Symon's Playground

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Brian was lounging on her sofa as he spoke. Kerry had put the bowl of popcorn between them, and he threw a piece in the air, trying to catch it in his mouth as he whined, “Everyone in the city goes there at least once!”

“Exactly, once. And you’ve already been there, so you don’t have to drag us out too!” Kerry hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would drop it.

“Besides, I highly doubt all 1.1 million people in Calgary have been to this house, Brian,” Amy rolled her eyes and winced as her sister, Anna, pulled a strand of hair as she braided, “Ow! Watch it, Anna, that’s still attached!”

“Oh! Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention!” They had been watching old horror movies and vegging in Kerry’s basement. They should have been working on their group project, but once Kerry knew they would all be working together, she had quickly realized it would get done the day before it was due. The used the project as an excuse to come over to her house to hang out. Kerry’s dad was a nurse and usually picked up a lot of night shifts. Her mom was a PR specialist for a large oil company, so she was out of the city a lot. Kerry appreciated the company, and never turned them down when anyone suggested coming over.

“Earth to Kerry,” Brian flicked an un-popped kernel that hit her in the middle of her forehead, the others giggled as she glared around at them.

“What?!” She pretended to be angrier than she was. She loved being able to play around like this. She had never expected to make close friends when she had gone into high school. Actually, she had never expected to make friends at all. She was a bit of a loner, quiet and shy, and didn’t really fit in with the rest of her classmates. She had met Brian at her locker on the first day. She had been struggling to get it open when he had reached over, unimpressed, and shown her that she needed to squeeze the latch to open it. She had been so embarrassed that she had just plunked her head, hard, on the locker door and groaned dramatically. Brian had laughed at her reaction and introduced himself, and they had been friends ever since. The rest of the group had trickled in slowly, forming a motley crew that she held dear.

“Come on, let’s go!” Brian was still on about this thing, “It’s getting close to midnight, now is the best time.”

“Why do you even want to go there again?” Brad spoke up from the floor. He was arm-wrestling his brother on her coffee table, she hoped they wouldn’t break anything. Brad and Matt could get pretty rowdy once a winner was decided, “That place is super lame.”

“Yea, we already went with a bunch of the guys from the football team, and nothing happened.” Matt was straining against his brother’s strength, trying to pin his arm to the table, and it showed in his voice. Brad was a full year older than them, and Matt didn’t usually manage to win these contests. It never stopped him from trying, though.

“Of course, nothing happened! You think any ghosts could stand the smell of a bunch of sweaty football players?” Anna stuck her tongue out at Matt, who was too busy trying to beat his brother to notice.

“What are you guys talking about?” Carla walked into the room, wiping her hands off on a paper towel.

“Symon’s Playground,” Brian made some mystical movements with his hands as he drew out the word in what he seemed to think was a ‘spooky’ way. Kerry giggled and rolled her eyes at him.

“You guys want to go there?!” Carla sounded excited. She balled up the paper towel and threw it in the wastebasket.

“2 points!” Brad called out, winking at her as she walked past him. Kerry could swear she saw a soft blush spread across the girl’s dark features. She smiled and wondered how long it would be before those two finally got together.

“So, we’re going?” Brian wasn’t going to give this up, “Carla, do you have the truck or the car?”

“Dad has the truck, so I took the car today, I can only fit five though.” Carla grabbed a handful of popcorn from between them before settling back into her lone armchair.

“That’s cool, Matt and I can take our car and meet you guys there. We can stop and pick up some, uh, supplies.” He looked over at Kerry, and she frowned, she didn’t allow them to drink at her place. She didn’t want to risk getting into trouble. Her friends all knew that, and they never pressured her into letting them drink when they hung out.

“Do you guys really need booze for this?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow expertly. Brad grinned at her and tried to look as innocent as possible. He treated her like a little sister on most days. Kerry shot him a withering scowl that he laughed off and turned to Brian.

“Alright, where is this playground then?” Brian pumped his fist in the air.

“Well, it’s not really a playground; it’s an old school,” Carla began, stuffing the last few kernels of popcorn into her mouth and grabbing another paper towel to wipe her hand on, “It’s in the northeast, just outside the city. The abandoned schoolhouse with a white building near it?” Carla looked over to the brothers, like she was checking to see if her facts were correct.

“Yea, that’s the old man’s house,” Matt had been soundly beaten and sat stuffing popcorn into his face as he talked, “He’s got a dog, and they say he shoots at you if he catches you.”

“He shoots at you?!” Kerry shrieked, “Oh no, no, no. Nope, I’m not going anywhere I have a chance of getting dead.” Brian laughed at her as she curled her knees up on the chair and hugged them.

“He doesn’t use actual bullets, Ker” Brian was trying to use that disarming smile he used when he wanted her to see things his way, “He just uses rock salt rounds.”

“Oh, as if that’s any better,” Kerry mumbled. As much as the idea of a gun that shot rock salt amused her, she didn’t like the idea of getting shot by anything.

“He doesn’t usually catch people anyway,” Brad said offhandedly, “Most of the time, he’s just drunk in his house.” Brian scowled over at Brad when Kerry spoke up.

“Oh great, a drunk with a gun, this just keeps getting better and better,” she grabbed the bowl of popcorn and plopped it on her lap, “No, thank you. I’ll just stay here with Anna and Amy.”

“Actually,” Amy spoke up, looking guilty. The twins had been murmuring the whole time and had perked up when Kerry mentioned their names, “Sorry, Ker, but we want in on this too. We’ve heard stories about Symon’s Playground for years.”

“Sorry,” Anna said bashfully. Kerry groaned and dropped her head back on the couch.

“Come on, Ker, you know you don’t want to stay here by yourself thinking about what we’re getting up to out there,” and just like that, Brian had her. He knew she would only sit at home and worry until the other six came back. She also knew her friends, and wouldn’t put it past them to try to prank her while she was home alone. She made her decision.

“Fine, I’m just going to call dad and let him know we’re going out. You guys are lucky it’s a Friday night,” Kerry grabbed her phone and walked out of the room to call her father. The others were talking excitedly behind her.

Maybe this won’t be too bad, she thought as her father’s voice came on the line. He sounded tired, but happy to hear from her. He didn’t ask many questions; he never did. It was great to be trusted, Brian’s parents didn’t trust him very much, and he often had to make up stories about where he’d been. She hated it, but understood why he had to do that.

“Be safe, ok, kiddo?” She smiled as her dad repeated the same line he used every time she asked to go out.

“Always.” Her usual response before they hung out. Taking a deep breath, she screwed up her courage and walked back to her small group of friends.