Sean: A life
an excerpt

With a sigh and a grunt a small, skinny boy wriggled out of the hearth like some dusty demonic apparition. He looked the opposite of Henry with his dark hair and eyes and size. “Next time Henry should be seeker. He couldn't even find his own feet.”
“Shut up,” said Henry.
Sean ignored them as they bickered quietly. Their voices hushed both because it was the Rules of the game and because of the awesome derelict around them.
Something rustled as they entered the next room and all three boys involuntarily ducked. None of them mentioned how the others had reacted.
There were rotting stairs here, gap toothed and clearly only held up and in place by some miracle or divine blessing on once loved homes. Climbing the stairs was also against the Rules.
Sean looked around at the rest of the room. A strangely cool breeze gusted for a moment through a window long since missing its shutters. Outside the grass was late-summer brown. What had once been the stables were visible-now it was a barely visible pile of charred timbers, overgrown with grass. A long-faded track ran from in between the stable and the house back towards the village. Beyond the stables lay the first reaches of the Wood.
The rustling above again. It was not the breeze; that had stopped.
“Red?” said Henry, breaking the Rules. Fear had crept into his voice. A passing cloud dimmed the scarce sunlight coming through the window and the door.
Sean took another step forward, aware of Rat and Henry behind him. He peered up at the shadowed space at the top of the stairs, trying to ignore the faster pace of his heart and the chill on his hands. Henry and Rat moved closer and joined him in his peering.
“Boo!” Red jumped from the shadows onto the top step. Henry jumped back, Rat ducked. Sean ducked a little, then tried to act as though he hadn't.
Red laughed uproariously, shaking his head. “You shoulda seen the look on your faces! Even you Stony Sean, I saw you duck!” Red laughed so hard he had to sit on the top step, feet dangling over the gap between it and the next standing step.
“You aren't supposed to be up there,” whined Henry.
“Shut up,” smiled Red, tossing back his tight red curly hair. “We aren't supposed to be in the Lodge at all, stupid.”
Henry looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. Sean stayed looking up at Red. “How'd you get up there?” he asked.
Red laughed again. “I used the stairs! And I thought Henry was the dumb one. There's some interesting stuff up here. I'd say come up, but Henry could never climb this.” Red patted the stair.
“Oh you...”growled Henry. He pushed Sean to the side and mounted the first step. The entire contraption swayed.
“Now Henry...” the smile slipped from Red's face and he grabbed onto what was left of the banister. Henry took another step and stairs shuddered and creaked.
Sean could later never explain exactly what kept him rooted, unmoving, unspeaking to the floor, Rat standing a half step behind. Every bit Henry climbed caused more shuddering and shaking. Red, bound by the same sort of paralysis clung to the banister, not moving from the stairs.
Henry huffed and pushed and cleared the first gap. A few more steps, another gap. Henry kept climbing. Now there was only the gap Red dangled his feet over.
With a final herculean effort Henry half lept/half climbed the final obstacle. He clambered past Red and onto the second story.
“Now Red, what we...” With a shudder and a crack the beleaguered stairs gave way. Whatever blessing that had been holding them up now rendered a curse.
Red didn't even cry out as he fell. Sean instinctively covered his face as dust and debris seemed to explode around him. When it cleared and the world was silent again Sean opened his eyes and stared at the unmoving pile of rubble that had once been the stairs. Henry's whimper moved Sean to action.
“Are you okay,” Sean called up to Henry as he moved toward the pile, Rat like a shadow behind.
“Did I kill him?” asked Henry in a very small voice. “I didn't mean to, he said I couldn't...”