Into the Beyond Books 1-3

Kenzie was suddenly on her feet, a surge of frightened energy flowing through her. She shoved open the closet door and stumbled out. Lewis spotted Mr. Gray standing off to the side of the room, next to an unattended bowl of potato chips. He appeared to be licking all the flavoring off of them one by one before discarding them back into the same bowl.

"I'm parked down the street," one of Jeremy's more sober friends was saying to him. "Let's just ditch the house and go."

Jeremy glanced around in a panic. Blue and red lights were already pouring in through the front window. He spotted Lewis and Kenzie and gestured for them to join him. "You won, dude," he said, handing Lewis an envelope full of cash. "Spot on with the jellybeans! You wanna get out of here with us?"

"Go with him," said Mr. Gray.

Lewis shrugged. "Sure," he said.

Jeremy, holding the jar of jellybeans, fled with his friend and another girl out the side door. Lewis helped Kenzie along behind them as they all made their way to Jeremy's friend's car.

He gave his bicycle a glance as he passed it by.

"Leave it," said Mr. Gray. "You pick it up later."

Kids were running all over the place, trying to get away before the police could bust them. Lewis just focused on getting Kenzie to put one foot in front of the other. Soon they were inside the car. Lewis was squished in the backseat between Kenzie and Jeremy with the jar of jellybeans. Mr. Gray curled up at his feet. Lewis did his best not to step on him. Everyone was breathing heavily.

"These are my friends—Andrew and Kiera," said Jeremy. They exchanged pleasantries with Lewis. "Oh yeah," said Jeremy. "These are yours too." He handed Lewis the jellybean jar.

Lewis unscrewed the top immediately and threw some into his mouth to clear the taste of Kenzie's kiss away.

"Drop one," said Mr. Gray.

Lewis grabbed a handful. "Anyone want some?"

Kiera, in the front passenger seat, put her hand back. Lewis placed the handful into Kiera's palm, being sure to drop a few to the floor for Mr. Gray.

Kenzie leaned over towards him, lifting her chin as if she wanted another kiss. Lewis tossed several more jellybeans into his mouth instead, then helped her put on her seatbelt before doing up his own.

"You got the stuff?" Jeremy asked Andrew.

"In the trunk," said Andrew with a grin on his face.

Lewis noticed they were driving back in the direction of his own house. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Andrew and Jeremy both laughed. "Gunna have some fun," Jeremy said.

Andrew started driving really slow. He was looking for a specific house.

"It's further up," said Kiera.

They passed Lewis's house, and started going by the creepy house. Kiera suddenly screamed.

Andrew slammed on the breaks, throwing everyone against their seatbelts. Lewis spilled a bunch of jellybeans—he barely managed to hold onto the jar. Mr. Gray started cramming the fallen morsels into his face as fast as he could.

"Whaat?" Andrew asked, looking back and forth frantically for the cause of Kiera's alarm. "Did I hit something?"

"Someone's in there!" said Kiera, pointing at a second-story window of the creepy house. "They were watching us."

Everyone scanned their eyes across the house. Lewis didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Don't be stupid," said Andrew. "Nobody goes in there anymore." He continued driving slowly, shaking his head.

Kiera crossed her arms in a huff. "I know what I saw. Someone was up there."

Andrew laughed to himself. "Gunna make me crash being crazy like that."

Kenzie was leaning hard against the window now. She looked like she might be sick again.

"Hey guys," said Lewis, "Kenzie isn't looking so good."

"We're almost there," said Kiera. "Just a couple more blocks."

Kenzie made a gagging noise.

Andrew slammed on the breaks again. "Not in the car!" Lewis reached over Kenzie and quickly opened the door.

Kenzie immediately drooped over and threw up into the street without even undoing her seatbelt.

"Jesus!" said Andrew. "Did it all make it out?"

It hadn't.

Kenzie sat back up in her seat, giving Andrew an enthusiastic thumbs up. There was vomit on her chin. Everyone stared at her in disgust. She closed the door. "I'm good now," she said.

Andrew was clearly annoyed as he started driving again.

A couple of blocks later, Kiera pointed at Josie's house. "There it is!" she said.

Andrew pulled the car over abruptly, still down the block a little ways. He turned off the engine. "Come on!" he said, hopping out.

Mr. Gray gestured for Lewis to follow Andrew's lead. "Go with them," he said.

Lewis stepped out of the car, being careful not to get any of Kenzie's barf on his shoes. He had a bad feeling about where all of this was headed. Mr. Gray climbed down by himself, the jar of jellybeans clutched between his little arms. Lewis waited to shut the door until the gluttonous creature was clear.

Andrew was around the back of the car getting something out of the trunk. Kiera and Jeremy joined him. Kenzie was still too drunk to do much. She hung heavily on Lewis's arm, wobbling as she tried to stand still.

Andrew, Jeremy and Kiera all ran past Lewis carrying rolls of toilet paper and egg cartons. Lewis really wished he wasn't with them right now. He glared over at Mr. Gray, standing on the curbside next to the jar of jellybeans.

Kenzie, despite her drunkenness, stumbled on ahead, joining in with the other three as they began throwing rolls of toilet paper into the branches of a tall maple tree growing in the middle of Josie's front yard. The tree had an old wooden swing hanging from its branches. It was immediately spider-webbed with toilet paper. Many of the rolls flew high, leaving silent trails behind them—long streamers of paper that arced high into the dark sky like confetti before floating back down to tangle with the branches and dewy leaves. Kenzie's throws were not so graceful—they bounced off the lower branches and fell in lumps to the ground below.

Next came the eggs.

They splattered against the house with wet thuds.

"Here, man," said Jeremy, sharing his carton with Lewis.

"Let them fly—have some fun."

Mr. Gray reached out and touched one of the eggs, sitting in the corner of the carton. "This one," he said.

Lewis felt like a terrible person. He picked up the egg, but hesitated.

"Throw it hard," said Mr. Gray.

Lewis really didn't want to participate.

"You must!" Mr. Gray yelled forcefully.

Lewis threw the egg.

Crash.

A window shattered.

Lewis's jaw dropped open. He really was a terrible person. He was so surprised by the results of his own actions that he didn't notice everyone else running away, back to the car, as fast as their feet would carry them.