Dare, Double Dare

"And you expect me to believe all this?"

"It's the truth!" insisted the storyteller of the group. "What do you want, a demonstration?"

"Yeah," said the girl calmly.

"Well, we can't do that," admitted the storyteller, "but I swear, Ray it's all true!"

"Don't call me 'Ray', Greg. My name's Rayne," said Rayne.

"Fine, Rayne," replied Greg with an indifferent shrug. "But it's still true."

"I'm sure," said Rayne, pointedly rolling her eyes. "You can't image how times I've been told a house is "truly" haunted, and I go inside only to find dust, cobwebs, and a group of guys in sheets trying to scare me. A haunted theatre is no different."

"This one is," said Greg seriously.

"It's so easy to say that. Where's the proof of anything you've said?"

Greg didn't reply, just gestured to group of his friends standing near. A younger boy came out and looked up at Rayne silently.

"My brother, Tom," said Greg. "He went inside a while ago, and he hasn't spoken since. He came out white as a sheet and shaking. No one knows why for sure, except us. He saw something. Or someone." Rayne gazed at the catatonic little boy.

"May I see if I can get him to talk?" she asked.

"Be my guest," replied Greg.

Rayne knelt down in front of Tom. He seemed to looking not at her but past her, through her.

"Look at me," she said gently. Tom did for a moment, then his gaze dropped to the pavement. "Look in my eyes." When he didn't, she gently raised his face and looked into his eyes. Her own grey eyes narrowed. His widened, almost in fear. "What do you see? Tell me what happened. Tell me what you saw in there."

"Your eyes," he croaked. "They're just like...his."

"Whose?"

"A faceless shadow. Something hanging over the stage. He laughed at me when I was afraid. Had to get out."

"Faceless? What do you mean?"

"No face. Just white. And eyes. Eyes like yours, only colourless, not grey."

"Where did you see the eyes?"

"Everywhere. First here, now there, moving all around."

"Hmm."

"I made Him angry, didn't I?"

"I don't think so. You were just curious. It's all right now. It's over. You're safe." When Tom didn't respond, she hugged him close. "It's OK. Go back to your brother now, he'll protect you." Tom walked slowly over and stood by his brother, who was staring at Rayne in astonishment. She smiled and straightened. "You just have to know how to talk to kids."

"Well, do you believe us now?" asked Greg.

"I'd still have to see it for myself," she replied evasively.

"Then you'll take the dare?" asked Greg, excitement growing in the small crowd of kids.

"Dares are for tiresome children with nothing else to do," she replied.

"Oh really?" asked Greg, annoyed. "Then I double dare you. I triple-dog-dare you." The other kids murmured amongst themselves. No one had ever turned down a triple-dog-dare. But it looked like Rayne was going to be the first. She gazed at them in thoughtful silence.

"Aw, forget it, Greg," scoffed one boy. "She's just a country girl."

"Do I look like "just a country girl" to you?" asked Rayne. The boy started to retort that she did, then he took a good look at her. Steel-toed Demonia boots, black fishnet stockings, fringe-edged denim shorts, light blue T-shirt with a motorcycle and the words "Biker Chick" on the front, not to mention her jewelry. Metal pentacle slave bracelet, heavy dragon thumb ring, Gothic cross around her neck, double piercings in her ears, tiny daggers in the second holes, serpentine dragons with red eyes in the first, her thick hair, dyed black, pulled back away from her face, no makeup. She did not look like just a country girl. Even her strong, almost overpowering, perfume was Gothic, heady and dizzying. 'Black Rose' she told them later it was.

"If a triple-dog-dare doesn't interest you, then let's make it more interesting," offered Greg. "You go in for one hour. But you have to bring us a souvenir from inside, and you have to sing on the stage." Rayne smiled.

"Your offer is acceptable," she said, "but I'll do you one better. I will stay inside the theatre for one full twenty-four hour day. And if I do, you each pay me twenty-four bucks, one for each hour. What say you?" Everyone was excited at this and urged Greg to accept. He grinned and held out his hand.

"We have a deal."

Rayne grinned back and shook his hand firmly. "Just one more question."

"Shoot."

"May I bring my friends with me?" She gestured to the German Shepherds sitting at her sides, one pure black, one pure white, both with ice-blue eyes. Greg smiled at them.

"I don't see why not."

"Good. But I can't go in now. I'll meet you here tonight, say, midnight?"

"We'll be here. See you then." The new, though shaky, friends parted ways. All there was left to do was wait until midnight.

New York City is never truly quiet, but the air was so thick with anticipation that you could've heard a pin drop on the pavement outside the Majestic Theatre. The group of New York kids had arrived first, and was waiting to see if this country girl with a New York attitude was going to turn out to be a no-show. But soon they heard the soft thud! of her boots and the clicking of her dogs' nails on the sidewalk. A tall figure in a black cloak approached them with their hood up. There was a brief pause, then she swept the hood back to reveal her face. It was Rayne.

"Nice cloak," commented Greg.

"Thanks," she replied. "My mom made it for me. I figured it would help hide me."

"Sure did," said another boy. "We couldn't see ya at first."

"That was the idea," replied Rayne with a smile. "Are we ready?"

"If you are," said Greg. "We've got something for you-" he broke off as a small knapsack was handed to him "-just some stuff you might need. In here there's food, a flashlight, some blankets, and a pillow. We figured if you're voluntarily staying in there for a full day, it's the least we can do."

"You're too kind," said Rayne, taking the sack. Then she smiled. "Really, I mean it. Thanks."

"No problem," replied Greg. "Now, there's a way in over here." He directed her to a boarded-up window and pulled the boards away effortlessly. "We'll meet you out here at midnight tomorrow night."

"I'll be here," said Rayne. "Good-night." With that, she entered through the window, her dogs following behind her, and Greg closed it up again behind her.

"D'ya think we'll ever see her again?" asked one of the younger group members.

"Of course we will," said Greg firmly. "After all, there's no such thing as ghosts."