“Can you please tell me again why we have to go there?” I whined from the back seat of the car. Kevin looked at me with the rearview mirror. “Don’t give me that look, I just want to know why?”

“Nick, I told you this, like, four times already.”

“Six. You told him six times already.” remarked Howie. I rolled my eyes, if it weren’t for the fact that Howie was nice and very likeable, I probably would have hit him.

“Thank you. Six times already. Its been six years since I’ve gotten a chance to see my aunt and uncle and I felt like visiting them, plus I was only able to talk Lou into letting us get this out the way for our vacation time, so deal with it.” Deal with it? Deal with it his say, why should I deal with it? There not my relatives, so way should I care? “But Kevin, it isn’t fair that, me, Howie, and AJ….”

“You mean, Howie, AJ, and I.” said Howie. Okay, I was two seconds from creaming him in the back of the head with something, what it is, I’m not sure, it may just be my own sneaker, or maybe AJ’ s, doesn’t really matter at this point. “Whatever, why do we have to go, there your relatives.”

“Nick, let it go, for the love of all that is great in the world, let. It. Go.” That would be AJ, he always wants me to keep quick, but I’ll do that when pigs learn how to drive. So I just totally ignored him and continue at annoying… I mean asking Kevin question.

“Kevin, can’t you take us back home and you and Brian go and visited them instead?”

“I have a better idea, why didn’t you just go Kevin, and let the rest of us go back to Orlando?” asked Brian. When he found out that we were going to visited Kevin’s aunt and uncle, he was far from happy. I asked him once, why he didn’t like them, he told me its not that he didn’t like them, its just that he didn’t know them that well. “Your not still mad about Aunt Rose always forgetting your name are you?”

“She kept calling me Carol, how the hell do you get Carol from Brian?” By the way Brian goes on about Kevin’s aunt and uncle, they sound kind of, well, they sound weird. As Brian went on about how much he hates Kevin’s aunt and uncle, I took the chance to get a good look at our surroundings. Swamp, swamp and you guessed it, more swamp! I don’t really have to describe to you what a swamp looks like, because, well you’ve seen pictures, if not, think about a place filled with murky water, mud everywhere, bugs, alligators and the smell of a unclean bathroom. Yep, couldn’t get better then this, could it not folks?

“Okay, Brian we get it, you can’t stand Kevin’s aunt and uncle. Enough already, please.” thank you very much AJ. I was hoping someone would tell him to shut up. “I should have packed more bug spray.” Howie said out loud. I looked over at him to see that he was checking in his bag, almost everything was out. Shirts, pants, some underwear, those I didn’t need to see. “Howie, we’re almost there, put those things back in your bag.” said Kevin. Howie started shoving his things back in his bag. “Do you think there are any stores near by?” “Howie look around you, do you see any other signs of people anywhere?” that was AJ, if you haven’t already guessed it.

I sat back with my head resting against the car seat, I looked over at Brian and he seem as bore as I was. “Why would Kevin’s relative live all the way out here? In Louisiana of all places.”

“I’m not really sure, I only got to meet them once.”

What? Okay, that’s weird, by the way Brian was acting you would think that he would visit all the time. I guess by the look I was giving him, he could tell I was confused. “I meet them at a family cook out, when I was ten, they were so weird. Kevin’s aunt kept talking about only baking and his uncle was showing us animals that he had killed and turned in to taxidermies and he was talking about being in the war, Aunt Rose accidentally blew up their kitchen and Uncle Bucky tried to show the kids how to make taxidermies, yeah after that they were never asked back.”

Okay, remember when I said they were weird? They just went up the list of wacko.

“Alright guys, were here, now before we head out in, I need for you guys here and listen now, my Aunt Rose and Uncle Bucky….”

“Uncle Bucky? What kind of name is that?” laughed AJ. He just had great timing, doesn’t he?

“His name, now shut the hell up and listen. Anyway, my Aunt Rose is obsessed with cooking and baking, her baking is great, her cooking is a total bag of shit. She burns everything that he tries to cook, but baking she’s really good at. She likes to knit, most of the sweaters or either too big or too small. And she has a tendency to pitch cheeks and give lots of hug. And she kind of smells like, eggs, flour and swamp. My Uncle, well, he’s just nuts, he will talk about being in the war when he never was in one, he thinks he was abducted by aliens, he use to be a hippy and he makes taxidermies, they’ll be all over the house. So okay I think that covers it, let’s go.”

We all piled out of the car and stood in front of the large house. It wasn’t what I was expecting, it was huge, not like white house huge, but really big, it could house at least twenty people, or more. It was actually nice looking, the only nice looking thing in this whole place. It was three stories high. Built of dark gray stone. A turret rose up on the right side. On the left, a sliver of white smoke curled from a blackened chimney.

“Man, Kev, you didn’t tell us your aunt and uncle were rich.” said AJ. “There not, my uncle said he build the thing, I don’t really believe that though.”

“Aren’t swap homes suppose to be smaller and on slits?” asked Howie. All I could say is, how the hell am I suppose to know, I’m not an specialist on swamp homes. I would have said that, but Howie may seem nice and sweet, but really he can be really nasty if he wanted to. “If that’s weird, check out the windows.” said AJ. “What are they? Vampires?” I took a look at the windows. They were tiny, and I could see only three of them, three tiny windows in the entire house. One on each floor. Maybe they are vampires, that kind of would explain Kevin’s look, I mean how many guys do you see with jet black hair, evil looking green eyes, tall as hell, and pale skin. “Don’t lag behind Nick.” said Kevin. Who actually uses the word ‘lag’ anymore? I mean really now. “Coming!”

As I was walking behind the guys, I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a loud howl, a mournful howl, a very sad angry howl, somewhere deep, deep, deep in the swamp. I know the others heard it because they all looked in the direction that it had come from. “Um, what the hell was that?” AJ asked. “It was just a owl.” said Kevin.

An owl? Was he serious, did he actually think that was going to fly. “An owl? Kevin are you high or something? That was not an owl, that was something else, what it was, I’m not sure, but I know it ain’t an owl.” said AJ.

“Shut it AJ.” at least someone said it.

We finally made it to the front door. Which by the way needed to be dusted off, big time. Kevin knocked loud on the door, which after two knocks open to reveal a very tall woman, almost Kevin’s height. She wore big glasses and her hair was black with gray in it. She kind of looked like she just stepped out of a seventies movie or something. She had on a long flower dress, that was cover in white stuff, I think it may have been flour. Huh, she doesn’t have any shoes on. Okay, getting off topic here, anyway, she kept pushing up these huge glasses that were way to big for her face, they made her look bug eyed, it was kind of freaky. “Kevin? Is that you? Oh let Aunty Rose get a good look at you.” Okay now this was funny, instead of going to Kevin, she went straight to Howie. She cupped his face in her hands and started making cooing noises. Why? I’m not sure.

“Oh Kevin look how handsome you’ve gotten, but my, you’ve haven’t grown that much have you now. Bucky, get out here!”

Then out came who I guess was Uncle Bucky. He wasn’t as tall as his wife, actually he was the totally opposite. He was short and stocky, he had blond hair that he had in a messy pony tail. He had a navy blue bandana, that hung around his neck, and was wearing dirty overalls. Thanks goodness for us he had a white, or is it gray or yellow? Maybe a peach. Tan? Anyway lucky for us he had on a t-shirt.

“Doesn’t he look small.” said Aunt Rose. Howie looked over at us. We pretty much weren’t any help because, Brian and AJ were cracking up, Kevin wasn’t shaking his head in disbelief and me, well I was just seating back watching all this unfold. I kind of wish I had popcorn or something.

