"Come on, Rick, I dare you," Ryan smirked. "Go pay that abandoned house at the end of the street a visit."

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good," Ricky responded quickly.

"Aw, what's the matter? You scared?" Ryan teased.

"Come on, Ryan, he's scared of everything," Balz said with a slight laugh.

"Says you," Ricky scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm not scared, I just don't think it's a good idea."

"So basically, you're scared," Ryan chuckled.

"No, I'm not," Ricky protested.

"Well, if you aren't scared, then why don't you just walk down there and do it?" Ryan smirked. "You don't even have to stay for that long."

"Fine," Ricky exhaled. "If it'll make you oh so happy, I'll go check the place out. But if I see anything out of the ordinary in that house, I'm coming right back here."

-------------------------------------------

After saying what he hoped would not be his last goodbyes to his best friends, Ricky began to walk down to the end of the street to the decrepit house.

That house had been abandoned since before Ricky was even born. Even before that, Ricky could assume. The wood on the place had been rotting away for years, the paint chipped and faded so much that you could barely even tell that it had once been a dark shade of blue. The metal of the shingles on the roof was covered in a layer of rust, and the front porch had already practically fallen apart.

Ricky took a deep breath as he approached the house, preparing himself for whatever he might find inside. He lifted his foot up, placing it on the first step of the porch. The stair creaked as pressure was applied to it for the first time in God knows how long. Ricky was quick to pull his foot back, nervously glancing up at the house momentarily, before beginning to walk up the stairs again, listening to them squeak with each step he took.

Ricky knew already that no one was living inside the house, so he didn't even bother to knock on the door. He twisted the knob, pushing the door open carefully, and peeked his head inside.

The entire room was dark, except for the hint of sunlight flowing in from the now open front door. Ricky figured that the lights in this place wouldn't work, so he fished the small flashlight he had brought with him out of his hoodie pocket, and slipped through the the door, letting it slowly shut behind him.

Ricky shined the flashlight around the room, just to make sure that there was nothing in there that could cause him to end up dead or severely injured, then began to walk further into the house at a slow pace.

From what Ricky could tell as he continued to explore, this place was actually kind of cool looking. Sure, from the outside, it looked like a total dump and gave off some generally creepy vibes, but it was much better looking on the inside, now that Ricky was getting to see it. There was all sorts of vintage furniture, from dusty wingback chairs to a claw-footed bathtub. The walls, covered in a damask patterned wallpaper, held Renaissance paintings, and the many glass cases that lined the walls were filled with fragile glass pieces.

Ricky finished up venturing the first floor of the house, then returned to the staircase he saw when he first walked in. He felt that in order to gain Ryan's full satisfaction, and to get the full experience for himself, he needed to explore the second floor as well.

On his way up, Ricky's eyes found an old rusted key laying on one of the stairs. He shrugged, leaning down to pick it up. He stuffed it in his pocket, figuring he may end up needing it to get into one of the rooms upstairs. If not, he would at least have some kind of souvenir from his trip down the street.

Ricky's fear of the place had been diminishing from the moment he actually stepped inside, and it this point, it had practically vanished. He peered into each and every room upstairs, then took a bit of time to explore them all.

When he reached the very end of the hall, though, he reached a door that he couldn't open. It was locked. Ricky thought for a moment, before pulling the key he had found not too long ago out of his pocket, examining it briefly. Then, with a shrug, he stuck the key into the lock, carefully turning it to ensure that it wouldn't snap if it didn't match the lock. It was a pretty old key, after all, which must've went along with the very old house it was found in.

Sure enough, the key fit the lock just right, and a small click was emitted from the door as Ricky unlocked it. He gently pushed the door open, curious as to what was inside, and what needed to be locked up.

As soon as he laid eyes on what was in that room, Ricky could definitely understand why the door had been locked. There, only feet in front of him, was what looked to be some sort of a table, something that could be seen in a surgery room. And, on top of that, was a boy, who looked about his age, cut up in pieces.

Both his legs were split in two at the knee, and had been removed entirely from his torso. His arms were detached as well, and his hands had been cut off of those. It seemed that these pieces had been cut off at different times, however, because the corpse's lower legs had started to rot, but the arms and hands almost seemed to have been freshly cut.

Ricky let out a shriek, trying to process exactly what had happened here. He would've tried to explore a bit more, to find himself some answers, but the absolutely wonderful scent of rotting skin was starting to get to him before he could even move out of the doorway.

He slammed the door shut, backing away from it quickly, still desperately trying not to gag from the smell. He contemplated locking it again, seeing as he still had the key, but he decided to just leave it the way it was for now. It's not like anybody else would dare to go in the house, anyway.

Still, Ricky couldn't help but be curious as to what happened to that boy, sat there in pieces, ever so slowly rotting away. He wondered how long it had been since this had happened to the poor boy. It surely couldn't have been more than a week ago.

Ricky had always been a curious guy, and he couldn't help but guess that this curiosity might get him killed one day.

But he didn't care about that right now. What he cared about was finding out more about the boy, laying dead in that house.

(A/N: It's about time I came out with a new fic isn't it lmao. I'll also be starting to publish another fic next weekend.)