Garret understood. At the top of the staircase the group realized how old that house really was. It was even more dust-coated then the downstairs, and there were dead insects on the floor. They stood huddled together. “What room do we go in?” Johnny whimpered.


Karson pointed to the room that was to the left of them. The door was open, unlike all the rest. There were a few chairs in there but they didn’t look sturdy. As everyone walked in and looked around the dark room, they noticed that it didn’t look all that scary. In fact, whoever lived there before had left their bed; with sheets, a pillow, and everything. Karson sat down on the floor and unzipped his backpack, pulling out a Ouija board. “What’s that?” Garret pointed to the white board with black letters and numbers all over it. Karson pulled out something that looked like a round white arrow head, only bigger.

“It’s to talk to the ghost,” he answered. “If there really is one. Everyone lightly put the tips of your fingers on this.” He demonstrated by putting his hand on the white arrow thing. The rest did the same. “Now, we slowly move it around the board and ask it questions.”


“It?” Kyler said.


“Yeah, the ghost. If there really is a ghost, we’ll get an answer when this moves over the letters and spells out a word or sentence. Ready?” They all nodded. “I’ll go first.” He got really quiet for a second, looking around the room. Johnny’s hand was shaking and he kept glancing at the door. “Okay, ghost. What’s your name?” The white arrow moved around the board in a circle, not really spelling out anything. “Do you live in this house?”

There were two single words on the board: Yes and No. The arrow touched neither.


“Are you a man?”


Kyler spoke up. “Do you hate kids?” The arrow suddenly jerked towards the Yes and stopped moving. “I swear I didn’t do that,” Kyler whispered. Everyone looked back down at the board and started moving the arrow again. “Ask another question, Karson.”


“Did you kill that little boy named Blake Winsfield?” This time arrow stopped right in between the Yes and No. “Dude.” Karson pushed on the piece. “It’s…not…moving!” he grunted. Finally he sighed and gave up. The arrow piece jerked to the answer Yes and then flew across the room.

“Ahhhhh!” Johnny let out a small scream before his brother covered his mouth.


“Sssshhhh.” Johnny nodded.


“Is anyone else kind of cold now?” Kyler remarked. He was slightly shivering. So was Johnny but nobody could tell if he was actually cold or just terrified. Then the squeaking started.

The bed was old and had metal springs and a metal frame. It started out slow and then began violently shaking. The group stood up, forgetting all about the Ouija board. “Guys…” Johnny pointed at a small, dirty, beaten-up teddy bear on the pillow that hadn’t been there before. The bed stopped moving. “Garret I decided now; I wanna leave.” There was a little bit of tears running down his dirty face.


“I agree, let’s go, guys.” They ran for the door, but were too late as it slammed shut, shaking dust off of the walls. All the boys screamed and ran back to the middle of the room.


“Karson, this was your stupid idea! Now get us out of here!” Kyler yelled.


“I’m working on it!” Unexpectedly Kyler was thrown- more or so pushed- up against the wall with a huge thud. An invisible force held him there, and it looked like he was starting to have trouble breathing.


“Kyler!!!” Karson screamed and ran over to his friend in dire need of help. He was struggling, grabbing at his neck even though there was nothing there. He started choking and pointing to his neck. Karson’s attempts were useless, grasping nothing but air. Then out of no where Kyler sank limply to the floor. Karson tried shaking him, grabbing the shoulders of his orange t-shirt. He didn’t wake up.


Garret and Johnny stood in the center of the room clutching each other. Johnny was full out bawling by now. “Garret!” Karson whipped around, still hanging on to Kyler. “Try to open that door, we’re outta here!”


“What about Kyler?”


“I’ve got him, just go!” He ran to the door and shook the door knob violently, pulling and kicking the door. He turned back to face the leader.


“It won’t open, man! We’re done.” Then Garret was slammed back around up against the door, once again by the invisible force. He was holding his gut and kept being slammed against the wall. Then he was shoved to the ground, clutching his stomach and clenching his teeth. Johnny stood in his spot but yelled to his brother.


“Garret, what happened?”


“Johnny, get under the bed.” He didn’t move; just stood there shaking. “Johnny, now!” He scrambled under the cold metal frame, coughing as he slid in to a cave of dust. Garret slowly rolled from side to side and Karson came over to help. Kyler still sat propped up against the wall.


“Garret, buddy, what happened?”


