I hurried my climb up the ladder until I made it through the opening. It was bright and hot on the roof. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but I saw Michael standing tall and proud, staring at the empty street, lost in a trance.

“You okay, Michael?” I asked.

“Yeah, man, I’m just taking it all in. This view is awesome. Did you have any trouble getting up?”

I chuckled. “If I did, you would have heard me scream.”

I thought that would make Michael laugh too, but he was still gazing out at the street.

“Good, I’m glad you got here okay. Now, I want you to take a picture of me with the street and the other buildings as the background. I think it will look really cool.” Michael walked up to me and handed me the camera. “The settings are good. You just have to take a picture.”

“Sounds easy enough.” I put the camera back up to my eye and rotated the lens enough to get Michael in focus.

Snap.

“I think it looks good, man. By the way, when I was walking up the ladder, I heard something drop on like the first floor,” I said.

“Do you know what it was?”

“No, that’s why I’m telling you. It kinda freaked me out.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I’m sure things are falling, breaking, and leaking all the time. I mean, did you see those crumbling walls? Perhaps another section fell over. Don’t let it creep you out. We’ve been fine this whole time, and we’re on the freakin’ roof.”

“Whatever you say.” I handed the camera back to Michael.

“You know what we should do? This camera has a setting where you can set a timer, so if you want, set this on top of a rock or something, set like a 30-second timer, and then we can take a picture together.”

“If you want to do that, that’s fine by me, but it’s your camera, so you should set it up.”

“With pleasure! Now, just move to the front of the roof.”

I watched my footing with every step since there were pitfalls to the left and right in a few spots. For the most part, the top felt sturdy enough.

Gulp.

I made it to the front edge. I had a better view of the ghost town, and I could see further out into the distance of trees but nothing else besides that. Michael was right; the sight was captivating. I stood there, letting the cool breeze rejuvenate my sweaty skin.

“Just stay right there... Lemme just adjust the focus a little... Stay still...”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t moved an inch.” I smirked.

“Okay, but you just did by talking! Shut up and stay still.” Michael snickered. Michael had to balance the camera on top of a rock, but he was successful. “Okay, I have it all set up. Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready the moment you started setting up.”

“Perfect!” Michael sprinted towards me and put his arm around my shoulders, and I felt his hand rest on the top of my head. I assumed he was giving me bunny ears. He probably thought he was discreet, but I didn’t care.

The camera stared at us for a moment before snapping all by itself.

“Hooray! We’re done. That was actually pretty easy.” Michael jogged to the camera on his tiptoes and put it around his neck.

“Okay, we had our photoshoot. Can we leave now?” I asked.

“Just give me one more second,” he said as he took a few pictures of the surroundings of the structure. “All right, we can leave now.” Michael shook his head. “I swear, man, you’re a little bit of a chicken.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re in such a hurry to leave. To be honest, I would be down to stay here a little longer. It’s just so amazing. Are you really not that interested?”

“It kind of gives me the creeps. Plus, it’s illegal. Just knowing we’re not allowed to be here freaks me out too.”

“You’re such a goody-two-shoes.” Michael cracked up.

“Whatever, man. It’s not like your dad works for the police department here. I’m going to go back to my bike. If you want to stay here and take more pictures, be my guest. I’d rather wait by the front at this point.”

“No, no, that’s okay. We can get going now. I might check out one of the other buildings if you’re down to wait for a moment.”

“That’s all you, man. Go for it.”

Both of us climbed down the ladder and treaded our way to the top of the staircase.

A chilling groan of someone in pain came from the opposite side of the hall. It echoed all the way to our ears from one of the other rooms.

Michael spun around and stared at me with wide eyes. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Both of us froze in place.

“Did you just hear that?” Michael mouthed to me.

I nodded. “What should we do?” I mouthed back.

We heard something shuffle and crinkle like a plastic tarp, followed up by a grizzly throat-clear and the sound of someone stomping.

“Run!” Michael shouted as we flew down the staircase and sprinted through the rest of the structure as if we were on fire.

