by Vince Ford
Not far from the park there was an old church, its steeple still standing strong despite the trees and bushes that scratched at its flaking paint. It had been abandoned for a newer version a block away and its old bones rested amongst the overgrown trees. A heavy, iron spiked fence, too difficult even for Adam to climb, protected it from the outside world.
Adam rattled a stick along the iron bars as they walked home. The night before there’d been an accident beside a bus stop. A speeding ute had rolled on the corner and crashed into the iron rails. The area was fenced off with tape when the boys had gone to school and they’d had to walk around it. Now there were just a few scrapes on the kerb, some broken glass and broken branches on a shrub that filled the gap between the bus shelter and the fence.
Finn walked in front of the bus stop but Adam kept tapping the bars and followed them behind the shelter. He stopped when he reached the damaged shrub and stared at the fence, then reached past the branches and ran his hands down the freshly twisted bars, pushing his shoulders experimentally into the gap that had been created.
Finn heard the low rumble of a V8 and music blaring from the intersection. He grabbed a bar of the fence and peered through the railings to the corner. He could make out the dark blue paint of a car stopped at the lights, the same colour as the Unit 47 car. He thought he saw a shaved head on the passenger side.
“Ad, it’s Unit 47 – we’ve gotta get out of here!” he called as he backed up and spun around. Adam’s backside and leg stuck awkwardly out of the shrub as he wriggled through the fence.
Finn glanced back at the lights. They’d been red for a long time and must be changing shortly.
“Quick,” he called as Adam’s foot disappeared through the fence. He pulled a branch away, stuck his head and shoulders into the gap and dived after Adam. At the same time the V8 roared into life and squealed around the corner. Finn twisted through the fence and rolled to join Adam.
As the car roared past, a meaty forearm swung out and flicked a cigarette butt into the gutter. Both boys caught a glimpse of a massive forehead and thick eyebrows.
“Truck Spittle,” breathed Adam as the car squealed around the next corner.
Chapter 4
Finn and Adam crept quietly through the undergrowth towards the church. It was a place that needed whispers and soft feet, a place that remembered children yelling and dancing at church picnics, but had grown used to the quiet and, if woken, would frown on any intruders.
When they reached the building Adam went towards a broken window near the entrance. It was patterned glass, not like the clear windows down the side of the building.
“What are you doing?” Finn whispered, glancing around.
“I’m going to get in,” Adam propped a fallen branch against the old boards and climbed up so that he could reach into the window.
“Why?” asked Finn.
“You ever been inside a church?”
Finn thought for a moment. “Once, at Grandad’s funeral.”
Adam shrugged. “I haven’t.” He reached a bony arm through the broken window, bent it around and tugged at the latch.
“Take it easy mate,” whispered Finn. “You’ll slice your arm open.”
Adam stuck his tongue out, pushed his arm further into the opening and grunted as the latch came free. He pushed at the window from the inside but it didn’t move.
“Give us a hand,” he said.
Finn sighed and tried to grip the bottom of the window frame while Adam pulled from the top. His fingers clawed at the wood but couldn’t get a good grip. “I can’t help much, give it a pull on three. One … two … three.”
They both pulled and the window sprang free. Adam was knocked back on the branch, waved wildly for a second then dropped to the ground beside Finn.
He gave a sheepish grin. “Didn’t think of that,” then climbed up the branch and into the building. Finn gazed around to see that no-one was watching then shrugged and scrambled after him.
Finn climbed over a basin and into a toilet cubicle. Adam already had the door open and was looking around the foyer. Finn followed him and glanced back at the door as he walked out.
“That’s the ladies’ toilet.”
“Oh,” said Adam. He trotted back into the room and stared into the chipped mirror. He pulled a handkerchief out, dabbed at his face then turned, pretended to hold out a skirt and fluttered his eyelashes. “How do I look, big boy?”
Finn shook his head. “Like you should be in a strip show, not a church.”
