Sid has tricked me into doing stupid things many times. By now I should be a lot more suspicious of the motives behind anything he does. But instead I end up falling for the next trick that he has up his sleeve. This wasn’t the first time that he’s tricked me and it wouldn’t be the last.
Sid had called me when I got home from school and asked me to meet him by the old Lahey warehouse deep in Suffolk woods. It wasn’t actually a warehouse, but more of a four brick wall monument, built together to form a square with no roof and no floor. Stories made their way throughout our town all the time about how this place came to be. Some say it just appeared one day, while others claim it’s haunted by Kelly Lahey, who had died right by the old place. Of course none of this is true, but it doesn’t make the place any less sketchy.
When I arrived at the warehouse later that evening I didn’t know what to expect. Sid and I used to come here a lot to take pictures and record “ghost videos” that he would put up on his website. I had figured that he might want to continue that so I had brought my camera. But when I pushed my way through all the trees and found the clearing towards the warehouse, I saw Sid talking to his friends – Charlie, Heather, Nate, and Rooney. Great.
Sid turned around at the sound of my feet crunching the fall leaves. “Hey, Evie. So glad you could join us.” He winked and opened his arms wide, expecting me to go in for a hug. Instead I stayed where I stood, hands deep within my pockets, curiosity written all over my face.
“What am I doing here, Sid?”
“That question has been asked a lot today believe it or not.” Sid turned back towards his friends and gestured towards me. “Maybe say hi to Evie, guys?” They all mumbled a “hello” of some sort, except Rooney who gave me a big, toothy smile and a very enthusiastic wave. I returned it only half-heartedly.
“Great, now that you all have acknowledged each other… sort of, we can get on with this.” At this Sid abruptly turned on his heel, knowing very well that we would all follow. We walked a little ways towards the warehouse, Nate running to catch up with Sid, Charlie holding Heather’s hand, and Rooney falling back to walk with me. When we reached the brick wall, Sid took up a position in front of us, getting ready to explain his new deadly, yet clever plan.
Once Sid cleared his throat, Rooney turned towards me practically giggling out a “here we go.” Honestly, I thought I was done having to deal with Sid’s friends once we broke up. Especially Rooney who flirted with me when I was with Sid and even flirts with me know when he knows I have a boyfriend.
Sid cleared his throat again and began to speak. “All of you have asked a very important question, but I like the way Heather phrased it the best. So, what the hell are we doing in this damn, disgusting place you ask? Well I’ll tell you Heather, dearie.” At this Heather scoffed, looking like her usual annoying and whiney self. “My website needs new content and I know just the misfits to provide that. So my question to answer your question is: How many times has the walls to this warehouse been breached?”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You heard me, how many times have these walls been breached?”
“Sid, there is literally a hole on the other side, they’ve been breached many times.”
“Wrong. Anyone else want to give it a go? Nate? No? Okay.” Sid turned back towards the wall and started patting the brick. “The answer is never. No one has ever climbed these walls because there is a hole in the other side. This means one of you four poor souls is going to, and Evie, my dear you’re going to tape it!”
The five of us all looked dubiously at Sid. “You’re kidding, right?” I asked.
“Nope.” Sid said, popping the “p” and walking away.
“I guess I’ll just get my equipment then?”
“That you will,” Sid called over his shoulder.
I walked back to my car, pulling the equipment out of my trunk, and asking myself why I didn’t just drive away leaving Sid to his psychotic idea. Of course I knew why. I could never say no to Sid, even less now that I hardly see him anymore. When I saw his contact pop up on my phone earlier, the same shock that used to go through me when I was in love with him came back, and I knew that there would always be a part of me that would be weak for his attention. So I shut my trunk, locked my car, and headed back towards the definite doom that awaited me.
When I re-entered the clearing, I set my camera up on its tripod and waited for everything to get started. Sid was nowhere to be seen, but that was usual for him. He liked to make the situation more dramatic than it needed to be, which was fine with everyone else, but set my nerves on edge.
We waited about fifteen minutes for Sid to show his face again, but the longer we waited the more it seemed like he wasn’t coming back.
“Maybe we should start without him,” Heather whined.
“Maybe we should just go home,” I retorted. Honestly, did she always have to be so annoying?
“Actually, Evie I think we should start. I’m sure Sid won’t mind as long as we give him the footage,” Nate piped up.
“Fine. If you insist.”
I went back to my camera and got it ready for recording. If anything was going to come out of this, at least it would be a few god laughs. “Alright guys,” I called. “In three, two, one, go!”
Nate, Heather, Charlie and Rooney took off from their spots and tried to get a grip on the wall to lift themselves into a position to start climbing. Unfortunately for them there seemed to be no cracks in the wall and if there were they were extremely small. This might take a while.
As I went to sit down by my camera, I was stopped by the sound of moaning coming from the wall. Everyone stepped away as we saw someone climbing up the opposite side, and then falling, landing with a ‘thump.’
I ran over to the person on the ground, and dropped down next to them. I started shaking the person until another incoherent moan came out of their mouth. Sid’s mouth.
“What the hell, Sid!” I yelled.
Another burst of moaning came from him.  I ducked my head lower, trying to hear what he was saying better. As I did this Sid leaned up and captured my lips in what I can only describe as a passionate kiss. It took me a moment to gain control over myself, and when I did I felt myself kissing him back. It only lasted a couple of moments until I roughly pulled away.
“Sid! What the hell!”
“The wall has been breached,” he whispered.
I turned around to find all of his friends laughing, especially Nate who had my camera in his hands, red light blinking, showing that it was recording.
Recording the kiss.
“Nate give me that!”
“Should I, Sid?” Nate asked.
“Not on your life, kid.” Sid got off the ground, and walked towards Nate, patting on him on the back. He continued to walk forward, his friends following closely behind. He only looked back one other time to wink at me over his shoulder.
I stood in the middle of the clearing, the warehouse behind me. I watched as Sid walked off with his friends, swagger in his steps. I was left confused and worst of all I was left camera less.