We walked up onto the porch, pulled off some boards and crawled inside to see what awaited us. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting nothing but a dirt floor and tons of spiders, which scare the crap out of me. Upon first inspection I did notice some webs but not the hordes of hairy, fanged bloodsuckers I had been imagining. Most of the church furniture was still there – the pews, the altar, even a tiny wood stove. That was a welcome sight, as it seemed much cooler there than it had been at home. Probably because we were higher up, I guessed.
Johnny went to work pulling some boards off the windows and walls, breaking them up, and feeding them into the stove, coaxing them along with Ponyboy's lighter. Before long, he had a pretty respectable fire going. Pony and I had set off on our own to explore the space. It seemed so strange to me that people would just abandon a place, furniture and all. I imagined our house abandoned, strangers wandering through and trying to read into the people who had once lived there, based only on what they had left behind. I pretty quickly realized that I didn't want to think about home just then and instead I focused on my exploration.
All over the place there were traces of a variety of critters that had taken up residence since the human owners had moved on, and I crept quietly around, hoping to catch sight of a few of them. Excepting my fear of spiders, I am pretty fascinated with just about any kind of animal. Our Mom was allergic, so we were never allowed to get a pet, despite our shameless begging for a puppy, even up until just before they died. In the back room, I did manage to startle a pair of mice, who scurried away, cussing me out loudly in mouse language, but everything else seemed to be either asleep or otherwise occupied.
Pony and I met back up in the room with the pews, and I saw that Johnny had lay down beside the stove and was asleep. I realized we had been awake all night, and suddenly sleep was looking pretty good. I looked at Pony and we both just walked over and crashed on the floor beside him. I never thought I would sleep so soundly on a dirt floor.
A/N: I'm not that mean, my reviewer friends, to only post such a short one, after promising another chapter. Another one to follow. Hey, who knows, if a ton of people reveiew this one maybe another will follow! Reviews motivate me