“They probably aren’t getting enough exercise,” his dad said. He turned to face the three boys — “you’ve just been sitting around the house all week.”
“But we’re not allowed to go anywhere,” said Jack. He was about to continue, but his dad cut him off.
“Hold on, let me finish,” he paused to open his yogurt. “I was going to suggest that you could resume short hiking. Nothing out of the neighborhood.”
“Really?” said Jack — he looked to Ben and Stephen.
“Yes, really. You’ve had five days, I hope that’s enough to impress upon you the importance of avoiding trouble,” he continued.
The boys were riveted.
“You can go as far as the power lines, but not past them,” he said. “And if you see anything suspicious or dangerous, you’re to let us know immediately.”
“Of course!” offered Jack.
“But, we also want you to sleep inside at night, and put away the camping gear,” he added.
“And, you need to keep a journal of your trips,” said his mom. “No less than two hundred words apiece.” His mom had always been big on writing and had pushed Jack in that direction every chance she got. Jack wasn’t bothered by this condition, he knew he could knock out two hundred words in no time. Ben and Stephen looked nervous at the proposition.
“I’ve got to get to work,” said Jack’s dad. “You boys be good. See ya, honey,” he said to his wife and then strode from the kitchen.
Outside, the boys dove into the task of dismantling their campsite. They buzzed with excitement at the idea of being able to regain some freedom.
“I was just starting to like being nocturnal,” said Stephen.
“Yeah, well we’re going to have to be extra careful,” said Ben.
“I’ve got an idea about the hatch, and the drop on the inside,” said Jack.
Ben looked up — “Yeah, what?”
“We’ve got an emergency fire ladder,” said Jack. “It’s in the chest in the guest room. It’s one of those rope things that you hook to the window-sill.”
“Can we get it out of the house?” asked Stephen. “Let’s go right now.”
“That would be too suspicious,” said Ben. “Let’s say we’re going to plan a trip for this afternoon and then we’ll have plenty of time to figure everything out.”
“Good plan,” said Jack.
They were scared to approach the hotel in daylight. The day was still and hot — the boys sweated as they huddled in the woods behind the building, watching carefully. In the distance, they could hear the occasional car on the road that bordered the other side of the hotel, but nothing stirred near them. Jack felt they were being watched.
Ben was the first to dare into the field — hunched over, he trotted up the drainage ditch to the corner of the building. He wore a backpack containing the rope ladder. Briefly looking down the sides of the building, he gave Jack and Stephen a thumbs-up.
Jack and Stephen followed Ben’s path to the hotel, carrying the stepladder between them. When they got to the back of the hotel, they propped the ladder against the side of the building and Ben climbed up on top of the back porch roof. The other two followed and Jack reached over the side and managed to haul the ladder on the porch roof with them.
With no discussion, they took their places. They had planned these steps all morning. Stephen held the ladder, Ben pressed the button, and Jack climbed up to open the hatch as soon as he heard the click.
“Okay, hand me the rope-ladder,” said Jack.
Ben opened his backpack, withdrew a jumble of rope and plastic rungs and handed two hooks up to Jack. Setting the hooks on the lip of the entrance, Jack fed the ladder inside the building. He peered into the darkness, trying to see how far the ladder extended.
“Hit the switch,” said Stephen from below.
“Oh yeah,” said Jack. He reached up and flipped the switch mounted to the ceiling of the hatch. “I think it goes almost all the way down.”
“Come back down for a second,” said Ben.
When Jack reached the porch roof the three stood in a circle, eye-to-eye. “What’s up?” asked Jack.
“Okay,” said Ben, “this is where it gets serious. We could get into real trouble for going in here, and not just being grounded. There could be really dangerous stuff ahead — we don’t even know what.”
“Anything is possible,” said Stephen, “but we’ll just take it slow and we’ll be fine.”
“Who’s going down?” asked Jack.
“I want to,” said Ben. “But I’m just going to go down the ladder, look around, and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”
“Okay,” said Jack, “but I get to go second.”
“And I get your video games if you don’t come back,” added Stephen.
“We should have brought the walkie-talkies,” said Jack.
“You’ll be able to hear me,” said Ben. “It’s not that far.” He started up the stepladder. When he reached the top, he turned around and lifted his leg backwards through the hole. Jack and Stephen watched as he disappeared into the hatch. When his right hand let go of the edge Jack went up the ladder to look over the side. Ben was about halfway down the ladder.
“Can you see anything yet?” Jack asked.
“Nothing yet,” said Ben. He paused and leaned back and to his left. “Well, there’s a room down here.”
Jack held the hooks attached to the edge of the wall. Ben dropped the few feet from the bottom of the ladder to the floor and then took a couple of tentative steps away from the wall. His head turned for a few seconds, like he was scanning the room, and then he turned back to the ladder.
“Coming back up,” Ben said. When he was at the top, Jack cleared out of his way and they reconvened on the porch roof.
“It’s not very big,” said Ben. “Maybe a little smaller than your room,” he pointed to Jack. “Three of the walls are blank — kinda white or gray. There’s a picture of a man on one wall; like a biology picture or something. No doors or anything, but on the right wall there’s a ladder attached to the wall and a hole in the ceiling. I couldn’t see up there because it was dark.”
“Any vents, or outlets, or anything?” asked Jack.
“Nope, just blank walls,” said Ben. “I think the floor is concrete.”
“What kind of ladder?” asked Stephen. “Would it hold us?”
“Yeah, I think so,” said Ben. “Looked real sturdy.”
“We’ve got lights — let’s go,” said Jack.
“I think only one of us should go all the way in,” said Ben. “What if the hatch closes behind us, or something else happens. We need someone to go back to your house and tell your mom.”
“That sucks though,” said Stephen.
“Well, look,” said Ben, “you guys can go and see the ladder and I’ll stay here for now.”
“Yeah, and we’ll come back when we figure out where the ladder goes,” said Jack.
“Just make sure one of you stays close enough so I can hear if you yell or something,” said Ben.
“Okay,” said Stephen, “I’ll stay at the bottom this time.”
With that agreement, they took their places. At the bottom of the rope ladder, Jack and Stephen were impressed with Ben’s understatement. Three walls were blank, but the fourth wall was an amazing depiction of the inner workings of the human body. The painting was life-sized and stood about six-feet tall. The left half mostly showed skin and the right was a collection of muscles, bones, and organs.
“Wow,” exhaled Jack.
“This thing is creepy,” Stephen yelled up the chimney to Ben.
Ben didn’t meet Stephen’s gaze, but replied: “I know.”
“Okay,” Jack said to Stephen, “let’s check out this next ladder.”