Nick was an eleven year old boy that was a little on the heavy side for his height of four feet seven inches and had short brown hair and brown eyes. He opened the window to his second floor bedroom and clicked on his walkie talkie. Taking a small bite size rock out of the box he collected from the side of the road, he lightly chucked it over to his best friend’s window, just enough not to smash a hole through the glass. He watched as the blinds rolled up and saw his friend Christian push up his bedroom window. Christian was a short, blonde-headed kid with big blue eyes, and a dark birth mark across his right arm that looked like the state of Vermont. He heard Nick’s voice echo through his two way radio.

“Hey.” Nick said.

“What are you doing?” Christian asked.

“Nothing, I’m just checking to see if you’re awake yet.”

“Yeah I’m awake,” he replied with a yawn. “What do you want to do today?”

“I don’t know, maybe ride around on the bikes, or maybe go to the cemetery and dodge the grave stones.”

“My Mom said that there are some new people moving into the new house they just finished building at the end of the street.”

“You wanna go check it out, and see if they have any kids?”

“Sure, but I have to get dressed and eat breakfast first.”

“Okay, just whistle when you’re ready.”

Nick clicked off his radio, threw it on his bed, and put his clothes on. He opened his bedroom door and saw his mother walking up the stairs holding a hot cup of tea, and somewhat still half a sleep.

“Nicky, you’re going to eat some breakfast before you go out that door to Christian’s,” she said with a disciplinary voice.

“Mom, I already know that,” he told her

“Well, then good; and don’t fight with your sister down there either!”

He walked into the kitchen and saw his older sister Rachel sitting there eating toast, and a bowl of Apple Jacks. She was a petite girl with long, light brown hair, and big brown eyes. She was going into the tenth grade in September, and was always on the phone with her plentiful boyfriends. She glared at him as he walked over to the refrigerator, and pulled out the milk. He poured himself some Apple Jacks, and spilled the milk on the counter as he filled his bowl. He carefully walked over to the kitchen table, and sat across his sister who still glaring at him. They sat there eating in silence watching every move each other made just in case one threw something the other wouldn’t miss it. Nick was just about finished with his bowl, when he thought he heard the sound of Christian’s whistle. He quickly jumped up and put his bowl in the sink. He ran by his sister and pushed her bowl into her lap soaking her pants with milk, and ran out the door laughing.

“Jerk!” she shouted as the door slammed.

Nick giggled as he hopped on his bike and rode around the small island in the middle of the cul-de-sac, and looked around for Christian. He rode around the circle stretching his neck in every direction, and didn’t see Christian anywhere. He whistled loudly for Christian and rode around the center island nine or so more times before Christian finally came out of his house, and hopped on his bike.

            “Where were you?” Nick shouted.

            “I had to eat breakfast, and then I had to brush my teeth.”

            “It felt like you took forever.”

            “Do you still want to see if anybody moved into that new house yet?”

            “Yeah, let’s go. I thought I heard you whistle.”

            They rode their bikes down to the end of the road where the traffic of Route 110 flies by at 40 plus miles an hour. They stopped at the first house on the left, and stared at it for a bit and waited for any movement in the windows but didn’t see anything, or anyone. They dropped their bikes, walked over to the windows and peaked in for a closer look.

            “Look at all these nails on the ground!” Nick shouted excitedly, and picked up a handful.

            Christian looked down at the nails the same time they heard a big long truck turning into the road. They watched the big truck slowly stop in front of the house, and saw a tall husky man jump out of the passenger side.

            “Hi boys,” the man said. “Make sure you don’t get into trouble around here!” He told them firmly.

“No Sir,” replied Christian.

            They both watched the man open the side of the trailer, and pull out a long metal ramp.

Suddenly, they saw a big new Blazer pull into the dirt driveway and slide to a stop stirring up a dust cloud. A heavy set black-haired man slammed his foot on the ground and pulled himself out of the Blazer as they saw the truck bounce back up on its shocks. Nick started to laugh out loud but quickly he stopped and wiped the smile off his face when he noticed the big man was walking toward them.

            “You boys, what are you doing here?” asked the man with a deep voice and waved his finger in front of Christian and Nick as he stood over them.

