I'll Take Spades (Rewrite)

0.2

I sat cradled in the branches of an old oak tree behind my house. I could see over the rooftop, up there I could see for miles. I could see the treetops all around the lake, small birds and creatures nesting in the viridescence. I could see the top of the old house down the road, with its boarded up windows and cracked tiles, I'm surprised it's even still standing.

"Ash!" a voice came through the branches. "What?" I yelled back, not wanting to leave my tree, I loved sitting here. Usually I have a book or a drink, but today, I have nothing, just me and my thoughts, and that's how I liked it.

"Dinner!" The voice came again. I climbed down to face my brother, Hunter. He was 2 years older than me, and taller, but other than that he was my ultimate best friend.

"You coming?" he asked me, he snickered at my dazed expression. "What were you doing up there anyway?"

"Thinking" I said simply, Hunter smiled and rubbed his eye.

"Well, don't get lost in your thoughts, dinner's getting cold" he walked back inside, leaving me to follow at my own convenience, but i shouldn't be late, or else dad would be cross. I walked back inside slowly, leaving myself time to think, my mind lingered on the old house down the road, I wonder what it's story is.

The old house down the road had been abandoned for at least 30 odd years now, there were hundreds of stories and rumours flying around town about kids who went in there and never came out, and whose ghost is haunting its residence and what not. The story that made the most sense was the one about a cruel man who had lived there. Story says he abandoned his wife and daughter after his son was killed in a car accident and from then on terrorized the children that lived in town. So much that many families moved away from there, so he could have a peaceful life. There are theories on why he abandoned his family too, some think it's because he hated his wife, some say his daughter went crazy, I just think it was the memory of his son that drove him away. 

I walked inside the house, I'd been thinking too long, I do that often. I sat down at the table, next to my brother. Our father had laid out two plates of pasta. I noticed the little pieces of chicken and parsley in it, just how mum used to make it. Our mother died soon after i was born, cancer i think, leaving our 54 year old father to care for me and my brother. He never liked us very much, he always thought we were "too much trouble" or "too expensive." It's like he didn't know how to raise a child.

My brother and I ate quickly before heading up to the room we shared, blue walls, bunk beds, just like when we were kids. It had not changed. 

"Hey" he said, sitting on the bottom bunk. "I was thinking, some friends and I were planning to go check out the old abandoned house in north" My eyes lit up, to spend tomorrow, October 13th, in the abandoned house of a mad man. "Would you want to-"

"Yes" I said quickly, before he had finished speaking, he chuckled, "Settled then, we're going after school" I sat down next to him, my brain fizzing. We sat in silence for a second before Hunter moved, "Bet you a tenner on a game of COD?" he asked, he pulled out a crisp ten pound note out of a box on his nightstand.

"Deal," I replied. I powered on my Xbox console and booted up Call of Duty. We played for a while and I ended up winning.

"Dammit!" Hunter exclaimed, as I took the crown.  "You've gotta be hacking" I shook my head and laughed.

"I practise," I shrugged. "Really? I thought you spent all your free time in that pretty little headspace of yours" I rolled my eyes at this, he always made fun of me for being more of a daydreamer, the fact that I could stare at the wall for hours and be completely occupied by doing nothing. I don't think I'm that bad, I just have a short attention span and find my own company more enjoyable. I suppose I don't have many friends at school, but I get by.