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play stupid house and dolls,” Kelly said. She had always been the typical tomboy.
    “Fine! You want to play ball? Then here!” Billy said as he grabbed the football from her hand and kicked it as hard as he could.
    They all watched in terror as the ball lifted up high in the air and slammed right through the upstairs window of a house down at the end of the street. It was the creepiest looking place they had ever seen with an equally creepy old car in the driveway. No one had ever seen anyone coming in or out of that place.
    “Jesus! We got to get out of here!” Billy said.
    The other guys took off running. John started to run, but for some reason he stayed put. He felt bad that they had broken a window, even though he hadn’t done it. But he couldn’t just let them get in trouble. Their dad would tan their hide so thick they wouldn’t be able to walk for a week.
    “Oh, no! My football!” Kelly said.
    “Well, you should have left when we told you.”
    “That ball has my name written on it!”
    “What? Why?”
    “Mom told me to write my name on stuff in case I ever lose it,” Kelly said.
    “Now, we are in so much trouble.”
    “What are we going to do?”
    “What can we do? We have to go after it.”
    John took a deep breath and walked towards the spooky old house.
    “John, I’m not sure we should do this. Let’s just take our chances.”
    “No, come on. You are going in there with me.”
    “You aren’t going to knock on the door?”
    “No, it doesn’t really look like anyone is home. If they were they probably would have come to the door screaming by now. I’m hoping we can just get in and get out before anyone notices us.”
    The front door was locked as well as the back door. John was scratching his head now wondering how they were going to get in. Finally he spotted a cracked window just above the cellar door but it appeared to be on the first floor.
    “I’m not sure I can reach that. Here, stand on my shoulders and open the window all the way,” John said.
    His sister did as she was told and within thirty seconds they were both inside.
    The house was old and full of cobwebs. It almost didn’t look like anyone actually lived there. The furniture cluttered every possible space in the old dining room they were in. The house smelled of musk and grime enough to make you want to vomit. John felt a series of coughs coming on and he did his best to stifle them.
    “This place is creepy,” Kelly said.
    “I know. Just be quiet and find the ball. It has to be upstairs.”
    They both made their way out of the dining room, down a long hall, and up the creaking old steps. John felt like a horde of bats were going to come flying at his head any second like some old Dracula movie.
    He was very scared and nervous. He wanted to find the ball and get the hell out of there as fast as possible. He was sure that whoever lived there was going to come home and find them both. Then being in trouble with their parents was going to be the least of their worries.
    The upstairs of the house looked just about as cluttered, dusty, and moldy as the downstairs. Going from room to room John checked for signs of a broken window until he came to the last room in the house. His sister Kelly was right behind him clutching nervously to his arm. She was shivering from fear and John felt bad that he had made her come inside with him. He should have told her to stay outside and stand watch for the owners to show up.
    John saw the football lying on the bed amidst several shards of broken glass. He went into the room and grabbed the ball and started to hurry out with it.
    As they reached the door suddenly someone was standing in front of them. Before they even had time to scream the large figure backhanded John across the mouth sending him flying against the wall and crashing to the floor.
    His head felt dizzy and his face felt numb from the blow. He had barely seen the person who had hit him, but now as he tried to stagger to his