Where it all begins

Toby•••

Tonight is a very cold night; It has just rained and the streets are now deserted, every man to his house. It is around this time that the ills and decadence of the society come out to play. Drunkards staggering home from bars and clubs, armed robbers lurking around the alley, waiting patiently and hoping for someone to cross their paths, prostitutes waiting by the roadside for a client interested in their services, smokers doing their thing down by the blocks and all sort of other evil vices.

I choose this night to go on a tomb search after spending weeks surfing the internet for the location of an ancient tombstone situated at the outskirt of the city in a strictly built building fortified with hard concrete walls, which over the years had started to lose its rigidity.

"We could get into this place without any stress" I say to myself staring at the computer screen as I mark the location of the tomb on my map.

I just couldn't help myself after I heard of the ancient tombstone in my history class where a big bad supernatural being had been buried, I almost laughed at the extent to which people believed that story.

C'mon really?

It was even rumored that a group of witches had been rallied around the spot and burnt alive and that their spirits haunted the place, which scared tourist and sightseers the hell away from every visiting the place.

"well not me" I say to myself, thinking of things to bring along for this "dangerous" adventure of mine. I list everything I will need - torchlight, water, snacks, and most importantly, camera. I am going to show everyone that their ridiculous belief of the place is misplaced. I have everything I need except for my brother - it might be one of the hardest 'item' to acquire for this 'mission' but with a lot of convincing and a little bit of cajoling, he'd go with me.

I live alone with my big brother and our mom who is always out on one business trip or the other and since it is a weekend, there is no school till Monday which means, fun night.

I hear footsteps in the hallway, it was my brother, Kelvin, and I start to prepare my speech.

"What are you doing?" he asks, giving me a I-hope-you-are-not-up-to-something glare

"Hey big brother" I simply say, "remember that story I told you about from my history class last week?"

His eyes gave me a clear disapproval of my plans

"Don't tell me you are still hung up on that, we've talked about this" he says.

"We only talked about it, we didn't establish for a fact if we were going or not" I reply, trying to outsmart my brother

Kelvin had always gone with me on many of my crazy adventures, to keep me safe. He is that kind of brother and I know tonight wouldn't be different if I play my cards right.

"And besides, aren't you curious to know what is really there?"

I am winning him over

"Don't tell me you are scared of those sadistic evil stories you heard about witches being burnt alive and haunting the place like a stalker" I say, rolling my eyes

He frowns. Progress.

"Don't worry we'll be out of there before crazy witch hoochy mama shows up and takes our soul!" I say jokingly, moving in a ghostlike manner and making ghostly noises

"OK stop" he says, laughing. I join in the laughter

I know I have won him over, again

"I can just go on my own if you are too scared to come"

Like he'd let me

"Fine, I'll go with you" he says, defeated, "but only to keep you safe"

Yaaaaassss!

"Go get dressed brother as we unravel the mysteries of the world" "oh! And wear something sexy, we might just run into a hot-witchy-ghost... Whatever"

I think I hear him laugh

I knew he was curious to know what was hidden in the "tomb of mystery" that they had to make up a bullocks of a story about, but when he heard of the stories; the witches, the haunting and the zapping of souls, it had killed his curiosity and my chances of checking the place out but I wouldn't let a crazy, scary bed time story derail my opportunity of a lifetime. Tonight is going to be awesome because

a) I will satisfy my curiosity

b) I will have fun doing A

c) I'd become popular as the kid who dared to tread the paths of the undead, and bring their facade of a story to an end

d) all of the above

I knew he was also scared, but would hide under the facade of bravery; if his younger brother wasn't scared, why should he be? Things that would scare him never seemed to freak me out and he hated it. He hated my guts, and I knew it, and I knew that he knew that I knew it.

I pack everything I'd need in my school bag, grabbed my favorite blue jeans jacket and with a final glance, I leave the room

I meet Kelvin in the living room already dressed and looking ready for a trip in the cold in his black leather pants, his reddish v-neck shirt and a black silky jacket with his timberland boots.

"Are you ready?" he says

For a moment, I felt a bit insecure, but I wave it off almost immediately. "Born ready"

We leave the apartment and as soon as I stepped on the porch outside, I feel a cold breeze sweep past me and I feel nervous and taut. It was the same feeling I had when I saw my father leave one cold morning only for a police officer to come by days later to inform us of his demise. The thought that I might leave and never come back sent shivers down my spine, but then again I dismissed the thought "Probably the cold" I conclude.

I take one more glance at the house like I am never going to come back and with that, we leave.