            “N-Nothing Sir, we’re just standing here,” replied Christian a little frightened.

            “What are you planning on doing with those nails in your hand boy?” asked them man leaning over toward Nick and putting his hands firm against his sides.

            Nick quickly threw the nails on the ground and wiped his hands. “Nothing Sir,” he quickly answered.

            “Good. Now then.” He bent down a little closer and stared into both their eyes for a moment almost intimidating them. “I want you to meet my daughter,” he said and smiled. “She’s about your age, maybe a little older.”

            The passenger door of the new Blazer slammed shut when a thin, pretty little girl with long brown hair and some maturity starting to show came out from around the back of the Blazer. She walked toward her father staring at Nick and Christian and acted somewhat shy.

            “This is my daughter Michelle,” said her father. “Everybody calls her Mitchy. It’s kind of a nick name if you’d call it.”

            “Hi Mitchy, I’m Christian,” he said as he looked into her soft, baby blue eyes and smiled. Instantly Christian blushed. He liked her in a way that seemed new to him.

            “I’m Nick I live next door to Christian.”

            Mitchy nervously waved at both of them and smiled mostly at Christian thinking he was kinda cute.

            “Do you want to come in and see our new home?” Mitchy’s father asked.

            “Sure.” They both answered together.

            Mitchy’s father slowly opened the thick, brown wooden door with an oval shaped window in the middle, and waited for the kids to enter the new house. Christian and Nick looked around but didn’t think much of it since they thought it was just another new house on the street they watched get built. Mitchy’s father got goose bumps as he walked around and saw all the freshly painted white walls, and the new tan colored rugs.

            “Mr. Terrazano, where do you want to put the couch?” The mover echoed his voice through the empty house.

            “Put it down in this room here.”

            The movers put the couch down, took a deep breath, and walked back out to get more furniture.

            “Is that your last name, Terrazano?” Christian asked.

            “Yes it is,” Mitchy replied.

            “Christian let’s go ride our bikes around,” Nick said and ran out the door.

            “Do you have a bike Mitchy?” Christian asked.

            “Yeah, but it’s still in the truck. I have to wait until the movers unpack it.”

            “Mitchy, let me see if the movers can find it for you okay?” Her father said walking out of the room and out the door to the truck. They watched Nick ride around the street, as they saw Mitchy’s father walking up the ramp to talk to one of the movers.

            “Christian!” Nick shouted.

            Christian walked out of the house squeezing past the mattress coming through the door, and jumped the steps to his bike. He looked back up at Mitchy, and then looked over at the truck hoping to see her bike.

            “Mitchy, here’s your bike!” her father shouted from inside the truck. “Go ride around with your new friends, but stay in sight,” He ordered.

            Christian and Mitchy smiled at each other as she jumped on her green bike with a yellow banana seat and bright yellow handle bar grips and tassels. They rode down the road fast, and caught up to Nick circling the island as he always did.

            “Christian and I made a long trail all around the back of all the other new houses. You wanna to go with us Mitchy?”

            “Okay, but my dad wants me to stay in sight so he won’t worry about where I am.”

            “He’ll see you the whole time. The trail only travels around there,” Nick explained and pointed his finger to the rest of the houses on the same side as Mitchy's new home. “It ends in the back of your house. Then there’s another trail that goes from the back of your house to the old cemetery.”

            “Let’s go,” Christian said.

            They rode around the houses and hurried through the yard of the old man that yelled at Nick and Christian all the time. As usual, they heard the old man’s voice screeching and swearing up a storm.

            “God dammit you little bastards!” the old man shouted from his shed. “You’re digging up my lawn. Get the hell out of here before I call your parents!”

            Nicky started to laugh as he scurried down the trail bouncing his tires off the roots of trees, and turned his head to see Christian and their new found friend. They stopped in the back of Mitchy's house and caught their breath. Nicky glanced through the woods and noticed he could see the top of the cemetery gravestones.

            “Hey, you guys want to go ride around the cemetery and race around the thin roads?” Nick asked.

            “I’d have to go ask my dad,” Mitchy said.

            “Where’s your mom? Does she live with you?” Christian asked because he noticed she never spoke of her.