Adam waved his wrist limply at him. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“You’re really sick Ad,” laughed Finn. “You need help.”
Adam trotted out again, still waving his hands in the air and walking as though he had high heels on. He glanced around the empty foyer and walked into the church.
The building had the smell of somewhere that has been closed up for a long time. Sun streaming in the windows lit up dust as it swirled on the floor. The whole area was empty, there was a step up to the front of the church where the altar would have been and if the windows in the church were once stained glass, now they had been replaced with normal windows. Finn looked up and saw that there was a low ceiling for the first couple of metres before it opened up into a high vaulted ceiling.
“Check this out!” cried Adam. There was a stairway behind a wall to the side of the room. Beside it, with an arrow pointing up, was a sign saying CHOIR LOFT. Adam clambered up the stairs, followed by Finn.
Large windows faced out into the trees, letting sunlight pour through and pool on the dark floor. The air was warmer and the small room was cosy compared to the open spaces of the church. Adam walked across and leaned on the waist high wall overlooking the church. The view would have been impressive once but the church was empty now and a little sad.
Finn sat down in the pool of light, his back leaning against the half wall so that he faced out the window. Twigs in the nearby trees swayed as birds scurried along them. Finn closed his eyes and soaked up the warmth. “It’s kind of peaceful here.”
Adam slid down the wall to sit beside him. “Yeah.” Within 30 seconds he was fidgeting and humming a tune under his breath.
Finn snorted through his nose, “I should know by now, you don’t do peaceful.” Adam shrugged. Finn climbed back to his feet and gazed around. “This is kind of cool though. I’m going to come up here again.”
They climbed down and rummaged around the rest of the church but there was nothing else to see. As they passed the back door Finn grinned. “Oi, look at this!” Three identical keys hung on a hook on the inside of the door. Finn tried them on the door lock and they all worked.
“I reckon we should take one,” said Adam.
“We could get into trouble.”
“Nah, they’ll still have two keys and it’d mean we could easily get back in.”
Finn still looked undecided.
“It’s not like we’re going to trash the place,” said Adam. “It’d be more like we were keeping an eye on it.”
Finn still didn’t move to take the key. Adam reached in front of him but Finn pulled the keys away. “All right, if we’re going to take one then I’ll keep it. If you took it you’d probably swallow it or get it stuck up your nose or something stupid.” He slipped a key off the ring and shoved it into his pocket.
Chapter 5
The next Tuesday Finn lay stretched in the sunlight from the choir loft window, his bag behind his head as a pillow. Adam was lying beside him on the loft, his hands playing games with each other as they lay on his chest. Finn listened to the distant sound of vehicles pulling away from the intersection. It faded into the background as sparrows chattered in the trees and he smiled.
A door handle clicked. Adam and Finn glanced at each other, listening. Footsteps sounded in the foyer, carefully moving into the church.
“We didn’t lock the door again,” Finn whispered. Adam frowned. The sounds drew closer. Finn moved to the edge of t
he mezzanine and peered over, waiting for someone to come out below him. Adam suddenly grabbed his bag and slid over beside him. He drew it back, ready to crash down.
“What are you doing?” whispered Finn.
“Maybe it’s Unit 47,” hissed Adam a wild look in his eye.
The steps continued. Adam tensed, fingers white against the bag. A second set of steps followed the first – two intruders. The footsteps stopped, then moved across to the edge of the building. The first steps slowly started to climb the stairs to the loft.
Finn grabbed the front edge of the panelling and peered over. He couldn’t see anyone. The footsteps came closer. Adam gripped the top of the panel and swung himself over so that he dangled on the far side. There was a thin strip of timber that he could put his feet on. Only his knuckles showed from the mezzanine and no one would see him from below unless they walked right out into the church.
Adam still held the strap of his bag which was sitting on the loft. Finn saw it as the footsteps nearly reached them. There was no time to climb over himself; he grabbed the bag and threw it after Adam. The bag swung over and down. It struck Adam on the head at the same time as the weight pulled his hand off the rail.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” yelled Adam as he fell backwards off the panel.