“Well, Rose there’s a reason why he looks so short.” said Uncle Bucky in a deep gruffly voice.

“There is?”

“Yep, that ain’t Kevin. That boy over there is Kevin, that’s just a little Hispanic kid.”

She looked over at Kevin, then back at Howie and then back Kevin, she moved away from Howie and grabbed Kevin in a big hug. That would have been great, if she hadn’t grabbed AJ instead. “Woman, are you special or something? Look,” he grabbed her and made her face Kevin. “That’s Kevin, our nephew! That kid just weird looking.” “Hey!” Okay, I’ll admit, I laughed on that one, that was too funny.

“Oh! Kevin! Look at you, you’ve gotten so handsome looking, hasn’t he, Bucky?”

“Yep, looks good. I bet you have to beat the girls off you with a stick.”

“Its nice to see you too, Uncle Bucky, Aunt Rose.” He gave both a hug. Man, he’s going to have to take a bath right after that. “Who are your Friends Kevin?” asked Aunt Rose. She looked us each other, eyeing AJ twice. “Well, you’ve met Brian once, this is Howie, AJ and the little one is Nick.” Little one! I’m almost as tall as you, you big stupid brushy eyebrow monkey. Yeah, its not much of an insult, but I’m the one saying it, not you.

“Aw, look at you, aren’t you the cutest little thing.” she pulled me into a bear hug, squeezing the ever loving life out of me. “Rose, let the boy go, before you kill him.” She finally dropped me, thank god, I could see my life flashing before my eyes.

“Well ya’ll come on in, standing out here, hot as it is.” said Uncle Bucky.

Aunt Rose and Uncle Bucky led us in to the living room. The room was freaking enormous. Hell, the house that we were living in before could probably fit inside it. The walls were a shade of greenish blue, I looked up at the ceiling and saw a gold chandelier that had twelve candles, in a circle, only eight of them worked. In the middle of one of the walls was an enormous fireplace, that practically took up most of the wall. On the other walls, were pictures of people, my guess is that they were either family members that are now dead, or old friends. “Sit, sit, ya’ll must be tired. I’ll go get ya’ll some lemonade.” Aunt Rose went in to what I guess was the kitchen. “You boys sit, I’m going to go help that woman, with those old glasses of her, she may give ya’ll dishwashing liquid instead of lemonade.” Uncle Bucky follow close behind. When he went into the kitchen, we kind of just sat there looking around, not really wanting to move from where we sat, because well, the house was kind of freaky.

“Kevin, I hope I don’t sound mean, but this place is creepy and it really smells bad.” said Howie.

“Yeah, it actually smells worse then your Aunt and Uncle.” I said. Big mistake.

“Nick!” scolded Kevin.

“What? There your family, not mine. I can say anything about them if I want.”

“Don’t say things like that about my family, its really rude.” he was giving me the evil eye folks, not something I want from Kevin. He may come across like a nice guy, but really he can be a real evil son of a bastard. After what seem to be a freaking year, she finally came back, but not with the drinks. “I just finished making dinner and since its close to it, why don’t ya’ll come in the dining room and eat something” I looked over at Kevin, who seem to look paler then usually and then I remember what he said. Oh, I hope the food doesn’t kill us.

We all sat at the old looking table. The dining room didn’t look that bad, if it weren’t from those damn stuffed ducks he had hanging in there. How’s a person suppose to eat when he has Daffy Duck’s cousin looking straight at him. “Alright, dinner is served.” said Aunt Rose. “What are we having to night, Rose?” asked Uncle Bucky. “Well, I thought I try something new so I fixed up a completely new dish.” she pulled the lid off the large pot that she carried in with her. “Pigs feet and liver strew.” What? I didn’t even know something so foul existed. It bubble and pop, and I could hear it make groaning noises. She went to each person and poured some on there plates. I looked down at mine, I had to hold my breath, the smell was that bad. I looked at everyone else, not surprising to see they had the same look on there face, well not Uncle Bucky. I guess being married to her and all, you get use to all the bad cooking. “Aren’t you going to have anything, Aunt Rose.” asked Brian. “Well, no Carol, I’ve already eaten.” I saw how Brian flinched when she called him the wrong name. “Its Brian, Rose, not Carol.” said Uncle Bucky.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to say Brian.” She gave him a smile and went back into the kitchen. Then Uncle Bucky got up, he had a bucket, not trying to be funny here and took his plate and poured the mess in it. “Come on, all ya’ll put it in here, I know ya’ll don’t want to eat any of this crap.” So we did as we were told. When she came back, we told her how much it was really good. “Oh I’m so glad. Anyway, I made you all some pie. It blueberry, I hope you all like blueberry.” Now that something I don’t mind eating. We started eating, but I noticed something, this tasted more like lemon then blueberry. “Gosh darn it Rose, this is Lemon, not blueberry, I told you I was going to sell these. That’s it, your getting new glasses, because this is starting to get ri-gosh darn-diculous.”

So afterwards we all sat in the living room, Kevin was telling them about the group and us going to Germany. I wasn’t really listening, I was too busy looking for the television. “Um, do you guys have a television?”

“Yep, we got one.”

“Oh cool, can we-”

“But it don’t work.”

“Do you guys have a telephone?” asked Howie

“Yep, we got one,

“Oh good can I--”

“But that don’t work.”

“Well, do you have a radio?”

“Yep, I got a radio, but that also doesn’t work either.”

Well, for the love of pizza what the hell does work? Now I understand why Brian’s family thought that they were weird. “Oh boys, its getting late, time for bed.” said Aunt Rose. What? It only 7:50, and already we had to go to sleep? What kind of sick place is this? “But its only 7:50. Don’t you think it’s a bit too early to turn in, just yet?” asked Brian. “All growing boys need to sleep. Now off to bed with you, Bucky, be a dear and show them the room that there staying in.”

Room? Doesn’t she mean ‘rooms’ with a ‘s’. We followed Uncle Bucky up the stairs to the room. I saw other rooms and had to ask. “Why can’t we have our own rooms, there’s more then one room.” I asked. “Well, you can, if you want to get your ass eaten up my bed bugs and get lice in your hair.” “Well how do you know that that the bed doesn’t have lice or bed bugs in it?” asked Brian. Good question Bri. “Because I checked this one, this bed is clean, the rest aren’t and the others on the other side, I haven’t gotten to, because, well, I don’t feel like it.”

The guys went in to the room, I was about to enter, but stopped when I heard a low growl. What the hell, I didn’t notice a dog before. I listen and then heard it again. It was coming from one of the rooms. The one at the end of the hallway. The growls grew louder and more clear. I could just go and see-- “Nick, come on.” “AAHAHAHAHHAHA!!” Damn Brian for sneaking up on a guy when he wasn’t paying attention. “Dude, don’t do that!” I had my hand on my chest, my heart was beating at a fast pace. Then he started laughing. “Shut up man.” “What were you doing anyway?” he asked. “I heard noises coming from that room down the hall.” I looked back at the door, eyeing it funny. “Its just a door Nick.” Brian said simply.

“Yeah that’s right, it just a room, and ya’ll best stay away from it!” We both turned to see Bucky standing behind us with a very serious expression. He looked evil, I guess now I know where Kevin gets it from. “That room it off limits, so no more talk about it! Now off to bed with you, I’ll see ya’ll tomorrow.” With that he walked off, leaving us in the hall. Brian patted me on the back and guided me in to the room.

The lights were out and now I was in bed, in between Kevin and Howie. Why you wonder? I’ll tell you. It turns out that this room only had one huge bed in it. No more, nothing else. This sucked. I would have argue that I didn’t want to be in the middle, but I wouldn’t win. So here I am, laying awake, trying to go to sleep. I was just about to when, I heard that same growling noise. At first I thought it was just Howie, but I realize that it was more animalistic then human.

