The sun finally dipped below the horizon, casting the town of Dunbridge, Illinois into a soft swallowing darkness. One by one street lamps posted beside the cul-de-sac turned on automatically—illuminating Dunbridge with a pool of bright crackling street lights, as night finally began to settle in on the town.
The cheap ceiling fan hummed softly above the dining table of the Parker residence—blowing warm air that barely moved the heat of late August that was later layered with the faint smell of the old carpet in the living room and multiple different sets of board games stacked up on each other in the corner of the table.
The boys sat in a messy circle around the table, some impatiently drumming their fingers on the glass surface while some in a lazy slouched position.
"Lucas, just throw the dice already!" Noah shouted impatiently, leaning forward with all the exasperation his twelve-year-old lungs could summon. His voice cracked midway, which only caused the others to giggle.
"Alright, alright just—give me a sec!" Lucas snapped back almost immediately, though not harshly as Noah expected it would be.
His hands clutched around the dice as if his life depended on it.
Miles who sat across the table just slightly parallel to Lucas slapped his knee in impatience. "Jesus Christ, Lucas just do it already!"
"Don't take the lord's name in." Elliot muttered automatically, his tone mock-serious but his smirk betraying him. He was hunched against the corner beside the stack of board games absentmindedly throwing a leftover pretzel towards the nearby trash can.
"Yeah yeah, father Elliot has spoken." Zach said teasingly.
"Next he's gonna confess our sins before Lucas even rolls the dice."
"Wouldn't take long for you Zach." Caleb said from the chair next to him. He had refused to join the game with the others, sprawled instead with his hands gently stroking the arms of the chair feeling the wooden texture that his arms were feeling, with a sock hanging halfway off his foot. "You'd just confess that you cheat every time we play Monopoly."
"I don't cheat!" Zach shot back. "I just… strategize."
"Uh-huh" Elliot muttered, rolling his eyes.
The room was beginning to flood in with restless noises,fingers impatiently drumming on the glass surface of the table, laughter sparking and fading into silence like fireflies. Outside a group of cicadas whir rose and fell in the heavy air.
Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, his lips moving in a silent desperate prayer which no one else in the dining room could barely hear. Then, finally with a sudden flick of his wrists, he let the dice tumble free out of his grasps.
The little white cubes clattered across the board, bouncing off game pieces and scattering the tension into a sharp rush of sound. Everyone leaned in at once, breath held, eyes locked on the rolling dice as if they contained the very pulse of the night.
The dice spun, tipped then rattled to a stop. One showed a three, the other a six.
"Nine!" Noah shouted before anyone else could breathe it out. "Nine, nine, nine—" he scrambled up to his feet standing up from his chair, before jabbing his finger at the board. "That's it!, your toast Lucas!" He shouted. Causing the rest of the boys to stand up from their seats.
Lucas's shoulders sagged. "No.. no, no no…" his voice cracked.
Caleb stood up from his seat throwing his hands around the back of his head before jabbing his finger to the board to show emphasis, the rest of the boys leaned in some of their faces forming wide grins, flooding the room with anticipated noises. "Oh my god, you're done for! Game over man, Pack it up!" Caleb shouted, slapping Lucas's back.
"Shut up!" Lucas replied, joining in the already growing chaos. Noah grabbed his piece on the other side of the board moving it square after square before finally reaching Lucas's piece, tumbling it down with one swift flick. "Son of a bitch!" Lucas groaned, grabbing his baseball cap and throwing it on the ground in frustration. "Ha, Ha!" Caleb taunted.
"See!" Zach crowed, his grin stretching too wide. "Told you not to stall. Karma's instant bro. Instant!" He said, jabbing his finger towards his fallen figure on the board.
Miles leaned in, calm and deliberate, pointing to his figure who's now out of the game. "And that" he said with a mock gravitas, "is officially why you shouldn't roll next time every time we play this game."
Elliot looked at the board, before immediately groaning, slamming a nearby pencil on the board so hard it tipped a soda can over—the liquid nearly finding its way towards the edge of the table and nearly dripping down towards the carpet below. "Son of a bitch!, if Noah rolls a five then I'll be the next one to be fucked!"
"Hey, hey, careful!" Noah shouted, grabbing the can and throwing it towards the trash bin next to him. "You'll soak the carpet! Lucas's mom already doesn't like us spending the night here."
"She said we were too loud last time," he said.
"We are too loud," Zach said. Collapsing back to his seat.
"But that's the point." Eliot replied. The rest of the boys all groaned, grabbing the empty cans they had left on the table and throwing them into the trash bin.
For a second, no one spoke, the kind of silence that only came in bursts—The air in the dining room felt heavy, an awkward silence later engulfing the entire room, the boys just sat there in silence, some drumming their fingers on the windows, some fumbling around with the pieces on the board.
