jumped to Rue’s, and for the first time, she noticed his pupils were abnormally large.

Rue and Brian had gone at it for years. He'd call her names and steal her book bag, and she'd outdo him in class and embarrass him when he tried to get the upper hand. Something about her pissed him off, and something about him reminded her of a mosquito. The sharp-toothed chihuahua of the insect world. Dangerous, yes, but mostly just annoying.

“Did I ever tell you about what happened to my grandmother’s sister?”

Nina scooted closer to Shea at his tone. It was metallic and the air felt off when he opened his mouth. Maybe that was just the booze, but she could have sworn it hadn’t been that way before. Brian wasn't even big on drinking.

Rue set her drink on the carpet but kept her fingers clasped so tightly around it that it crinkled and shrunk inwards. “What happened to her?”

Brian shifted on his hands and crossed his legs. “The way my mom puts it, something really bad.” He smiled at Rue as he spoke. “They used to play in here a lot, my grandmother and her sister. Her name was Cindy. She was only a year or two younger, and they were best friends. Grandma doesn’t like to talk about it. Sometimes I don’t think she remembers at all.”

“They used to play in here? It's disgusting in here.” Shea’s voice was so high pitched that Ava and Zaf stepped out to ask what was wrong before plopping down next to the other girls and snuggling together. "

“Yeah, where else would they go? You saw it outside. Forests for miles. Plus they were girls. They wanted to play with dolls inside where it was warm, not dirt and sticks. And it wasn't always this dirty, Shea. Think.”

“I don’t mind sticks,” Rue laughed, easing the tension a bit.

Brian glanced at her. “Of course you don’t. You drink vodka like it’s water. You don’t count.”

“Why doesn’t she count?” Ava snapped. 

“Because she’s Rue,” Brians said like it were obvious.

“So?” Ava looked like she was ready to choke him, and Zaf gripped her hand tightly and pulled her close.

“So she’s not a girl. She’s a freak.”

“Brian!” Zaf is clinging to Ava’s arm at this point, but she simply dragged her as she stood to move towards him. “Why would you say that? She’s not a freak, she’s our friend! You’re the freak! How about-“

“Ava, it’s fine!” Rue put herself in between Ava and the boy. “I don’t care what he says. He’s a dick, right Brian?”

“That’s right,” he smiled.

“So nothing he says matters,” Rue added. Ava finally began to calm down and everyone settled back into their spots.

“Anyway,” Brian dragged the word and rolled his eyes. “What was I saying? Oh, so they played in here all the time, and you’ll never guess where their favorite spot was.”

The girls looked around the room. 

“The closet?” Ava asked. Brian shook his head.

“The cupboards?” Shea chimed in.

“Nope,” said Brian.

Rue scanned the room. The shed was small. She was surprised there was a closet. Where else could the girls have played? She sighed and shifted back on her hands, and the floorboards creaked. That’s when it came to her.

“Underneath,” she whispered.

“That’s right,” Brian nodded, clasping his hands together and laying them on his crossed ankles. “In fact, the floorboard next to the one you’re sitting on is the one they used to climb under, Rue.”

Rue wiggled the edge of the floorboard with a finger and found that it was loose.

“Huh,” she said. “That’s not my idea of a fun hideout, but to each his own, I guess.” She laughed, but Brian's eyes wouldn't leave hers. For a moment, she thought she saw something. Did he wink? But then he turned at the sound of Shea's voice and it was gone.

“That’s creepy, Brian. Nobody plays under the floors. Stop being weird and finish the story."

“They did. My grandma and her sister used to play under the floorboards all the time. They had dolls down there, and they always won at hide and seek.”

Zaf laughed at this and Ava nudged her playfully with her shoulder. Rue took another sip out of her cup. It was empty.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Brian continued. “The only thing is, Cindy got stuck down there. That’s what my grandma says. She says one day they went down to play, and Cindy couldn’t get back out. She was screaming and banging against the wood, but grandma's mom went down and couldn’t find her. She was there, but she wasn’t.”

The girls looked at one another uncomfortably, and soft, nervous giggles fluttered between them like moths with half-eaten wings. 

“How? That doesn’t make sense,” Nina chirped. Her voice was soft, and her lip trembled beneath her watery eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Shea assured her. “He’s just trying to scare us.” Nina grabbed two of Shea's fingers and clung to them tightly. She nodded her head and forced a smile that didn't fool anyone.