Hopping over the window, we made it back outside. Michael hopped on his bike and pedaled in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going, dude?” I yelled as I got on my bike.

“It’s closer if I take this route to get back to my house! Go home, or come with me! We need to get the hell out of here!”

A tall shadowy figure emerged from the building. I was too scared to look at the person in the eye.

Goosebumps covered my body. Adrenaline powered my legs to pump the pedals at a speed I didn’t know I could. I shot down the trail going back through the tunnel of trees. When I felt like I was far enough ahead of anything chasing me, I took a quick glance behind.

There was no one following me.

I pedaled all the way back home, periodically looking behind to see if anyone was there, but I never spotted anyone. I saw a couple of people going out for a walk, but they were coming from the opposite direction. What happened with Michael, I wondered. He’s probably doing just fine. We had a good head start on whoever was in that building.

When I made it back to my house, my mom saw me as soon as I walked into the living room. She was sitting on the couch, knitting a blanket.

“Well, you’re home early,” my mom said.

“Really? I’ve been gone for a few hours. Or at least that’s what it felt like.” I couldn’t stop fidgeting with a hangnail on my finger.

“How’d it go? What did you two do?”

“We just went and got ice cream. And then we just rode our bikes around the town.” Hopefully, that would be the end of the questioning. I wonder if she could tell that I was trembling.

“Sounds like a pleasant afternoon.”

“Oh, you know what else happened? Something exciting! Michael said that his parents might take me to Disney World next year! They said that they’re willing to let Michael bring a friend for his next birthday trip.”

My mom smiled. “Wow, you’re right. That does sound exciting.”

“Would it be okay if I joined Michael and his family for that?”

“Absolutely. Just don’t plan on the trip happening just yet. You never know what might come up.”

“Yeah, I understand. I think it’ll happen for sure, though. Michael’s family goes on a vacation every year.”

“Okay, we’ll see. I’d still like to take you and Dad there someday too.”

“That would be amazing! I’d be down to go four times in one year!”

My mom stopped knitting for a moment and looked at me with a smile. “Maybe we could make it happen two years from now.”

“I can be patient!” I smiled.

My mom nodded, and I ran up to my bedroom and turned on my GameCube, and entered a virtual world of delight for a few hours.

I was hoping I would get a call from Michael, but it never happened. Even after my mom and I finished eating dinner, there was still no word from him.

Maybe he’s just waiting for me to call him, I thought. I’ll give him a ring later.

I read a book back in my bedroom for a while, but I kept thinking about Michael. It wasn’t until 8:00 PM rolled around that I really felt uncomfortable. That’s it, I’m going to give him a call. Just as I stood up out of my chair, the phone jingled from the living room.

“I’ll get it!” I yelled as I jogged down the stairs. When I got to the living room, the ringing stopped.

My mother was already standing with the phone held up to her ear. Her brow was scrunched, and her mouth fell ajar.

“No, I’m afraid he never came over,” my mom said.

“What’s the matter?” I whispered.

She held up her finger at me, listening carefully to every word coming from the other end. “Yes, as a matter of fact, he’s right here. I’ll give him the phone.”

“Who is it?” I whispered.

She covered up the mouthpiece with her hand. “It’s Michael’s mom. Apparently, Michael didn’t come home earlier. She’s wondering when and where was the last time you saw him.”

My heart thumped in my neck. It felt like a nightmare, but it was all too real. I took a deep breath and held the phone up to my ear. My mother stood over me, analyzing my face.

“Hello?” I uttered into the mouthpiece.

“Hi, Eddie. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m just a little frazzled at the moment. I’m sorry if I don’t sound very coherent, but I’m wondering if you, by chance, know where Michael is? He never called me saying he would stay out late. The last time I talked to him was this afternoon when he said he would get ice cream with you and ride bikes. Can you tell me everything that happened on your bike ride? What time did you leave to go back to your house?”

“We got done with our bike ride around 4:00 PM. That’s around the time I got home. We split up, and that was the last time I saw Michael.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. For a moment, I thought Michael’s mom had hung up, or the signal dropped.