Great, just what I needed, a growling thing making noises all night. Could it get any worse? Oh yeah it could, like Kevin rolling over and laying on top off me.

Just lovely. Someone, please take me now.

I was finally able to sleep right, when I was suddenly woken up by what I thought was an earthquake. I jump straight off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thump. The covers fell over me. I yanked them off me and looked up from the floor to see AJ, staring down at me with that shit eating grin on his face. “What the hell man?” I got up and rubbed my back side. That fall really hurt. “Time to get up, numb nut. Aunty Rose made pancakes, better get your shit in gear before its all gone.” With that being said he walked out the room, slamming the door behind him. I rubbed my face and got ready, hopefully by the time I’m done, there will still be some food left, I hope.

As I was making my way to the kitchen, I stopped to look out one of the blurry windows. “Really creepy, ain’t it?” murmured Brian. I turned to see him looking over my shoulder to the window. I nodded my head. “Yeah, really creepy.” I’ll tell you now, the kitchen was pretty creepy too. You know that TV show ‘Tales From The Crypts’?, and how his basement was all dirty and stuff, well the kitchen was giving it a run for its money. It was dark, not dark like you can’t see your hands in front of your face dark, but dark enough. Almost as dark as the night before. The only source of light was the light coming from the open back door, you could hear the sounds of the swamp, birds chirping, bugs making little clicking noises. It was kind of annoying.

“Is it safe to have the door opened wide like that?” asked Howie. “Couldn’t someone just walk right in?”

“Again Howie, we’re in the middle of a swamp, there aren’t anymore people around, just us. The only thing that can get in here are bugs, and a gator or two.” said AJ. He started snickering to himself when he saw the look on Howie face. “He’s just messing around. Right Alex?”

Oh, that’s not a good sign. If Kevin calls AJ by his real name, then that means he’s sort of in trouble, of course, nothing really ever happens because, well, Kevin’s kind of given up on him in a way. “I’m just pulling your leg, man.” He playful punched Howie in the arm and took a seat. Howie didn’t seem so convince since he was still looking out side. I looked over to see Kevin’s Aunt over by the stove, a spatula in one hand, a huge plate of blueberry pancakes in the other, I could smell them from where I was seating, it smelled like heaven. If heaven smelled like pancakes. She put the spatula and plate down and wiped her hands on her apron. She then picked the plate back up, she placed in the middle of the table.

“Did ya’ll have a good nights sleep? I hope you did.” She went over to the pantry and took out five glasses. She then poured orange juice in it and gave them out. She then place some more food on the table, I was surprised that there was anymore room left. There was bacon, sausages, biscuits, grapefruit and blah, blah, blah, you get the idea.

We all looked at the food, then back at each other. Kevin without looking at Aunt Rose. “Aren’t you going to have any, Aunt Rose?”

“Oh no, I’ve already eaten, ya’ll just help yourselves.” she sat down and watched us all eat as much as we could.

Just then Uncle Bucky came in carrying what looked to be a dead rabbit, dude I didn’t need to see that! Poor Howie almost chocked on his food when he saw it. “Morning boys. Look what I caught, ain’t she a beauty. Finest looking rabbit I’ve did catch.” Rose turned around, her mouth hung open when he saw the dead animal in his hand. “Buck, get that thing out of my kitchen, its leaking blood on the floor!” He putted the thing in a brown bag and stomped in. He removed his hat and took a seat next to Kevin. “Boy, I’ll tell, this baby gave me quit the work out, but in the end I caught it. You’ve ever gone hunting before son?” It took me a while to realize that he was talking to me, I looked up from my plate. I was going to talk, but Kevin gave me his ‘look’, which basically said finished the food first then speak. I swallowed the food and burp, but I did cover my mouth.

“Um no, but I’ve gone fishing.” I said. Hey, its better then nothing, right? “Fishing huh? I ain’t never been fishing, I’m more into the hunt, then just seatin’ on my ass all day on some boat. What about you Kevin, you go huntin’ with your dad?”

I didn’t really listen to Kevin and his uncle’s talk about killing animals, I was still wondering about that door and why we could go to it. That’s when I took the chance that I still had.

“Um, well you please excuse me?”

“Where you going Sweetie?” asked Aunt Rose.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

“Oh, well its on the left on the second floor, dear.”

I said thanks and dashed upstairs. The hallway is a lot creepier when your by yourself. I started towards the door, when I reached it, I placed my ear to it. At first I thought I was hearing things, but then I realize that I could hear breathing, and a few growls. “I thought you were going to the bathroom?” I nearly jumped fifty feet when I heard Brian voice. “What the hell man, stop doing that! What are you doing here anyway?”

“I was going to my room, because, well, take a look for yourself.” he pointed to his shirt. It was had a big blue stain on it. “Aunt Rose?” “Aunt Rose.” he said. “She accidentally dropped a batter of blueberry pancakes on me.”

“Okay, well you better hop to it then.” We stood there for what seem like a good five minutes or more. The awkward silence was starting to get to me and I knew he knew it. “So, you gonna tell me why your standing out side this door?” I could do three things.

One: I could say that I thought this was the bathroom.

Two: Tell him the truth. Or

Three: Hit him over the head with a club and dump his body.

I think I should go with two, the others just seem too stupid. “I heard growling coming from here last night. I know that Kevin’s uncle said not to come here but, I wanted to check it out for myself.” Okay there I said, you happy now. “Nick, you know we’re not….” Brian went dead quiet when we heard footsteps. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a room. We hide behind the door, hoping that whoever that was wouldn’t find us. The mystery person as it turns out is Uncle Bucky, who was carrying a huge plate of Aunt Rose’s blueberry pancakes with him. He balanced the plate in one hand and long nightstick, that police use in the other. He put it down by the side off the door and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a golden key and slipped it in. He open the door, but not all the way. Then, I heard the same growling noises, but now, there was hissing involve. “You better stay back or you ain’t gonna get a thing.” said Uncle Bucky. Whatever he was talking to, stopped hissing and started whimpering. He place the plate inside and then he walked in, closing the door behind him. We would have moved, but we were a little to scared to, so we stayed put a little longer. He then came out of the room, wiping his hands on his already dirty looking pants. Uncle Bucky started whistling a weird tune to himself and walked off.

Once he was out of sight, Brian and I came out of the room. Was I the only one who was starting to think that Aunt Rose and Uncle Bucky were hiding something, something really, really bad? Brian grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the stairs. When we got back to the kitchen, have of the pancakes had been eaten. I looked over at Howie, AJ and Kevin, they all look like they were about to keel over. “You didn’t actually try to eat all that did you?” Brian asked. “Its AJ’s fault, he dared me, I said no, then he double dog dare me and you can’t go back on a double dog dare. So we got in to all out eating contest.” said Howie. “No one won.” said Kevin. He put a hand to his stomach and belched. “Nice one.” said Brian.

As the guys talked, my mind wonder back to what went on upstairs. What was Uncle Bucky doing with all those pancakes? Why was he creeping along so silently? It was a mystery I had to solve.

If only I had minded my own business…..

“Why don’t ya’ll go out and play, while I clean up these dishes?” Aunt Rose suggested. “Then ya’ll can come and help me make my world famous sweet-as-sugar rhubarb pie!”

