Jeff and I dropped down from the fence. I didn't see exactly what happened,
but after a lot of cursing, Jeff announced to us that he had busted his knee.
After a minute of silent deliberation, he decided we should soldier on.

I pulled out my light and quickly found an arrow.

We followed a new trail slowly, and it quickly became clear that we were being
led to a small shack in the middle of the parking lot.

"I know what this is," said Dave. "I think this all used to be a drive-in
movie theater. I think that is the concession stand."

Jeff and I agreed that this was a pretty good theory.

We walked to the build, and as we got closer, saw that it was boarded up- but
the shape of it, and it's enormous boarded-up windows made us think that Dave
was probably right.

Jeff pulled out a cellphone and held it high above his head. At first I
couldn't figure out why- then it became clear that he was using it as a
flashlight to some faded lettering on the wall. We couldn't really see it, but
we decided it probably said "POPCORN".

I held up my black light- it glowed purple and bright, but didn't help us read
the lettering any better than Jeff's phone had. I scanned the ground for more
arrows and found none.

Dave shrugged, "So, what? The arrows used to lure people to buy popcorn?"

"Looks like," Jeff said.

We walked around the building until we came to a door in the back. It was
secured by an old combination padlock. My black light hung from a tie on my
wrist. I thought I had shut it off now that our mystery was solved, but out of
the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of glowing paint.

I aimed my light at it.

"Whoa!" said Dave. Maybe we all said it- we were thinking it.

There on the door, in sharp, new glowing paint was scrawled "1-3-5-6".

Holding the black light close, we quickly rotated the wheels on the lock. Jeff
pulled it open with a satisfying click.

Pulling the padlock aside, we pushed on the old door. It creaked ominously...
and got stuck when it was about a third of the way open.

Jeff kicked his foot around the inside and moved an obstruction with thud. The
door opened halfway now, and Jeff peeked inside.

"I can't see anything," he said.

I peeked inside the door, shining my black light. It was useless. I cursed
myself for not bring a real flashlight. A black light and a cell phone were
not enough to explore in there.

"Its useless," I said, "as I pulled back from the door.

Dave took his turn peering in. Just I was about to suggest we head back to
return another day, I heard a click, and a dim light appeared within the
building.

"Holy shit," said Dave, "I flipped the light switch, but I never thought in a
million years that it would work."

Jeff said, "Yeah, this place looks like it's been out of use for like- 30
years at least! Look at this parking lot! There are trees in it!"

"Someone's still paying the bills," I said, and pushed on Dave to get him
headed into the building.

We walked in, and saw a surprisingly clean concession stand interior. There
was thin coating of that strange sort of dust that accumulates in the absence
of people... The sort of dust you would expect to find in an ancient tomb.

The shelves were empty, and a cabinet stood on the far side of the room, doors
closed. Dave walked to it and opened it cautiously.

"Holy, goat fucker," he said. He always had an interesting way with words. I
looked past him to see what had impressed him.

"Jeezus," I agreed. We were looking at shelves and shelves packed with candy
boxes. But not just any candy boxes- really old stuff- I recognized
Cracker-Jacks and Hershey's but the labels were ancient.

I dropped my black light on the floor and grabbed excitedly for a giant box of
Necco-Waffers. "This has to be worth something," I said.

Before I could examine further, Jeff said, "Dudes, check this out!"

He was standing over a hatch in the floor. He'd pulled it up and was peering
into the dark. "Maybe there's another light down there?"

He bounded down a set of steps into the cellar. Dave and I followed close
behind, trying to find a switch along the way.

If I hadn't been in such a hurry to keep up with Jeff, I might have noticed
that the black light I had dropped was illuminating some more glowing paint.
And if I had noticed that, I might also have noticed that the paint made an
arrow was pointing directly towards this basement hatch. And if I had noticed
that, it might have given me pause. But I did not notice these things.

I was halfway to the bottom of the stairs when I heard a click. My eyes were
immediately drawn to a glow in the corner of the basement. Jeff said, "found
it."

We walked toward the light, bumping into empty shelves and some strange debris
along the way. Canvas bags, like sacks of potatoes. They were covered in dust.
I was move concerned with the shelf under the light. It held what I recognized
as old film canisters. Truly these were treasure.

