Chapter 1
School was over for the year, which all the students were very happy about, however a few weeks into their long holiday they started to run out of things to do. A group of four decided to learn more about their town, after spending their whole lives there, they’ve only discovered a small fraction of it all. Cameron had searched up the history of the town and discovered that there was a farmhouse that had been abandoned since the early 1900’s. No one had wanted to buy it as there had been a tragic accident in the barn, leading to many deaths. This was open to the public, but people weren’t keen on going there after finding out that information.
Sending this information to his friends, Evan, Asher, & Isaac, they all agreed that they would get together and go to the farmhouse, even though they only had bicycles to get there down a long country road. Each of the friends made sure they had a camera to record what they saw, a documentation of the place to show to others so they don’t have to go their themselves. Evan had a thermal imaging camera, Isaac had a night vision camera, while Asher and Cameron stuck with normal cameras to get normal and cinematic shots. As well as go pros which they tied to the handlebars of their bikes.
They then head down the long country road to get to their location, they were all on a call through their headphones so they could hear each other the cars and wind. They were discussing the type of things they should look at and how to make it interesting if they don’t find anything.
After a while of riding, they were nearing to the entrance of the long driveway to the house, it had taken them a few hours that cars that passed them were starting to turn their headlights on. Just as they were starting to turn the corner, they had to let a car pass them. Cameron watched it pass, feeling annoyed at the small delay, however, when he looked towards the front of the car, there was a shadow of a man leaning up against the black pointy gate of the entrance. Everything seemed to slow down for him, as the man then pushed himself of the gate and walked through the gates towards the house. The car had then fully passed the group and the shadow disappeared with them.
Evan, being too excited sped off down the dark driveway, leaving the others behind. The others took their time, not wanting their wheels to get ruined from any stones that were scattered across their path. Around them there were a few streetlights that did help to brighten the areas of the roads that the flash of their cameras didn’t reach. Another few minutes they were able to make it up to the house, where laying on the ground was Evan’s bike. Undestroyed, but laying as if it were thrown or dropped by Evan himself.
After dropping his bike, Evan felt drawn to the barn, that was to the left of the giant wooden house, taking out his camera he walked to the open doors and started to film. He then introduced where he was without looking at the screen, not knowing what he was currently filming, turning the camera towards himself to then prove the thermal imaging works. For further proof for himself, he turned the camera back towards the barn entrance and held his hand up in front of the lens. Finally looking at the screen, he saw movement coming from inside the barn, in shock he slowly moved is hand down and focused on the barn.
Getting off their bikes and dropping them down next to Evan’s, they begin to turn their cameras on, and the go pros on their bikes were removed and secured them in their bags. Not too far away, they spotted Evan in the open space of the property. He stood frozen in place, with his camera facing into the entrance, he never turned when his friends were calling his name, he never flinched when they tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention. It wasn’t until Asher looked over Evan’s shoulder at what he was filming, when he froze too, and with the back of his hand, gently smacked Cameron pointing at the camera screen.
Not wanting to see the screen, Isaac lifted an empty barrel towards them, took out the small tripod from his bag and placing it steady on the top of the barrel. Then, without upsetting Evan further, he slowly removed the camera his hands, in which he just dropped to his side. While Isaac connected the camera and tripod and faced them back towards the entrance. The others followed Isaac, getting out the night vision camera they had too, placing it next to the heat signature camera. With the two spare cameras, they kept them in their hands, to film other angles and their reactions better.
Evan was able to calm himself down, turning away from the barn doors for a few minutes, he sat with his back against the barrel, he thought back to what he just saw. He couldn’t see any of it with his own eyes, no matter how much he strained them, but his camera picked them all up, even as they moved. The outlines of dark cold signatures that were wondering the inside of the barn, with nothing to do, but to wonder the same open room for the rest of time.
They all then decided to make sure that the thermal imaging did work, not knowing Evan had just tested it, but he still hadn’t said a word. He remained sitting against the barrel, not joining in with his friends. They each took turns testing out the thermal imaging, making jokes so that the mood of the evening wasn’t all serious, they all got together after being bored in the holidays anyways.
Laughing and screaming, had attracted unwanted attention, attracting the attention of someone they didn’t even know was nearby. There had been a bang of a door slamming shut from behind them all. They all turned in shock, especially as there were at least five minutes by bike from the nearest road, and anyone nearby.
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On an unusually quiet night, a man sat in the car park of a local shop after buying snacks and a coffee to keep himself awake. He hadn’t received any calls of a disturbance within the town, usually some kids had defaced property that they hadn’t found before. From not having dinner that evening, he was excited to finally bite into his sandwich, that is until there was a ring of his phone. He put down his sandwich and picked up his personal phone, thinking it could be his wife or mother he answered without looking at the dial number.
However, the person on the other end was an old women, sounding too posh for being form this area, then started complaining about a group of boys making too much noise at her house, when she was trying to have a “respectable” party. He started questioning her, why and how she had his personal phone number, but she wouldn’t listen or even stop rambling. Deciding he currently didn’t have anything else to do, he gave in and went to check out the address.
Getting to the location, he saw a group of boys with cameras in their hands and balancing on barrels. They weren’t exactly being loud, if these were the boys, they would be very confused as to why a policeman just showed up.
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All turning to the policeman, they became scared that they were trespassing on the unowned property, though of course the policeman had been told that a lady was hosting a party. He looked at the house, where all the lights were off and the windows were bordered up, then turned to the barn where it was the same, except the doors were open, showing it was completely empty inside.
Very confused, he asked what they were doing here, getting out his torch and walking closer to the barn getting a better look inside. The boys screamed at him to stop, and ran to check the camera, seeing the figures were all still inside unbothered. Cameron, being the one to have done the research, explained to the policeman that they were all there exploring the town and that because no one owned had owned this property for a few hundred years. The policeman then cut Cameron off, saying that is wrong and a lady had given him this address saying the boys were causing a disturbance.
Isaac not wanting to leave so soon, directed the man over to the cameras and showed him the screen, and explained further that it is believed there was a party at the barn and a fire had caused them all to die inside. This was when he first spotted Evan, on the floor having not expressed anything since he arrived. He asked the boys what had happened to him, they said they found him like that he hadn’t said a word after a raced off down the road. The policeman walked over to his car grabbing a blanket and wrapping around Evan’s shoulder to keep him warm from the shock.
Still not believing them about the abandoned property, the man started walking to the main house and knocked on the door, when no one answered he tried the handle. Realizing then, that it was locked he walked round to the closest window, trying to peer through the wood that blocked the window. He saw that everything inside was extremely dusty and covered up with sheets, to protect it from any damage.
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Finally starting to believe the boys, he returned back to his car and talked over the radio to his colleague at the station, telling her of the call and that there was no one apart from the boys in the area, no sign of a party at all. His colleague decided that he should return back to the station with the boys, for statements and to make sure Evan was okay. He helped Evan into the front seat of his car and then put their bikes onto the hook on the back of his car, as the boys were packing up their gear.
Making it to the station, they each had to write down what they saw, as the policeman called their parents. They didn’t have much luck with getting any information out of Evan, they had a nearby doctor check up on him and gave him some water and sugary foods to help him recover. They didn’t want to stress him further so once they explained everything to the boys’ parents, he was allowed to return home.
With the news of what the boys found spreading around the town, the police tried their best to keep the footage hidden, to not scare the town folk. But they did take more precautions, blocking off the road and the surrounding area of the house, to make sure no one else would stumble across the area and be harmed; like the policeman feared he would have been, had he ignored the group of boys.
