“You’re right,” Parker said, looking down at his phone. He saw that it was almost 6 a.m. and they had to jet before they got caught. “Our dad’s company will probably be here any minute.”
The group of five made their way to the stairwell. Once they reached the top of the staircase, they all hoisted Sammy’s wheelchair midway in the air and began carefully travelling down the steps with him. They reached all the way down to the landing of the second level, and dropped the wheelchair onto the ground. Parker and Marvin stuck their heads through the doorway first, checking to make sure the coast was clear. Once they confirmed it was, Melody walked through, pushing the wheelchair as Patty walked behind her.
“It looks different in the daylight,” Patty said.
“Not really. You can just see the dust particles better. That’s all that is,” Marvin replied. Patty sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes at his comment.
“Hey? This isn’t the same way we came last time,” Parker said, looking around.
“You’re right,” Sammy said. “The entrance doors are way downstairs at the other end.”
“And we have to pass all those spooky rooms?” Melody cried.
“That’s the only way to get out, genius,” Marvin said, laughing.
“Oh, hush up, Marvin. I am getting tired of your wisecracks,” Melody shouted.
“And I’m tired of your whining. Act your age, why don’t ya.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Cut it out, Marvin,” Parker yelled, stepping in between them. “You, too, Melody. Look, everybody, we have no choice but to go that way. Unless you all wanna stay here,” he said, looking around at everyone. They all exchanged looks amongst each other. “Alrighty, then. Let’s get out of here.”
They all turned and walked down the hall of the second level. They passed rooms that had the doors closed shut, wondering if someone was on the other side watching them. They made it to the middle of the hallway when they heard a slight noise coming from behind them.
“Who dares trespass on my property?” a deep, raspy voice said.
Their heart rates began to beat faster, as they slowly turned on their heels. Standing twenty yards away from them was the hooded guy from last night. Their eyes grew, practically popping out of their heads. They still couldn’t make out his face, because the hood was pulled down so far over his face. The only thing they could see was his long white and gray beard that hung down to his chest. His clothes were all dirty and tattered. He had no shoes on. The skin on his feet looked hard and stone-like. His toenails were under all of his toes and looked as though they were made of wood. The five kids stood there, motionless and frozen in their tracks, contemplating on what to do next. As soon as the figure took one step closer to them, they all ran away screaming. They ran into one of the hospital rooms and locked the door.
“Where’s Sammy?” Parker yelled. Everybody looked around the room.
“He must still be out there,” Patty said.
“You left him out there by himself?” Parker yelled as he stepped up to Melody.
“I panicked. I’m sorry,” she said, crying frantically.
“This is unbelievable,” Parker replied.
“Help! Parker? Melody? Marvin? Melody? Anybody! He’s getting closer,” Sammy screamed from the hall.
Parker paced the floor trying to come up with a plan. “Screw this,” he said after a few moments. He snatched the pole from his brother’s hand and pushed the girls from out front of the door.
“What do you think you’re doing, Parker?’ Marvin said, pulling his brother by the arm. Parker snatched his arm out of his grip.
“I’m going to save my best friend. That’s what I’m doing.”
“You’re gonna mess around and get yourself killed,” he said.
“At least I died trying,” Parker replied before opening the door. He ran up behind Sammy’s wheelchair just as the strange figure was approaching him. “Duck, Sammy,” Parker yelled. Sammy ducked down in the chair as much as he could as Parker swung the pole. But he missed the guy. That didn’t stop him though. He walked toward the man, as the man backed away, swinging the pole. The man ended up falling over an overturned chair and Parker went to work on the guy. He hit him multiple times in the legs, back and head with the metal pole.
“Stop, stop, stop,” the man yelled. Parker still had the pole raised up in the air, waiting to see if he was gonna be attacked by the man. Parker turned him over onto his back.
“Holy crap,” Parker said as he removed the hood from the mysterious stranger. “Guys come out here. And hurry!” he yelled to the others. Marvin, Melody, and Patty emerged from the room. Patty grabbed a hold of Sammy’s wheelchair and pushed him down the hall to where Parker was.
“Oh, my goodness,” Melody said as her hand flew up to her mouth.
“Is that Petey?” Patty asked walking closer to the guy on the floor.
“It is Petey.”
“Who is Petey?” Marvin asked.
“He’s some homeless guy that we feed after school and give spare change to.”
“He’s not just some homeless guy,” Melody said. “He’s our friend,” she said sitting him up on the floor.
“So, wait a minute. You guys mean to tell me that you befriended a homeless guy? Are you all nuts?”
“No,” Parker yelled. “Some people do have a heart, you know!”
“You should grow one, Marvin,” Patty said.
“If he’s your so-called friend, Parker, then why did he try to kill us?”
“I never tried to kill any of you,” Petey said, coughing up blood. It came out of his mouth and landed in his beard and on the floor.
“But you were down in the basement,” Marvin said to Petey.
“Yeah, I was. But you attacked me, kid.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.”
Petey struggled to get to his feet but he made it after a few attempts. “What are you all doing in here anyway?”
“We were here to find our friend, Sammy,” Parker said pointing to Sammy.
