'Go in,' Zach dared me. Dreading the call of baby from my brother, I gulped and headed in.
'Bring something back Jake, something from the blue bedroom on the second floor.' Zach's words played again in my mind.
I stared out the shattered living room window; an ancient, moldy baseball lay on the floor nearby. A large tree's silhouette appeared in the faint light of the setting sun, the limbs like hands reaching out to grab me.
Hurrying into the next room, I noticed dusty magazines slowly crumbling away in the grasp of Father Time, their pages yellowed and torn. Cobwebs peeked out from behind bookshelves others hidden from view by the deeply shadowed shelves. Dust fell from the ceiling like mist from the sky on an overcast, dreary day.
Quickly I found the stairs, and stumbling in the dark I slowly made my way up the rickety, old, wooden staircase. I had almost reached the top when I heard a particularly loud groan and then a snap. One of the support beams for the stairs had split in half, so neatly as if chopped by an ax. I tried to remain calm, there were only five stairs left to the top of the landing. I thought about running, but decided that any quick movements would cause the stairs to fall even faster. Slowly I made my way to the top, one-step at a time. When I finally reached the top, I knew that I must hurry.
The hall split, I turned left first. Running down the hall I turned into the last doorway. The bedroom, dull gray in color, like sunbathed pavement, wasn't what I was looking for.
I heard the snap of another beam; wheeling around I sprinted to the other end of the hall. There, the blue bedroom, but inside of it was nothing but a built in wall cabinet and an empty bookshelf. I started to panic. Adrenaline rushed through my body. In an act of desperation I ripped off the doors to the built in. Inside stood a single chess piece, a black castle.
Dropping it safely in my pocket I almost flew down the corridor, but I stopped immediately when I came to the stairs. The steps were cloaked in darkness, no windows allowed the last ray of sun to illuminate the flight of stairs. I took one-step into the dark unknown.