“We don’t know how,” Brian rolled his eyes. “That’s, like, the whole point. It’s a mystery.”

“Oh, shutup,” Ava groaned, and everyone laughed a bit too loudly for a few moments before growing silent and looking at one another.

A gust of wind jostled the door, and it squeaked softly on its hinges like a mouse’s laughter. Other than that and the sound of rustling leaves and the countryside, the shed remained noiseless.

“So?” Rue finally asked

“So, I dare you to go under,” Brian said. The corners of his lips twitched up into a smile before dipping back down. 

“Under the floorboards?” Rue asked. She looked at the other girls for help, but they were silent. Curious enough to keep their mouths shut.

“Is something wrong? You wanted a dare, didn't you?” Brian was smug.

“Nah,” Rue said. Her mouth was so dry. She wiped her concern from her face and began to lift up the floorboard. “I’ll do it. What do you want me to do, find your other grandma?” She laughed at this, but Brian didn’t.

Rue sat on the edge of the opening and dipped her feet in. She’d only lowered them a few inches before they hit the flooring below.

“No way they fit in here, dude. This is too shallow!”

“They did,” Brian insisted. His voice sounded urgent, but he didn’t move from his spot. 

“Maybe you have to roll around to find an opening,” Shea said, moving her finger in a swirling motion.

“That’s probably it,” Brian said quickly and nodded his head. “Just do it, Rue. You chicken?”

“Nah," she lingered a bit. "I’m not chicken.” 

Rue lowered herself into the space beneath the floorboards until she was lying on her back. She began feeling around with her feet and hands and found that she was surrounded by wood on all sides.

"Hey, I don't think there's an opening here—" she started to sit up.

Suddenly the piece of flooring she’d removed was back in place, and someone was stomping on it from above until it was locked in place. Rue heard the sound of tapping, like a hammer and a nail, followed by yelling and frantic footsteps. Rue did her part by pushing into the floorboard from below, but whoever was on top of it had the upper hand. This lasted for a few moments before it stopped, and when she pressed her hands into the wood, she found it wouldn’t budge at all. 

“Hey!” She screamed. “What’s going on? Stop messing with me!”

She heard a rustling from above. 

“You can’t lock her in there!” It sounded like Zaf.

“Get out.” Brian’s voice was mechanical and cold. 

“You’re not leaving her under the floors!”

“Get out!”

The girls above began sounding frantic. Something was happening. Was he hurting them?

The front door slammed open and Rue heard the sound of footsteps rushing out. There were several pops, and then nothing.

Rightfully, Rue began to panic. But there was little she could do from beneath the floorboards. There was no secret crawlspace for her to find. No more loose floorboards and no way for her to remove the nail that had locked her only exit shut. No way out.

She squirmed in her place, but she only had an inch or two on every side before she rammed her knuckles and forehead into the wood and embedded splinters into her skin. It smelled old, like wet earth and mildew. Rue’s nose itched from random hairs and dust, but she couldn’t lift her arm high enough to scratch it.

For a few moments, there was silence, but then Rue heard a single pair of footsteps walking slowly back inside. A weight lowered itself directly above her, and then she heard Brian’s voice.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

“Maybe you should have taken the other dare.”

“Dude, you’re fucking sick.” Rue did her best to control her voice. To keep the fear from making it sound wobbly and childlike. Desperate.

But the thing is, she was desperate. She was painfully desperate. And she didn’t know how Brian knew about her fear of small spaces. Or how he knew that her younger sister had died from suffocating beneath the floorboards while she and Rue played hide and seek.

“You’re scared, Rue. You’re scared, and you should be.”

She heard him standing. 

“Hey!” 

"You look just like her." He said, and then he began to walk away.

“Hey!” Rue’s voice cracked. “Hey, come back! Where are you going? What are you talking about?”

The door swung open, and he was gone. 

The front door of the shed squealed on its hinges again as Rue began to thrash beneath the floorboards. Her knuckles were bloody, her skin filled with small pieces of wood. Bruises began to form on her knees and elbows, and she felt something crawling along her neck. 

Her voice was raw as she screamed. Squirmed away from a fear she couldn’t escape. One that smelled poisonous like Vodka. One that would slowly drive her insane.

Other than that and the sound of rustling leaves and the countryside, the shed remained noiseless.