AJ looked at her like she had two heads. “Play? As in tag play or red light green light play? What does she think we are? Five? Little kids play, little kids like Nicky boy here.” He placed his arm around me, I just flanged his off and rolled my eyes at him. Even though AJ is a jackass, I had to agree with him, hanging out in swamp wasn’t my idea of a good time. What the hell were we suppose to do, play in the mud or something? No thanks. But going out in the swamp was a lot better then staying in this dump and bore of a house. So I guess out of one dump into another I go.

We stepped out into of the house, the smell of the swamp was the less of the problem, it was very hot, it just felt so dry out here, so freaking humid. The sun wasn’t helping either. The hot, steamy air felt like a heavy weight against my skin. My shirt was starting to stick to my back, I hadn’t walked but three feet any already I was starting to sweat bullets. “Can someone, please tell me why we’re out here?” asked Howie. Yeah, I’d like to know that too. I saw a path that lead from the house into the swamp. “Why don’t we take a look around, past the time a bit?” “You mean out there.” said Howie as he pointed toward the swamp. “No, over by the nice meadow, with the deer and butterflies dance and sing. Of course over by the swamp, where else.” said AJ. “No, I’m with Howie on this one, I am not walking into a swamp, who knows what’s out there.” said Brian. “Don’t tell me your scared Brian, it’s just a swamp. What? Are you afraid some creature gonna come up and grab you or something?”

“Snakes.”

“What?” I asked.

“I said, Snakes. I don’t like snakes.” said Brian.

“Don’t worry, We’ll watch out for snakes, you just watch out for gators.” said Kevin.

“Gators?” Brian started looking around. Poor guy, he gets freaked out real easy.

We venture towards the swamp but stopped when we heard Uncle Bucky calling out to us. “Don’t go out to far! You don’t want to get lost.” What was that in his hand? Oh, it was a huge saw. Its sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight. He was heading to a small, unfinished looking shed. I guess he was going to do some work, why he would want to work on a day that was hot like this is beyond me, but hey whatever floats his boat. It was a few feet way from the side of the path, it was between two tall cypress trees. You know, those really creepy trees that’s leaves grow long and look like a long curtain. “Don’t worry Uncle, we’ll be okay!” shouted Kevin.

As I thought, there wasn’t anything here, just trees and mud and a lot of bugs. I think Howie was regretting not taking his bug spray with him. Actually, I think he was just regretting coming altogether. Especially when he fell over one of the many roots that were all over the place. He landed in a pile of mud, getting everything dirty. “Nice going, Howie.” laughed AJ. Big mistake. Howie got up and took a chuck of the mud and smashed it into AJ’s face. He had a shocked look on his face. “That’s it! MUD FIGHT!” he grabbed some and started throwing it all over the place. Kevin tried to stop it, but the man can do but so much.

After all of that, we were all cover from head to toe in mud. I was walking like I had crapped my pants or something. We finally made back and boy did we get it. “Oh my goodness, look at ya’ll, you all need to get hoes down before ya’ll come into my house. Bucky! Come out here and get the hoes!”

So, because of AJ and Howie, we had to get hoes down like some hill billies, this sucked on so many levels. After that was done, I told them about Brian and I seeing Uncle Bucky carrying a huge tray and night stick with him upstairs into that room that he said was off limits. But of course they didn’t see anything weird about that.

“He probably eats in there.” said Howie.

“If he eats in there, then why would he have a night stick with him?” asked Brian. Yeah! Answer that Mr. smarty Mcsmart pants. Yes, I know, really stupid, but that’s all I could think of at that moment. “I don’t know.” he said. “It could have been a cane, its dark in the hall, you could have gotten it confuse for something else.” said Kevin. Of course he’d think that way. I didn’t say anything else, I dropped it, for now, but I would bring it up later, just you watch.

“Boys! Can ya’ll come down here!” called Aunt Rose. We all went into the kitchen to see what it is that she wanted. We didn’t notice before, but the house smelled of pies. I like pies. She turned from the stove and had a big smile on her face. “Are ya’ll ready to bake?” She waved at the counter. “I have everything ready for it. Now, I need for ya’ll to roll up your sleeves and wash your hands, then we can start!” She sounded so excited, who gets excited over baking? Its not all that cool, you get dirty to easy and all it does is make you hungry. I rather go play out in the swamp then be baking.

She had me rolling the pie dough. It was so much freaking dough. But then-- what the hell did I know? I never cooked in my life, why you ask? Well, its because I can hardly boil water, at least that’s what my mom said when I tried to help her cook. Let’s just say it didn’t go so good. Once I was finish rolling the dough flat, she took over. Thank god. “Okay, ya’ll go take a seat at the table, Kevin can you get out some glasses, ya’ll have some milk.”

I wasn’t really thirsty and I don’t think neither were the guys. But to appease her, we had some milk. I watch as Aunt Rose made the pie. Wait, no- not one pie. But three pies. What the---? “Aunt Rose, how come your making three pies?” asked Kevin.

“Oh, I always like to make extra.” she explained. “Just in case companies were to ever drop by.”

Company? Who the in there right mind would come out here and keep those two company? They live in the middle of a freaking swamp, ain’t nobody gonna come out here. I couldn’t understand, what the hell is going on around here? Does she really think people are coming? All the way out here? Why would she make so much food? Maybe she really thinks that people are coming out here.

Uncle Bucky came stomping to the house. “Work makes you Thirsty. What you got to drink in here, Rose?” he went looking for something to drink. Did he have to be so damn loud? “Are ya’ll ready to work?” “Bucky! They did not come all the way out here to work, they came here to visit and have a good vacation. Why don’t ya’ll boys go and look around the house. I have some tidying up to do.”

“Yeah, there are lots of rooms that ya’ll can check out.” He then got really serious. “But do not go by the door on the end of the hall on the second floor. That room is off limits, so don’t even think about it.”

“Why not? Why can’t we go in there? Its just a room right, so why can’t we just go look in it?” demanded AJ.

“AJ, if they don’t want us to go in, then don’t question them, let it go.” said Kevin.

I saw the look Aunt and Uncle exchanged worried glances. Aunt Rose’s face turned totally pink. Uncle Bucky cleared his throat. “Its just a supply room,” replied Uncle Bucky. “We just put things in there, old things, nothing major. Just please don’t go near it.”

We didn’t want to press it anymore, so we just went up stairs and started looking around. We already seen the living room, kitchen and the library, which was on the second floor, so that wasn’t that interesting at all. So we started looking at the other rooms, one of the rooms had some old dusty looking books. I had to put them back, all they did was make me sneeze.

We walked along all the twist and turns that this huge house had in them. The next room happen to be Aunt Rose and Uncle Bucky’s room. “I don’t think we should go in there.” I replied. “I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t want us going in there.”

“Oh come on, they won’t no, its just one quick look.” AJ was trying to convince us all. I for one didn’t really care, all I wanted to do was take a look at the off limits room. I left them and went to the next room. It was dusty and smelled like someone had spilled spoiled milk and rotten eggs in here. I cover my nose and walked in. I flicked on the light and the ceiling fan went on. The light wasn’t that good, but it would do for now.

Everything looked worn out. The bed was bare and looked lumpy and very uncomfortable. The rug in the room was a greenish-yellow, at least that what I think it was suppose to be. On the other side of the room were boxes and boxes, all piled up against a wall. “What’s in those.” I jumped, but I didn’t scream, Brian walked passed me and open one up. “Oh wow, Nick take a look at this.” I looked at the thing that he had in his hand. “Newspaper? That’s what’s in these boxes? Newspapers?”

“These things are old. Look this one goes back to the 1950’s and this ones say September 29, 1905. I can’t believe that they have all this.” We started looking through all of them and found nothing but Newspaper.

“What are you guys doing?” asked Kevin. He took one of them out of my hand and looked it over. “Why is this here?” “Don’t know.” said Brian.