Kim glanced up from the church floor beneath him. She opened her mouth and threw her arms above her head as the body crashed down. “Eeeeeeeeek!”
Adam twisted wildly in the air and managed a perfect four point landing. His chin, knee and both elbows struck the floor at exactly the same time. His body slammed into the floor, squashed, then bounced back a few centimetres and flopped to a rest.
“Awww no,” cried Finn. He launched himself towards the stairs to see if Adam was all right.
Tara’s head popped up the stairway as Finn charged towards her. “Waaaah!” she yelled. Finn changed direction at the last second, just missed Tara but crunched into the wall before clattering down the stairs with Tara close behind him.
“Quiet!” yelled Kim, kneeling over Adam. Footsteps clattered outside, racing towards the back door. All three looked at each other for a split second. Adam groaned. Kim mouthed something under her breath. There was a crash as the door was flung open and a figure was silhouetted in the doorway for a moment before it charged into the church. It was Robbie. He recognised them and slowed.
“I thought it was Unit 47,” breathed Finn.
“What are you doing here?” asked Tara.
“I heard screaming,” Robbie stopped beside them, catching his breath. “I saw you two climb through the fence … I was waiting outside then I heard screaming … what’s going on?”
Tara nodded her head at Finn who had helped Adam into a sitting position. “Saw them go through the fence and sneak in. We wanted to see what they were doing.”
“You did, you mean,” protested Kim. “You practically dragged me in here.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “We were looking for them in here and this egg went skydiving off the choir loft.”
Adam groaned and touched his elbow. His chin was grazed and he moved carefully, not sure yet which part hurt the most.
“Are you all right?” asked Kim, looking concerned.
Adam nodded, carefully touching his chin, “Mmmmm.”
“He’s pretty tough,” said Finn. “If he wasn’t he’d spend most of his time in hospital.”
“A mental hospital,” muttered Tara.
Adam screwed up his nose and climbed slowly to his feet. Robbie was looking at the stairway. He waved his arm at it. “That’s the choir loft?”
“Yeah, I’ll show you,” said Finn eagerly climbing towards the loft. The others followed, Adam pulling himself painfully up the rail.
“Hey this place isn’t too bad,” said Tara, looking around. “It’s amazing street kids haven’t broken in.”
“There’s trees all round the outside, people hardly know it’s here,” suggested Finn.
“Except us,” said Tara.
“You’re not going to tell anyone are ya?” asked Adam.
“No,” said Kim.
“Why not?” Tara scowled, folding her arms.
Finn shrugged. “It’s kind of like our place, if everyone started coming up here they’d just wreck it.” Adam nodded.
“I won’t tell anyone,” said Robbie, leaning on the panelling.
“Please Tara?” Kim watched her.
“Only if Adam drops off the loft again so I can see it.”
“Cow,” said Adam.
“And we tie his hands behind his back,” Tara added.
“Come on Tara,” pleaded Kim. “It’d suck if heaps of people came up here.”
“Oh all right,” said Tara, dropping her bag and sitting down on the floor.
Chapter 6
“So what are we going to do?” asked Kim. No one had anything to talk about and the silence had grown into something heavy and awkward.
“What do you mean?” asked Finn.
Kim played with the scrunchy on her hair. “We can’t just come up here and play tiddly winks.”
“We could smoke,” suggested Tara.
“Yuck,” said Adam. Tara squinted darkly at him.
“Who can get some smokes?” asked Robbie. No one said anything.
“We could do a séance or something,” said Finn.
“In a church!” cried Tara. “Why don’t we dress up in robes and burn a cross? No, even better let’s sacrifice a goat, maybe chop a few chickens’ heads off then drink the warm blood straight out of their necks.”
“Gross,” groaned Kim, looking like she’d tasted something foul.
