Moving is tough going away to a place far enough away where you know nobody. It’s difficult in some ways, new school, new people, new everything. That was when Rick Hutchins was only 10 years old and at the time moved from Miami Florida to Chicago Illinois a place that was fun for one of his hobbies, urban exploring. He played baseball and joined a travel team in the local area but in his free time, he never wanted to go home. He didn’t feel like that new house was his home, just someplace to stay till he could go back home. 

 Wanting to find the moral of the story because not one thing makes sense to anybody. No real beginning no real end and it’s like he appeared and disappeared out of nowhere. He would scroll for hours on his phone watching urban explorers search haunted places or old factories believing it was just fun and games. All the good ones were where they didn’t make it out. He loved horror stories. But those stories and videos aren’t the best to watch and read. Bad influences and good ones are very different and a young man like Rick would need to know the difference if he wanted to end up alive and well.

Let me tell you about a girl I know who was just a normal girl with light skin and light blue eyes with a plastic smile. She always asks “How’d you like to have a little fun” usually ending in getting food or drinks with a man she had only known for a few hours. Her name was Lisa. She met Rick Hutchins in the middle of 8th grade only knowing that he was new and nobody really knew who he was other than being an average boy. She did it again “How’d you like to have a little fun” he answered with an unsure shrug. He didn’t trust her one bit because no one had ever talked to him unless they had to. Either way, she grabbed his hand and they snuck out of school and spent the rest of the day running around town and through the woods. That was Rick’s first friend after that day and she soon stopped asking people that question and only hung out with Rick.

Exploring a town with few locations and places to hang out can get boring. But Once you find that one spot that won’t let you leave it can make a place of boredom to a place of horror. Running through the allies, now 14-year-old Rick Hutchins ran away from the bullies from school after school. He was chased so far that he ran into somewhere he had never been. A small home that looks abandoned or at least close to being decayed. He ran inside hoping to escape the bullies but that was the worst decision he could’ve made. He runs inside, sees a ripped-off door going to the basement, and proceeds to go through it. Going down he hears a door slam and assumes the bullies are messing with him but no. He goes back up to check and the door is back on and locked. He’s stuck forever and he bangs on the door till his fists are bloody and accepts his fate of being locked in.

Rick Hutchin a year prior to his disappearance had a few friends and they loved to explore their town. Only A few stores and a couple of restaurants and dinners were around in his small town. They promised each other to all one day meet up again once they graduated high school if any of them left town. They all looked at each other knowing that they would keep their promise and only 2 months later 2 of the boys went missing. Rick thought maybe they had run away but not the same fate that awaited him was the same fate they had succumbed to. Yet he did not know at the time he wished that they would come back to keep the promise and they will.

The first person to go missing was a smart boy named Eli. He was smart but his dad was an alcoholic and smoker. He was abused at home and so he spent most nights at Rick’s house on the couch. They had long talks and Eli Helped Rick with homework. They had grown really close and always dreamed of running away and starting a new life. He was just wandering around town without the group because he didn’t have enough money to go to the arcade with them. He looked up at the night sky and with the whistle of the wind he was gone just like that. 

Lucas Apkarian was one of the boys who disappeared a couple years after making the promise to be friends forever. He walked the streets as a confident young man who played soccer. He was a goalie that was impenetrable and was really popular. He had lots of money and connections around town to get free items from just being a cool kid not even Rick knew why someone as popular as him would be best friends with an outcast like him. Rick thought of this idea as he walked through the tunnels. He found Lucas balled up crying saying he was scared of the dark and that he wanted to leave this place. Rick had found another to make his journey a lot lighter on his shoulders through the basement.

For the first time, Rick finally clicked with a group that felt like family. He Loved his friends and knew that they would be friends till the end. Between 8th grade and freshman year, Rick and Lisa became close; they had hung out almost every day over the summer watching movies and going skating. One night on top of a parking structure they were doing tricks and Rick caught her as she slipped off her skateboard and he held her. He looked at her lips and kissed her not knowing what should do. She embraced it and continued to kiss him back. About later in April she disappeared and he was devastated as he wished she hadn’t not knowing what happened it was like she became a ghost.

People say that they are unlucky or lucky. But really it does not matter as luck is not real. No one is unlucky or lucky, that’s just how life has been planned out for you and the decisions you make can change your outcome. Rick realizes that he is not the only one down in the darkness of the abandoned house. He hears yelling for help as it follows the walls inside. It’s not just a voice that is unheard, it is a voice that he knows. It is about a child who disappeared 2 years before his first friend Lisa. He started running following the wall towards the voice. It seemed like he had been running for a while as his legs began to hurt. It’s felt like a couple of minutes but his legs feel like it’s been days. He soon approaches the voice of Lisa and they meet for the first time in 2 years. 

The four of the kids walked the halls Until they had fallen into a hole. They screamed in terror because they thought they would die falling down. But no, they just kept falling and falling, not hitting the floor. They talked and laughed talking about how long it has been since they had all last talked. They caught up and told each other stories about being in the basement wondering how long it’s been in the outside world. They had finally landed on the floor softly, not hurting or landing painfully. They stand up and continue their journey to escape.

Through the tunnels they follow they see a light, all of them running as fast as they can. Trying to make it step by step they get closer and closer until they reach it. 2 large bunker doors latched shut seeing the light blind through them. They bang on it harder and harder hearing loud voices. They scream and cry trying to break the doors down. Hit by hit they slowly break apart the lock and doors opening up a world of light. So bright the trees are a glistening emerald green and they see a man standing oh so still. He says, ” Welcome you have floated above the clouds and have made it. They ask where we are. This does not look like Chicago looking around seeing fluffy clouds around them. He says you are in heaven where you belong and where you can stay with each other for as long as you like. They all wonder how they got here from being locked in the basement of a house and wish to see how they died. God brings them to their bodies showing them that they had all died next to each other in the basement of that home not realizing that the reason time felt irrelevant down there was because they were all waiting for each other to come back and meet again.