“Yeah, and you kidnapped him,” Patty said, stepping into Petey’s face. When she saw the grim look on his face, she backed up and stood behind Marvin and Parker.
“Kidnapped? I didn’t kidnap anybody. I was just merely trying to help the kid. Why would I hurt people that feed me five days a week?” he laughed a little. He smiled at the group, exposing his rotten gums and empty spaces where teeth once were.
“You guys hear that?” Parker said listening. Everyone stood still and quiet as they listened on. They felt the ground underneath of them vibrating, feeling like an earthquake was taking place. “That must be the demolition team. We have to get out of here.” Petey and the kids started to panic.
“How are we all gonna get out of here in time? Look at Petey? And Sammy’s in a wheelchair,” Melody screamed over the loud noises outside.
“Maybe we can come back for Petey,” Marvin said.
“We can’t just leave him here. Are you crazy?” Parker yelled.
“How are we gonna get Sammy out of here?” Patty asked eye-balling the wheelchair.
“The same way we got him down here,” Marvin said. “We carried him and the wheelchair down here.”
“Uh-uh,” Melody replied. “There is no way that I will be able to do that. My entire body is still in pain from bashing that door down upstairs.”
“We’re all gonna help,” Parker intervened.
“Exactly, Melody,” Marvin jumped in. “We’re supposed to be working as a team to get out of here.”
“I guess so,” she said, crossing her arms like a child and stomping towards the wheelchair.
“What if your little friend tries to kill one of us again?” Marvin chimed in.
“He just said he wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,” Sammy said with a slight chuckle.
“Don’t laugh at me, Sammy. This isn’t a game,” Marvin said angrily.
“Everybody just stay close together. We’re gonna get out of here. Okay?”
“Okay,” they all murmured.
Marvin and Parker pushed Sammy to the end of the hallway, while Patty and Melody hoisted Petey over their shoulders and carried him. Just as they hit the door where the stairwell was, the end of the hospital where they had just come from had crashed in. They were startled as they looked and saw the wrecking ball lying in the place of the wall.
“We have to hurry, everybody,” Parker yelled over the bulldozers that had just turned on. The girls hurried down the stairs as fast and as carefully as they could with Petey. Marvin and Parker was right behind them with Sammy in the wheelchair.
“Crap,” Marvin yelled.
“’What happened?” Patty said, stopping and looking back. The wheelchair had slipped out of Marvin’s grasp and Sammy was lying on the steps on his back.
“Aahh!” Sammy yelled out. “Parker help me,” he said, reaching his hand out. Parker kicked the chair out of the way and he and Marvin threw Sammy over their shoulders like the girls had Petey. It was a little more difficult though, because of Sammy’s banged arm.
They made it to the first level, where the main entrance was, just as they heard another crashing noise upstairs. They opened the door of the stairwell and watched as the ceiling was falling apart. It was shaking uncontrollably from all of the heavy machinery outside. They made it to the middle of the hall and Melody slipped and fell.
“My ankle,” she said, screaming. “I think it’s sprained,” she cried.
“Oh, wow,” Marvin said. “We have to get out of here, guys.”
“We can’t just leave her here,” Patty yelled at him.
“And I don’t wanna die either.”
“You are so selfish,” Patty said, pushing him.
“Hey, watch it,” Sammy yelled.
“We don’t have time for this,” Parker interrupted. “Patty? You and my brother get Sammy out of here. I’ll stay and help Melody.”
“But what about Petey?” she asked, looking at the frail individual lying inches away from them on the floor.
“Just leave me here to die. Nobody cares about me,” Petey said. “I have nothing to live for anymore.”
“Don’t talk like that, Petey,” Parker said. “We’re gonna get you out of here, too.”
“Parker, I’m not leaving here without you. The ceiling is caving in too fast,” Marvin said. “You may be a crybaby and a brat, but you’re my little brother, and I love you.”
“Good to know, Marvin. But right now, I have to do what I have to do. And what you need to do is get Sammy and Patty out of here. We’ll be right behind you.”
“See you outside, Parker,” Marvin said. He and Patty lifted Sammy over their shoulders and carried him outside the building as the ceiling fell behind them.
“How are we gonna get out of here, now, Parker?” Melody asked. “The door is blocked.”
“We’re not gonna let that stop us. Can you walk at all, Mel?”
“Maybe, but not that fast, I’m sure,” she replied. He helped her to her feet. “I’m gonna help you with Petey.”
“No. You go ahead behind the others.”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine. You just get out of here,” he said, raising his voice a little.
“Okay. Hurry up and get out here,” she said.
“We’re gonna be right behind you.” He watched Melody as she limped to where the ceiling had fallen in at. She climbed over the mountain of rubble as she made her way outside.
“Melody? You’re here, too?” Parker’s father yelled at her. She looked and saw her friends standing next to Marvin at an ambulance. It looked like they had already gotten chewed out before and after they got their wounds treated.
“Yes. Sorry, Sir.”
“Your parents will be hearing about this. But never mind that, where in the world is Parker?”
“He’s still inside.”
“What? Hold the wrecking ball,” he yelled at one of his employees.
