Old Film - Chapter One

The muscles in my legs pulsed from peddling my metallic blue dirt bike. Shane rode beside me with his bike rocking back and forth as he tried to beat me to the old red brick house at the end of the road. Three more of our friends raced behind us, each trying to get there first. Brown, orange, and red leaves from the trees on either side of the road flew up next to us and danced around our bikes as we stirred them up from the surface of the road.

Shane gained a few feet in front of me and I stood up on my pedals to beat him in the last ten yards. My lungs burned as I huffed in and out so hard that I couldn’t yell, “I’m going to beat you loser,” like I wanted to.

The driveway had a rusted chain link fence, which gaped open. The brown and silver gate lay near the entrance and Shane’s wheels bounced off of it a split second before mine. The metal slammed into the ground and rang out in the night as both of our bikes flew in the air for a few feet, as we jumped them off of the fallen gate. We hit our brakes hard. He went left as I went right and our rear wheels skidded to a stop, leaving us facing each other. Our friends Josh, Brenda, and Robby followed us in to the yard.

Josh’s brown hair hung over his eyes and his arms dangled over the front of his handlebars. He tried to catch his breath. “That was…” He took four more breaths. “You guys are insane. I’m surprised neither of you wrecked.”

Brenda’s short blonde hair sat on top of her head like an explosion. “I thought I was going to.”

Josh shot back, “I’m surprised you didn’t, being a girl and all.” He smirked at her.

The other three of us guys stared open mouthed at him and Brenda stepped directly in front of him with her hands balled into fists. Her voice was both shrill and quiet at the same time. “I will end you.”

His smirk vanished and he held his hands up. “Sorry, sorry, I was just trying to be funny.”

Her voice returned to almost normal and she shook her head. “Well, you’re not.”

I placed my hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Buddy, pal, I like you. We’ve been friends since I can remember. What’s it been, like ten years?”

“Well, you’re fifteen and I moved into the neighborhood when I was four…”

“No, it was a rhetorical question. I’m just sayin’ that I’ve always liked you and I’d like to be able to hang out with you for at least another ten years. But if you keep tormenting Brenda she’s going to kill you.”

He shuffled his feet. “I was just tryin’…”

Brenda put her arm around his shoulder. “It’s okay dude. Maybe I overreacted.”

”Maybe?”

Her hand brushed mine and electricity flowed through me. She looked at me and removed her arm from around Josh. “I like humor, but just be careful, okay?” Then she punched him in the arm.

***

The brick on the home was climbing with ivy and half of the windows were boarded up where kids had thrown rocks through. Brenda’s little brother Robby led us toward one of the boarded up windows to the left of the entrance. He was sixty pounds soaking wet. His thin arm disappeared into a crack between the boards. A small click sounded from in the house and the sheet of plywood swung open just enough for Robby to squirrel his way in. He grinned back at us as he pushed through. A few seconds later the front door swung open and Robby waved us in. His voice squeaked from the doorway. “Come on, hurry, before anyone sees us.”

We poured through and he closed and locked the door. Brenda walked to the plywood opening Robby had squeezed through and latched it back in place, throwing the room into almost complete darkness. Two beams of light from our flashlights shone through cobwebs and a couple of mice scurried out of sight. A large staircase ascended to the second story and we raced up them two or three at a time. At the top of the stairs, a hallway stretched left and right.

Shane and I ran right when everyone else scurried to the left. He stopped in front of me and lifted the flashlight below his chin. It shone across his face and he lowered his voice in volume and pitch. “The Mistress of Old Man Huckabay roams these halls. If we’re not careful she’ll claw our eyes out and feed them to the ghost of her mangy cat that wanders the halls with her.” He let out a wail like a dying cat and then cackled like a witch. “They gets tared of eatin’ notin’ but scrawny mice bod’ day ‘n nigh’”

I shoved past him and grabbed the flashlight out of his hands. “Common, stop messin' around. I want to find the stash of bills that Old Man Huckabay hid in this house after him and his mistress robbed the bank.”

Shane laughed. “There’s no money. The police recovered it after they raided the cabin they had been hiding out in.”

“That’s not what I heard. You know what, I’ll keep looking for the stash and when I find it maybe I’ll share some of it with you.” I shrugged. “Probably not though.”

We ducked through the doorway of the second bedroom on the left. The bed frame was busted and the moth eaten molding mattress lay half on the floor. The smell of a rotting rodent or something in the room made me gag.

Shane laughed again. “You don’t have the stomach for real treasure hunting.” He was digging through the clothes in the bottom of the closet, throwing one piece out after another.

