Sound Story

“No, no. You really don’t have to. You, don’t have to go. It was just a joke. We were only kidding,” I shouted through the crisp air of the night.
“It was your idea. And I ain’t backing out now, that’s for sure!” Benji replied.
I could hear the rest of our friends scampering around the room, shouting. Neither they nor I could believe Benji was actually going over there. I looked back up at Benji’s bedroom window, and made a noise so they knew we were ready. They pressed their faces so hard against the glass that red circles began to appear on their noses, and fog began to appear.
I threw his body against the fence and sucked in, hoping that if my best friend was caught, I wouldn’t be seen. I could see Benji squinting his eyes and really trying to concentrate. He couldn’t really see all that well, but I’m he could see the figures and shadows of what laid in the room on the other side of the window. He held his breath, closed his eyes, and began knocking furiously on the pane. He must have thought that I left him, cause he kept looking back repeatedly. Again, he focused on what was inside.
“I think there’s a ghost,” he shouted.
“No way. There can’t be… Just go for it again,” I heard myself whisper. What was I thinking? Did I really just tell him to do it again? A knot began to grow in my stomach. Benji closed his eyes again, took a deep breath and began to raise his arm.
All of a sudden, alarms started going off. Or maybe they weren’t alarms. I listened in again. It sounded like a bunch of clocks, coo-coo clocks to be exact. Benji jumped out of fear, and his hand thrust through the glass. We rushed around my fence, through the back door, and up the stairs to my bedroom. Our hearts were racing. They were racing so fast that we could barely breathe.
“What happened? What was that crash?” our friends questioned as they lay on the floor, hoping no one saw them peeking through the window.
“Well, there were cats. Lots of them. And a bunch of old people things. Everything looked like it was covered in dust. At least I think it was dust. And I saw a bunch of clocks. All against one wall,” Benji tried to explain.
My mom barged in my room, “What was that? Did you hear that ruckus? What were you all doing?”
“Mom, I can explain. We were playing truth or dare... And well, it was my turn. I chose dare. And they wanted me to knock on old Mrs. Smithson’s window. So I did. But my fist…”
The doorbell rang. We all looked around the room. My mom sighed and walked down the stairs. She opened the door. I peeked my head around the corner of the top of the stairs. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was old Mrs. Smithson standing at my doorstep.