Why would they have newspaper, not just newspaper, but old newspaper dated back in the 1950’s, that was so long ago. This doesn’t make any sense. These papers were from fifty years ago. Why would they want to keep any of this junk? This just shows that were staying in the house of crazy people. People don’t do things like this, at least I don’t know anyone who dose.

“Whoa!” said Howie. “You guys need to see this.”

“What?” asked AJ.

“Magazines!”

AJ shoved his hand into the box and pulled one out. He’s eyes went wide and he quickly dropped the Magazine. He started shaking his hand franticly and speaking words, but they weren’t really understandable. “Oh man that was sick!” He started stomping the floor. Ewww! Roaches, really nasty. “AJ, calm down, you killed them.” said Brian. Killed them two times over. “Okay, I’m cool, I’m cool.” He still was looking around, seeing if he missed any.

“Let’s go to the next room.” said Howie.

“You really want to?” asked Kevin. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The next room was filled with nothing but junk, from the floor to the ceiling. It would make a rat very happy. We had to be careful not to trip over any of the things. There wasn’t any place to walk really, so we were just walking on thing, possible breaking whatever it was that was on the floor.

The room, had old toys, a broken radio, a very dusty looking mirror. And a few more things. I almost tripped over a broken doll, which was missing a eye. Just too freaky. I just put it back where I had found it. I saw that Brian had found a old looking toy chest, that he was trying to open. I went and helped him get it open, getting a huge gust of dust, right in the face, all up in the nose. We started having a sneezing fit. Brian pulled out a old chess board, he looked it over, seeing that it was still good to use. “We could use this, when were on the road.” I looked more into the chest, finding a roller skate, a old yo-yo, a coloring book, and a small photo book. I flipped through it, each picture was just really freaky, all of the people looked so sad or some of the faces were scratch out. I dropped the book back into the box.

I heard something move passed me, I looked up to see that all the guys had gone, where? I don’t know. “Guys?” I walked out the room looking down the hall. Nothing. Where the hell could they have gone. I whirled around, I could have sworn that I heard footsteps. “Guys, look this isn’t funny.” I started to walk down the dark hall. I really do wish that they put lights in here. It would be so much better.

“BOOOOO!!!” I jumped fifty feet in the air, when out of nowhere the guys just jump out at me. I grabbed my chest, feeling like my heart was going to pop out of my chest. “What the hell!!” They started laughing, why scaring me almost to death was so funny to them is beyond me, I wish I knew, I really do.

“You should have see the look at your face.” said AJ. He was wiping tears from his eyes. “You guys all suck.” I walked away, ignoring the calls of my name. I walked to the other side, realizing that I had just ended up in front of the door that I have been wanting to open. I could do two things right now.

One: I could walk away and never think about this again. Or

Two: I could open the door and go in.

Oh what the hell, I’m opening it. I took a deep breath. I slipped my fingers around the key and turned it. The lock sprang open with a sharp click. I counted to three, took a very deep breath and I yanked the door.

And stared straight at a hideous monster.

Maybe I should have went with one, instead of two.

Instead of running for my life screaming my head off, I just stood there, like some kind of idiot. There was a living, breathing, monster standing right in front of me, standing at least ten feet tall, stuffing his face full of pancakes! (a! I knew I was right.)

He had a big feet and a long tail, it had the body of a gorilla, ten times that. It had a reptilian face and big beady eyes, kind of like bug eyes. It was cover in scales and fur. Its claws looked like they could cut through anything, its teeth reminded me of the saw that Uncle Bucky was using today. They were long and looked yellow. In his fur I would see that he had mud and leaves all trapped in it. A horrible smell filled the room, it smell like a junk yard and a swamp put together.

I felt like I was gonna puke.

“Nick, there you are, look we’re sorry for----” Of all the times you had a chance to come looking for me, ya’ll decide to come when I found out there was a monster in this room, you guys suck. Brian’s eyes widen in sheer horror. His mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. It was kind of funny, he looked like a fish.

The monster raise its eyes to us, cocking his head, he blink a couple of times. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath in, he was smelling us! He opened his mouth and let out a loud hissing sound. Chunk of pancakes fall out of his mouth. It used its hind leg to scratch behind its ear. It continue to scratch until it pulled a big black beetle out of its fur. It looked it over before shoving it in to it mouth. “Okay, I think its time we go.” said Brian. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the room and slowly back away.

It jerked it head towards us, and glared. I didn’t even know that monster did that. Then it let out a deep growl, a very angry deep growl, kind of like the ones Kevin does to me or AJ, but mostly to me. He picked up his big clumsy looking feet and lumbered towards us. We ran, screaming our heads off. We bumped into the others, talking at the same times, not making much of any sense. “Guys. Guys! One at a time. What happen?” Kevin asked calmly. We both pointed the way we came, right on cue, the monster came stomping into roaring and hissing all over the place. “Run!!!” We tore down the hall, down the steps, the monster hot on our trail.

“Aunt Rose! Uncle Bucky!” screamed Kevin. Where the hell were they? Didn’t they hear us? “W-w-where are they?” stammered Howie.

“I don’t know.” answer Kevin. “Check in the kitchen.” I ran toward the kitchen, seeing that there wasn’t any sign of them. “Maybe there out side.” said AJ. We all ran to the kitchen window and stared out into the swamp, but no sign of them anywhere. I saw that the shed door was open, but Uncle Bucky wasn’t there at all. Brian slide down the wall, on to the floor.

“Where are----?”

“Shhh!” shushed Kevin. “Do you here that? It sounds like a------”

“Car!!” we all shouted.

We followed the sound of the engine. It was coming from the front of the house. We ran fast to the front of the house windows, and peered out.

There they were! In the driveway! Backing up? Wait, they were driving away? What, no, that’s not right. “There driving away, Kevin.” said Brian.

“I know.” he started pounding on the window. “Wait! Don’t go!” We all scream at the top of our lungs, but it wasn’t any good. They just drove off, leaving us there, in a house with a huge monster that was looking to have himself a snack.

“Try the door!” shouted AJ. Kevin pulled and tugged at the knob, but it wouldn’t move. “Its locked.” he said. “They bolted it from the outsides.” he told. “We’re trap, they locked us in here.”

We ran to all the other doors, all bolted shut, or nailed down.

We all jumped when we heard the monster’s screeching, we started running, not knowing where we were going. Kevin ushered us to a open room, once all in he closed the door behind us. We started piling up things, to block the door. It started to remind me of an old Scooby-Doo cartoon. Once we had almost all the furniture up against the door, we started to form a plan to get out of there.

“We could always break the windows, and climb out.” suggested AJ.

“Most of the windows are up stairs and there are the ones on the kitchen and living room.” said Kevin.

“That means we would have to go out there.” said Brian.

“With that thing out----” The rest of Howie’s sentence was lost in a deafening crash from outside the door. Some of the things started falling off of the pile on to the floor.

“What the hell is it doing?” asked AJ. “Its trying to knock the door down.” I said.

We rushed to put the things back but each time the monster rammed the door, more things started to fall. We needed to find another way out of here. That’s when I saw something catch my eye from the floor. There was something poking out of underneath the small carpet. I removed it and saw that it was a little door. “Guys, look!” They all came over, looking at the door in the floor. “This is probably what Uncle Bucky was telling me about when I was younger.” He took the latch and pulled on it. Brian and AJ help. It open with a loud groaning noise. “Its too dark to see.” said Howie. “Who cares, just go in.” said AJ. The things that were once on the door, were now falling by the second. We all ran down, into the dark underground trap door. As soon as we were all in, the door opened with a loud crash.

