The Choice (a Painful Past)

128

I looked up and saw my special blond haired, blue eyed little boy walk into the building. I guess he wasn't actually a little boy anymore. He was fifteen today.

Next year, he would be driving without my direction. That was terrifying.

Tears stung my eyes, as I watched him clasp hands with his friend, Cason, then Denise's son, Xander.

"Hey, Birthday Boy." I said, walking up to him.

He looked my way and smiled that gorgeous little grin of his.

"Hey Mom." He replied. "This looks amazing. Thank you!"

"I did my best." I laughed, as I watched him look around the building.

His eyes shone with excitement, as he took in the blacklights placed around the room, along with a strobe light and a fog machine. There were glow sticks placed on a table right by the door, so that the guests could grab a few, when they walked inside. I had borrowed Shawn's huge stereo, with his two ten speakers, and amplifier.

We were really about to rock the house. The strange thing about this party was that it had two different themes.

Later that night, when it was really dark, we would have the neon, blacklight dance party section of the party. Until then, it was a Sam and Colby XPLR party.

XPLR was their brand, so to speak, because they explored abandoned places. Well, they used to. They had gone through a few phases, but this was still their brand.

I think they were more focused on the haunted aspects of things now. Which is why I had combined the two aspects of their channel.

I had planned an exploration of an "abandoned building" that would also entail ghost hunting.

The abandoned building was actually just an old empty jail that was owned by the county. It hadn't been used in years, so it looked really old and decrepit. They had kept it up, so it was safe to go inside, but it didn't really look that way from the outside.

It was made of old gray bricks and stood 3 stories high. There were barred windows lining the outside of the second and third floors, where the prisoners had been held. Ivy was growing along the outside, trailing all the way from top to bottom and leading around, under the highest windows.

Bryon had made it possible for us to use it. Since he was a county cop, and friends with the head of Chamber of Commerce, he had talked them into letting us use it for a small fee. I could feel the excitement growing in me, when all the guests had arrived, and were waiting to see what we were going to do.

Finally, it was time. Ben didn't have a clue what we were going to do. He just knew that it was an XPLR themed party.

"Hey everyone!" I yelled above the chatter.

There were teenagers everywhere, boys and girls, just piled into the small building.

"Are we ready to have some fun?!"

"YEAAAHHH!" They all yelled.

I even heard a few whistles resound inside the walls.

"Well, I told your parents beforehand, to see if they were okay with what we were planning on doing today. Ben doesn't even know yet. It's a surprise. Are you ready to see what it is?!" I yelled.

There was a bunch of yelling to answer my question.

I laughed at Ben's wide, expectant eyes.

"Okay, it's across the street, so I need everyone to follow me, and watch out for traffic!"

I grabbed the bookbag, that I had the ghost hunting supplies in, and threw it over my shoulders. I had a lot of flashlights, because the inside of that jail was super dark, even in the daytime.

I had a few real EMF meters, which detects electromagnetic fields, left behind by paranormal activity. There was also a cheap REM-POD, a spirit box, and a few cat balls. The kids would have to share the EMF meters, because I definitely didn't have enough.

I had lucked up on the few that I had, just because Denise found a page on Facebook where people were selling ghost equipment that they no longer used. Whether they were upgrading or quitting, I was thankful for it, because it was definitely all that I could afford. I had almost maxed out the one credit card that I had, just to make this entire thing possible.

It was going to be worth it, just to see how happy Ben was though.

I led the way across the street, and down to the next block, where the old jail was kind of hidden behind a wall of tall trees.

"What are we doing?" Ben asked, once everyone was standing with us in front of the entrance.

They couldn't see it was the entrance, because we had to actually go through the trees, so everyone was kind of confused, except for the adults.

"Well, your party is Sam and Colby themed, right?" I asked. "And exploring is what they do."

"Yeeaah." He replied, drawing out the word.

"What else do they do, when they explore?" I asked, as I waited for the realization to dawn on him.

He furrowed his brow, which made him look even more grown up somehow.

"Wait, ghost hunt?! Are we going on an actual ghost hunt?!" He yelled, after it clicked for him.

I knew that my smile was probably one of the biggest of all the people there, including Ben. I nodded, and almost before I could even comprehend what was happening, my almost grown, taller than me, child jumped into my arms and hugged me as tight as he could.

Tears pricked my eyes again, but this time, I didn't mind. I loved him with everything in me, and if my role in this world was just to make him smile, then I was okay with that. I laughed, as he kissed my cheek, and hung onto me.

"Okay, you're not a little kid anymore. I can't carry you for that long." I grunted, keeping the smile on my face.

"Oh yeah." He laughed, and dropped his legs down to the ground.

I heaved a sigh of relief, while simultaneously missing how I used to be able to carry his 8-year-old body around sometimes, like when he would fall asleep on the couch.

"What are we exploring? Is it in the woods?" One of his friends asked.

"Kind of." I answered. "It's just right through these trees. This place has been here for a very long time. It's safe to enter, but I still want everyone to be safe, because it is really dark in here. Okay? Everyone promise to listen and follow the rules?" All of the kids murmured their agreements.

I could see that some of them looked really excited, while others were a tad apprehensive. Thankfully, most of the apprehensive ones had their parents with them.

"Alright, here we go. Everyone stay together." I said, as I turned my back on them, and proceeded through the short expanse of tall trees.

As soon as I ducked into them, the sun was totally eclipsed.

"Shit." I murmured, quietly. "Hold on, let me go ahead and get the flashlights out!" I yelled.