A brown tweed jacket, full of holes, hit me in the face and a hard object made me wince. “Hey! Watch it.” I pulled the object from the pocket and dropped the jacket to the floor. I shone the flashlight on an antique camera.

“Hey man, what’s that?” Shane ripped it from my hands and turned it over a few times. “Hey, this still has film in it.” He clicked the button and then turned the dial. “Huh, weird. That was the last picture available on the roll. I’m going to take this home to my dark room and develop it.”

“You think it’s still good after sitting in that closet for so many years?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“What do you think’s on it? You think they were taking pictures of the bank they were going to rob?”

“I don’t know man, but you can stay here looking for money that doesn’t exist, I’m going to find out what’s on this.” He held the camera up in front of the beam of the flashlight.

***

Light flakes of snow drifted from the sky and landed on my head and shoulders. I jumped off my bike and let it land on its side in Shane’s yard. Sprinting up his front steps I rang the doorbell and then knocked six or seven times. After a moment Shane’s mom appeared in the doorway. “Hi Johnny, Shane’s in the basement.” She pointed toward the back of the house, into the kitchen, where stairs led down to the basement.

“Thanks Mrs. Roberts.” I descended the steps into the basement that was red from lights that barely lit the room. Fifty year old wood paneling lined the walls. The strong smell of chemicals permeated the air and I never got used to it no matter how many times I went down there. He was sitting on an old grey leather couch, staring at the wall.

I sat on the arm of the sofa. “You okay man? You look terrible.”

He made a small nod. “Hey man, John, can you get the others. I have something really creepy to show you guys. Something you’re not going to believe. Heck, I don’t even believe it.”

“What? Just tell me.”

He shook his head. “No. Nope. Not without the others here. This is too much.”

“Seriously dude? Why do you always have to be so weird? It’s always something with you.”

He held his hands out in front of his body so that they were parallel with each other but not to the floor. “Listen, John. It’s not a joke. I’m not kidding around.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’ll be back.” I turned to leave and then turned back to face him. "Can't you just text them and I’ll wait here?”

“Nah man. You know my parents won’t get me a phone. You text em.”

I laughed. “Yeah, we’re probably the last two guys in our school not to have a cell phone. Can’t your mom text them?”

He shook his head. “No good. She’ll want to know why and she’ll ask too many questions and I’ll have to explain… Just get them here and I’ll show everyone at the same time.”

I sighed. “Sure. Okay man. I’ll be back.”

***

A few inches of yesterday’s snow covered the grass. The sidewalks shimmered with melting snow, from the warm autumn sun. Josh, Brenda, and Robby were back at Shane’s house with me and our bikes were scattered on the grass. Shane’s dad answered the door wearing a red sweater vest over a black button up shirt and black jeans. He looked at us over his glasses that were perched on the end of his nose. “You here to cause trouble again?” He narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips.

Brenda said, “No sir Mr. Roberts, we’d never cross blades with a pirate.”

He chuckled and stood up straight. “Shh girl. Don’t give up my secret. I’ve been living the life without anyone knowing who I really am.”

She rose her finger to her lips and made a shush sound then crossed her heart. “Your secret’s safe with me Mr. Roberts.”

He looked at the rest of us. “What about those rats? Can they be trusted?”

She winked at him. “No worries, I’ll keep them in line. They know not to cross me after last time.”

“What happened last time?"

She just shrugged and grinned.

"Come on in. Shane’s in the basement.” Then he threw the door wide on its hinges. Their yorkie jumped up and down at Robby’s leg until he picked her up and scratched her ears. The black and brown dog’s tail wagged ferociously.

We walked down the stairs into the dimly lit basement. Just before Robby stepped off the last step, the dog leapt from his arms. The dog turned around a few times and then ran back upstairs.

Josh sat on the couch just as he did the other day, except he looked even more pale. “Hey Josh, do you mind closing the door?”

Without an answer, Josh sprinted up the stairs, closed the door, then jumped over the railing to avoid using the stairs on the way back down. “What’s John telling us about you being spooked? You look pale, like you’re dead.”

Shane rose from the couch and walked toward a door on the other side of the room. “Before we go in, I need you to understand. I have no idea what’s going on, so don’t ask. You’ll know just as much about what I’m about to show you as I do.”

Brenda punched him in the shoulder. “Stop messing around Shane. What game are you trying to play with us?”

His hand was on the handle and he turned back squinting at us. “Brenda. This is no game.” Then he turned the handle. Once we were all inside the small room, he closed and locked the door.