“Its too dark.” I squeaked. Me and the dark are night friends. Bad things happen when your in the dark. Really bad things.

“Calm down Nick, we’ll find a light switch, some where.” said Howie. We all felt around for some sort of a light switch. But of course, when you have five guys in the dark looking for something, hilarity ensued. I couldn’t see, but I was sure that AJ kept bumping into Kevin, because he would curse each time at him. Then a light was flicked on. “Finally!” I cried.

“Where are we?” asked Howie.

“I believe that this is the basement.” said Kevin. He started pulling things down, things I don’t think he was suppose to be touching. He looked through box after box. “Yes!” He pulled out what looked to be a shot gun.

“Do you know how to use that thing?” I asked. It was only natural to ask, right? We don’t need him shooting one of our heads off. “Yeah, My dad taught me.” He started looking back into the box, he pulled out a small box. Ha! A box within a box, funny. “Bullets, I knew he had to have some in here.” he mumbled. He started to load the gun. “Your not actually gonna use that thing are you?” asked Brian.

“What would you suggest I use? Huh? This thing is the only thing that’s gonna keep us safe from that thing.” said Kevin. “Come on, we got to move farther in , there should be a way to get to the outside.”

We moved deeper into the basement. I hoped that Kevin knew where he was going cause it would suck so much if we got lost or something. “Look!” It was a stairs that lead upward. Kevin pulled at the little knob, but it would move. “I’m gonna have to break it open.” he said. “Well, then what the hell are you waiting for, go to it man.” said AJ as he patted his back. He took the butt of the gun and started hitting the doors knob. On the other side. I could hear the pound of the monster’s feet stomping on the floor. I hope that it doesn’t fall through or something. “You almost done there, Kev?” I called out. I was keeping watch of the door that the monster kept jumping on.

“Almost, just a sec.”

I saw the nails of the door start to fall. I think Howie saw it too because his eyes bulged in his head. “Kevin, I think it would be best if you hurry with that please.” he said through clutched teeth. Another blot fall to the floor. “Kevin, man hurry up.” said Brian. AJ went over and helped. Banging the door with a pipe. Another blot, and another, if Kevin and AJ didn’t hurry with that door we were screwed.

*CRASH!!!!*

“Um, guys we got company.” I said as I saw the shadow of the monster make its way down the stairs. “Got it!” said Kevin. He and AJ pulled it open and we all made a run for it. Howie was right behind me, just as he got to the top, he gasped when he began to be pulled back. I looked over his shoulder not so surprise to see that the monster had grabbed a hold of his foot. “HELP!!” His cry was drown out by the screech of the monster.

We all grabbed his shirt, all of us pulling to get him free. “Help me!!!” Howie screamed at the top us his lungs. The monster was pulling hard on his leg, at this point, if we kept this up Howie was going to rip in half. The monster put some of Howie’s foot in his mouth, which only made Howie scream even louder. I grabbed the gun and started beating the thing in the head as hard as I could. Each hit to the head it would let out a screech of pain. “Let go you stupid thing!” I hit harder this time and it let go.

We all fell backwards, hitting the fall hard. Kevin got up and quickly closed the door. He ran over to a piano and started pushing it. “Help me move this.” We all started pushing the piano over the floor door. We pushed until it was completely over the door. “We have to close the other door.” said AJ. “Way a head of you.” I said. I ran to the other room, quickly closing the door.

“I’m not sure if that’ll do any good.” I said.

“It’ll have to do for now.” said Kevin. “We need to find a way out of here.” We all ran to the Kitchen, checking the windows. Some of them were boarded up, others were bolted shut. I started wondering when exactly did Uncle Bucky have the time to do all of this. But then again, some of the windows were like this when we got here.

“What the hell man! This is so mess up!” yelled AJ. Yeah, I totally agreed on the account. With the screeching of the monster and our banging, I almost didn’t hear a car pull up. “Everyone quiet! Did you hear that?” I could hear a car stop in the front of the house. I heard the engine die down.

Brian’s eyes widen, and his mouth dropped open. “A car!”

“There back!” cried Brian.

“Maybe they brought help?” it was more of a question then a remark. I’m not sure Brian even believe himself. As we ran, we heard the engine start up again and heard the car rumble away, and the tires crunch down the driveway.

“Nooooo!” screamed AJ as we made it to the back door. We pounded and called out, but it was no good, by the time we had got there they were long gone. Kevin kicked at the door in frustration. That’s when I notice a two letters on the floor. I picked them up and looked them over.

We jumped when we heard a loud crash from one of the rooms. Then we heard banging, then loud hellish screeching. The damn thing was trying to break the door down. “Guys we need to think of something.” I said. Kevin got in front of us and pointed the gun. Okay, that could work, but I wasn’t really thinking gun. “Everyone get behind me.”

The monsters, as it turns out, had broken out of the room, and was on its way to us. We could have ran, but the only way to leave was bolted shut. He stood in front of us, snarled at us, not looking too happy with us at all. Hell, I wouldn’t be either, if someone had locked me in a room. It slowly came towards us, drool leaving his mouth as his showed off his razor sharp teeth. “Cover your ears!” shouted Kevin as he shot the gun, the monster ducked out the way, surprising all of us. Kevin cocked the gun and aimed once more, waiting for the right moment. He shot it again, but this time go it in the shoulder, at least I think it was its shoulder.

“Guys, move it.” we took that chance to run back upstairs into our room, we pushed the bed in front of the door. Kevin putted the gun down and began to pace the room.

“We need to think of something, I’m pretty sure its gonna just come up here and try to get to us through that door. So while were up here, does anyone have any ideas?” he asked.

We just sat there, not really knowing what to do next. What could one do when they were being chased by a monster? Nothing really, things like this didn’t usually happen to people, only in the movies. I sat back on the bed, putting my hands in my pocket, that’s when I felt the letters that I picked up from the floor.

“Guys, I all most forgot. I found these on the floor.” I said showing them the note.

“And when were you going to say something?” AJ was pissed. The snot was always mad at me. “I forgot, its not easy to remember things when you have a monster chasing after you. Anyway I think that its from your Uncle and Aunt, Kevin”

“They left letters?” asked Brian. I nodded, Howie took them from me. “Hey!” I reached out for the letter, but Howie jerked back. He held the paper tightly and continued to read. “Howie, what does it say?” asked Brian.

He ignored Brian. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued on reading. Mumbling.

I watched Howie as he read.

I watched his eyes move down the page.

I watched his eyes grow wide with horror.

“What? Howie what does it say?” asked AJ.

Howie started reading it out loud.

I felt sick to my stomach and I could feel my knees started to shake. AJ and Brian were paler then they were before and Kevin eyes started to grow bigger in shock as Howie continued.

“We didn’t want to tell you about the creature. If we did, you wouldn’t have come to visit us. And we don’t get many visitors, as you can see. We wanted so much to see ya’ll. But I guess we were wrong. I guess we were wrong to let you stay.”

“They guess they were wrong! They freaking guess? I can’t believe those people you call relatives!” shouted AJ.

Howie continued.

“We’ve lived in terror for the past few weeks. We were afraid to let the monster out. It’s so loud and angry all the time. We knew it would have killed us. We’ve been feeding it, giving it food through the opening your Uncle made in order to feed him, at the bottom of the door. The monster eats a lot, but we make sure to feed him at all times. We’re scared not to.

They couldn’t actually be serious, could they? That’s when I lost it. “Not safe out there?!?” I yelled. “They left us in a house, alone may I remind you, with a huge man eating monster! And they want to say that it’s not safe out there!!!”

Howie nodded and continue to read.

