They drove in silence after that, with only the rush of a passing car to break it. A dirt road appeared on the right, and Evan slowed, reading the street sign.
“Wicker Road,” Selena said, as they turned onto the narrow drive. “I’ve never even noticed this before.”
The road ran straight for nearly a mile. A band of thicket not yet fully greened lined each ditch, the tops like clutching fingers bared to bones. A small farm appeared on the right, its buildings derelict, paint faded to gray, doors at odd angels.
“Nice neighborhood,” Selena murmured.
Wicker Road curved once to the right and then dead-ended in a tangle of brush and mature pines. Evan slowed the van and panned the small turnaround before the forest. A break in the woods opened to the left, and he eased the vehicle forward until they were even with it.
A lane extended in a line through the heart of the forest. Hunched trees with bowed trunks bent over the narrow drive, creating a gloomy archway large enough for a small car to pass through untouched. Evan glanced at Selena and raised his eyebrows.
“Really?”
“Oh yeah,” he said, cranking the wheel toward the lane.
Dry branches scraped against the van’s body, at times emitting a shriek like nails on a blackboard. He grimaced each time an especially loud screech came from outside, imagining what the paint would look like once they got through. After a minute of slow travel, the encroaching trees retreated and a low structure appeared.
“Shit,” Evan said, stopping the car.
Climbing out, he walked to the edge of the plank bridge running across a small, but swift-flowing stream several yards below. Tentatively, he stepped onto the bridge, waiting for it to moan or crack under his feet. It felt solid.
“You’re not really considering that, are you?” Selena said, her head poked through the open window of the van. She rolled it up as Evan climbed back inside.
“I think it’s fine. It looks sturdy anyway.” He glanced at Selena and couldn’t help smiling at her beleaguered expression. “If we break through, it’s a short fall.”
“Oh, in that case, let’s go.”
He eyed the bridge one last time, then gunned the engine. The van rocketed forward onto the planking and sped across without a bump. Evan grinned out of the side of his mouth but didn’t look at Selena. He heard her draw in a breath to say something, but she stopped.
The forest thinned and then disappeared completely, a clearing expanding into a level field, in the middle of which sat a three-story house. A rounded turret graced the front of the building, with black windows set in each level. The top had broken off at some point, leaving the turret with an unfinished look. The rest of the house appeared church-like, its walls smooth, with high-set windows in the shapes of circles and ovals. The siding was dark and rain-beaten and missing boards in a few places. Rotting shingles lay on the ground near the entrance beneath its towered front.
Evan pulled the van within thirty yards of the house and put it in park. The gray clouds above the building seemed to be only feet from the roof.
“You really know how to show a girl a good time,” Selena said, looking through the windshield.
“It was either this or the movies,” he said, grabbing his notebook from the center console.
They walked across the empty yard to the front door. The porch sagged beneath their feet, and nail heads poked through the wood, waiting to snag clothing or flesh. The oak door stood solid in its frame, with only a small peephole in its surface. Evan stopped before it, resisting the urge to lean forward and peer through the little glass eye. What if something was looking back? He shuddered.
“You’re serious about going inside?” Selena asked.
He nodded. “I want to look around, and it doesn’t seem like anyone would mind. There wasn’t even a gate across the driveway.”
He watched her give the house a look and cross her arms.
“You don’t have to come inside, you can wait in the car.”
“No thanks, I guess I’ll take half the blame when we get caught for breaking and entering.”
Evan turned the handle on the door, and it swung open without a sound, revealing a dim entryway.
“See, no breaking, just entering.”
Selena rolled her eyes.
He stepped inside, smelling the mustiness of the air, the damp scent of rotting wood and paper. Although dark, he could still make out the space they stood within. The entryway stretched toward another room, much larger than the one they stood in now. The place looked gutted. He didn’t see furniture or other adornments anywhere. Bland paint curled away from the walls in revolt, and somewhere, he heard a slow drip of water. Plaster and insect carcasses crunched beneath his shoes.
“Charming,” Selena said, behind him.
Evan soaked in the atmosphere, imagining the house as it must have looked decades ago. It would have been impressive, especially for the time it was built. They made their way into what looked to be a large dining room with high oval windows set in each wall. An animal nest of some kind lay in one corner, and the house creaked around them with a nudge of wind.
“Apparently clockmaking was a good gig back in the day,” Evan said.
What could only be a kitchen branched off to the left of the dining room, and straight ahead a stairway ran up and turned toward the second and third levels.
“If we fall through the floor in here and get trapped, no one’s going to find us, you know,” she said.
He smiled. “That reminds me of a Care Bears episode, did you ever watch them when you were a kid?”
Selena shook her head, trying to avoid crushing any more bugs beneath her shoes.
“This little girl tricks a couple of boys into coming to an abandoned house to look for treasure,” Evan said, as he put his weight on the first stair. “They fall through the stairs and end up in this little room in the basement. The girl comes to look for them after the Care Bears tell her she should, and they rescue the boys.”
“Well, if we fall through, we’ll pray for Care Bears then.”