            “No, my mom died in a car crash last year,” she explained putting her head down.

            “Go ask your dad and we’ll wait here for you,” Christian said quickly changing the subject.

            “Okay,” she looked back up with a big smile and peddled toward the front of the house.

            They watched her ride off to ask her dad. Christian wondered about her mom, and then thought about his own mom for a short moment, and thought about what it would be like without a mom. They saw Mitchy quickly ride back, and stop.

            “He said I can go for a little while. But I have to be careful and not get hurt,” she told them.

            Christian led the way down the thin trail to the cemetery, and jumped the small eroded stone wall with his bike that surrounds the cemetery grounds.

            He waited for Nicky and Mitchy to come out of the trail and slowly rode around some of the old stones that were falling apart from hundreds of years of erosion.

            Mitchy caught up with Christian, and quickly rode by him with a smile hoping he’ll chase her around the black top.

            Nicky fell behind and stopped his bike in the middle of the hill watching them ride around laughing and chasing each other.

            “Hey!” Nicky echoed through the cemetery.

            Christian looked back and stopped and heard Mitchy's tire skid on the thin road.

            “What are you doing?” Christian asked.

            “I don’t wanna race!”

            “Why not, we’re just riding around?”

            “I’m going home.”

            “Why?”

            Nicky turned his bike around and rode back to the trail as Christian and Mitchy watched.

            “Nicky! Where are you going? This was your idea!” Christian started to get upset as he watched him disappear into the trail. He turned around and looked at Mitchy glancing around at the hundreds of gravestones. He knew Nick didn’t want her around, but he liked her and he didn’t want her to leave. “Let’s ride around some more. Forget him. Let him go home, Christian said with a snippy attitude.

            “He doesn’t like me, does he?” Mitchy asked feeling a little hurt.

            “Yeah he likes you. He’s just a little strange that’s all.”

            “I need to go back home anyway. My dad is probably wondering where I am.”

“Okay, bye.”

            He watched his new friend as she rode back up the hill and into the trail. Afterwards, he rode around the cemetery for a few moments more, and headed for the three trees that grew straight up and formed a perfect triangle on the ground. The trees were planted in the middle of the cemetery with old war cannons cemented to the ground far apart from each side as a monument for a person who lived many years ago. But as for Christian, he could care less who it was.

            He was peddling towards the three trees when suddenly a strange, phantom-like wind from out of nowhere swept through the cemetery. One of the branches broke off a tree and landed in the middle of the triangle. Christian quickly locked up his rear tire and hit the branch. The impact threw him off his bike and he rolled on the ground through the trees as his bike lay there tangled in the branch. He wiped the dirt off his face with his shirt and stood up. When he wiped his pants off, he felt a small stinging sensation on his left elbow. He put his hand on his arm and felt his blood soaked his skin. “Shit!” he shouted and pulled a small leaf off his wound. He looked at the blood on his hand, and wiped it down on the leg of his jeans. Then he walked over to get his bike when suddenly, he was bounced off his feet from a bright blue force field that surrounded the three trees for a split second. Christian watched as the broken branch and his bike just vanished into thin air right before his eyes. His eyes bulged out of their sockets. Instantly he got scared and forgot about the cut on his elbow. He jumped back onto his feet and ran as fast as he could to the trail, feeling the wind on his face. He swiftly jumped over the stone wall and cut through the bike trail like an ancient sword singing through the air.

            “Nicky!” he shouted.

            “Nicky!” he shouted again. He ran right past Mitchy like she wasn’t even there, and bolted down the road to tell his best friend what just happened. “Nicky!” he shouted louder. Nicky turned around and saw him running as fast as he could. He stopped his bike on the island and waited for him. “I just, he tried to say since he was completely out of breath, and grasping for air. “I just” Christian took another breath.

            “Where’s your bike?”

            “I just, I just saw my, (cough) I just saw my bike disappear, (cough) in the triangle.”

            Nick looked at his arm covered in blood and noticed his pants and shirt were dirty.

            “You fell off your bike didn’t you? You wiped out.” Nicky started to laugh.