“As I have said before, I and Uncle Bucky are very sorry for leaving you and not telling you all this in the beginning. But just remember one very important thing: You are perfectly safe as long as….”

Howie dropped the letter when we heard the monster let out a hellish roar, We heard its footsteps stomping up the stairs. I watched in horror as the letter started sailing through the air, I would have cried when I saw it slide under a desk. I would have killed him.

“Howie what did it say?” I started shaking him. “What did it say?” I got on my knees and looked under the desk, trying to see it. I saw it, but I wasn’t sure if I could reach it.

“Howie, do you know what it said?” asked Kevin.

“I-I didn’t look at that part.” he stuttered.

“What!” we all yelled. That’s when we all started pushing the desk out the way.

*Thump! Thump!*

The monster was right at the door and it was trying to get in.

*Thump! Thump!*

*Thump! Thump!*

Okay, we get it, you want in, enough with the thumping already, its really getting annoying.

I went back to getting the letter back. “Got it!” I cried triumphantly. Howie took it from me, once again, and started to read where he left off.

We all held our breath, waiting for Howie to finish the sentence. Waiting to find out how we could keep ourselves safe.

We stood there, with our jaws down to the floor. “That’s it! That’s all it says?” asked AJ.

“There’s a little more: Please, please, stay away from that room. Do not open that door.”

“Too late for that advice.” said Brian

“If the monster escapes, you will have no choice but to kill it. That’s the only way.”

He stopped reading and met our eyes. “That’s all it says.” I took the letter from him and read it over. This was so messed up. This was the last time I ever go with Kevin to visit relatives ever again. I don’t care if he begs me to go, I won’t do it.

“Um, guys, maybe we should do something.” said Brian. The door looked as though it was about to give at any minute. “The bathroom!” we all ran, closing the door behind us. Kevin locked the door, cha, like that was going to do much of anything. “There’s another door, we could go through it.” said Brian. We pushed on to the door, happy to see that it was open. It lead back into the hallway, and the only way to get to the stairs was by passing the monster. “We need to get to the kitchen I got an idea.” I said. We made a run for it, jetting to the kitchen. I grabbed one of the pot and looked in it, just what I needed. There was some soupy looking stuff in it.

“Nick why are we in here?” asked Brian. “And why are you carrying that pot?”

“The letter said something about him always being fed, so I‘m thinking we could make it something, kill it with its stomach.” I started looking on the shelves, taking each can down that I could use. I looked at the others. “A little help here?” They started taking things down. “What exactly are we doing?” asked Howie.

“We’re going to make a feast for a beast.” Yes, I know, its corny, but you don’t have to say it, I do. I looked over at a bottle of Windex, I pulled the cap off and poured it into the soup. Brian handed me dishwashing liquid and some bleach. Kevin put some green looking stuff, I don’t know what it was but it smelled horrible, Howie put some drain-clear, and AJ grabbed some ammonia. We put more things that would kill a horse into the soup.

I poured each item into the batch, taking a large wooden spoon and siring the food and chemicals.

“Nick, this smells bad, I think it needs something to hide the smell.” said Howie. He went into the pantry and came back out a jar a of some kind of brown powder. “What is that?” asked Brian.

“Cinnamon. Very sweet cinnamon.” he said as he poured it into the soupy stuff. “Much better.”

“Okay then what?” asked Kevin.

I didn’t need to say anything more as the monster’s footsteps could be heard coming closer to us. “We need to hide.” We hide in the large pantry, waiting for the monster to enter. We held our breath as the creature enter the room, sniffing the air and getting closer to the pot that I placed on the floor. He sniffed the refrigerator, the stove, and he plodded around the room, just sniffing things.

We watch as he stuck his face over the pot, letting his snake like tongue lick up some, he looked happy with it. He then picked it up and started pouring it down his throat. When he finished he dropped the pot and rubbed his stomach. “It‘s not working!” whisper AJ. “He likes it!”

“We have to do something else.” said Brian. That’s when the monster let out a loud groan. I opened the door just a crack, I saw the creature’s eyes bug out of his head.

A gurgling, choking sound escaped his throat. He grasped his neck with his two hairy paws. He groaned again. His stomach rumbled- a deep rumble. He grabbed his stomach and doubled over. He uttered a weak cry of pain- and surprise. He dropped dead, dead as a freaking door nail right in front of us.

“We did it! It dead!” We all literally jumped for joy.

“Okay, with that out of the way, let’s start working on a way to get out of here.” said Kevin. We went into the living room, thinking that our troubles were done with.

Boy, were we wrong.

We then started looking for a way out. I went back into the kitchen, stepping over the monster’s body. I looked over by the door, knowing there was no way of getting out through there. I look in the pantry, I mean I was in a kitchen, why not grab something to eat.

That’s when I notice it, a door all the way in the back, a door with a large window. I pushed a broom and mop out my way and looked out it. I could have jumped for joy when I saw that it led out side.

“Guys!” I ran out of the pantry, jumped over the monster and ran back into the living room.

“Guys, I think I found a way out.”

“Are you serious? Dude, don’t go pulling our legs.” said AJ.

“I’m not.” I grabbed his arm and took him to the door. “Yes! We can get the hell out of here now!” said AJ.

“Why didn’t we see this when we were hiding in there before?” asked Brian.

“There was all this stuff in the way.” I said. I stood in front of the door, looking out the window, out to the backyard. To the path that ran through the swamp. Does that path lead through the swamp to town? I wondered. I decided it was worth a try.

“This is it, guys, our way out of this hell hole.” I exclaimed. “We’re almost free!”

I turned the doorknob, but the door wouldn’t budge, it seemed to be bolted from the other side, like all the doors in the house. “It won’t move, I think I’m going to have to break the window.” I said. I took one of the shovels that I had moved aside and picked it up, it was kind of heavy, but I could manage. I gripped the handle with both hands and took aim.

“Um, guys, wasn’t the monster’s body laying right here on the floor, just a minute ago?” asked Howie. I stopped in mid swing and looked for myself, he was right, the monster was gone. My mouth was wide open, shock was the last word I would use.

“But,….but he was right there. I jumped over him.”

“Well, then were did he go?” asked AJ.

That’s when I felt hot air on the side of my face. My face crunched up when I smelt a horrible smell, it kind of smelled like…..the swamp. Then I heard the roar, which was right by my ear. We looked at each other with wide eyes, slowly turning.

There stood the monster, and boy was he pissed. He was glaring and growling at us, his claws seem to have gotten longer.

We all screamed and backed away as quickly as we could, the creature rumbled in the doorway. His hideous head made a scraping sound as it brushed against the frame of the door, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He swung his huge arm and hit Kevin, sending him flying into a wall. “Kevin!” Brian dodge the monsters next strike and ran to Kevin’s side. Howie, AJ, and I spread out, this way the monster wouldn’t be able to get us all at the same time.

I rushed over to Kevin and Brian, I hope he wasn’t knocked out, or worst… bleeding.

“Kevin are you okay?” I asked.

“If you called being thrown across a room into a wall, okay, then yes, I’m just peachy.” He started to slowly get up, but stopped, he pulled something out from under him that he was seating on. His eyes widen, I think an idea was starting to form inside his head. “Nick, I need you to go over by the stove and pull out the gas cord. Brian go out into the living room and put on the fire place, until you hear gas. I got an idea on how to get rid of that monster.”

I would have asked what but I don’t think it would have done any good. I ran over to the stove, trying my best to get the cord. It would be so much easier if it weren’t for the stove being so close to the wall. It hurt badly having to push my hand down, I felt what I hoped was the cord and started pulling as hard as I could. I pulled until I fell back, hard, with the cored in my hand. “I got it!!” I shouted while holding it up in the air.