“Hopefully, he’s just riding his bike around still. Can you tell me where exactly the last time you saw him was? Do you remember the street name?”

The pressure was mounting on my brain to a point where I thought I was going to scream. I wanted the call to end. I wanted Michael to walk through the house door and greet his mom. I didn’t want to have to reveal what we did. If he was okay, I’d just be getting him in trouble when he got home. What would Michael want me to do? What would my parents want me to do?

“Uh. Well, I, uh... I’ll just tell you everything that happened today.” My eyes brimmed with tears, and my voice thickened. “So we got ice cream, and Michael paid for it.” I sniffled. “Then he had this camera and said he really wanted to take pictures, and so he told me to follow him because he knew of a spot where we could take cool photos. So we traveled to the other side of town and went to Melville, where they have a few abandoned buildings. You know, where the old ghost town is? I didn’t wanna go, but he said he and Jake would go there, and it wasn’t a big deal.” Tears poured down my cheeks, and my mother gasped.

“Edward Vincent Wright...” My mom muttered.

“Yes, what happened next?” Michael’s mom asked.

“We went inside this old abandoned building because Michael really wanted to. We took some photos while we were inside, but I told him I didn’t really want to. I didn’t want to make him mad, so we took the pictures, and then we heard something stepping towards us. That’s when we ran out of the building, got on our bikes, and went to our separate ways. He said the route to his house would be faster if he went the other way, but I went in through the way we came in since that’s all I knew. I’m really, really, really sorry. But that was the last time I saw him, and that’s all the information I have. I know, I know, looking back on everything, I shouldn’t have let him go alone. But I thought it would be safer or faster if he went his own way. It all happened so fast. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Carter.”

My stomach felt like it was getting a nail hammered through it. I felt nauseous too.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Michael’s mother repeated on the other line. Then she let out an ear-piercing scream. You could hear her voice through my entire living room from the phone. I felt like she was no longer listening. Not that I said anything else, but even if I did, she wouldn’t be able to comprehend another word.

My mother gazed at me wide-eyed and shook her head; a small tear trickled down her cheek. She uttered, “Give me the phone.”

I handed it back to her, and she said, “Mary. I know it’s not easy, but I need you to take a deep breath. This is what we’re going to do next. I’m going to call my husband at the station, and we’re going to look into this immediately. Michael’s going to be okay. We need to put positive thoughts out there. Michael is going to be okay. We’re going to find him. He’s a young boy who probably forgot to call home. Maybe he got lost on his way riding his bike, we don’t know for sure, but he’s going to be okay. We’re going to get him home as soon as possible. Just stay home, I’ll call my husband, and then I’ll call you back, and we can go from there.”

They exchanged goodbyes, and my mother hung up the phone.

“I’m really sorry, Mom. I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about it earlier! Michael didn’t want me to tell anyone that we went there, and he was really excited about it, and I just felt really pressured, and I didn’t really know what else to do!”

“Eddie, it’s fine. There’s nothing we can do except call Dad at work and get a few police cars on the road to look for him. You shouldn’t have gone to the ghost town; you should’ve just come back home. But there’s nothing we can do about that now. There’s no sense in hollering at you about it. We need to focus on Michael, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure he’s fine. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

My mother called the police station immediately, and she told me to go to the other room.

“Let me talk to my husband. This is Wilma. Thank you.”

I sat on the top of the steps, listening as carefully as I could. My head pressed against the wooden rail.

“Roy,” my mom continued, “something happened to Michael. Yes, Eddie’s friend. He never came home this evening.” My mother told him all about what I had done and where I had gone. I wish she didn’t, but there wasn’t another way. My dad had to know if we were going to have any luck at saving Michael.

That night, police cars drove through all the streets of Lockweed, Michigan. My mother and I went to Michael’s house and stayed with his mom for the night. I wanted to join the search, too, on my bike, but my mom wouldn’t let that happen. Michael’s father drove his car alongside the police cars all night long.

Michael was never found that night.

He was never found at all.

They only discovered his SLR camera on the ground in the thick woods around Melville.