We hurried over, reading the titles. Lots of things with monsters, "Dracula
Returns", "Night of the Wolf People" - great stuff. But I didn't recognize any
of the titles.

We all jumped when we heard it.

There was whirring sound... very loud, coming from near the stairs. It sounded
somehow familiar, like a garbage disposal or some electric power tool. We saw
the shadows changing from the light in the hatchway.

We had nearly knocked over the shelf with the film reels. I had involuntarily
thrown my hands over my ears. Dave and Jeff had comical , frightened
expressions on their faces. I probably looked the same.

At last the sound stopped. We stood still for a moment, our hearts beating
hard in our chests.

Then, as if awakening from a trance, we all ran over to the hatch to
investigate. My mind could not comprehend what it saw. Was the ceiling
upstairs covered in black stripes?

NO. My eyes finally understood. The hatch we had just come down moments ago
was now blocked by iron bars.

Jeff bolted up the stairs as far as he could, grasping the iron bars in his
hands and pushing against them violently. But his shaking and jarring only
served to rattle the creaky wooden staircase.

Dave stood there, pale and dumb, staring at the bars. His mind trying to
comprehend this impossible situation.

I walked to the back of the stairs and saw the motorized contraption attached
to iron bars. It was so dark though, that I could barely make it out.

I reached for my black light, realizing that I had left it upstairs. "Jeff!
Get over here!" I barked.

Jeff stood next to me and looked at the contraption. He help up his cell phone
and in the phone's dim light we a giant metal box that had been cleverly
mounted to the basement ceiling. If there were way to access this device, we
could not see it.

Dave gasped suddenly, and ran to one of the potato sacks I'd seen on the
floor. He dragged it into the light, worked to untie it. When he was done, I
saw him look into the bag and make a sound I'd never heard before- something
between a scream and a moan. He started hyperventilating.

Jeff and I ran over to him. Jeff said some comforting words to Dave while I
looked into the bag.

At first I couldn't tell what I was looking at. For some reason I thought it
was tree roots or some sort of stew vegetables. Then I saw the hair.

I vomited violently, away from the others.

I tried to speak, but vomited again. Throat raw, I said to Jeff, "your phone!
call the police, call them now!"

I put my hand on Dave's shoulder. Dave who was slowly rocking back and forth
like a baby. He was trying to slow down his breathing, but it was coming
quickly in gasping rasps.

I heard Jeff get through to someone on the phone. He explained where the bar
was, and how we had walked several blocks to a parking lot with a fence around
it. He explained the concession stand, and the basement and the locking iron
bars.

They wanted him to stay on the line, I asked him for the phone.

"Look," I said, "there are dead bodies in bags down here-" I looked around.
"-dozens of them."

It was a woman on the other end. She said, "Just stay calm. I want you to just
stay on line with me, and give me your names."

We told her who we were, and answered her check list of questions. I knew we
should conserve the phone batteries, but she was our lifeline out of this
crazy situation.

After we'd answered all her questions, she said, "You know, making prank calls
to emergency rescue services is a very serious crime."

My blood turned cold. She thought we we joking. My throat tightened.

As calmly as I could, I croaked, "Ma'am I swear to you, I have never been more
serious in my life. Please send someone down here. If we're lying you can
arrest us- just send someone PLEASE."

"Young man," she said, "don't you have better things to do on a school night?"

I heard a click- then nothing.

I hung up the phone. "She... didn't believe us"

Dave said, "give me the phone."

I noticed he had calmed down significantly.

I saw him dial the operator. In a moment he spoke. Calmly he said, "operator,
I'd like to speak to New Hyde Park police please. Yes, it is an emergency. No
I don't want 9-1-1 or dispatch. I want the police department."

There was a moment's silence. Then he spoke in a deep voice, "Yes, hello
officer, I'd like to report some kids in an abandoned building. They were
throwing bottles and wrecking the place. I saw them drag a little girl in
there into the basement- it sounds awful bad- just awful bad. Someone needs to
hurry before they hurt that little girl."

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If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.