Robbie had just been sitting quietly. “How about dare, truth and promise.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Promise is boring,” said Adam.
Robbie shrugged. “Dare and truth.”
Adam nodded, Tara raised her eyebrows and Kim nodded too. Finn thought for a moment then gave the thumbs up.
“Dare you to dive head first off the top of the school building,” said Tara, looking straight at Adam.
“Dare you to stick your head down a toilet and flush it,” said Adam.
“Dare you to stretch Glad Wrap over your face till you stop breathing.”
“Dare you to lie in front of a train.”
“Oi,” yelled Finn. “We need a few rules.”
“I’ll write them down,” said Kim, reaching for her school bag.
Half an hour later they’d finally agreed on rules. Kim and Finn had managed to stop Adam and Tara from arguing the whole time and Robbie had come up with plenty of ideas.
“How come you know so much about it?” asked Tara.
Robbie shrugged, “We used to play it at home sometimes.”
“I didn’t know you had brothers and sisters,” said Kim.
Robbie ignored her and fiddled with a shoelace. Kim sighed and shook her writing hand. “Okay, these are the rules. We meet every Thursday night after swimming. We all have to write down one dare on a piece of paper during the week. We fold all those bits of paper and draw them out of a lunch box or a bag or something. We go through the dares one at a time until we get a dare that everyone agrees they’ll do.” She looked around the group. “Okay?”
The others raised eyebrows and nodded.
“When everyone agrees on a dare we draw straws to see who has to do it. Whoever gets the short straw has to do the dare. That same person gets to ask a truth question to anyone else in the group, but it has to be to someone different every week. When someone does a dare they drop out. They still put dares in the middle but don’t vote if they’d do them or not. As soon as you answer a truth question you drop out of that too. Dares must be carried out before the next week and there must be at least two witnesses to prove that the dare was completed.”
“Hey, what if someone doesn’t complete a dare?” asked Adam.
“They’d be gutless wimps,” said Tara.
Finn was staring out the window. “They sho
uld be out of the group,” he said.
“That’s a bit tough,” said Robbie.
“No it’s not!” Finn turned back to face the group, looking determined. “We’re getting together to do this thing, if people are going to back out then it’s a waste of time. If they back out on a dare, or if anyone finds out they lied about a truth then they’re banished. They’re not welcome back up here.” Finn looked quickly around the other four kids. “Hands up if you agree.”
Adam raised his hand immediately and Tara followed suit. Kim hesitated, then raised hers. Robbie stared at the floor for a long moment before lifting his eyes and nodding.
“Hey,” said Ivan, his beanie pulled low on his forehead, trying to look cool and mean at the same time. His hand came down to rest on Adam’s lunch box at the same time as he turned to him.
“Got a nice lunch today spaz?” he growled.
Finn elbowed Ad in the side before he had a chance to say anything. “Nah, his mum makes horrible lunches. You wouldn’t like it.”
“That right?” asked Ivan, darkly. He reached into his bag and pulled out a slightly squashed chicken and lettuce sandwich. He put it down beside Adam’s lunch.
Adam and Finn both looked at it suspiciously.
“See, I heard someone say you are what you eat and I got this chicken sandwich here.” He paused and screwed the sandwich up in his hand till it was just a doughy blob. “But I ain’t a chicken. I reckon you’d eat a chicken sandwich.” Ivan glared at Adam and his mates hooted with laughter. Ivan grinned and pulled the top off Adam’s lunch box. Adam reached to stop him but one of Ivan’s gang had moved behind him. He grabbed Adam by the ear, twisted it hard and kept hold of it. Adam squirmed but couldn’t do anything.
“What have we got here?” asked Ivan. One by one he pulled out a yoghurt, a filled roll, a couple of cheese slices and an orange. As he pulled out the yoghurt and the orange Ivan screwed up his face. “Yuck!” and biffed them into a rubbish bin.
“Let go ya moron!” squealed Adam as he tried to squirm free. His ear only got twisted harder.