“How’s it going in there Bri?!” called out Kevin, he dodge a claw, then another.

“Everything’s set in here, Kev.” Brian came running back into the room, helping me up from the ground. We both ran and grabbed something to fight off the monster with. “AJ and Howie, do something about the window!” order Kevin. I gave him a broom and we started beating back the monster.

We heard a crash coming from the panty and Howie’s voice yelling at AJ to be careful. That got the monster’s attention and he started walking over to the panty area. Kevin ran and jumped on the things back, which, seemed to piss it off, big time. It just to buck him off, but Kevin held tight, he covered his eyes, he started making high screeching noises. It was starting to get on my nerves.

“Brian, Nick, get out of here now!” said Kevin. He had to be kidding, he didn’t actually want us to leave him there with that monster, did he?

“No, we can’t leave you here with that thing.” protested Brian. I’m with him, Kevin must have really hit his head hard on the floor or something.

“I’m not giving you a choice, now move it!” I grabbed Brian’s arm and pulled him into the panty. He was trying to get back to Kevin, but I wouldn’t let him do it.

“You guys go ahead I’m gonna help Kevin.”

Howie grabbed my arm before I could move. “Are you insane? We’re not letting you go back in there.”

“Yeah, Nick, he said for all of us to leave, not us go and you stay and play hero.” said Brian.

“Guys please, just go, I won’t let anything happen to me, just move it. Give me fifteen minutes, no more, no less.” I saw that they were thinking it over in there mines, should they let there ‘baby brother’ stay here and fight a hideous monster or take him with them? Oh the suspense is killing me, I didn’t give them time to think about it, because I was already pushing them towards the window, they climbed out, Brian was the last to go, but stopped and looked me straight in the eyes. “Don’t do anything stupid. You only go fifteen minutes, remember that. Be careful.” He gave me a big hug before he climb out the window.

I Ran out of the panty, shocked to see that the monster and Kevin weren’t in the kitchen anymore. That’s got me to worry, I didn’t want to think that maybe, just maybe, the monster had, well you know, kill Kevin. No I can’t think that way, don’t want to make myself feel all morbid and stuff. I grabbed the first thing that was in reach, a rolling pin, wow, the whole world is against me. I slowly walked out the kitchen, keeping close to the wall.

I could hear noises coming from the living room. I peaked in, seeing Kevin beating the monster back with a ling pole. The monster had him backed up against a wall in the corner. I had to do something quick before Kevin became his dinner, or lunch, whichever.

I got the monster attention by throwing things at it. It didn’t really like that and so it started going after me. Kevin was able to run up the stairs, I follow close behind. We ran in to a open room, closing the door behind us.

When Kevin turned to me, he didn’t look to happy to see me.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked.

That’s stupid. “I’m here to save your butt, what else would I be doing here?” I mean wasn’t it obvious, to why I was still here? He shook his head. “Nick you should be out there with others, not in here.”

“Yeah, about that, I promised Brian that I would be out of here in fifteen minutes and we’re running out of time. So let’s get to blowing this place up.”

“How did you know that’s what I was going to do?”

“Duh! Having Brian turn on the fireplaces gas and me pulling out the cored so there would be a gas leak. That way you could light this place up and blow that thing up to next week.”

I don’t think it takes a freaking rocket scientist to figure that out. He patted me on the back, showing me the light blue lighter that he had in his hand. I guess he got it when he was thrown across the room.

“We need to be outside, don’t want to blow up with this place, now do we?” He grabbed my arm, what’s with people grabbing me? He looked out the room first, he jumped back, he mouthed ‘the monster out there, shhh!’ I nodded that I understood. Hopeful, it won’t notice us.

Almost as quiet as mice, we tipped toed from the room out into the hall, we couldn’t make any sudden moves, we didn’t need to give ourselves way. The monster sniffed in one of the room, giving us the time that we needed. We jetted down the stairs, not surprise that the monster was right behind us. “Um, Kevin, when exactly does your plan go to in action?” I asked. We made it to the kitchen. I was almost out the window, but Kevin stopped me. We stopped in front of the window, I saw that Howie, AJ and Brian waiting outside for us.

“Come on guys, we need to get out of here!!” called out Brian.

“Not yet.” Kevin grabbed my arm. “Wait for it.”

The monster came in to view, his sharps claws grew longer and his teeth glisten from the light of the sun. It let out a loud screeching cry. He stomped closer and closer, never taking its glaring eyes off of either of us. I could feel the sweat slide down the side of my face. My heart started beating faster and faster in my chest. Whatever Kevin was planning I wish he would do it so we could get out of here. He pulled the lighter in view. “On the count of three, we jump.”

We moved closer to the window, and the monster moved towards us.

Kevin started the countdown.

“One….”

He started flicking the lighter.

“Two…..” Please, please, please let this plan go right.

Monster got closer.

“THREE!!! JUMP!!” Kevin pushed me and flicked the lighter, creating a blue, yellow glow, he threw it and jumped as far as we could. A loud blast erupted in the back of us. We fell to the ground hitting it hard. We got up and ran, the rest of the house followed the first blast and the rest of the house went up in flames.

We watched as the whole house crumble to the ground, the sound of the monster could be heard. Its cries filled the air, it could make your ears bleed if you could hear what we were hearing. Slowly, the cries die down, all was left was flames and smoke.

“You said that you would be out in fifteen minutes. Your time ran out twelve minutes ago.” said Brian, he had a seroius look on his face, but then he cracked a smile, pulling me into a big hug. “Never do anything that stupid again.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I joked.

“Its over, I can’t believe that its over.” said AJ.

He was right, it was finally over, we could go home and forget this mess ever happen.

We walked through the swamp carefully, leaping over the inky puddles and gnarled three roots. The night air echoed with strange sounds. Low gurgling, scampering footsteps, piercing cries.

But I didn’t care. We had already battled the monster and won.

AJ stopped suddenly. “Wait a minute. Wasn’t there another letter that Kevin’s Aunt had written?” I started searching my pockets, feeling the piece of paper in my back pocket. As I smoothed out the wrinkles, a fierce animal cry cut through the swamp.

“I-- I don’t think we should stop now,” Howie said. “We can read it later. After we reach town. Once we’re back in Orlando.”

“Just read it now, Nick.” said Brian.

“Okay, okay.” I began to f=read slowly, struggling to see in the fog.

Brian rolled his eyes and let out a loud groan. “A little too late for that!”

“’The monster’s parents live in the swamp. We think they’re out there, waiting for him.’”

I could feel the color drain from my face as I read on.

“ They are not happy and there is no telling what they will do if they find you out there. So be warn, do not go into the swamp, please, stay away. Good luck, we love you!’”

I dropped the letter, looking at the others, seeing the fear in there eyes. A low screeching sound filled the air. “Um, Kevin, do you know where the main road is?” I asked hoping that he knew where it was. “Yeah, that way, let’s keep going that way.” he said pointing to the right of us.

“Well, I think it would be smart to start going that way, then.” said AJ.

We started off walking, but then picked up the pace, until we were flat out running, not looking back, not every thinking or wanting to care about that place, ever again. But I do kind of feel bad about blowing up Aunt Rose and Uncle Bucky’s house…. All well, what’s done is done.

At least I can say that this was one hell of a vacation, I think this will be the last time Kevin ever suggests a place to go for vacation every again.

__________________________________________________________________

THE END…

Well, that’s it, I hope that you all liked it and thank you all for reading.

Don’t worry, that won’t be the last thing I write.

Until next time.

Peace N’ Love. :D