There is an abandoned house on Parker Street by my house. It is a very weird place. I have been passing by that house my whole life, and I always wondered what is inside. When I was little, I either ran past that house or avoided it - partly because it feels like nothing is alive, and partly because it feels like there is always a slight breeze nearby. All the plants are dead; the paint is all worn out. I always feel like somebody's watching me like a vulture anticipating a meal, or following me like a stalking shadow.

Most of the windows are boarded, but some are not -  once I glanced at the top window and I thought I saw someone standing there just watching me pass by. I feel like I’m in a movie and I’m trapped with nowhere to go. The fence is also boarded up and it’s worn down; all spray painted and broken. The door looks like it was torn off, and the doorway is pitch black.

The walls are chipped,cracked, and rusty. One of my friends once threw his football in there by accident and when he was climbing the fence boards, they split in half. He fell into the tall grass and then I also jumped over to help him. When I went to get the football and there was a dirty little white teddy bear. It was just watching me like it was alive. I went to pick up the football and I felt like the bear knew I was scared, like he could sense my soul shivering. It was probably one of the creepiest moments of my life. I ran away as fast as I could, like a zebra running for his life away from a chasing lion. I jumped over that wooden fence in one second. Then my friend jumped over to and we both ran home. I won't ever forget that evening, with the teddy bear and the football.

The air around that house tastes dead, and dull. It is stale. It usually also smells bad because of the dog excretions from people walking their dogs. The tall grass is itchy and irritating. When I ran through the tall grass, I had a rash afterwards. There is a lot of trash in the grass such as bottles, different types of balls, boxes, animals, and other assorted junk. The house is starting to turn brown because of how old it is. It looks like it has been abandoned for over 30 years.

There is a garage next to the house near the sidewalk, and it always sounds like squirrels or some type of animals wrestling with cans inside. I always hear birds flapping their wings while they fly away, or birds chirping. Across the street there is a dog that always is outside barking at everybody, so when it is really quiet and eerie he always scares me.

I only know two people that ever went inside. They were my friends and they were very curious. Both of them said they will never go inside again. One of them described the same teddy bear that I saw and he said he felt the same way I had when I saw it. Inside the house, he said, it was really quiet with no type of light. When he was walking, it was like walking on thin ice, because the floor was creaking with every step. When they were about to leave, they both heard something walking near them. Then a cat ran out and scared the hairs off their eyebrows. They ran out, jumped over the fence, and told everybody what happened. I am curious and adventurous, but I would have never gone inside. I never feel safe around that house. Everything inside the house is broken and thrown around. It also smells like the corpse of an animal. There is a staircase with missing steps and the railing is broken. There are lots of pitch black holes in the walls.

There is an abandoned house on Parker street by my house. It always smells like dead grass and sorrow.

Joel Rivas is a member of Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program