It was a hot summer day; the wind blew in my hair as my bike glided smoothly down the sidewalk. My friend, Olive, and I had decided to go to a barn sale downtown, but our only way of transportation was our bikes. We had biked nearly two miles now, and I didn’t know how much further I could go. I released a sigh of relief when I saw a sign reading: Barn Sale 10-5. We got off of our bikes, leaned them against the tree, and locked them up tightly. I had always imagined barns as bright red buildings with windmills and animals running freely, but this place was nothing like the picture I had in mind. It was an old rusty red monster of a building and cast a huge shadow in the front yard. The windows were dark and dirty, one swipe of a finger and dust would be all over you. Nothing could possibly be seen out of them, especially not with cobwebs covering them. The cobwebs were everywhere, in every corner and windowsill to be seen. Paint was peeling all over the building revealing the original musty brown wood, and I felt as though it was to fall down at any given moment. Everything about this place screamed danger to me.
“Olive, maybe we should just go gets ice cream. I really don’t feel comfortable here. I’m not even sure if this is a barn sale,” I said, trying to convince Olive to leave.
“Oh, come on, Jane! Don’t be such a party pooper. This is fun, this is an adventure!” Olive replied.
“Adventure. An adventure. All I wanted in my life was an adventure. I wanted something to prove that life wasn’t all too boring, and an adventure was just the thing.
“Ok,” I said, “Ok, let’s do it.” I sounded like a swayed fool, and I realize that now. I also realize what a mistake that was to say.
As we walked up the worn down, weed overgrown pathway I was nervous and excited to see what would be inside the barn sale. Olive and I looked at the door, it was beaten down and nearly falling off its hinges. Olive knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, but this time after the silence she slowly started to open it and quietly spoke, “Hello? Hello?” There was no response. Olive walked right on in and thought nothing about how it was strange that no one had answered her hellos. I slowly started in, and quietly closed the door behind me. The inside of this barn looked nothing like one that once housed animals, but instead a mansion. I looked around at the humungous entryway. The house seemed to go on forever. Endless racks and shelves of vintage clothes, books, furniture, etc. filled the whole inside. Olive grabbed the first dress she saw. She held it out in front of her and twirled.
“Look at this one, Jane! Oh don’t you just love it?!” she said. I walked up to the staircase and started to climb up it to see if there was anything being sold upstairs. Olive screamed. I turned to look at her to find out what was wrong when she screamed again, but this time she said, “Look out!” Just as I looked in front of me a huge chair came tumbling down the stairs. I screamed and jumped out of the way just in time, but still ended up falling on the ground.
“Who did that?” I asked, my throat straining to say the words.
“I’m not sure,” Olive replied. “I only saw the figure. It was dark, and it looked like a man. He looked like he wanted to hurt you… he had this smile on his face… I think we should get out of here.”
“I agree,” I said.
Olive helped me to my feet and we bolted to the door, trying to make our way through the corridor which had been overcome with falling objects. Everywhere we went antiques crashed everywhere. Sounds of broken glass, and large thuds following after every object hit the ground filled the air. I screamed in pain as sharp pieces of broken glass stabbed my foot. I saw the blood pouring out, but there was no time to stop and check on it. The door was right in front of us now. Olive ran to the door and tried to open it, but the handle wouldn’t budge. She jiggled it even more, but it was no use.
“It’s stuck!” she screamed, “He must have locked it. Why are you doing this to us?! Who are you?!”
Olive was asking the questions that were troubling me deeply, but I was too scared to ask. Who was doing this, and what had we done to deserve it? All of a sudden I noticed something inside one of the holes in the wall; it was something I remembered learning about in science class. It was asbestos. All of a sudden I felt dizzy, and my eyes were closing without my control. I tried to stay awake, but it was no use. All I saw was a face, a man’s face staring at me whispering, “Go to sleep, go to sleep. Go to sleep, Jane.”
“How do you know my name?” I murmured.
“Shhhh,” he replied. And with that, I was out like a light bulb.
All of a sudden, I was awakened by the screams of a young girl. The screams sounded familiar. I turned my head to see Olive screaming. She was being dragged away by the man we had seen before. He had his hand over her mouth, and his arm around her neck. Her feet were kicking violently and her arms flared everywhere.
“Olive!” I screamed, “Olive, no!”
I jumped up and ran after her as tears filled my eyes. I was screaming too and I couldn’t breathe. I was still dizzy, however, and I nearly fell with every step I took until I completely collapsed. My eyes were shutting again, and I tried to keep them open but it was no use. They were shut and I was asleep, until I awoke again later. This time there were no screams. There were no pleas for help. It was only me in the middle of a large lot downtown. I stood up and looked around. The barn was gone; it was nowhere to be seen. All I saw was my bike leaning against the tree locked up with Olive’s bike right next to it.