Five years ago, some friends and I decided to go to this high school party around December. It was cold that night but luckily the people throwing the party had a huge bonfire going and hot chocolate on deck. We haven’t been out of the house for a while due to kids disappearing all around town, from ages thirteen all the way to twenty. Since it’s been a month since the last disappearance, we decided not to worry as much. It was a few days before winter break so we thought it would be good to celebrate at this party. At first, everyone was having a good time. There was music going and everyone was either freezing from the cold or dancing around. Being smart, I stayed by the fire and kept warm. It was nice for a little while but it got colder as time passed, so I decided to take a step inside and grab some fresh hot chocolate. I remember the host having hot water or milk to make hot chocolate. Who uses water for their hot chocolate? What are you? Psycho? 

I picked the one made with milk. It was good but my tongue went completely numb from the scalding temperature. The noise from the people died down and suddenly it was completely silent so I ran outside to look. Everyone had left except my few buddies that came with me. They waited for me to come back so we could leave. There were still a few people outside but it was the people who owned the house and a few people who were waiting for rides. The boys and I decided to leave but one of them hadn’t returned yet. I wondered where he was, he didn’t tell me anything. Did he leave with someone? I wasn’t sure. The other two friends and I went to look around for him. None of us could find him. We decided to call the police and put a search team out for him. It had been 5 years and still no trace of him.

Today, however, I received a phone call.

“Hello, who is this?” I had asked. The voice was a deep male voice, asking for my name, stating he was an officer.

After an exchange of pleasantries, he then said in a grave tone, “We found him, your friend… His body was buried under the house. It was found after the house was demolished due to vacancy. The people who owned it haven’t been home in almost 5 years. Apparently, the man who owned the house was a mass killer.”

“You’re joking, right?” I say back. 

“No sir,” says the officer.

I hung up as quickly as possible and typed in my town’s name. Multiple links came up with news articles. The owner of the property where we had the party was a mass murderer who hid kids under his house after killing them. I couldn’t believe it. He was the murderer all along and we had no clue. That night turned out to be the scariest night I’ve had and never again will I go to another party unless it’s someone I know.