“You’re not going to believe this, but if any of you can explain what I’m going to show you then I’ll give you every penny I receive in allowance from now until graduation.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just get it over with dude, we don't want your money?”

Brenda siddled up next to me. "Speak for yourself, bro." The heat from her shoulder radiated through my shirt. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the faint scent of her perfume.

He pulled a shoe box from under the counter and placed it in front of us. He paused for a second and then lifted the lid. The picture sitting on top was blotted and looked like it hadn’t developed properly. It was of the five of us racing toward Old Man Huckabay’s on our bikes, with leaves swirling around us.

The four of us, who were seeing the picture for the first time, gasped. Robby rasped. “What in the world? How’d you take that picture?”

“I didn’t. I just developed it.” Shane flipped to the next picture. It looked old and faded just like the first one. It was taken right after Shane and I had launched our bikes off of the gate lying on the sidewalk. Every picture was another moment in time, in chronological order of us approaching and breaking into the house. They all looked aged with faded and muted colors. Except the last picture. It was crisp and clear. I was standing with a flashlight and the old dilapidated Huckabay bed lay in the background. The beam from the flashlight shone across my face. It was obvious that it was the last picture that Shane had taken when we had found the camera.

Josh stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “It’s a nice trick, but just because I don’t know how you did it doesn’t mean that I have to be weirded out by it.”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear. Either someone was there taking pictures of us and somehow snuck the camera into the pocket of the jacket we had found in the house, or something unexplainable happened. You guys tell me.”

Brenda snatched the shoe box off of the table. “I don’t know what the gimmick is, but I do know that you’re screwing with us, yet again.” She shuffled through the pictures that Shane had placed back in the box.

Robby stood apart from us looking at the ground. Josh went over to him and punched him in the arm. “What do you think little dude?”

He mumbled something.

Josh clicked his tongue. “Seriously. It’s just a trick Robby. Shane here’s just messing with our heads.”

I turned toward Shane. “How do we know that you didn’t get someone from school to take these pictures of us? It wouldn’t have been that hard.”

He was shaking his head. Then he pulled a brown plastic strip from under the pile of pictures. “You see this?”

Brenda leaned close and squinted. “What is it?”

“It’s a negative.” He pointed toward the camera we had found in the old house. “It’s what cameras used, before digital cameras.”

Robby continued to stare at the floor. “Yeah, he’s telling the truth. I watched some videos about it when Shane first told us he was interested in the old way of taking pictures. I wanted to know what he was talking about.”

Shane held the plastic strip up to the light. Through the light we could see miniature pictures matching what he had shown us in the box, except they were in weird colors. Each frame showed another picture. From the pictures of us first arriving at the house, to the picture of us separating in the hallway, to the last picture of me standing in the room. “See how its a single connected strip?” He ran his fingers from one end to the next. “You can see that these were all taken on the same roll of film. If you look real close, you can see that the last picture is crisp on the negative and the rest aren’t, just like on the paper pictures. John was the one who took the camera from the jacket pocket. He knows I didn’t place it in there, just ask him. Right, John?”

A cold hand seemed to grab hold of my spine and I shivered. A lump in my throat made it difficult to swallow. “You threw the jacket at me, how do I know you didn’t place it in the pocket?”

Shane shook his head and shrugged. “The second to last picture is of you and I entering that bedroom. Even if I had someone take the picture, there wasn’t enough light for it to be anything more than a black square.”

Brenda threw her hands in the air. “You clowns can buy this crap if you want, but I’m out of here.” With that she unlocked the door and flung it open. On the other side of the door there were plumes of smoke rising from several ash trays on a round poker table. The basement was brightly lit with posters of old gangster movie posters hung on the walls. Six men were sitting around the table smoking cigars and playing cards. A man with a bushy beard and balding head yelled at us. “Hey! How’d you kids get in my basement? How long you been in there?” Brenda ran up the stairs and we followed after. At the top of the stairs three women wore aprons and were cooking dinner. They stopped what they were doing and stared at us as we ran past.

The front door of Shane’s house flew open. The street was lined with old cars, many of which looked brand new. Our bikes were nowhere in the yard and the sun shone brightly. The air was hot and humid and we ran without looking back. A mile from the house, we stopped and gathered around an black metal street lamp. Josh was shaking his head back and forth. “What is going on? Where are we?”

Brenda covered her face with her hands and sat on the curb. Her shoulders shuddered as she cried. I rubbed her back and tried to calm her as much as myself.

No matter which way we turned, we were surrounded by items that belonged in the past.