Ryan Ruiz - The Black Cadillac

“What is it?” asked Cody.

“One of us should go ring the doorbell first and make sure no one is home,” explained Zach.

Cody looked at his friend and nodded.

“Fine, I’ll go, Code,” continued Zach.

Zach set down his bag and walked into the front yard. He stepped inside the front gate and slowly walked to the walkway leading to the porch. Zach then climbed the stairs and marched up to the door. He looked down and saw a mat that read “GO AWAY” on it. He pressed his finger to the doorbell. Zach looked at his friend across the street and rang the doorbell again. A couple of minutes went by, and no one answered the door. It was completely dark inside. Zach turned around and walked back toward Cody on the other side of the street.

“No one is home, Cody, you’re up,” said Zach.

“Did you hear anything at all?” asked Cody.

“Nope, not a peep,” replied Zach.

“Okay, let’s do this,” instructed Cody.

The boys each went separate ways, being careful not to be seen by anyone. Zach found an old Buick station wagon and hid behind it between another car, trying to stay low. If he had to, he could crawl under it to hide.

Cody headed up the driveway and came to the gate near the back. He lifted the latch on the gate and stepped in, closing the gate behind him. The backyard was small, enclosed by a chain-link fence, and there was a little shed toward the back. Trees and bushes surrounded most of the backyard. The yard itself was ugly and not maintained at all. Most of the grass was dead, and a lot of the ground was just dirt. Pieces and parts from cars were scattered around the yard. There were a few piles of debris. It was a very private area, to say the least.

Cody walked toward the shed to get a look inside a small window on the front door of it. The shed had a lock on it. He pulled his flashlight out and turned it on. The window was at the same height as his head. Putting the light up to the window, Cody saw a garbage can filled with yard tools. There were a couple of shovels, a rake, and some sort of powered tool sticking up out of the can. Cody flashed the light left and right to see if there was anything else. The garbage can was all he could make out. The boy focused his attention to the back of the house. A voice came through his radio.

“Cody, you see anything yet?” his friend said over the walkie-talkie, and it startled Cody a bit.

“Not yet, any cars coming?” responded Cody.

“No, but I am under a station wagon in the street one house down. I’ll radio you if I see anything,” said Zach.

“Okay,” said Cody as he released the button on his device.

Cody started toward the back of the house. The house looked abandoned and dark. There were no lights on as far as Cody could tell. It was very dirty and run-down. There were just two windows on the back of the house, and one of them was boarded up. The screen door was missing the screen and had a piece of plywood attached to the bottom of it. On the actual wood door, paint was chipping everywhere. There was a small mirror attached above the door, which Cody found odd. He talked into his radio.

“Zach, there is a small mirror above the back door. Kind of like a mirror on the side of a car that is adjustable,” said Cody.

“That’s weird. He must want to know if someone is coming…”—he paused—“Dude, there is a car heading down the street, I can’t tell what it is. Hide or get out of there!” said Zach.

His voice came across muffled in Cody’s radio.

“What? I didn’t hear you. Repeat,” said Cody.

Cody saw the lights entering a driveway. He ran back behind the shed. His friend came back through on the radio.

“False alarm, dude. It wasn’t the car. It went to a house a couple doors down,” Zach said, relieved.

Cody let out a deep breath too. It was closing in on 7:30 p.m. and completely dark. Cody walked back toward the screen door. Carefully peering through the two windows, he inspected the back of the house as best he could to see if anyone was home. It looked like the back door led to a breezeway. He shined the light in through the left window; there was a small opening on the door leading inside the house. It was some sort of an animal passageway. It looked big enough for him to fit through.

“Does the man have a dog?” thought Cody, with the light still flashing at the opening. “If he did have a dog, where was it? Why didn’t it see the light?” he continued to think.

“I found an opening,” said Cody over the radio to his friend.

“What kind of opening?” asked Zach, coming across clear on the radio now.

“There is a back door that leads to an indoor patio. The door in there has an animal door on it,” replied Cody.

“Will you fit through it?” asked Zach.

“Pretty sure I can get through it,” said Cody.

“Should I come back there with you?” Zach asked.

“No, but get in through the front gate and make a little noise. I need to know if there is a dog in there,” instructed Cody.

“Okay, I’ll get to the front porch and walk around,” said Zach. “Don’t you think if there was a dog, we would have heard it barking when I rang the doorbell, though?”

“Good point. Just stay where you are and try not to get seen by anyone,” said Cody.

“I won’t, but for the most part, the street is pretty quiet. A couple of people have walked by, but that’s it,” Zach told his friend on the radio, inching out from underneath the Buick.

“I am going to find a way in,” Cody said.

Cody inspected all the windows on the back of the house.

“The coast is clear, and I don’t hear or see anything out here,” Zach informed Cody over the radio.

Cody grabbed the handle on the outside back door and turned it. The door was locked, but the handle was loose. The door slightly moved when he pushed against it.

“The back door is locked, but I might be able to pry it open with something,” explained Cody.

His friend didn’t respond. Cody walked around the backyard, shining his light on the ground on the debris piles. He needed to find something long and strong enough to pry the outside door. He searched through the dirty scattered parts. Cody moved a large piece of something then spotted some sort of broken bracket-like object and picked it up.

“It looks thin enough to jam in the door crack,” he thought.

He took it over to the door, leaned against it, and jammed the part into the door. With all his strength, he pried the door, and every time he pushed, the door made a little progress. After a couple more pushes, the door swung open, and the metal bracket he was holding fell to the ground. Cody radioed his friend, shutting the door behind him. Thankfully, nothing on the door broke.

“Zach, I pried the back door open, and I’m in the breezeway,” Cody said.

“Wow. Still quiet up here. Go in,” said Zach, encouraging his friend.

“I am going to try,” said Cody, stepping in the area.

Cody inspected the small room. The floor was covered by a green plastic carpet. An ironing board was leaning against the wall, and lots of shoes were piled next to the door. The room was filthy and had a weird stench. Cody kneeled down and looked at the opening on the door. It would be a tight squeeze, but he looked like he would just barely fit through with some maneuvering. Cody put his head through while shining the light through the passage. The room was a kitchen, and it was pure darkness other than his light cutting through the black.

“Okay, I’m going to try to squeeze through now. The kitchen is on the other side,” said Zach, radioing his partner.

Static was the only thing coming through on his walkie-talkie.

Cody put his drawstring bag, radio, and flashlight through the opening then set them on the floor on the other side of the door. Next, he put one arm over his head, the other on his side, and slithered his head and arm through the opening. Cody tried to drop his shoulder and slowly push off using his feet. Soon, half of his body was through. His radio started muffling again.