It weren’t nothin’ than good, clean fun, honest. Ain’t none of us wanna hurt nobody, honest. We was jes’ tryina have a li’l fun.

Honest.

It was all Kayne’s idea anyhow. He sayed “Look fellas! There’s that ole house, right there,” he sayed, shakin’ his finger at it like Momma shake her finger at me when I done somethin’ wrong, “that ole house on Blackburry Road.” We sayed “So what?”, me ‘n Kenny ‘n Lou. Kayne sayed, “So we should go over there ‘n check it out, that’s what!” I sayed “I’on’t know, Kayne, i’s gettin’ awful dark ‘n Momma sayed t’ be home afore dark,” ‘n he sayed “You a sissy?” ‘n I sayed “Course not, I’m no sissy,” ‘n he sayed “Prove it!” ‘n so I sayed “Fine!”

So I marched right across the street, all determined ‘n angry-like, jes’ like when Mr. Perry comes home early from one a his biznis trips ‘n goes on upstairs (‘cause we c’n hear th’ creakin’ a his steps when he walk up ‘em real loud) t’ see his wife, only he never seem t’ like it ‘cuz he always huffin’ ‘n puffin’ on his way out, jes’ like one a them new steam engines. So I looked at th’ house ‘n it weren’t nothin’ special, jes’ a stinky ole house nobody live in. Then I turned back t’ ‘em ‘m sayed “Well? Y’all gonna jes’ stand there, ‘r y’all gonna come with me?”

Kenny ‘n Lou’s face was scared, ‘n it was kinda funny th’ way they looked with they eyes all wide ‘n mouths all round lookin’ like little round eggs. Kayne was lookin’ mighty nervous hisself too, so I sayed “Whassamatta, Kayne? Scaaaaaared?” jes’ like that with the a all long, ‘n he sayed “’Course not, whassamatta with you?” and walked on over t’ where I was, th’ front yard.
He kicked at a loose clump a grass ‘n I wrinkled my nose on accounta the lawn was real nasty, all brown ‘n dry ‘n dead. Then he looked back at ‘em ‘n went “Well? Why ain’t you over here too?” ‘n jes’ like that they was with us on that lawn.

So we jes’ stood there lookin’ like four dumb fools for a minute until Kayne sayed “So let’s go on inside.” That’s when Lou started shakin’ his head. “I can’t” he sayed “I can’t go in there no how no way. Y’all c’n call me a sissy but I ain’t goin’ in there, not for nothin’!”

“’sokay, Lou” I sayed “you don’t hafta” but Kayne went ‘n sayed “Sissy! You ain’t nothin’ but a no good dirty rotten sissy!” I thought that was kinda mean, but I ain’t say nothin’. Me ‘n Kenny ‘n Kayne went on inside th’ house while Lou went on home to his Momma ‘n Poppa ‘n li’l sister Prinny.

Inside th’ house was mighty dark ‘n super quiet ‘n me ‘n Kenny started gettin’ the heebie-jeebies on accounta all th’ random noises comin’ from th’ creaky floor ‘n cracked-up walls. It was even uglier inside than outside, ‘n I ain’t think that was possible but it was. Kayne tried t’ act all tough but you could see he was pretty shook up too. It was in his eyes.

He tried t’ be tough though. He walked on ahead of us ‘n turned around ‘n sayed “Look fellas, look!” ‘n he started jumpin’ up ‘n down like a stupid fool right next t’ the broke-up window. ‘N jes’ like that he was gone. He done jumped hisself into a hole, that stupid fool. The floor was all old ‘n he went ‘n jes’ jumped on it like that.

He screamed real bad on the way down.

“KAYNE?” me ‘n Kenny called down th’ hole “KAYNE, YOU OKAY?” His voice came back up t’ us all tiny soundin’ “HELP ME HELP ME OH LAWD HELP!” His shoutin’ got us real spooked ‘n even though we was about t’ get on outta there, we kept hearin’ Kayne shoutin’ “HELP ME HELP ME OH LAWD OH LAWD!” He was callin’ ‘pon th’ Lawd. How was we gonna leave him jes’ like that?

So we looked down th’ hole but the thing was, there ain’t seem t’ be no bottom. It ain’t seem t’ have nothin’ below it, it was jes’ black. By now it was mighty dark outside ‘n me ‘n Kenny was plumb scared outta our socks, but Kayne was still yellin’ so we had t’ go down. I sayed so ‘n Kenny started talkin’ nonsense ‘n blubberin’ like a stupid baby. I sayed “Stop bein’ such a dumb fool ‘n help me get Kayne” ‘n I nearly slapped him he was bawlin’ so bad, but he got down on his knees ‘n went right on in. So I stepped in too.

It was monstrous dark. Darker than dark. It were a shade a black I ain’t never seen afore. I ain’t know where I was goin’ ‘n Kenny was blubberin’ ‘n Kayne was yellin’ ‘n it seemed like everythin’ was way louder down in th’ hole than anywhere outside so I could hardly find myself.

‘Course, after a li’l bit I could tell where they was on accounta they noise, but only a li’l bit. I started walkin’ t’ where they sounded like they was, bein’ careful not t’ step in anythin’ nasty or hurtful. They was gettin’ louder ‘n louder ‘n pretty soon I thought I had ‘em, but then I felt a nasty crack ‘neath my feet ‘n they start screamin’ I mean really goin’ at it ‘n then the floor cr—