Outside, the night settled heavier across Dunbridge. The cicadas droned, the streetlamps flickered faintly, and somewhere down the block a dog barked twice before falling quiet again. Inside, time felt suspended.
Lucas shoved the dice aside dramatically and flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling fan as it creaked lazily overhead.
"I hate this game," he muttered, though the grin still tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"You say that every time you lose," Zach shot back instantly, tossing a pretzel at him. It bounced off Lucas's shirt and landed on the carpet.
Miles snatched it up before anyone could stop him. "Three-second rule," he said through a crunch, earning a chorus of groans and shoves.
"That's disgusting," Caleb said, slapping his wrists. "You're gonna die at like fifteen."
"Better than losing to Noah every time," Miles replied with his mouth full.
"Hey!" Noah said, jabbing a finger at him. "Don't hate the player, hate the roll, man."
From the couch, Caleb sighed heavily and rolled onto his side. "This is boring now. Let's do something else."
"Like what?" Lucas asked, still on his back.
"Like… I dunno. Go outside or something. It's summer. We're wasting it in here."
Noah perked up immediately. "What if we go to the creek? You know, past the park? Bet it's creepy as hell in the dark."
Zach's eyes widened. "Dude. My brother said someone drowned there once."
"Yeah, like thirty years ago," Elliot said, unimpressed. "That doesn't count."
"Still counts," Zach argued, leaning forward like he was revealing a secret. "They say if you stand on the bridge at midnight, you can hear him splashing around."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Caleb muttered.
But Miles was already grinning. "Let's do it. I'm in."
The group went quiet for a second, the idea hanging between them, equal parts thrilling and dangerous in the way only small-town summer nights could be. The hum of cicadas outside seemed louder now, like they were daring the boys to move.
Lucas sat up, brushing the crumbs off his shirt. "If my mom finds out we left—"
"She won't," Noah cut in quickly. "We'll be back before she even knows. Come on, it'll be awesome."
The boys looked at each other, half-excited, half-uneasy. Then Zach grabbed a flashlight from the side table and clicked it on, the beam cutting a sharp white line across the dim dining room.
"There," he said, his grin stretching. "Problem solved."
Elliot shook his head, grabbing his hat and flashlight from his backpack next to him before muttering. "We're all gonna get grounded."
"Maybe," Miles said, standing up and brushing crumbs off his shorts. "But at least it'll be worth it."
The decision was made before anyone even said it out loud. One by one, the boys scrambled to their feet, the game board left in shambles on the dining room table. Dice rolled off under the couch,game pieces tipped over quietly, forgotten.
"Shoes," Caleb reminded, tugging his sneakers on with a quick knot. "I'm not stepping on glass or something out there."
Lucas hesitated at the door, glancing down the hallway where the faint blue glow of his mom's TV bled from her bedroom. "You guys better not get me in trouble."
"We won't," Noah whispered, pushing him gently toward the screen door. "Just don't slam it."
The night air hit them all at once, warm and heavy, the smell of grass and pavement still holding the day's heat. A few moths circled the nearest streetlamp, their shadows flickering against the asphalt. Somewhere, a lawn sprinkler hissed rhythmically, and further off, a train horn moaned in the distance.
They moved in a loose pack down the driveway, the flashlight beam bouncing wildly across their sneakers and the cracked cement.
"Turn it off," Elliot hissed. "People are gonna see us."
"Who cares?" Zach said, clicking it off anyway. "We're not robbing a bank. We're literally just walking."
"Still," Miles said, lowering his voice as if the dark itself could overhear. "Makes it feel more… secret."
That earned a round of nods, even from Noah, who walked at the front like a general leading a march. The cicadas seemed to scream louder as they cut through the neighborhood, sneakers slapping against the pavement, the night swallowing their voices until it felt like they were the only people left in Dunbridge.
By the time they reached the park, the swings creaked quietly in the breeze, chains rattling though no one sat in them. The old metal slide loomed like a skeleton, its surface dull and cold under the streetlight's edge.
Lucas slowed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You guys sure about this? My mom will freak out if she finds out I left the house."
"That's the point," Caleb said with a smirk. "You'll never forget it if we go."
Zach swung the flashlight back on, shining it straight ahead where the trees thickened. "The creek's just past here."
The beam cut through the dark, landing on the dirt trail that twisted into the woods. Beyond it, nothing but shadows.
For a moment, nobody moved. The excitement drained into silence, the kind of silence that comes right before you either turn back or step forward.
Noah grinned into it, his voice breaking the stillness. "Alright, soldiers. Who's brave enough to go first?"