“What’s the matter, Boss?” his head foreman James asked as he walked up to him.
“My son is in there!” he said, grabbing him by the shirt.
“How do we proceed, Sir?”
“You don’t! Let me get my son out of there first,” Eliot removed his construction hat and ran inside the building after his son. “Parker? Parker?” he yelled out as he climbed down the pile of rubbish.
“Dad? I’m over here,” he said, standing in the middle of the floor with Petey leaning onto his small frame.
“What happened, Parker?”
“Dad, right now, there is no time to explain. That last hit this building received is causing it to fall quickly. I need your help getting him out of here.”
“Who is he?” Eliot asked throwing Petey’s other arm over his neck.
“I said I will explain everything later. Just know that none of this is Marvin’s fault.”
“I highly doubt that, Parker. You’re all in big trouble.”
“We know. We can discuss my punishment later.”
“You bet we are.”
Parker and Eliot made their way to the exit. Eliot had to climb to the top of the pile of rubble and pull Petey up by his arms. Once Petey was on the other side, Eliot reached down for Parker. Before he could grasp Parker’s hand, the ceiling fell down on him.
“Parker!” he yelled. He quickly jumped down and threw pieces of the ceiling across the room, trying to dig Parker out.
“I’m right here, Dad,” he said in a low voice. His father pulled him from the floor and threw him over his shoulder. He slipped a couple of times climbing out but he finally made it onto the other side.
“Parker!” Melody squealed. They all went over to him as his father sat him on top of one of the gurneys. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.
“I’m glad you’re okay, too, Parker,” Patty said, hugging him as well.
“You saved us, Park. That was pretty awesome,” Sammy said, giving his best friend a high five.
“Yeah, you did it, little bro,” Marvin agreed. “I’m proud of you, Parker. I can’t call you a whiny little wimp anymore, I see.”
“Nope, you can’t. I proved to all of you that I wasn’t a chicken and that I could be brave.”
“Yeah you did,” Sammy said.
“Next time you wanna prove how brave you are, go ride a roller coaster or something. Sheesh,” Melody said. The group of friends broke out into laughter.
“I’ll make sure to do that,” he replied. After the paramedic finished bandaging him up, their father came over. He looked at them all with a stern look.
“Explain,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.
“Well, it’s like this, Dad, I asked everybody to come with me and stay an entire night with me. The first time we came, we got scared and ran out but Sammy got left behind. So, we had to come back and get him and get out of here before you got here so we wouldn’t get caught.”
“But you still got caught. And why did you come here in the first place? I don’t think you disclosed that to me yet.”
“Well, I was just tired of everybody calling me a chicken and a big baby. So, I chose to stay the night at Grady to prove them wrong.”
“Parker, that’s the craziest nonsense I have ever heard in all my days. You could have been hurt, or worse. What were you thinking?” he asked. He continued to talk before even giving Parker a chance to respond. “You weren’t thinking, were you? No. Because, if you were using your brain, none of you will be in this predicament in the first place. And who is that guy over there, anyway?” he asked, pointing in the direction of Petey.
“Oh, that’s just Petey. He’s a friend of ours.”
“He’s a homeless man, Parker. What did your mother tell you about talking to strangers? And what about all of your parents?” he asked Sammy, Melody, and
Patty. None of them responded to his question. They just hung their heads low and diverted their eyes to the ground in shame.
“I’m sorry, Dad. It will never happen again.”
“I know it won’t ever happen again. You’re grounded until the end of time,” he yelled. “And so are you, Marvin.”
“Me? Why am I grounded? I didn’t do anything. I came to make sure my little brother was okay,” Marvin said, trying to defend himself.
“It doesn’t matter, Marvin. I don’t wanna hear it. You should have come to me or your mother when you found out they were coming here.”
“They had already come here before I found out, Dad. He came to me saying that they lost Sammy.”
“And did you come to us then?”
“No, Sir.”
“Then I rest my case.” He looked at Sammy and the girls. “And I hope you three learned your lessons as well. You all are too smart to be doing something so dangerous. I hope next time you all think before you do something this drastic again.”
“We will. And we’re sorry, Mr. Wilson,” Patty said.
“So am I,” Melody said.
“Yeah, me, too, Mr. Wilson,” Sammy said.
“Anyway, we have to get back to work. You all call your parents and tell them where you are so they can come and get you. Sammy and Melody, I hope you two get better soon.” He stepped in front of Parker and Marvin. “And as for you two, I’m sure your mother would love to hear about your adventurous weekend. And don’t leave out any details.”
“Yes, Sir,” the two brothers said in unison. He walked away and got back to his demolition crew.
“I should pound your face in,” Marvin said, grabbing Parker by the shirt.
“Hey, nobody told you to come, Marvin. By the way, where’s your head?”
“Oh, crap,” he said. “I left it in there. I need to go in there and get it,” he said limping away. Parker and his friends just laughed at him as he went up to Mr. Wilson and begged him to go inside and get the head.
Parker walked away from his friends for a second and went over to the ambulance where Petey was. “How are you feeling, Petey?” he asked.
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