            “Nicky my bike, (cough) disappeared right in front of me in the triangle. I fell off my bike after hitting a branch, and (cough) when I went to go get it, it disappeared right in front of me.”

            Nick didn’t believe him at first, but the way he was telling the story, and seeing the dirt on his clothes, he knew he was telling the truth.

            “Christian! Look at you,” his mother shouted from the front door. “You’re full of dirt! Come in here and get yourself cleaned up!” He looked at Nicky, and walked toward his house. He turned around, and looked at Nick one last time before he shut the door.

            “Christian what happened! Look at your arm, you’re hurt. Go into the bathroom, we need to wash that off before it gets infected!” his mother shouted again.

            Nick sat there on his bike, and wanted to wait for Christian to come back out. But he was too curious to wait, and rode his bike toward the cemetery to check it out.

            “Nicky!” Mitchy yelled.

            Nicky stopped his bike in front of her.

            “I want to be friends with you. I didn’t mean to make you feel left out, I’m sorry.”

            Nick sat there for a moment, and then cracked a smile. “Forget it, I’m fine,” he told her.

            “What happened to Christian? He ran right past me really fast.”

            “He said he saw his bike disappear inside the three-tree triangle.”

            “What three-tree triangle?” 

            “Come on, I’ll show you what I mean. We’ll probably find his bike there anyway.”

            “Three-tree triangle? That sounds weird.”

            “Come on.” He pushed against his peddles, and they rode back toward the cemetery trail.

            “Why do you call it a triangle Nick?” She asked bouncing her tires on the roots.

            “I’ll show you.”

            They slowly rode down the hill to the trees, stopped near the closest one, and flipped the kick stands down on their bikes. Nick looked around the area to see if he could find Christian’s bike.

            “I don’t see his bike anywhere Mitchy, do you?”

            “No, I don’t see it either,” she replied as she spun her head in all directions.

            “Let’s go ride around, and maybe we’ll find it in another spot,” he said and jumped back on his bike.

“But what about the three-tree triangle?” she asked. ”You were going to show me the triangle.”

            “This is the triangle, look.” He jumped off his bike and walked around. “This tree here,” he slammed his hand on the trunk. “This tree here and this tree right here. They’re all line up on the ground like a triangle. Sometimes we have séances and make believe the dead come back to life, and sometimes we just sit around and tell scary ghost stories.”

            “That sounds like a lot of fun.”

            “Yeah, it can be.”

            “Let’s go find--.”

            “Hey!” Christian shouted from the top of the hill.

            Mitchy and Nick looked up and watched him run down the hill with a new change of clothes and a white bandage wrapped around his elbow.

            “I don’t see your bike anywhere Christian!” Nick shouted.

            “I told you it disappeared in the triangle.”

            “That’s impossible. Nothing just disappears,” Mitchy said with disbelief.

            “I’m not kidding. I fell right here from a tree branch, and when I went to get it, some blue colored force field thing went around the trees and knocked me back to the ground, and then I saw my bike disappear.”

            “I still don’t believe you.” Mitchy said still in disbelief.

            “Then where is my bike Mitchy? Do you see me riding it?” he snapped at her.

            Nicky giggled, and looked at Mitchy getting mad.

            “I’m going home. You boys are weird,” Mitchy snapped back and jumped on her bike.

            They watched her ride up the hill, and disappear into the trail.

            “You believe me Nick don’t you?”

            “I-I don’t know, it’s kinda hard to Christian.”

            “Fine then,” he snapped. “Go home with her and ride around together. I saw my bike disappear.”

            “Where did your bike go?”

            “I don’t know!” Christian shouted still upset.

            “You can find your own bike then.” Nick shouted back and got on his bike and rode up the hill to catch up with Mitchy.

            “Thanks a lot Nick!”

            “Christian,” she said again.

            He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her through the brightness of the sun.

            “You fell asleep. Everyone is looking for you.” Mitchy told him.

            “Who’s looking for me?” he asked.

            “Your mom is, and Nicky is too.”

            “I’m waiting for my bike to come back,” he told her.

            “Christian it’s not coming back. Forget about your bike. Now come on before you get in trouble.”

            “What time is it?”

            “It’s almost one o’ clock.”