“It feels like I was just punched in the gut about ten times. I think someone stepped on my ribs.” Karson laid him on his back, touching each of his ribs. When he got to the very end is when Garret cried out in pain and slapped his hand away.

“I think at least one of your ribs are broken, dude.”


“Great.” he cringed.


“That’s it man, I’m calling the police.” Karson dug inside his pocket and pulled out a cell phone which he flipped open and began dialing 9-1-1. The operator picked up.


“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”


“Hello, my name is Karson Jerald, and I’m at the abandoned house on Redwood Drive. I’m here with three other friends and they’re in a lot of pain! They’ve been badly beaten and we need help fast!”


“Okay, sir, can you-” The phone was kicked out of his hand and flew across the room. Then he was pinned down on to the ground and started gasping for air. Johnny watched in horror from under the bed.


Karson struggled to get up but he just couldn’t. Eventually he stopped moving and just lay there limp. Johnny was horrified by the scene of his friends and brother all sprawled out on the hard floor, unmoving, some still not even breathing. The air seemed still and calm now, but the sense of another person or spirit present in the room glued Johnny to the floor under the bed.

Then, a strange harsh voice rang through the air: “Where are you…”

Johnny gasped but stayed where he was. He looked over to the right corner of the room where his soccer ball lay. In all the chaos he had dropped it and left it there. Now it was rolling by itself. It started to roll, no physical object touching it at all. At least nothing that Johnny could see. He watched in disbelief as the soccer ball started to float in midair, then was suddenly popped and let fall to the ground. “No!” Johnny whispered to himself. That was a mistake.


“Ha ha ha. I can hear you…”


He started to whimper again. Why weren’t his friends moving yet? Were they dead? Why wasn’t Garret helping either? He wasn’t dead…


“Come out come out wherever you are…”


The strange voice was menacing and made the ten year-old boy even more scared, fearful of his life in fact. “I see you…”


The ominous force grabbed hold of Johnny’s feet and yanked him out from underneath the bed. He let out an ear shattering scream and began flailing all around to try to break free. His actions were no use. No matter how hard he struggled the spirit had him under control and was certainly a lot stronger. The force held him up by his arms, high against the wall so that his hair was almost touching the ceiling. “You’re next!” it said and strengthened it’s grip. Johnny closed his eyes, preparing for whatever was going to happen next, when he was abruptly dropped to the floor. The room became still and quiet, just as it had been when they first entered. He figured that whatever had been in the room, whatever had just been threatening him had left. He looked around at all his injured friends and remembered his brother.


“Garret!” He crawled over to him and knelt by his side. Garret was breathing and still alive but Johnny could tell he was seriously hurt.

The sudden noise of police sirens startled little Johnny. He heard car doors slam and the running of feet on the rickety porch. Three police officers came storming up the stairs, guns at the ready. They bolted in to the room where the four boys were, kicking open the door. “Is everybody alright?” one of the men asked. He lowered his gun when he noticed the young boys lying on the ground. “What happened.”


Johnny was still in a state of shock and horror, so he could not answer. He just sat by his brother’s side and started to cry again. “My brother’s hurt,” he said. “They all are.” Two of the officers knelt down to help Kyler and Karson while the other officer came over to Garret and his little brother.

“This is Stanford, I’m gonna need some back up here.” The officer radioed for help and bent down to examine Johnny’s hurt brother.

* * *


No one knows for sure what was in that house that day when Karson and his friends decided to try and see the ghost. No one knows for sure why they were the ones who were targeted and almost killed. All of the boys were sent to the emergency room and made a full physical recovery, but never quite a mental one. Karson had been choked and was momentarily unconscious but was quickly awake after given proper care at the hospital. The same was done to Kyler, who was also given treatment.

Garret had been punched in the gut several times and slammed to the ground which had resulted in two lower broken ribs. It took him a few months before he could be active in sports again. Johnny was different, though. He didn’t have much physical pain, but was much more emotionally disturbed than the rest. Sure, he and all his other friends are still smart, able to talk and able to write, but nothing can ever make those images of that haunting experience go away. Unfortunately, Johnny has had frequent nightmares ever since and has been receiving psychiatric help.


After that day no one has dared to step foot inside the Redwood house. Everyone wonders about the mysterious force, or ghost- whatever you want to call it- that has its mind set on hurting innocent kids. Even though everyone would like to finally know and finally solve the mystery of what could posses something to do such a thing, no one dares to even try and find out.


The case of the Redwood house remains unsolved to this day.